As main consumers and trend setters in the future, college students are one of the most frequent

consumers of the apparel industry. A researcher conducted a study on where do college students

spend most of their money. Results determined that college students spend $27 billion on things

deemed to be as non-essential items. Students who are 16-21 years of age spend $5 billion

each year on clothes and shoes. (Schalk, 2016, para. 3) Indeed, college students cant be ignored

as a significant market in the apparel industry. The consumer behaviour of these students reflect

their generations consumer concepts and to some extent, their value orientation. These are

determined by the factors that affect their consumer behaviour in the purchase of apparel.

Marketing campaigns are one of the top influencers in a students consumer behaviour. Todays

clothing companies spend a significant amount on hiring endorses to advertise their brand. These

companies aim to have a significant return on investment with the expectation that these

endorsers catch their prospective recall, increase product attractiveness, and have a significant

contribution to consumers purchase intentions. (Rodriguez, 2008, p.83- 89) Students 16- 21

years of age are easily influenced by a clever advertisement and by the use of iconic persons-

causing them to engage with the brands products. A study in this matter, conducted by Karina

Rodriguez from the University of the Philippines- Diliman showed that an endorser with a high

celebrity status has a greater positive influence to the consumers attitude towards the purchase

intentions.

Though marketing campaigns have a significant impact in a students consumer behaviour, the

personal consumer likes and dislikes exert greater influence on the end purchase made by a

consumer. The success of clothing companies also depend on how well they adapt to the personal

preference of their consumers. At the personal level, consumer behaviour is determined by

various shades of likes, dislikes, priorities, morals and values. Previous research has indicated
that the students choice of clothing is associated with their self- concept, self- esteem, self-

expression, personality, body, and mood. (Barquet & Balam, 2015, p.1) Todays college students

often resort to expressing themselves through the clothes that they were. The personal preference

of college students may also depend on their physical appearance. It is a no- brainer that

consumers will choose any clothing that would emphasize their body assets as this would

increase their self- esteem.

A sub- topic of personal preference may include lifestyle. Lifestyle, a term proposed by Austrian

psychologist Alfred Adler in 1929, refers to the way an individual stays in the society. It is really

important for some people to wear branded clothes whereas some individuals are really not brand

conscious. An individual staying in a posh locality needs to maintain his status and image. An

individuals lifestyle is something to do with his style, attitude, perception, his social relations

and immediate surroundings. (Rani, 2014, pp. 52-55)

Group influence and culture are also seen to affect the decisions made by a consumer. A research

conducted in China shows that the relationships among family members mainly depend on the

influence of Chinese traditional culture of thousands of years. Due to different social and culture

background, compared with foreign families, Chinese parents born in the 60s and children born

in the 1900s often experience some special life events which influence their characteristics in

purchasing.

Geographical factors influence the behaviour of potential consumers from the aspect of location.

The idea is that people who live in certain locality have similar needs and wishes which differ

from the needs and wishes of people who live in other localities. Geographical distribution of the

population is important due to the fact that people who inhabit a certain region usually have or
share the same values. (Djeri, L., 2014, para. 2.) Opposing this statement is a study conducted by

Eoghan McHugh on the influence of location to consumer behaviour in online shopping, results

showed that:

A comparison of both rural and urban respondents reveal that residents of rural

settlements do not complete more purchases online than residents of urban settlements.

Respondents in both rural and urban settlements shop equally online. This study found

that online shopping frequency is not affected by location. (McHugh, E. C., 2015, para. 2)

Lastly, the purchasing power of college students and their social class plays an important role in

influencing their consumer behaviour. One researcher has identified a key factor affecting the

consumer behaviour of college students in the purchase of apparel:

Purchasing power of a consumer plays an important role in influencing the consumer

behaviour. The consumers generally analyse their purchasing capacity before making a

decision to buy and products or services. The product may be excellent, but if it fails to

meet the buyers purchasing ability, it will have high impact on it its sales. (Machinge,

2017, para. 5)

Every society has some kind of social class is important for marketing because the buying

behaviour of people in a particular social class is similar. Thus marketing activities could be

adapted to different social classes. Here we should note that social class is not only determined

by income, but there are several other factors such as wealth, education, occupation etc. (Kasi,

2014, para. 6)
The factors indicated above may affect a college students consumer behaviour. As studies show,

the use of marketing strategies may only be effective when a credible endorser would be the

subject of the advertisement. Meanwhile, personal preference still depends on the characteristics

and personality of the consumer. He may or may not be affected by his personal preference in

purchasing a product. In the matter of group influence, a study in China has confirmed that group

influence such as family ties are relevant in affecting a consumers behaviour. This may also be

applicable in a Filipino setting since close family ties have always been recognized as one of the

core values of a Filipino family. These strong ties are one of the factors affecting the consumer

behaviour of students in choosing their apparel. In traditional Filipino families, women are

encouraged to dress conservatively as this is one of the societal norms observed in this country.

(Liu, 2014 pp. 186- 189) College students who grew up with this norm has the tendency to

purchase clothing with medium to full coverage- as this is what their family influenced them to

observe. On the other hand, college students who grew up with families who adapt themselves in

the modern fashion trend tend to be more adventurous in their choice of apparel. They can

comfortably wear clothes showing a lot of skin. Likewise, the university and the policies that

these college students need to abide to may determine their choice of apparel. The preference of

the students acquaintances may also influence their consumer behaviour.

In relation with influence of a family to the consumer behaviour of students, the culture also

plays an important role in affecting the consumer behaviour. Essentially, culture is the share of

each company and is the major cause of the person who wants and behaviour. The influence of

culture on the purchasing behaviour varies from country to country, therefore sellers have to be

very careful in the analysis of the culture of different groups, regions or even countries. Each

culture has different subcultures, such as religions, nationalities, geographical region, racial, etc.
marketing groups may use these groups, dividing the market in several small portions. For

example, marketers can design products according to the needs of a specific geographical group.

(Kasi, 2014, para. 4)

With regard to the effect of location and geography to the behaviour of consumers, there are

opposing ideas between the effects. Some are greatly affected, and some are not. This still varies

on the setting of the place where the consumption will be made. In terms of purchasing power, it

can be said that college students in the Philippines are usually given limited allowance to be

spent on their transportation, shelter, food for the whole day, and other extra miscellaneous fees

in school. With the strict allotment of the allowance, there is only a limited amount spent for

other things- including clothing. Since the target market is college students, an affordable

product is more likely to have an appeal than those expensive ones. Although college students

belonging in the upper class has more means of purchasing high- end clothes than those

belonging to the middle and lower classes, the general number of students resort to practical

consumption- preferring clothes with high quality that would fit their budget.

The aforementioned factors that affect the consumer behaviour of students such as marketing

campaigns, personal preference, group influence, culture, geography, purchasing power and

social class should be taken into consideration in selling apparel. Understanding, analysing and

keeping track of consumer behaviour is very critical for a marketing department to retain their

position successfully in the market place.

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