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COMMERCIALIZING THE MARKET FOR HIGH ORIENTAL FASHION
An exploratory study of the characteristics of early adopters
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration.........................................................................................................................
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................i
Abstract............................................................................................................................ii
Table of Contents..............................................................................................................v
List of Figures................................................................................................................vii
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................1
1.2 Research Area.............................................................................................................1
1.2.1 Background of Shiatzy Chen (case study).......................................................3
1.2.2 The issues.........................................................................................................4
1.3 Research purpose and objectives................................................................................51.4
Structure of the study..................................................................................................6
Chapter Two: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................8
2.2 Background of Clothing Consumption.......................................................................9
2.2.1 The Fashion Concept and Development........................................................10
2.2.2 Clothing..........................................................................................................10
2.3 Breaking into the Market..........................................................................................12
2.3.1 The Diffusion Theory and Adopter Categories..............................................12
2.3.1.1 Adoption Process and Adopter Categories..........................................14
2.3.2 Fashion Adoption...........................................................................................18
2.3.2.1 Fashion Adoption Process...................................................................20
2.4 Fashion Consciousness-awareness/interest/involvement..........................................26
2.4.1 Fashion consciousness...................................................................................26
2.4.2 Fashion leadership..........................................................................................27
2.5 Country of Origin (COO) Effects.............................................................................29
2.5.1 Definition.......................................................................................................30
2.5.2 The uses of the ‘country of origin’ attribute...................................................30
2.6 Conceptual Framework.............................................................................................33
2.7 Conclusion................................................................................................................34
Chapter Three: Research Method and Design
3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................36
3.2 Research purpose and objectives..............................................................................37
3.3 Research approach....................................................................................................38
3.3.1 Secondary research.........................................................................................39
3.3.2 Primary research.............................................................................................41
3.4 Sample design...........................................................................................................42
3.5 Data collection methods............................................................................................43
3.5.1 The choice of the method...............................................................................44
3.5.2 The interviews................................................................................................45
3.5.3 The interview guide........................................................................................46
3.5.4 Stimulus material-catalogue, photos, and DVDs...........................................48
3.6 Data analysis.............................................................................................................49
3.7 Limitations................................................................................................................51
3.8 Conclusion................................................................................................................53
Chapter Four: Research Findings
4.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................55
4.2 Fashion consciousness..............................................................................................57
4.3 The characteristics of early adopters on fashion sector
(fashion leaders).................59
4.3.1 Comparison between early adopters (fashion leaders)
and late adopters
(fashion followers)..................................................................................................65
4.4 Consumers’ perception of oriental fashion & ShiatzyChen......................................67
4.5 The influence factors of purchase for clothes...........................................................75
4.5.1 Criteria...........................................................................................................75
4.5.2 Country-Of-Origin (COO) effects..................................................................77
4.6 Relationship between early adopters and COO effects.............................................80
4.7 Conclusion................................................................................................................81
Chapter Five: Discussion and Conclusion
5.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................82
5.2 Discussion.................................................................................................................82
5.2.1 Fashion Adoption and categories...................................................................82
5.2.1.1 Fashion consciousness........................................................................83
5.2.1.2 Fashion leadership...............................................................................84
5.2.2 Influence factors in fashion adoption process................................................86
5.2.2.1 The Perceptual Process.......................................................................86
5.2.2.2 Country-Of-Origin effects...................................................................89
5.2.3 Demographics Analysis..................................................................................90
5.3 Conclusion and Managerial implications..................................................................93
5.4 Directions for future research...................................................................................96
Appendices..................................................................................................................98
Bibliography............................................................................................................110
List of Figures
2.3.1.1 Adopter Categorization on the Basis of Relative Time
of Adoption of
Innovations……………………………………………………………………………. 16
2.3.2.1-1 Fashion Adoption Process……………………………………………………21
2.3.2.1-3 Stages of Fashion Marketing………………………………………………...
23
2.3.2.1-3 Stages of Fashion Marketing………………………………………………...
23
Abstract
Fashion led by western brands for quite a long time. How eastern
brands could succeed
in the international competitive arena and approach their
target consumers? This is
many marketers and designers would like to figure out. Under
these conditions, the
research area was inspired.
The purpose of this study is to explore the consumers’ perception
of oriental fashion and
the role and importance of country-of-origin effects as cues
in evaluating fashion
products. For instance, does the COO effect differ in its
importance in the purchasing
decision of Taiwanese high fashion exclusive products? Therefore,
this study was
conducted in the UK, exploring female consumers’ perception
on three themes of
oriental fashion style: adopter categories, fashion-consciousness
and country-of-origin
effects.
The characteristics of early fashion adopters such as they
tend to be opinion leaders
were found by this study. Also, the findings support that
early fashion adopters who are
first people try and adopt new fashion have higher fashion
consciousness than late
fashion adopters. Furthermore, both of early and late fashion
adopters were not influenced by country-of-origin issue in
evaluation process.
The aforementioned findings suggest a number of implications
and directions of future
research to be developed. From the point of marketing practice
it is suggest that early
adopters tend to be opinion leaders and can be reached by
specific media (e.g. fashion
magazines), thus the further research could investigate what
media could reach early
adopters quickly in order to take the first advantage place
in the market for an example.
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