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CONSUMERS TRENDS: GETTING INSPIRED
source:
www.cottoninc.com/TextileConsumer/
TexitleConsumerVolume35
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Capturing consumers’ attention continues to be a challenge. Another effect of decreased interest in apparel shopping is the declining percentage of consumers who look to external sources for apparel ideas…
 the number-one idea generator is what shoppers already own and know they like (cited by 71% of Gen-Xers and 70% of the Baby Boom and Silent generations); this is one of the few idea sources that has remained stable since 1995;
meanwhile, the percentage of consumers who rely on in-store displays and salespeople, people they see regularly, or commercials and ads has declined significantly across all generations. The declining use of in-store displays and salespeople is consistent with the shift to mass merchants and the decline in cross-shopping. Overall declines in the use of idea generators have significant implications for marketing opportunities, both in-store and through the media;
advertising on the Internet may be an increasingly important way to reach consumers, as the percentage of shoppers browsing the web for apparel has grown since 1997. Gen-Xers are the most likely to look for apparel on line (33%, up from 6% in 1997), followed by Boomers (24%, up from 4%) and the Silent Generation (10%, up from 3%);
on-line browsing may have helped decrease the time consumers spend in the store per clothes-shopping trip. Compared with 1997, the average time in the store is down 3.5 minutes for Gen-Xers and 8.1 minutes for Boomers, while remaining about the same (up less than 1 minute) for the Silent Generation.
Globally, do consumers respond to the same advertising techniques?
according to Global Lifestyle Monitor 1999, consumers from 7 of the 10 countries surveyed identified store displays as their primary source for clothing ideas;
the exceptions are Brazil, Germany, and the USA: consumers get their apparel ideas from what they already own. What consumers already own is an important influence in many other countries, as well;
Asian consumers are most likely to cite external influences. More than 1/2 of the shoppers in Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan declare they got apparel ideas from peers, while almost as many mentioned magazines;
4 out of 10 consumers in France get apparel ideas from catalogues, and the same percentage get ideas from magazines in the UK. 44% of German consumers get apparel ideas from their peers;
in Latin America, consumers tend to rely less on outside influences: 37% of Brazilians get ideas from TV, and 31% of Colombians are influenced by peers.
Influences on apparel purchases (% of consumers)
| country | store displays | already own | magazines | peers | TV | catalogues | | Taiwan | 85 | 45 | 51 | 53 | 38 | 18 | | Hong Kong | 72 | 55 | 63 | 56 | 39 | 15 | | Korea | 72 | 29 | 31 | 55 | 32 | 9 | | France | 71 | 59 | 37 | 35 | 21 | 42 | | Brazil | 62 | 70 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 9 | | Colombia | 61 | 16 | 28 | 31 | 22 | 9 | | Italy | 59 | 27 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 5 | | Japan | 51 | 40 | 44 | 18 | 19 | 24 | | UK | 51 | 40 | 40 | 35 | 25 | 32 | | USA | 43 | 56 | 25 | 38 | 25 | 30 | | Germany* | 38 | 47 | 39 | 44 | 26 | 27 |
*Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle MonitorTM and Global Lifestyle MonitorTM , October 1999.
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