CONSUMER DECISION MAKING

Consumer decision making is an essential part of consumer behaviour and it is of particular interest to the marketers (Erasmus, 2013a:16), including clothing retailers who wish to influence female consumers’ purchasing decision. However, purchasing is only the visible part of a more complex decision process created by the consumer for each buying decision (Perreau, 2016:1).

The purchase decision can be defined as a cognitive process consisting of mental activities that determine which course of action is undertaken to bring about need satisfaction (Parumasur &

Roberts-Lombard 2012:250; Shareef, Kumar & Kumar, 2008:94) This means, when female consumers shop for clothing, they have options or alternatives to evaluate and choose from.

Hence the purchasing decision is a course of action that a female consumer will take in order to achieve the desired results to the perceived need (Parumasur & Roberts-Lombard, 2012:250;

Rath, Bay, Petrizzi & Gill, 2008:275). Shareef et al. (2008:95) further point out that consumers now have diversified attitudes, versatile bargaining power as well as extensive alternatives of available choices, as a result they are very critical and sensitive to a purchase decision. It is therefore essential for companies including clothing retailers to have an extensive knowledge and identify the various factors influencing consumer purchasing decision (Neal et al., 2006:33) to ensure the successful development of clothing products and retention of customers.

According to Newcomb (2009:16), models within the consumer behaviour discipline provide a structure to understand the formation of consumer preferences in product evaluation and purchase decisions. One such model is the Engel, Blackwell and Minard (EBM) (1995) consumer purchasing decision model depicted in Figure 2.1. The EBM model provides conceptual guidance on the variables involved in consumer decision making. It is assumed that female consumers think of the implications of the evaluative criteria in terms of what they aspire to achieve, the EBM model was, therefore, specifically used in this study because it is one of the models that shows that consumer decision making is a cognitive problem solving process. Moreover, the EBM has been successfully used in several studies such as May-Plumlee and Little (2006); Cassill and Drake (1987) and Shim and Drake (1990), to describe the consumer decision making process for clothing purchases. The present study drew upon the pre-purchase alternative evaluation stage (highlighted in red) of the model.

20 | P a g e Input (1) Information processing (2) Decision Process (3) Variables

influencing decision (4)

Figure 2.1 Consumer decision making process model Adapted from: Engel, Blackwell & Miniard (1995)

Stimuli

21 | P a g e 2.3 CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS MODEL

The components of the decision process in the EBM (1995) consumer model are input (1), information processing (2), decision process (3) and variables influencing the decision (4) Typically this model illustrates that the initial stage in any decision making process is need recognition (7). The need recognition occurs when consumers develop a need for a particular product to change the existing state and subsequently conform to the desired state (Paramasur

& Roberts-Lombard, 2012:252). This can be as a result of external stimuli such as interactions with friends, family, culture or advertising (that form the environmental influences (5) of the EBM model to name a few) at that particular time or the internal stimuli such as the personality, attitudes or emotions of an individual (that form the individual differences (6) of the EBM model to name a few). Basically, female consumers may begin the decision process when they feel that their lives or current situation could be improved in some way (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010:60). For example, I want to feel good about my body (desired state) but I do not like the design of my trouser (actual state). Once an individual has recognized a problem, the consumer can initiate some action that may bring about a solution such as gathering information concerning the needed product.

Generally, the information search stage (8) involves two types of searches in which clothing consumers engage in, there is an internal search into memory, to recall previous experiences with the product as well as external search of personal sources such as friends and family or public sources such as online reviews by experts and customers (Winzer, 2015:444; Yurchisin &

Johnson, 2010:65). After having all the information about the type of a clothing product, such as the type of jeans or the type of blouse, the consumers can now narrow down the choice and engage in the third step of the decision process, the pre-purchase alternative (9) evaluation.

During pre-purchase alternative evaluation, female consumers consider which of the possible alternatives might be best for fulfilling the need (Blythe, 2013:273) based on evaluative criteria.

Evaluative criteria are particular dimensions or attributes, such as style, colour, fit/sizing,to name a few that are used in judging alternative choices (Engel et al.,1995:208). According to Perreau (2016:1), after the evaluation process, a female consumer can engage in the purchase decision (10). The purchase decision involves mental processing of choosing the most desired product among the alternatives (Paramasur & Roberts-Lombard, 2012:260). In other words, it is the consumer’s final choice of the product. This is followed by the consumption (11) stage, which involves wearing the chosen product. Lastly the fifth stage, post-purchase evaluation (12) occurs when the female consumer starts using the clothing product. At this moment the consumer can see whether the garment meets her expectations or not (Blythe, 2013:273). The experience with

22 | P a g e the purchased clothing may influence the evaluative criteria used in the future purchase (May-Plumlee & Little, 2006:59). However, as observed by Blythe (2013:273), it is important to note that decision making in not necessarily linear. In the majority of purchase situation, consumers simply buy the same brand as last time or spend very little time in evaluating choices.

Furthermore, the EBM (1995)’s model of consumer decision making process (Figure 2.1), suggests that all consumer decision making stages including the evaluation of the alternatives (a stage of particular importance in this study) and the ultimate clothing product preference and purchase can be influenced by environmental influences (5) including culture, social class, family, situation as well as individual differences (6) such as consumer resources, motivation and involvement, attitudes, knowledge, personality, values, life style and demographics. To add, Ling (2015: 566), also mentions aspects of attitudes, values, as well as personal mental shortcuts, emotions, product attributes, brand familiarity and brand preferences as the influencing factors during the evaluation of the alternatives in the purchasing decision.

It is therefore essential that steps in decision making should be carefully studied by marketers in order to understand how the clothing need comes about, how information is obtained, how beliefs are formed, what is involved when evaluating the alternatives and how the purchasing decision is reached. This will enable clothing manufacturers and retailers to emphasize appropriate designs in their clothing making and develop promotional strategies that are tailored to deliver the types of clothing products most likely desired by female consumers (Solomon & Rabolt, 2009:382).

As already mentioned, this study focused on pre-purchase alternative evaluation, the third stage (colored red) in consumer decision making process in Figure 2.1 and is the starting point for this study. Notwithstanding the various factors mentioned above that can potentially influence the clothing purchasing decision, the present study examined the influences of body shape and personal values on the importance placed on evaluative criteria used by female consumers during the pre-purchase alternative evaluation step of the decision process stage. Considering the fact that consumers are diverse, an understanding on how female consumers’ differences may impact clothing purchasing decision may help marketers understand and predict consumer purchasing decision as well as help the marketer and retailers formulate better marketing programmes and strategies.

Expanding on these factors, consumer researchers such as (Holbrook & Batra, 1987; Olney, Holbrook & Batra, 1991; Sherman, Mathur & Smith, 1997; Bagozzi, Gopinath & Nyer, 1999; Watson

& Spence, 2007; Mazaheri, Richard & Laroche, 2012) agree that emotions play a significant role in

23 | P a g e consumer decision making and the actual behavior. As such the influence of emotions in female consumer decision making and purchasing behaviour was also investigated in this regard. The influence of these factors on clothing purchasing decision specifically during the pre-purchase alternative evaluation are of particular relevance for the present study and, therefore, provides theoretical support for this study. Hence pre-purchase alternative evaluation stage of consumer decision making process, body shapes, personal values and emotions will be discussed further.

2.4 PRE-PURCHASE ALTERNATIVE EVALUATION STAGE OF THE DECISION