Involvement and shopping : a study of women 30 to 50

Abstract

In today's global market place, where consumers are bombarded on a daily bases with all kinds of products to satisfy their every need, marketing practices such as segmentation, targeting and consumer profiling are vital. In the fashion arena, this is even more evident due to the vast array of brands, outlets and products available. Consumer involvement, one of the many facets of consumer behaviour, is used as a tool in this study to determine certain shopping behaviours displayed by a particular demographic group, for a particular product category. The chosen demographic group was made up of women aged thirty to fifty and the product category under scrutiny was handbags. In essence, the main findings of this study are intended to shed light upon consumer involvement and how it affects several other aspects of consumer behaviour. Consumer involvement is a construct which has not as yet been given much importance in Malta despite its potential to uncover aspects of consumer behaviour otherwise deemed irrational. Moreover, the research study carried out for this dissertation is intended to segment the chosen demographic group in terms of the level of involvement displayed with the product category, and in turn, describe the difference in shopping behaviours displayed by the different groups. This was achieved through the creation of a questionnaire designed specifically for the study at hand. The gathered data was then statistically tested and interpreted so as to answer the research questions set. Finally, the interpretation of this data was then applied to handbag retailers and discussed in terms of the implications the research findings put forward.