Fashion as base in involvement in understanding consumers

” There is no way I will change my brand” A Report on Fashion as base in involvement in understanding consumers This is a brief report on understanding consumer behavior using purchase-decision involvement scale proposed by Mittal and personal involvement inventory proposed by Zaichowski. This report will basically consist of description of each followed by relevance. An example of each finally ending with limitations of each is also in the paper.

What is involvement as far as purchase decision is considered A consumer has some inherent needs values and interests and the object of consideration has to have relevance within that framework. Often the involvement is of two types, one is situational which happens when some one has to purchase the item right then and has to make a purchase decision. There is another more enduring form in which the buyer maintains the level of interest in a product or a service , well after the situation has passed and endures even if the purchase situation does not exist. The purchase decision involvement involves four parties, the individual definitely, the product or the service class , the situation and the communication. The scale which Mittal has proposed at a high level of enduring involvement the product or service would have many attributes evaluated with compensatory decision models a narrow latitude of acceptance and a true brand loyalty. At the low end of the scale attributes are less important, the decision model is non compensatory and a wide latitude of acceptance and spurious brand loyalty. Again on the high end of the scale you have substantive messages on why the brand is what it is on the low end , the ads have little substance. Ads are fewer on the high end and frequent ads on the low end. Price is relatively less important on the high end , but is usually important on the low end.
High level customers often become brand advocates and they not only build closer association with the company and may participate in new product generation as well.
While Mittal developed a scale With same conceptualization in mind, developed a context-free 20 item scale called the Personal Involvement Inventory,
Fashion involvement is a consumers percieved importance of fashion clothing( O’Cass 2001). Fashion leaders generally are the trend setters in the fashion market. They are the first to purchase apparel when new fashions come into the market. These fashion leaders take additional risk as opposed to the followers , but they are also on the cutting edge as far as fashion is concerned , they read more magazine , are often present at many socialite events. Most importantly they are also more inner directed , less cost conscious , less practical when purchasing new fashion products than fashion followers ( Bellau, Nowlin Summers, Xu 2001). While there is no doubt that Zaichowsky scale preceded Mittal scale and there is also no dispute in the fact that Mittal scale in a way used Zaichowsky’s scale to clarify the involvement further , there are a few very critical differences. Mittal Scale is undoubtedly a one dimensional construct , while Zaichowski’s scale is a multi dimensional construct. While Fashion can be a both a service and good , in that context , Zaichowsky scale was developed very specifically for advertising involvement , though it has seen since has developed a more broader appeal. In Mittal scale has proved to be more reliable on a more sittuational level , just before the purchase of the goods.
The example how Zaichowsky scale can be used and the Mittal scale can be used in the fashion business can be shown below:
A new Women’s dress clothing is being released , the advertising and the total marketing campaign is designed after an interview with a sample of the target consumer using the Zaichowsky scale. Once the product is in the store itself, it’s placement on the store , the display position is dicated by the Zaichowsky scale.
The general conclusion one comes to after studying both these constructs is that both are strong constructs with certain limitations but when used in conjunction can provide strong reasoning for enduring brand loyalty.

Ref: Robin Danielle Mcfater ” Fashion involvement of Affluent Female Customers” Mcneese State University.
Carmen Perez Cabeno ” Consumer involvement in goods and services purchases , University of Valencia.

Yolanda Jordaan and Michelle N. Simpson , Consumer innovativeness among females in specific fashion stores in the Menlyn Shopping center.

Data:
This is a table created by Carmen Perez Cabeno, to get data for both the Mittal and the Zaichowsky scale.

UNIVERSE
Inhabitants over 18, living in Valencia (Spain)
COLLECTION DATA SYSTEM
Personal structured survey
SAMPLE SIZE
300 people
CONFIDENCE LEVEL
95%; Z = 2; p = q = 0. 5
SAMPLE ERROR
0. 0577
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Random route, prior double sampling by age
and sex according to population’s quotas.
FIELD WORK
November and December, 2000

Though the final decision in that study was to use the Mittal scale, as far as fashion involvement is concerned , it can be seen that both scales are complementary to each other.