University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

(UWIC)

Title: To what extent does colour influence the purchase of

clothing?
The case of Zara

Supervisor:
Dr. Ghalib Fahad

A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement

for the degree of Masters in Business Administration (Marketing)
of University of Wales Cardiff (UWIC)

By
Alice Kichiku Jorry

Date: 31st July, 2009

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PAGE
Title............................................................................................................................................1
Abstract......................................................................................................................................2
Acknowledgement......................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research content..................................................................................................................4

1.2 Nature of the problem..........................................................................................................5

1.3 Aims and objective of the study..........................................................................................6

1.4 Significance of the research study.......................................................................................7

1.5 Organization of the study....................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................9

2.2 School of thought on colour...............................................................................................9

2.3 Meaning of colour to consumers.......................................................................................10

2.4 Consumer preference in colour..........................................................................................11

2.5 Consumer choice of products............................................................................................12

2.6 Consumer perception of colours........................................................................................12

2.7 Understanding different attributes of colour.....................................................................13

2.7.1 Cultural differences..............................................................................13

2.7.2 Gender differences...............................................................................14
2.8 Psychology of colour.........................................................................................................14

CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW OF ZARA

3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................16

3.2 History of the Company................................................................................................... 16

3.3 Competitive advantage of the Company...........................................................................21

3.4 Market share and the growth of the Company..................................................................23

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2
4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................27

4.2 Research Methodology......................................................................................................27

4.3 Research approach.............................................................................................................28

4.3.1 Positivism.........................................................................................................28
4.3.2 Phenomenology................................................................................................29
4.3.3 Realism.............................................................................................................29
4.4 Categories of Research......................................................................................................30

4.4.1 Exploratory Research.......................................................................................30

4.4.2 Descriptive Research........................................................................................31

4.5 Primary Data......................................................................................................................33

4.5.1 Observation..........................................................................................34
4.5.2 Interview...............................................................................................34
4.5.3 Questionnaire.......................................................................................35
4.5.4 Sampling...............................................................................................35

4.6 Secondary Data..................................................................................................................37

4.7 In-depth Interview.............................................................................................................39

4.8 Case Studies.......................................................................................................................39

4.9 Focus group discussion......................................................................................................39

4.10 Reliability and Validity................................................................................................41

4.11 Limitation of the study.................................................................................................42

CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................44

5.2 Data Analysis.................................................................................................44

5.3 Findings.........................................................................................................45

5.4 Discussion of the findings.............................................................................50

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 Conclusion.....................................................................................................52

3
 6.2 Recommendations.........................................................................................55

6.3 Suggestions for future study Research.........................................................56

REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................57

Abbreviations
H& M- Hennes and Mauritz
GAP- Genuine American Product
C& A-Camden and Amboy Railroad
SWOT- Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threats
Q-Question
UK-United Kingdom
USA- United States of America
UAE- The United Arab Emirates

4
Title

To what extent does colour influence the purchase of clothing? The case of Zara Store

5
Abstract

This Research study analyse the influence of colour on clothes purchase especially to female
consumers. The study was conducted in UK mainly in London.

The collection of data was done by including both examination of secondary and primary
data, whereby the sample of 21 female consumers were involved in focus group discussions
to reveal the colour influence on clothes purchase.

The study revealed that colour stimulates interest and subsequently increase the buying power
of products. Since addition of colour can stimulate consumers choice. It was found that
colours draw attention to consumers as a result of the linkage in both physical properties of
the product and behavioural qualities. Further more from the consumers’ point of view, it was
found that colours of the apparel product not only take into consideration the physical

6
appearance of the product and the functional behavioural qualities but more importantly the
behavioural qualities. On top of that sensory, emotional and cognitive dimensions of the
aesthetic experience play a major role when female consumers’ asses colour of the apparel
product.

It was suggested that, consumers should be able to see the colour even before they entered the
store, since colour is in the eye of the consumer, therefore it should be an integral part of the
retailer to formulate various strategies. Therefore formal qualities such as colour, textures,
lines and others of inside and outside of the store as well as the layout and visual
merchandizing should be able to spell out consumers sensory and emotional of the aesthetic
experience for the colour that the female consumer is looking for.

Acknowledgements:

This dissertation is a combination of many things. It was not the work of an individual person
rather a group of people. The researcher would like to thank the following for their support
and wonderful contribution.

First and foremost the researcher wishes to thank God for the good health and sound mind
during the period of the study in UK.

I am sincerely thankful to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Siriaki Jorry for granting me full
sponsorship.

I appreciate full support of my supervisor Dr. Ghalib Fahad for the intellectual guidance and
comments that made this work possible.

7
In particular, I would like to thank my family in Tanzania especially my Father Mr. Siriaki
Jorry, my mother Mrs. Honorina Mumba Jorry, my only brother Evarist and sisters Esther,
Winnie, Vicky and Brenda for their prayers, love, care and encouragement, without forgetting
my nephew Honest Evarist. Special thanks go to my boyfriend Gratis Gatema Dyegula, for
his immense support during my studies here in London.

Finally, I would like to thank my lecturers, colleagues and my friends for the endless support
and advice whenever I needed it.

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Context

Fashion in the last thirty years has changed to be a mass market product from being of the
few selected super-rich. From the mid 1990s those stores that usually dominated the market
started to be beaten by the chains which offer special and latest designs at reasonable prices.
One of these successful stores is Zara, which is a subsidiary of the Spanish Inditex Group.
Zara has become an international fashion business with 1,080 stores in 33 countries from
Japan to Venezuela and it has strong domination in Europe and the USA in less than 30 years.

8
In a year, it sells 90 million garments and its turnover in 2001 was over $ 4 billion. Zara’s
success is much based on market orientation.

Consumers tend to be drowned out by sensory, emotional and cognitive reactions towards
apparel products. According to Fiore and Kimle 1997, the results of these reactions originate
from the formal qualities such as colour, texture, lines and proportions of the certain items. It
is a concern of the consumer not to be evoked by functional quality of the fashioned item but
to the whole of the sensory, emotional and cognitive satisfaction that will provide a complete
aesthetic know how of the quality of the item (Fiore and Damhorst, 1992)

Dickerson 2003, points out that clothing industry find difficult more and more to satisfy the
consumer. As it appears that consumer’s priorities have changed in the last decade. During
1980’s and 1990’s consumers would buy fashionable clothing with substantial amount of
money for a specific brand name, but now consumers expect more for what they are prepared
to pay.

In general, consumers are definite connected to different lifestyle and colour which in return
makes them to have a choice on the purchase of certain products or services instead of the
other products or services offered. Frequently, their decision making is influenced much by
their personal experience and the external environment. It is necessary for the marketers to
take into account the notion of colour so as to attract different market segments and target on
the profit market.

Most factors include personal factors, psychological factors, reference groups, demographic
family, advertisements, opinion reader, social class, moral imagination, interests, system
thinking and culture. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, an individual needs and motivation
tends to be different when an individual moves up the hierarchy. This is beyond the marketer
influence and control, which has a major effect on consumer behaviour and purchasing
decision. Despite the marketers not being capable of influencing consumers on the above
factors, marketers can create some manner as the result of the buying process by using
different marketing tools, the most common one being the 4Ps which are Product, Price,
Place and Promotion (the marketing mix). Although the value of marketing mix as a toolkit is
much challenged by marketing practitioners, the 4Ps still have impact on consumer’s
behaviour on the final outcome of the buyer and seller attraction.

9
Individuals with high purchasing power are influenced much by the advertisements and
models than low purchasing power consumers. Families are seen to have major influence on
the consumption-related behaviour such as clothing. Many people see their family as
“building road of their lives” and important to build relationship (Tan 1999, p. 243).

Consumers are highly influenced by the reference groups as well, since they create
socialization of the individual, develop self concepts and obtain fulfilment with the norms
(Blackwell et al., p.398). Social class is influenced by the family in which they are raised.

Colour tends to have an effective response which influences consumers. Colours used in
advertisements, packages and other marketing stimuli all have an affective response to the
customers (Karders, 2002)

Most consumers who are responsible for purchasing clothes for themselves and for their
families seem to be women; more women now buy clothes not only on stores but also on the
internet (Park and Stoel, 2002). As clothing has become internationalised, consumers are
increasingly getting into understanding of differences in colour when purchasing clothes.
Consumers collect information about clothing and fashion and image they have about
different colours. Colour is a fundamental element of corporate and marketing
communications. It induces emotions and moods, influences consumer’s perceptions and
behaviour and it helps companies position or differentiate from competition. The question
still is: To what extent does colour influence the purchase of clothing as far as female
clothing is concerned? Knowledge of the consumers about colour preferences and the factors
that may influence the purchase of certain fashioned clothes could be used by retailers and
marketers in the selection of products that they plan to offer and in promoting their sales.
With regard to this, unfortunately, no enough research has been done on how colours can
influence clothes purchased by female consumers. The aim of this research will be to
investigate how Zara stores offer different coloured and fashioned clothes and how
consumers appeal to those coloured and fashioned clothes.

1.2 Nature of the Problem

When looking at consumer’s choice on products, it is a complicated thing which varies all the
time. The marketers should make efforts in order to understand consumer’s choice so as to be
successful. Belk and Dholakia (1996) argued that it is important to understand the nature and
origin of patterns of consumption at this emerging time. Towards increasing of global

10
changes which in turn contribute to an increase of competitive market, each market tends to
satisfy its customers in a better way. So as to compete, many retailers and manufacturers
adopt product strategies so as to capture customers. Colour has been seen as one of the
popular strategies which influence customers’ choice.

The influence of colour on consumer choice has attracted many marketers to look at it as an
important marketing tool. To date, the marketers have failed to recognise the predictive
power of colour on consumers decision (Garber et al, 2000). This is why many researchers
have been attracted towards looking at the current understanding of colour significance and
characteristics without forgetting its effects on consumer choices. This study as a result seeks
to understand the influence of colour, specifically colour attractiveness and colour
preferences on UK female consumers’ clothes choices.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

After carefully identifying the problem in explanation given above, the main aim of this study
will be to find out to what extent colour influence the purchase of clothes, specifically to
women who are highly connected to colour preferences and styles, from this aim there arises
the following objectives:

1. To review on literatures on how colour influences clothes purchase.

2. To understand how consumers appeal to the colours when purchasing clothes.

3. To find out how Zara offer different patterns of coloured clothes.

4. To recommend to the company on how to improve their business

1.4 Significance of the Research Study

At the end of this Research study there will be several significances obtained such as:

The research will provide information to marketers and retailers on understanding the choice
of consumers on clothes depending on different preferred colours. They will get to know why
and what colours are preferred most.

This research will enable other researchers to study more on the related topic or similar topic,
on colour influences on clothes purchase

11
In general, there is fast development of fashion clothes in the UK with different colour
patterns, designs and competitive prices. As a result it is the aim of the research to look at the
literature and to know whether it is culture influence, psychological influence, family
influence, interests or advertisement that plays part on influencing consumers purchasing
certain colours of clothes.

1.5 Organization of the Study

In this study, there consists of six main chapters. In every chapter, there is coverage of
explanations and opinions to enable understanding of the subject matter. This study aims at
looking at the influence of colour on clothes purchase to female consumers. On the other
side, the research will help in providing out colours that will attract consumers and thereby
increasing profit in the business and win out competitive market at large.

Chapter1: This chapter includes the introduction on the development of fashion industry in
the UK which looks at the development of colours in clothes as well as how consumers tend
to be attracted by different apparel products. Looking at the statement of the problem and the
objectives of research which have been identified, encouraged the researcher to write this
dissertation. This chapter also explains how Zara store has been running out its business in
terms of the coverage of the stores it has and its turnover in the previous years of its business.

Chapter 2: This chapter basically tries to look at different meanings of colour according to
different schools of thoughts. On top of that, the chapter also looks at the discussion on how
consumers appeal to different colours and how consumers are associated with different
colours and meanings.

Chapter 3: This chapter represents general overview of the company, that is Zara, in the
whole business arena that includes its history, the competitors and the market share of the
Industry at large.

Chapter 4: Consists of the methodology which explains the approach used by the researcher,
the type of research adopted by the researcher and the tools used in the data collection. This
chapter also measures the validity and reliability of the data collected and the shortcomings
which were faced by the researcher during the research.

Chapter 5: In this chapter, mainly the findings and analysis of the data collected are
discussed. This basically aims at analysing the findings collected so as to know the extent to

12
which they relate to the literature review. In addition, the researcher wants to find out
whether the findings answered the research objectives.

Chapter 6: Consists of the conclusion and recommendations. Mainly, recommendations

were made to companies that are engaged in the retail sector based on clothes Industry. The
same applies to the research of the same topic or any related field in the near future.

Chapter Two

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter will provide an overview of the general meaning of colour according to different
schools and how consumers appeal to different colour of clothes according to different choice
of products. This will focus mainly on the factors that influence consumers to prefer certain
type of clothes with certain colours and how consumers are associated with different colour
perception and meaning.

13
 Lastly, the chapter will look at responses which are much associated with conditioned and
unconditioned stimulus and as the result would bring out conditioned response. At the end,
this would help us explain the different attributes that address colour in a wider perspective.

2.2 Schools of thought on colour

As clothing purchase behaviour is much connected with the individual clothing interests, to
some extent, understanding of clothing purchase behaviour will be analysed depending on
this.

Looking at two major schools of thoughts related to colour and human behaviour which will
help the understanding and analysis of the psychological and socio-cultural associations and
meanings of colour towards consumers purchase behaviour. One school of thought relates
colour and human behaviour. Colour reaction could be innate or instinctual origin
(Humphrey, 1976) or of learned or associative origin (Hupka et al., 1997).

In the first school which argues that, it is colour which signals the brain so that it triggers an
effective reaction directly, while the other school argues that colour preferences are learned
overtime as shared affective meanings or as a result of past experiences or as a conscious
association in language, literature and myths

2.3 Meanings of colour

Colour tends to influence human behaviour and human physiology. Ward, 1995 suggested
that if you want to lower stress at workplace, the walls can be painted with different colours
in the right place so as to make an exciting difference.

It has been noted that, red is often associated with exciting- stimulating, orange with
distressed-disturbed-upset, blue with tender-soothing, purple with dignified-stately, yellow
with cheerful-joyful and black with powerful-strong-masterful.

Since colours are known to posses emotional and psychological properties hence meanings
associated with different colours are important to marketers because they can be used by

14
marketers to communicate the colour that best fits the image of the consumers (Schmitt and
Simonson, 1997).

Different cultures have associated different colours to different meanings

Spectrum of colour meaning:

A Hot, vibrant, violent

Active, exciting, ferocious, calming, cold, gentle,
Peaceful, still
Meanings
Red Colours

Gold Black Blue passive

Orange Brown Green
Yellow Purple White

2.4 Consumers Preference on Colours

Studies suggest that consumers may prefer certain colours over others depending on various
product categories. A study done by Pantone (1992) found most popular colours for clothing
include blue, red and black. Black, being the most worn colour worn for dressy occasions. On
the other hand, products like cars are preferred in blue, gray, red, white and beige is preferred
for carpeting upholstered furniture and paint (Mundell, 1993). It has been seen that
preference of colours on people differs depending on product and their favourite colour was
self determining of these colours in particular contexts, preferences for colours may be
determined based on cultural view, due to associations of people who learn the same culture.

To a certain extent preferences in colour do not exist in vacuum, colour preferences for
certain objects or settings are dependent upon the situation and the necessary association
people may have developed over time (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999). A number of studies
imply that consumers can prefer certain colour over others depending on various product
categories (Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999). A study conducted by Pantone (1992) found that
the most well-liked colours for clothing were blue, red and black with black being the most
worn colour for classy occasions. In automobiles the most preferred colours are blue, gray,

15
red, white and black, while light brown is preferred for carpeting, upholstered furniture and
paint (Mundell, 1993). Holmes and Buchanan (1984) asked subjects to report their overall
desired colour and they profiled colours for products such as automobiles, clothing and
furniture. They found that people's colour preferences differ depending on the product and
their choice of colour was independent of these preferences. Children were shown to favour
certain colours when choosing candies (Walsh et al, 1990) and adults of certain cultures
prefered particular colours on cheese, even when taste cannot be distinguished
(Scanlon, 1985).

An experiment which was described by Clydesdale (1993) showed some participants who felt
ill when a change in lighting conditions revealed to them that they were eating “blue steak,
red peas, and green french fries”. Some of the evidence which stress on those preferences
among simple coloured stimuli does generalize (Crozier, 1999). Taft (1997), showed that
preferences among simple chips did match up well to actual object and are guided by what he
called “generalized conceptions of colour-object appropriateness” (p. 48) which are most
likely influenced by cultural conventions and stereotypes.

2.5 Consumer choice of products

The consumer decision process consists of two parts: the process itself and the factors
affecting the process. The decision process has six steps: stimulus, problem awareness,
information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and post-purchase behaviour.
Factors that affect the process are consumer's demographics and lifestyles. Studying
demographic and life-styles factors can identify consumer characteristics and needs.
Demographics are easily identifiable and measurable population statistics. Life-styles are the
ways in which consumers live and spend time and money. The retailer must really grasp the
consumer's decision process from two different perspectives: a) what good or service the
consumer is thinking about buying and b) where the consumer is going to make the purchase
of that item.

The consumer can make these two decisions separately or jointly. The consumer can rely on
the retailer for supports such as information, assortments, knowledgeable sales personnel and
market research over the entire decisions process. If the decisions are made independently,
what to buy in relation to where to buy, the person then gathers information and advice
before entering a store and views the retailer more simply as a place of purchase. In addition

16
to identifying the characteristics of its target market, the retailer should have an
understanding of how customers make decisions. This requires knowledge of consumer
behaviour or choice, which involves the process by which people determine whether, what,
when, where, how and from whom and how often to purchase goods and services. The impact
of colour on brand choice has been recognised by a number of scholars. Chapman (1998),
reports that colour are an underleveraged motivator of brand choice.

2.6 Consumers perception of colours.

When considering cross-cultural meanings and relation that colours have to an individual
denotes that white symbolises mourning or death in East Asia (Ricks, 1983) but in Australia,
USA and New Zealand it symbolises happiness and purity (Neal et al., 2002). Blue, which is
known to be American Corporate Colour, the same blue colour is perceived as cold and evil
in East Asia (Schmitt, 1994). In Netherlands, it stands for warmth, in Sweden it stands for
coldness. In Iran, it stands for death and in India it stands for purity (Schiffman et al., 2001).
In The Netherlands, it denotes femininity and in Sweden and the USA it denotes masculinity
(Neal et al., 2002). Blue means high quality, trustworthy and dependable in the USA, Japan,
Korea and China. Green represents danger or disease in Malaysia (Ricks, 1983) and envy in
Belgium and the USA (Hupka et al., 1997). Green denotes love, happiness, good taste and
adventure in Japan, sincere, trustworthy and dependable in China and good taste and
adventure in the USA (Jacobs et al., 1991).

Red means unlucky in Chad, Nigeria and Germany, but lucky in China, Denmark and
Argentina (Schmitt, 1995; Neal et al., 2002). It is a bride’s colour in China, but a masculine
colour in the UK and France (Neal et al., 2002). It shows ambition and desire in India
(Grossman and Wisenblit, 1999) and love in China, Korea, Japan and the USA (Jacobs et al.,
1991). Yellow represents warmth in the USA, but unfaithfulness in France (Neal et al., 2002).
It is associated with envy and jealousy in Germany and Russia (Hupka et al., 1997), whereas
it means pleasant, happy, good taste, progressive, authority, royal and trustworthy in China
(Schmitt, 1995). Purple is a colour of love in China, South Korea and the USA (Jacobs et al.,
1991), but is related to anger and envy in Mexico and to sin and fear in Japan (Hupka et al.,
1997). Purple is considered as expensive in China, South Korea and Japan (Jacobs et al.,
1991). Black is associated with dullness and stupidity in India (Grossman and Wisenblit,
1999). It represents grief and sorrow in Western cultures, but is also a ceremonial dress for
priests and justices and a dress of subservience for waiters and servants. Japanese connect

17
black with fear and it represents fear, anger and jealousy in Germany, Russia, Poland, Mexico
and the USA (Hupka et al., 1997).
Black is seen as powerful and expensive in the USA, China, Japan and South Korea and also
as dependable, trustworthy and of high quality in China (Jacobs et al., 1991).

2.7 Understanding the different attributes of colour

2.7.1 Cultural differences

Cultural differences are very important in understanding of consumer behaviour towards

colours in clothing.

There are certain special criteria in selecting clothing, as clothing can easily be altered by
different fashion, occasion and preference. Clothing is generally used to express oneself. This
tends to be particularly to women who have an interest in fashion and how to wear clothing.
Women can spend a certain amounts of money and energy on clothing.

2.7.2 Gender differences

With regard to gender differences, there is evidence to suggest the differences in the decision-
making process between individuals. For instance, there is research evidence supporting
decision-processing differences between men and women in financial decision making
(Powell and Ansic, 1997).

In relation to consumer behaviour several issues have been examined, including the
relationship between gender identity and consumers’ perceptions of masculinity in products
(Jaffee, 1991). Gender identity was found to play a major significant role in areas such as,
food/gendered product preference, gift shopping/ gift choices and gift exchange, patronage of
the arts etc (Gainer, 1993). Within these studies however there are conflicting results with
respect to the relative importance of masculinity and femininity in explaining the findings.
Fischer and Arnold (1994) found femininity to be more important than masculinity in
relationship to Christmas gift shopping. It is important to document gender differences in
colour impact on choice as there is currently no such empirical evidence (Worth et al 1992).

2.8 Psychology of Colour

18
It is very important for the stores to consider the psychology of colour to consumers so as to
succeed. The main important issue is to create the environment whereby the shopper can
recognize a one-to-one relationship with the store; in order to pinpoint what they really want
by using combination of brain imaging and eye scanning technologies to delve into the mind
of the shopper, the desired insight could be within the reach. The shopper psychology means
interaction with the environment and brand in-store and consumer psychology includes
environmental influences such as culture, family, media, peer pressure, gender roles, identity,
etc, it also includes impact of emotions, symbols, mood and lastly satisfying consumer’s
needs and desires.

Research shows that it is colour which affects our moods and tends to manifest itself in the
choices we make. Loyalty and many forms of communication and symbolism should be used
for the case of the vehicle purchase; this is the powerful resource that should be embraced by
all in retail sector. Colour, shape and context use to identify things and any analysis will
depend on a combination of all 3 factors. Thus the effect of colour should be considered as
generalizations which require expert interpretations (Simons, D.2002)

Table 1:

Different colours and its Effects to Consumers

19
COLOUR EFFECTS
RED Attention grabber denotes action, strong masculine appeal and can be used
to play down femininity, can escalate the body’s metabolism, exciting, full
of energy and vitality, powerful, vibrant, and passionate. Has been known to
raise the blood pressure in some cases. Red has a tendency to make people
spend more.
YELLOW Generally, the first colour the human eye notices, cheerful, used for mental
stimulation, combination of yellow background with black text has high
memory retention and legibility (research by Pantone) Ego, optimism,
increase self esteem but beware of overuse as this can howler the effect.
Relaxation (lighter shades) dark shades can be overpowering.
BLUE Calming- has been known to lower blood pressure (light blue), encourages
reflection and logical thought, has the tendency to make people spend less,
intellectual, dignity (dark blue), the favourite colour of most adults and
interestingly, bees
GREEN Relaxing and quiet (dark green), reassuring, perfect balance (no usual
adjustment is needed to see it), it is the centre of colour spectrum,
stimulating & uplifting (bright green), and it is for Health.
BROWN Homely, Earthly
VIOLET Contemplation
PINK Feminine, Soothing (reddish pink), sexy
ORANGE Fiery passion & physical enjoyment, sensual, physical comfort
BLACK Sophistication
WHITE Innocence, Peace can be cold and sterile but adding units of silver and blue
can bring warmth.
Source: ‘Psychology of colour’ Daily Mail, 26 May 2001

Chapter Three

OVERVIEW OF ZARA

3.1 Introduction

20
After having a look at how consumers prefer certain colours in clothes and how they
associate different meanings of colours according to different cultural background, it is often
seen that consumers are attracted to certain display of colour patterns as well, as it has been
the aim of many stores so as to attract the customers.

This chapter is going to explain the history of Zara Store, its competitors and its market share.
This will help to understand how Zara store win its customers in the market.

3.2 The History of the Company

Zara is one of the European fashions Brand in the market, at present it is in more than 30
countries with about 600 corporate stores in most privileged sites in cities.

Zara which is part of apparel industria de Diseno textile, S.A (Lereinafter Index) in a group
that is made up of fashion retail chains, textile manufacturing, purchasing, fabric treating and
logistic and construction companies (Bresnick 2003). This group is best known for its Zara
Brand but has got rather seven chains: Kiddy’s class, Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka,
Stradwarius, Oysho and Zara home.

This group has it’s headquarter located at Arteixo in Northwest of Spain. The Chief executive
officer of the company (Inditex group) is Jose Maria Casslollano Rios who joined the
company from IBM in 1984 (Inditex, 2003). In total of 34 countries, more than 34,000
employees work for the group whereby 19,000 come from Spain and 15,000 from abroad. All
the companies share the same philosophy of marketing and management. They enjoy
autonomy in the management of the business as the teams are free to make marketing
decisions and they can act independently.

Inditex was founded in 1963 by Amancio Ortega Gaona. The first shop was opened by the
group in 1975 in La Coruna, Spain. Over the following decade Amancio Ortega Gaona
expanded by opening various new stores. Inditex was established as the head of corporate
group in 1985. Expansion outside Spain took place in 1988 whereby a new store was opened
in Portugal and later in New York 1989 and Paris 1990. Inditex continued to open other new
international markets in the mid 1990’s: Mexico in 1992, Greece 1993 and Belgium and
Sweden 1994.

21
Further growth was attained in 1995 as Inditex acquired the remaining shares of Massimo
Dutti. The same year, first store was opened in Malta and the following year it was opened in
Cyprus, later on Norway and Israel joined.

In 1990 the group target the younger female market and new stores were opened in
Argentina, Japan, UK, Venezuela, Lebanon, UAE, Kuwait and Turkey. The group acquired
Stradivarius in 1999 and opened new stores in countries including Netherlands, Germany,
Poland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

Other new stores were opened in four new countries in 2000 which included Austria,
Denmark, Qatar and Andora. The headquarters to the new building was installed which was
located in Arteixo, La Coruna, Spain.

The group was publicized in 2001 and listed itself in the Spanish Stock Market. In the same
year, the group began its activity in Puerto Rico, Jordan, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg,
Czech Republic and Italy.

In 2002, the construction work on the Zara logistic centre in Zaragoza, Spain started whereby
a chain of stores operated by the group reached 72 stores in 2002.

During 2004, the first stores were opened in Morocco and Hong Kong also in Tallin and
Estonia. In January 2005, the group acquire 98% of the Massimo Dutti Mexico into the
agreement they entered, but before and after franchisee, and Massimo Dutti Mexico entering
the group, the group would control 17 stores of the chain directly. In Poland, an agreement
was reached to acquire the 51% stake in Zara franchisee.

In 2006, Inditex marked its presence in several markets for the first time. These include
Serbia, Mainland China and Tunisia. Zara store was launched for the first time in Shanghai
and Norway.

In January 2007, the group entered St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia by
opening five stores. In February 2007, the group opened its first Zara store in Beijing, China.
In the same year in March, Inditex was awarded a Global Retailer of the year during the first
edition of the World Retail Congress which was attended by 1,000 of the most relevant
leaders within the retail industry.

In October 2007, Zara Home, commenced online trading through its website;
www.zarahome.com which would enable Zara customers to purchase Zara home products

22
from fourteen European countries; UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain & Sweden. The products
offered online included an extensive catalogue of around 2,000 items from all the present
lines in the Zara Home & Zara Home kids’ collections.

In May 2008, Pull and Bear opened its first store in Liverpool, UK. In July 2008, Uterque,
the new format of the Inditex group specializing in fashion accessories launched its first
stores simultaneously in three Spanish cities; La Coruna, Madrid and Barcelona. In
September 2007, Inditex opened its 4,000th store which is the Zara store located in Ginza,
Japan

Inditex specialised in fashion retailing, the group which is well established and has diverse
offerings in its portfolio for retail spenders which help the group to carve a niche for itself in
the global retail market. However, increase in labour costs in European region, would
adversely impact the group’s margin. On top of that Inditex has been facing some challenges
as well as having certain opportunities which can be summarized in SWOT analysis figure
below.

Table 2:

SWOT analysis for Zara Store:

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

23
  Strong product diversity  Overdependence on the European
 Strong revenue growth Market

 Strong distribution network

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

 Expansion plans  New avenue being utilized by

 Growing apparel retail market in competitors
China  Counterfeit goods
 Growing online sales in the UK  Rising labour cost in European Region

Source: www.marketlineinfo.com

By Zara belonging to the Group, which has expanded to over 30 countries, has given them
high level of synergy in terms of organization and knowledge management thus each
management can focus on its own development in the business.

Inditex, is just incharge of the central corporate services such as international growth,
administration, the use of logistics technology, the general human resource policy, legal
aspects and financial capacity.

Inditex group has unique management methods which are innovations and flexibility, which
has turned Inditex into one of the world’s largest fashion groups.

By Zara being an integrated retailer, this has been due to its culture which is more of a
customer-oriented, has enabled Zara to have control over the entire production process, from
design to sale. Development of a product from initial design stage to sale is set out and shows
precisely how the Zara model is organised. In other Inditex store chains, the group’s presence
in the production process is weighted differently, as Table 3 below shows.

Table 3:

Fundamental presence of Inditex Stores:

24
Company Own Franchises Joint Stores in Total Cities
Stores Ventures Spain stores

Zara 420 27 12 220 449 23

Source: Key Note (2007)

In search of generating value for the customer, the company has managed to develop its own
business concept, which is known as Zara Concept. The Zara Concept implies a change in
how the business and the product are considered. Fashion products such as clothing,
accessories and footwear have traditionally been considered a durable consumption article.
Fashion has been considered to be a non- durable product by Inditex-Zara, with a sell-by
period between three and four weeks. This principle permeates the whole organisation and is
constantly pointed out as a key factor for success.

What is important in the Zara organization is time, which is an essential factor in Zara’s
processes. Everything is done to reduce the time between product design and availability for
sale. As a result, Zara prolongs the time taken in the production cycle for each season. When
the company has proved acceptance by the market an average of 85 per cent of goods are
manufactured during the season when they are to be sold. Since this policy can also affects
purchasing, production and logistics policies, and the behaviour of the entire organisation. As
a result, market point of reference drives creation of particular sets of behaviour which, in
turn, create value for the organisation. The fashion retail market is divided into a number of
segments – luxury, high street, and supermarket/out-of-town discounter. Gannaway (1999)
suggests that, “supermarkets are racing to make apparel an even smarter cash generator”. The
entrance of supermarkets into the clothing market has increased competition and redefined
how customers shop for clothing, with time-starved customers able to purchase cheap
fashionable clothing as part of the weekly shop, rather than visiting the high street.
Definitely, fast fashion is a growing phenomenon in the UK.

Zara is a specialist fashion chain and an important example of a fast fashion retailer, with
rapid stock turnaround and vertical integration. Indeed, Zara is credited with being a leader in
fast fashion (Foroohar and Stabe 2005). However, contributing to Zara's success is its focus
on a limited range and basic shapes, so that it deals with a rather narrow product range.
However, fast fashion does not apply to the whole range in stores, and as much as 80% of
goods may be core and basic lines, with fast fashion accounting for up to 20% (Mintel 2002)
25
3.3 Competitive advantage of the Company

In today market, clothing industry is very competitive. One-brand stores chain like H&M and
Zara in particular have a tendency to compete for the same customer profile.

But at the same time companies must compete with local, national and international
department stores, individual shops or boutiques, markets and companies operating sales by
catalogue or on the internet (Mazaira 2003).

Looking at Zara competitors which are the companies which distribute fashion and other
products like El corte Ingl’es and Carrefour and on the other fashion companies like Gap, C&
A, H& M, Benetton, Corlefiel, Mango & Adolfo Dominguez ( Inditex, 2003). This is shown
in the table below.

Table 4:

Zara Competitors:

Company Source Year Sales millions Number of Number of

pesetas Stores Countries
Gap 2 2000 2,152,475 3676 5
C& A 2 1999 831,930 444 10
H& M 2 2000 663,706 682 14

Source: Key Note (2008)

Zara’s sustainable competitive advantage, which materialises in the company’s ability for
nonstop adaptation of its offering to consumer tastes, with short-term adaptation to changing
trends.

This competitive advantage implies:

• Its stores are stocked with different new articles several times a week. Customers
recognise this and visit Zara stores continuously during the season.
• New market trends are brought into the stores in an agile, constant manner. The
organisation is there full packed, and ability to respond to the market immediately.

26
 This is a very crucial factor in a changing sector. They are quick enough in search a
way that it takes two weeks from product design to sale and only two weeks pass by
for repeat orders or slight changes and it takes five weeks for new products.
• Successful products are permanently stocked in the stores even during the sales
period.
• The risk of accumulating of the failed products is done in the in-house; even the
interpretation of the coloured and fashioned tendencies is easily pointed out.
• Purchasing late in the season has positive effects on costs, since suppliers are
concerned in selling off materials before the season ends up.

Further, according to the words of the company executive, continuous change in the stores’
products achieves a scarcity-opportunity feeling (Herreros, 2000):

It is clear to customers who enter a Zara store and see something they like; customers know
they have to buy it straight away, because it probably won’t be there next week.

It has been very hard for its competitive advantage to be copied by competitors, because its
success is not simply a technical issue. It originates in the company’s strong recognition with
the values of market orientation and the Zara business concept.

An average of 10,000 products is being brought by Zara in the market each year. Information
gathering drives this extraordinary offering. It is the work of the design team throughout the
season to study everything from which clothes are worn in and hit TV series to how clubbers
dress. “Product-shop teams” check product sales and store trends every day and this
information is crosschecked against stores’ twice-weekly orders. The information is
immediately fed to purchasing, design and production functions. When seems to be
unsuccessful products, they are straight away taken off the market; and store is now capable
of only placing small orders to avoid building up stocks.

Market information also drives Zara’s pricing. Traditional pricing uses a “cost plus margin”
calculation. Zara studies the existing market price of a particular product and establishes a
price point below the lowest for like competitor price. They design their own offering and
they produce to meet this price point.

27
Inditex/Zara’s concern with continuous analysis of its value chain has led the organisation to
focus on control over the greatest possible number of links. Zara has established control over
the total length of the production process, from inception of a product design to sale. This is a
crucial issue in the group’s strategy and the main feature of its differentiation from its
competitors (see Table 4).

3.4 Market share of the company

Zara home store from the Inditex’s core Zara chain represents another milestone for the
retailer that achieved £ 6.74 billion in sales during its latest financial year January 2006. This
is mainly due to its strategy which under pins success growing organically by creating new
fascias that broaden its reach and help spread risk

Since the millennium, Inditex has been accelerating its store growth; this is by tripling its
outlet number over the past six years and by extending its international presence. In October
2000 it reached 1,000 outlets. May 2004 expanded to 2000 and in October it operated from
3000 stores across the globe. The company home market is based in Europe, that is what the
company has been working for and now it accounts for over 80% of the sales.

There are other vast plans for further international expansion of its eight fascia which
accounts for a goal of 15% to 20% during the year of January 2007. In Europe countries like
Italy, France, UK and Germany have the most potential and they continue to expand
aggressively.

Inditex, with its multi-brand model which helps spread risk, and one that the key rival H&M
is only recently introducing. With the fact that during the Inditex’s first half of its financial
year some of the other stores sales increased by 5%, compared to 0.5% for key rivals H&M.
Inditex is believed to continue to take market share from rivals from many of its market. With
its market strategy of expanding more, which includes testing the water over a sustained
period before committing itself to a market will help see it through even the toughest of times
for fashion retailers and help ensure stable growth across its global store portfolio.

It is believed that, Europe’s largest clothing retailer has managed to avoid the worst current
economic crisis, through its registered strong sales growth in 2008 as a sustained rapid
international expansion. This shows that it is well positioned to tackle the tougher markets in
2009.

28
Despite the global market challenges, in 2008, Indetex achieved growth in all geographical
areas from Asia to the Americas. Group sales rose by 12% to £10.4 billion, while at the same
time in the final quarter of 2008 the markdowns and mere used promotional activity did not
hurt the company profits because its gross profit rose to 11% to £5.9 billion and net profit
increasing by 3.0% to £ 1.25 billion.

The company’s real growth potential lies abroad as Inditex continued to expand abroad in
2008 despite the worst trading conditions. The company entered five new markets; Ukraine,
South Korea, Montenegro, Honduras and Egypt. Now Indetex is present in 73 countries and
international sales accounts 66% of group turnover in 2008.

The company has the plan of continuing to expand more in 2009. Plans to open up new 456
stores which is adding to 230, 000 square metres of selling space to its store estate, 95% of
which will be outside Spain. Due to its intention of growing more international operations,
Indetex hopes to gain market share in highly fragmented markets abroad. Due to its retailer’s
flexibility, attractive pricing and high fashion principles will contribute win market share
abroad.

Inditex so far has proved to be resilient to the downturn, with clothing sales holding up in
2008. However, the 2009 will be more challenging year due to the nature of the global
recession in the world. Despite of internationalization, but still Europe remains the
company’s stronghold which accounts for 79% of total sales in 2008.

Inditex group manufactures high quality clothing and footwear and sells worldwide at mid-
market prices through its own branded retail stores. Zara offers clothing for women (about
58% of sales) men (about 22%) and children (about 20%), Inditex describes Zara in this way
(Inditex, 2004). Shown in Table 5 below

Clothing Industry at Zara is represented by apparel retail. This combination of men’s wear,
women’s wear and infant wear in the retail market has the 25 largest economies and
generates revenue of approximately $ 850 billion with average annual growth of 2.3% for the
past 5years. In the women’s wear it generates revenue of equivalent to 54.5% of the Industry
overall value.

Chart 1: Representing Stores sales by Geographic area:

29
Source: Key note (2004)

Table 5:

Target audience positioning and weight of Inditex Stores

30
Company Target audience Positioning %Sales

Zara Women (58%) Quality: medium-

high
Men (22%) 78.2%
Price: medium- low
Children (20%)
Several product
Age 0-45/50
lines

Source: Key Note (2008)

Chapter Four

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

31
4.1 Introduction

In the previous chapter, the researcher tried to explain on various meanings that the
consumers have on different colours and how consumers associate those meanings in the
choice for the clothing. The aim of this chapter is to explain the research style used and the
data collecting techniques that have been used by the researcher depending on the nature of
the problem in mind.

It is the aim of the researcher to gather the following information at the end of this chapter

1. To review on literatures on how colour influence clothes purchase.

2. To understand how consumers appeal to the colours when purchasing clothes.

3. To find out how Zara offer different patterns of coloured clothes.

4. To recommend on the company on how to improve their business.

In general, at the end of this chapter the researcher aims at getting various information about
primary data so as to examine how Zara store display and arrange various clothes according
to different colour patterns and how they influence consumers to appeal on clothing so as to
capture the market. Before going any further, the researcher will begin the next chapter by
discussing various approaches and methodologies that are used in research and pick the one
that will fit in this research.

4.2 Research Methodology

Understanding of the term methodology is important for any research; methodology has been
defined by Collins and Hussey (2003) as the overall approach to the research process, from
the theoretical underpinning to the collection and analysis of data.

This section aim to identify the definite ways and activities performed during the researcher’s
study, in the course of implementing the conceptual framework of the research problem. It
therefore explains in detailed manner how the research approach used during data gathering.

32
According to Anderson and Poole (1998), choosing a design essentially involves selecting the
most appropriate method or technique to solve the particular problem under investigation. It
is crucial step in a thesis because if a wrong decision is made, the whole study may be
criticised of the ground of inappropriate design or even worse as being unscientific or
illogical.

There are different types of research using different types of techniques in collecting,
analysing and summarizing data according to the nature of the subject or topic in study.

4.3 Research Approach

According to Saunders (2003), there are three major approaches when carrying out a research
process, which includes Positivism, Phenomenology and Realism.

4.3.1 Positivism

Positivism research process is defined as the approach used by the researcher with apparent
social certainty as agreed by Malhotra (2004). The end product of the research can take the
shape of a natural law or a generalization theory. The Researcher needs to be vastly
structured when using the positivist approach so as to ease the quantifiable observations,
which leads the researcher to a statistical analysis of their findings. Positivism avoids the
hidden and also the idea that theory comprises general observations. Positivism tends to go
towards an objective viewpoint and the quantification of data at the same time assumes that
the researcher is outside the subject matter.

There are benefits of using a positivist approach which includes giving a broad coverage of
the variety of situations; it can be a reasonably fast and cost-effective way of collecting data
and also can be of considerable importance to policy decisions. On top of that, there are
weaknesses which enclose this process, which include; the method is nonflexible and non-
natural and not useful in understanding processes or the implication those attached to actions.
It is most likely not helpful in generating theories and policy makers may find it hard to
deduce from it what should happen in the future.

4.3.2 Phenomenology

33
Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-
person point of view as agreed by Malhotra (2004). Its main structure of an experience based
on intentions, structure of consciousness that is being directed toward something, as it is an
experience of or about some object. It is experience which is believed to direct an object by
virtue of its content or meaning together with appropriate enabling conditions. It may be
thought that the easiest and surest way would be to draw the solid individual
phenomenological problems from the concept of phenomenology. Phenomenology is
basically such and such; hence it encompasses such and such problems. Within
phenomenological inquiry there are contradictory definitions of its nature and tasks. But,
even if these differences in defining the nature of phenomenology could be brought to an
agreement, it would remain doubtful whether the concept of phenomenology consequently
attained, a kind of average concept that could direct towards the most concrete problems to be
chosen. Explanation of the idea of phenomenology is the same like exposition of the idea of
scientific philosophy.

The weaknesses of this approach include; it consumes much of the time from gathering the
resources and implementing them, it is difficult in analyzing and interpreting the results, it is
cluttered because of the pace, improvement and endpoints are difficult to control and policy
makers give the study a low credibility rating.

Such an understanding is important to the researcher as he may be including or excluding

data that creates bias in the sample and thereby invalidates the research findings. Therefore
issues such as dependence versus involvement and field work or experimental approach have
been included when considering the philosophical approach of research strategy.

4.3.3 Realism

It is the belief of Realism that reality exists independent of human thoughts and beliefs. When
Realism applied to the study of human subjects it recognizes the importance of understanding
people’s socially constructed interpretations and meanings within the context of seeking to
understand broader social forces or processes that influence the nature of people’s views,
Saunders (2003). This means that it is a must for the researcher to interact with people being
researched and findings are the result of the interactive process focusing on meanings and
understanding of the situation or phenomenon under study.

34
Realism believes that there are large social forces that have an effect on people behaviours.
Applying to this study in a real world, the researcher will be able to get the data correctly as
well to test the hypothesis prior since the research aims at obtaining data from the real world
whereby the consumers who are the main group concerned of the study will be included in
this study to obtain information on the extent to which colour influence clothes purchase to
women consumers (Thornhill, 2000).

4.4 Categories of Research

A research can be classified into two categories, according to Zikmund 1996, p. 101

4.4.1 Exploratory research

This category of research has the objective of formulating problems, more precisely, illustrate
concepts, gathering explanations, gaining insight, eliminating impractical ideas, and forming
hypotheses. In performing Exploratory research a literature search can be used, certain
peoples’ experiences can be surveyed, focus groups, and case studies. When surveying
people, exploratory research studies would not try to get a representative sample, but rather,
look forward to interview those who are knowledgeable and who might be able to provide
insight concerning the relationship among variables.

The advantages of the exploratory research include:

i. To gain ideas and insights about the research problem.

ii. To increase familiarity.
iii. To develop hypotheses to be tested in subsequent research.
iv. To help questionnaire development and in pre-testing questionnaires.

Exploratory research has the following characteristics;

i. Less structured/More flexible.

ii. Usually small sample sizes involved; may or may not be representative of the
population.

35
4.4.2 Descriptive research
Descriptive research is more rigid than exploratory research and seeks to describe users of a
product, determine the proportion of the population that uses a product or predict future
demand for a product. As opposed to exploratory research, descriptive research should define
questions, people surveyed, and the method of analysis prior to beginning data collection. In
other words, the who, what, where, when, why, and how aspects of the research should be
defined. Such preparation allows one the opportunity to make any required changes before
the costly process of data collection has begun.

There are two basic types of descriptive research: ‘longitudinal studies and cross-sectional
studies’ according to Zikmund, 1996, p. 119.

Longitudinal studies are analysis that base on time series and that make repeated
measurements of the same individuals, hence allowing one to monitor behaviour such as
brand-switching. On the other hand, longitudinal studies are not necessarily representative
since many people may refuse to participate because of the commitment required.

Cross-sectional studies this tends to sample the population so as to make measurements at a

specific point in time.

The Importance of Descriptive Research is as follows:

• Used at the time when research objectives and research questions are clearly
formulated and when descriptive and summary measures are needed to address the
research questions.
• To estimate proportion of people in a population who behave in a similar way.

Also Descriptive Research has the following characteristics:

• Less flexible than exploratory research.

• Requires careful planning of all steps including a data analysis strategy.

36
Other types of research such as Quantitative and qualitative research depend on the choice of
researcher in carrying out the adopted or a given research.

Quantitative research provides results in numerical values and uses mathematic statistics to
evaluate results. This is more objective research than qualitative one as the data are
systematically collected.

Qualitative research is a descriptive and non-numerical way to collect data and interpret
information. It is the research which is highly regarded more subjective than objective. It
basically involves examining the perceptions in order to gain an understanding of a certain
social and human actions.

Applied and Basic research, these are the types of the research according to the outcome of
the research,

Applied research, it is the research type which is used to solve practical problems of the
modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge for the knowledge’s sake. Its findings are
used in solving given problems.

Basic research, it is the research where problems are not given priority, only aims at
increasing the insight or understanding of a given matter.

Deductive and Inductive research. Type of the research which base on the logic of the
research.

Deductive, is the research type on which theories and hypothesis are tested through empirical
observation. This is a set of technique for applying theories in the real world (Saunders et al
2003). Particular information is deduced from general inferences. This is sometimes called a
‘top-down’ approach whereby you start with;

Theory Hypothesis Observation Confirmation

Source: Diagram made by the researcher

37
Inductive, it is the opposite of the deductive whereby it is the study which is developed from
the observations of empirical reality. In inductive reasoning, we begin with specific
observations and measures, detect some regularity, formulate some hypothesis and develop
some general conclusions or theories. This is called ‘bottom up’ approach;

Observation Pattern Tentative Hypothesis Theory

Source: Diagram made by the researcher

However, the purpose of the researcher to bring all above types of research on board is to
bring the general understanding and insight of the research types, but for the purpose of this
research study, qualitative research will be used as the researcher aims to carry out the study
so as to get some basic information on the influence of colour in the purchase of clothes to
women consumers. Some of the discussions based on gathering information first and the
meaning of colour to the consumer, how the consumers see colour and the influence of colour
to their purchase of clothes.

4.5 Primary Data

Primary data is defined as data obtained for the first time and used specifically for the
particular problem or issue under study, as agreed by Malhotra (2004). Often, secondary data
must be supplemented by primary data originated specifically for the study at hand. Some
common types of primary data are:

• Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

• Psychological and lifestyle characteristics.
• Attitudes and opinions.
• Awareness and knowledge - for example, brand awareness.
• Intentions - for example, purchase intentions. While useful, intentions are not a
reliable indication of actual future behaviour.
• Motivation - a person's motives are more stable than his/her behaviour, so
Motive is a better predictor of future behaviour than is past behaviour. Primary data
can be obtained by:

• Observation
• Interviews
• And Questionnaires.

38
4.5.1 Observation

Observation involves the recording of actions and is performed by either a person or some
mechanical or electronic device. Observation might take longer since observers may have to
wait for appropriate events to occur, though observation using scanner data might be quicker
and more cost effective. According to White (2000), the advantage of this method of
observation where researcher becomes a complete participant, is the reduction of bias
because the identity of and purpose of researcher is not revealed to other group members.

Collecting primary data through observation is constructive when a researcher requires data
particularly concerning what people do. It involves several methods such as systematic
observation, recording, description, analysis and interpretation of people’s behaviour
(Saunders et al, 2000:218)

4.5.2 Interview

Data collection through interview can be reliable in that it enables gathering of relevant data
from purposeful discussions with two or more people (Khan and Cannell, 1957). There are
many types of the interviews such as structured, semi-structured, unstructured, standardized,
non-standardized, respondent and informant (Saunders et al, 2000:243).

This method gives the researcher freedom to ask any question which is within the topic
researched. It also gives the researcher the opportunities to access some more confidential
issues that not thought before.

During the interview, the researcher can take the short notes of what the interviewee is trying
to explain so as to remember the main points.

According to White (2000), the interview method allows the flow of conversation, all
misunderstanding can be cleared up immediately and open ended questions, provided, not
flexible but also the chance for very detailed responses to be given.

However, there are issues of whether people or organizations are willing to co-operate fully
with the researcher, in order for the researcher to obtain best quality responses. Additionally,
it can be time consuming since the researcher may require more information after the
interview session.

39
According to White (2000) there are several limitations of interview, which are;

• Bias

• Time consuming.

• Interpretations of the information may prove difficult to the open-ended nature of the
question.

Therefore planning and designing of questions is essential to decrease the necessity to revisit
the same people or organization.

4.5.3 Questionnaire

Data collection from questionnaire is carried out when each person in a sample responds to
the same set of questions in a predetermined order (DeVaus, 1996). It can either be both
structured interviews and telephone questionnaires or that of which the questions are
answered without the presence of the interviewer. One of the main disadvantages of the
questionnaire is that the response rate is low; additionally it can be very time-consuming.

4.5.4 Sampling

First and foremost, we can look at the meaning of sample before going further, Sample, is a
small subset of the population that has been chosen to be studied. The sample should
represent the population and have sufficient size for a fair statistical analysis.

According to Jankowicz (1991), sampling can be defined as the deliberate choice of a number
of people, the sample, who are to provide the data necessary to draw conclusions from, about
a larger group, the population whom these people represent. Sampling is also a process of
defining a representative subpopulation to study.

In sampling there are two main categories which are probability Sampling and non-
probability Sampling, as agreed by Malhotra (2004:89). In Probability sampling, there is a
problem of bias; this may be due to researcher’s preference. As a result, Probability Sampling
attempts to produce a representative stratified random sample of the population in an attempt
to remove bias as much as possible. In order to avoid bias, it is necessary and important to
make sure that each of the candidates is included in the study. Basically, this can be
guaranteed if randomization is employed.

40
Randomization is important mainly for two reasons; first, it provides a sample which is not
biased and second, it meets the requirements for statistical validity (Saunders et al 2007)

When randomly selecting subjects, several methods can be applied which are Simple random
sampling, Systematic random sampling, Stratified sampling, Cluster sampling and
Disproportional sampling.

In reality, true random sampling is very difficult to achieve due to time, cost and ethical
considerations which often prohibits the researchers from making the necessary clearance.
Therefore, it is necessary to use other sampling techniques whereby the techniques produce
non probability samples, in that the sampling technique is not random.

With Non-probability sampling, it is unlikely that the population selected will have the
correct proportions since all the members of the population do not have equal chance of being
selected. As a result it is not necessary that the sample should fully represent the target, and
any statement generalizing the results beyond the actual sample tested must be tested with
qualification. Non-probability sampling accepts an element of bias by factoring in criteria set
by the researcher to take account of environmental factors such as time, cost, and questions to
be answered.

Most importantly, since the validity of the statistical testing methods is based on random
selection of subjects, it is important when using non probability sampling that random
techniques be employed to the maximum. There are five non probability sampling techniques
which can be used, these include; Convenience sampling, Consecutive sampling,
Judgemental sampling, Quota sampling and Snowball sampling. .

In both cases there is a chance of sampling error and the researcher needs to acknowledge this
in the work if the study is to have wider acceptance (Saunders et al 2007). In designing the
research study, one should consider the potential errors. Two sources of errors are random
sampling error and non-sampling error as pointed by Malhotra (2004:89).

Sampling errors are those due to the fact that there is a non-zero confidence interval of the
results because of the sample size being less than the population being studied.

41
Random sampling errors are those are considered unbiased, in that, no part of the population
has an advantage in being over-represented in the sample. A random sample may not be
representative of a population based on chance factors alone (it is possible to draw a sample
that over-represents some portion of the population by chance).

Non-sampling errors are those caused by faulty coding, untruthful responses, and respondent
fatigue. There is a trade-off between sample size and cost. The larger the sample size, the
smaller the sampling error but the higher the cost. After a certain point the smaller sampling
error cannot be justified by the additional cost. While a larger sample size may reduce
sampling error, it actually may increase the total error. There are two reasons for this effect.
First, a larger sample size may reduce the ability to follow up on non-responses. Second, even
if there is a sufficient number of an interviewer for follow-ups, a larger number of
interviewers may result in a less uniform interview process.

From above review of sampling and different sampling technique, the researcher decided to
use Convenience sampling as it is easy to select different subjects because of easy
accessibility and easy to obtain for the study. The technique itself is easy, fast and usually the
least expensive and least troublesome.

Convenience sampling was thus selected for the study, that according to Babbie and Mouton
(2001) not only is convenient and easy, but the method is feasible particularly for the students
and others with limited time and resources and can legitimately be used as long as its
limitations are clearly understood and stated. The number of participants in qualitative
research, according to Babbie and Mouton (2001), dependent on the scope of the research
strategy as well as the number of times the data-collection will be repeated. It is
recommended to have a smaller sampling framework in order to conduct an in-depth inquiry.

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4.6 Secondary Data

Secondary data ‘refers to information that has previously been gathered by someone other
than the researcher and/or for some other purpose than the research project at hand’, as
defined by Zikmund (1996, p. 68).

According to Anderson and Poole (1998), the secondary sources of information are
summaries of information gathered from primary sources. These include translations,
summaries and reviews of research (for example, encyclopaedia articles), abstracts,
guidebooks and other publications containing information, commentaries and so on.

The literature review chapter was completed using researching the literature present, and by
looking through various books, journals, statutory documents, newsletters, and the internet.

Types of Secondary data:

a) Internal Data (e.g., Database Marketing)

b) External Data:
• Case Studies
• Published Sources
• Syndicated Sources
• Database Sources
Secondary data may be internal to the firm, such as sales invoices and warranty cards, or may
be external to the firm such as published data or commercially available data. The Secondary
data has the advantage of saving time and reducing data gathering costs. The disadvantages
are that the data may not fit the problem perfectly and that the accuracy may be more difficult
to verify. Some secondary data is republished by organizations other than the original source.
Because errors can occur and important explanations may be missing in republished data, it is
important to obtain secondary data directly from its source. Also there should be a
consideration of what the source is and whether the results may be biased.

In carrying out the research, the Researcher decided to use Exploratory research as it helps to
determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects, and
sometimes it may even conclude inexistence of the problem.

43
The most common qualitative research techniques according to Malhotra (2004) include:

• In-depth interviews
• Focus groups
• Case studies and
• Pilot studies.

4.7 In-depth Interviews

This is a qualitative research technique which allows person to person discussion. This type
of a qualitative research can lead us into further understanding of the people’s thoughts,
feelings and behaviours in important issues. Due to its unstructured style, it therefore allows
the interviewer to encourage the correspondent to talk at a length about the topic of interest
(Lofland & Lofland, 1995). In-depth interviewer uses a flexible interview approach. The
main aim of the interview is to explain the reasons underlying the problem in a target group.
The technique can be used to gather ideas, and gather information.
This type of qualitative research has the following advantages such as it allows to yield
richest data, details and new insights, permits face to face interactions with respondents,
allows topics to be explained in depth, allows the interviewer to explain and help clarify the
questions .
However, the technique has got various disadvantages such as expensive and time
consuming, it needs well qualified and high trained interviewers, information collected is too
large, hence may be difficult to transcribe and reduce the data and flexibility sometimes can
result into inconsistencies across interviews.

4.8 Case Studies

This depends much on the participant observer method. These are normally large descriptive
examinations, usually of a small number of sites (small towns, hospital, schools) whereby the
principal investigator immersed himself in the life of the community. The investigator holds
formal or informal conversations with informants observe the ongoing activities, develop an
analysis of both individual and the findings. This type of a qualitative research can provide
rich explorations of a project; it develops in a real world something. Sometime the case tends
to be complex as they need time since there should be no brief site visits only, rather data
collection and reporting should be taken into account (Patton, 1990)

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4.9 Focus group discussion

According to Lederman, A focus group discussion is a technique involving the use of in-
depth group interviews in which participants are selected because they are a purposive,
although not necessarily representative, sampling of a specific population, but this group is
being focused on a given topic. (Thomas et al., 1995)

Participants in this type of the research are selected on the criteria that they would have
something to say on the topic or are within the age-range, have similar socio-characteristics
and would be comfortable talking to the interviewer and each other. (Richardson & Rabiee,
2001)

Furthermore, Focus group discussion provides information about a range of ideas and
feelings that individuals have about certain issues, as well as illuminating the differences in
perspective between groups of individuals.

Focus group discussion has got the following strengths and weaknesses,

Focus Group Strengths:

• Excellent approach to gather in-depth attitudes and beliefs from several stakeholders
at a time.
• Group dynamics might generate more ideas than individual interviews.
• Can be effectively used to focus on details regarding issues found through surveys or
other data collection methods.

Focus Group Weaknesses:

• Requires staff time to set up and facilitate focus group.

• Requires staff time to identify and schedule participants for focus group.
• Requires strong facilitator to guide discussion and ensure participation by all
members.
• Usually requires special equipment to record and transcribe focus group discussion.

45
From the above review, the researcher decided to use Focus groups discussions as they have
got one distinctive features of its group dynamics, as the type and the range of data generated
during the social interaction of the group are often deeper and richer compared to the one
collected on the one-to-one interviews. (Green et al 2003).

The total number of 21 members was involved in the discussion, whereby the discussion was
divided into three groups. In each groups there contained seven (7) members in a group
which consisted of different age.

It was decided to focus on female consumers who meet the criteria for a strong symbolic-
instrumental consumer, a consumer with confidence, with a strong interest in her personal
appearance, who is loyal towards certain brands and who enjoys shopping for clothes. These
consumers were the ones who shop at different stores including Zara store for the aim of
capturing their interest to store which was the main aim of the researcher.

Given the degree to which many markets are segmented by gender, it was decided to include
only females in this research. The studies done earlier suggest that there are differences
between male and female consumers decision making in the choices of styles and colours in
clothes, it is female consumers who are attracted most to colours and styles (Bakewell &
Mitchell, 2004).

4.10 Reliability and Validity.

Researcher decided to measure the reliability and validity of the methods of collecting data.
Bell (2005) defines the term reliability as “the extent to which a test or procedure produces
similar results under constant conditions on all occasions”. Reliability is fundamentally the
situation where by data collection methods produce the same findings, observations or
conclusion by other researcher (Saunders et al., 2007).

There are several types of the threats to reliability, but for purpose of this research only few
will be considered, subject or participant error, subject or participant bias, observer error and
observer bias (Saunders et al 2007, p.149). In this research, primary data were highly used in
conducting the research hence there was high possibility of subjectivism, researcher was
therefore trying to minimize the threats to reliability of the data collection methods. In the
focus group discussions which were conducted by the researcher, there were consistent
answers produced by some of the participants, therefore the participant or the subject error to
the great extent controlled, this could be because most of the participants shop in retail

46
clothes stores which have got almost similar display and selling of the apparel product within
the same industry. On the other hand, researcher admits that there were some slight subject
errors given that the answers were differing in some aspects when researcher was doing test
re-test, this might be attributed by different arrangements and display of different stores and
different choices of the customers that attracts them to a certain store.

Also secondary data were used to back up the primary data, hence the subject bias is likely
since some of the journals are subjective and can be manipulated for market purpose.
However, researcher mostly used the key notes which are very reliable source of data which
are audited mostly by Isla Gower. Researcher therefore minimized the subject bias to the
great extent.

On other side of observer error and observer bias, researcher tried at maximum care to ensure
that the data which were collected are reliable. In the process of analyzing the data,
researcher was analyzing data objectively with no subjectivism. Therefore gives this research
consistency hence it can be argued that it was very reliable.

Validity is basically the central idea in the measurement, According to Neuman (2003)
defines validity as to “how well an idea about reality fits with actual reality”. Saunders et al.,
2004 points out different types of threats of validity but mostly threats like history, whereby it
might give variations of the findings from year to year, this problem has been controlled since
researcher was trying to use the most recent findings.

The problem of the participants information given could not tell whether they speak of reality
which is another threat of the validity since the data might not be reflecting the reality of the
data given for analysis. This problem has been controlled since researcher was using very
valid source Key Note which is very reliable market reports.

Generally, it can be concluded that, researcher has been trying to maintain high level of the
reliability; validity and accuracy that is why most of the findings accumulated are consistent
with other work of other authors in the literature review.

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4.11 Limitation of study.

Researcher did face some difficulties while doing the research, one being analysis of the data
collected because of the method itself which was unstructured. Handling of the group
discussion itself was not easy as sometimes the participants were going out of the matter
being discussed; therefore the researcher had to make sure they are within the main topic of
discussion.

Time limitation was another setback faced researcher, there were lots of things to do within
relative short period of time, including topic selection, gathering information, writing down
over 15,000 words for this reason, the time frame given was not enough. This made the
researcher to do many things in last minute.

Moreover, there were other limitations, mainly being that, in focus groups you learn what
people say, they do or think, and not what they actually do or think. In focus group,
sometimes participants were expressing an opinion which is probably with their own personal
life. On top of that some of the participants dominated the group, thereby could have created
inaccurate view of what users’ overall opinion was.

The researcher chose a qualitative research design and therefore a small sample size. This
study only concentrated on female consumers, as they are still the principle-buying agents for
the household. However, social and demographic changes are putting pressures on traditional
gender roles and males are now more involved in shopping compared with previous
generations. Future studies could therefore concentrate on male consumers and also include
other geographic areas, age groups and cultural groups.

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 Chapter Five

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

5.1 Introduction

From the previous chapter, whereby the researcher tried to explain the methodology which
was adopted throughout the research and later helped out in the collection and analysis of
data. Different data were collected from different groups set out for discussion and more
specifically consumers who shop at Zara. The researcher decided to use a tape recorder and
as soon as the discussion was finished, everything was summarized and noted down so as to
allow easy analysis of the data without skipping some of the information out while in
discussion.

As it has been pointed out in the last chapter, focused group discussion was used in collecting
data, the researcher mainly divided the discussion into two parts, the first part aimed at
capturing the meaning of colour from the consumers and the second part aimed at getting
information on the influence of colour in their choices.

With regard to the focus group discussion that was carried out the following were the result

5.2 Data analysis

A tape recorder was used during the focus group discussion to ensure that nothing was lost,
so as the notes could help by in the interpretation of the data. It is very crucial for the
researcher to note down the discussion as for some of the nonverbal behaviours which can aid
in the interpretation, can be missed if notes are not taken. Note-based analysis was used
which relied primarily on the field notes, debriefing session and the summary comments.

It was decided by the researcher to hold focus group discussion so as to extract some
qualitative information from the consumers who shop at Zara Store and to investigate
whether participants had any influence in colour when they purchase clothes at Zara. It was
felt this was an effective way to probe colour influences as it has some emotional, stimulus
and cultural effect to different consumers.

49
Three different groups were held; each group had seven participants, in which the researcher
had to facilitate. The main aim of the researcher was to guide the discussion from topic to
topic, probe and encourage discussion so as to ensure all participants contributed their views.
The researcher after recording, immediately the summary of all recorded impressions of the
meeting was put down in a note form.

Informal sessions were carried out at the room which was facilitated by the help of the
school. Different groups were gathered by the facilitator (Researcher) and everything was
recorded as the conversation was going on which was summarized in a note book
immediately.

All the three sessions had the same structure with the three identical questions being put to
the groups. At first, in the start of the session all the participants were encouraged to
introduce themselves to the group and explain how they see different colours that were
presented to them as sample colours. For the first question, the participants were asked to
write down on a piece of paper any reason on what colours do they like most and why.

Following each focus group, the proceedings were noted down on papers; at the end any
recurring themes were identified. A comparison note was made and the final selection of the
quotations which seemed to illustrate key issues was made and this was produced in this
section.

The following questions were posed in the focus groups and below are the findings that were
found by the Researcher

5.3 Findings

Q1. How do you see colour? This was question posed to them so as to identify whether there
are some emotional and stimuli connection of colours when they buy clothes.

Q2. What is the meaning of colour to you? The aim of this question was the key one, so as to
have different meaning that participants have on colours according to different cultural
background.

50
Q3. Does colour has any influence to your purchase? This question was asked primarily so as
to balance question number one. This also helped with supporting evidence for the original
aims of the research in identifying any colour influence in the clothes purchase.

Following the first question which was asked, as the question itself appeared to be the main
focus of the discussions and appeared to be the answer of most interest and concern to the
participants. The following were the ones which overlap most and this list below indicates the
broad headings.

• Expression of feelings
• Gives out reality message to other people (outward looking)

Expression of Emotional Feelings in relation to colour in clothes

With regard to the emotional dimensions of the aesthetic experience, it was clear that, it is
important for the female consumer to experience emotional pleasure when she evaluates the
quality of the clothes with colour of choice and secondly, if the clothes arouse her emotions.
Hence, these two emotional dimensions of the aesthetic experience are so important and that
she will probably not be so much interested in the functional qualities if she does not
experience pleasure or feel aroused by the items.

It is important for the apparel item to do something for consumer’s feelings about herself, for
example, feeling good, confident and that she will get compliments about herself. However,
the consumer might probably feel that she won’t even want to express herself if wearing an
item that make her feel negative.

On the role of the emotional pleasure and emotional arousal, participants reacted as follows;

“When I wear red suit, I feel like I live; you know it gives me confidence as the
colour itself tells” the participant continue to explain herself that

“Always red is known to be the colour that grabs attention of other people. Of course,
I have been getting nice compliments when I wear it. Then I feel excited always”

It was very interesting as the participant was probed; this was what was explained,

51
 “When I am at the store I will tend to consider more than one item when I
know that I will get compliments when wearing it, it is very important that I
will feel good when wearing the item that has got red in it.... even if it is black,
but it should be a little bit of black with red in it. As you know ......red colour
can go with white too...As when I am in the store, something that has red in it
tends to catch my eyes quickly”

The researcher also came to find out that, in the third place, the female consumer would
experience a feeling of dominance when evaluating the quality of the coloured products. This
third conditional dimension, which is the feeling of dominance, is more specifically an
important quality of a formal day wear or career wear. As it is important for the female
consumer when evaluating the quality of the cloth, suitable for career wear, she should feel
that she would be in a position of control the whole situation when wearing the item and that
it would, more specifically in a working environment, give her a feeling of dominance or
power. The following statements explain the findings on the role of dominance.

“It is important for me that this Red blouse will help me to look stylish
because people have to take me seriously when I am at work” as to when she
was referring to the Red blouse that she put on that day.

As the discussion was going on the other participants added on this by saying that;

“I like looking and feeling professional at work, I will consider the same Red
colour to wear because it keeps me professional. As far as it is important for a
woman to make a statement at work”

The Role of Colour in giving out outward looking:

From the findings, it was clear that female consumers evaluate the colour of the apparel
product based on certain cognitive dimensions on the aesthetic experience.

Female consumers, when evaluating the colour of the apparel products whether it is formal
day wear or career wear, it is important for them to experience a message of reality. Female
consumer would like to experience that the item being put on will help her be part of the
current fashion within the cultural environment, support her be part of the social group that
includes family, friends and colleagues as well as convey to them what and who she is in the
social environment. Moreover, particularly colour gives an emotional feeling of dominance

52
which is important for her career wear. It seems that line and style as well as the interaction
between various formal of the product such as colour, texture, line and proportion plays an
important role in creating an experience of reality during evaluation process.

Participants reacted as follows on the role of the above experience reality;

“I will choose classic lines and styles, especially the black and white lines or
sometimes plain colours like red, blue, white blouse, black trouser. Therefore
something formal for work because the clothes will show other people that I
am serious with my work.”

In the second question that was asked, the main aim of the researcher was to see if
participants associate different colours with different meanings as some participants came
from different cultural backgrounds.

Most of the participant aged 30’s replied about 7 times that;

“Black is associated with sadness, it’s the colour often used for
grieving, as the colour itself indicates very strong emotions”

But the answer was different to young girls aged 19- 25, as it was replied 10 times.

“The black colour I wear it when going out at night, during the day
even at work, it is the colour that makes you looks thinner.”

As the discussion was going many replies on different colours came out, for girls aged 19 and
21, they said the following about white colour;

“White is the colour associated with purity, it is makes you look clean
as it is worn in most wedding dresses”

But this was different for the two Chinese ladies, who said;

“We use red dresses for wedding as it will make you be noticeable
because it draws peoples’ attention”.

For the Africans, whereby two of the ladies from Nigeria and Cameroon, they said.

“For us in our countries for the Muslims in weddings you put any colour of
your choice, whether it be pink, green, yellow, blue, anything”.

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For blue colour, this was liked by most of the participant as it was said that;

“It is the calming colour, encourages reflection and logical thought, but
at the same time too much blue can send a cold and uncaring
message”.

Purple was also seemed to attract most people, the women aged 35 most of them said,

“It is our most royal colour that is associated with wealth, prosperity,
rich sophistication” the young generation aged 19 to 25, almost all of
them when asked they corresponded that; “ all shades of purple is my
favourite colours”.

When the second question was full discussed, the researcher posed the third question, and this
was what was discussed,

As the discussion was going on, the question was posed to the participant to see if colour has
any influence to them when purchasing clothes. So as to support the evidence for the original
aim of the research, this was very crucial one to the literature.

This was mainly regarded to the sensory dimensions of the aesthetic experience as it was
clear that it was specifically the dimensions of the sensory experience that is sight, which
plays a major role when the female consumer evaluates the quality and choice of her apparel.
It was further clear that it is especially the formal qualities of colour that brings about an
experience of pleasure through the dimension of sight. It is important for the female
consumer senses to be aroused when evaluating a cloth and that she is satisfied with what she
sees as well as the physical aspect of an item, to the fact that she would not consider any
other properties of an item if not satisfied with the colour.

Therefore, the participants were so much enthusiastic in the whole process of expressing their
ideas on this and the following were the findings.

“Colour for me is the most important thing when I evaluate an item. I

always look at the colour first and if I am not satisfied I won’t even
look further”

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One of them added that, ‘since I am such a visual person, I will always consider the colour
first’’ when probed more on this that why colour should be of their main concern if the
design is good? The participants continued on explaining that;

“In order to evaluate the design of the apparel items, I always consider the
colour first and if it is something that I don’t like I would not even go further.
A good item to me should have a nice colour”

5.4 Discussion of the findings

The emotional dimensions on the colour experience play the above important role especially
when consumers evaluate the quality of the coloured products, as they will probably not
consider even the functional qualities they are not satisfied with what they feel when
evaluating an item (Guy et al, 2001, p.3) In agreeing with the point above which is the
importance of emotions as the factor during the evaluation stage of the decision-making
process, this is the problem to the extent that consumers will only be willing to consider any
other qualities if the product makes them feel positive and confident towards themselves.
DeLong 1998, agrees with this viewpoint and underline the important role of colour in
bringing about these emotions specifically for the clothing consumer.

When comparing formal daywear and career wear, it is important to the female consumer that
her casual wear conveys a message of fantasy and entertainment. As when evaluating her
casual wear, it is something that has to do less with her public self (that is about being part of
and feeling dominant and in-control in the formal or working environment) rather it is much
more to be connected to her private self and that the apparel should convey something about
her inner self (that is, what she real is) without taking into account other considerations. It
was obvious that these messages of fantasy and entertainment are brought about by
interaction of colour which is part of the style materials of the apparel item. At the same time
previous experience of the same product play an important role in establishing an experience
of fantasy and entertainment while evaluating the apparel items.

When referring to the case of the sensory and emotional dimensions of the aesthetic
experience, it seems cognitive dimensions are just as important when consumers evaluate the
colour of the apparel products for the female consumer, it is not only important that the
apparel to stimulate the senses or arouse specific feelings but also about symbolic messages
that she receives from the item, which would later on be able to convey messages to others.

55
Therefore apparel products can serve as means through which the consumer can experience
entertainment and can engage in fantasy play. It serves as a means whereby the female
consumer can experience reality in important everyday life-situations also escape reality
when she feels like being herself and experience entertainment within a fantasy-world.

It was clear from this study that the aesthetic experience plays a very important role as part of
the expected behavioural qualities of apparel products, although it would be wrong to assume
that the participants would never consider other functional aspects such as durability or easy-
to-care qualities. It may be that the participants were so familiar with the textiles that they
automatically knew how the textile would behave when wearing the item. One would,
however, expect some references to the role that the textiles play in establishing important
functional qualities such as easy-to-care-for qualities. In addition, none of the participants
pointed out the importance of construction as an inherent physical quality of apparel products
that has major implications for functional qualities such as durability as well as for aesthetical
qualities, such as straight hemlines or seams that do not pucker. It is questionable if these
aspects are so part of the female consumer's evaluation process that she includes it
automatically and unconsciously without the need to mention it or purposively uses it when
evaluating the quality of apparel products. From this study it rather seems as if the sensory,
emotional and cognitive dimensions of the aesthetic experience are of major importance for
the apparel female consumer as part of the quality evaluation of an apparel item, to the extent
that it probably overshadows the importance of other functional qualities of a specific item.

According to Fiore and Kimle, (1997) sight is probably the most important contributor when
it comes to aesthetical experience that is desired from apparel products. Rasband (2001)
argued colour is probably the most visible element of any clothing product. According to
DeLong (1998) colour has the potential to accentuate the various parts of the body and
therefore can be used to bring variation as to how the wearer looks from day-to-day. It has
come into awareness that colour plays a very important role when female consumers evaluate
the quality of apparel products. It is from the formal quality of an apparel item that enables
the female consumer to experience beauty only by looking at an item and this clearly plays an
important role in her evaluation of the quality of the apparel product.

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In adding more about colour, Fiore and Kimle (1997) point to the importance of fabric hand
to consumers to the extent that regardless of whether texture is an important design focus in
apparel, consumer satisfaction almost always includes appreciating the feeling of the fabric to
the hand and on the body.

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 Chapter Six

CONCLUSION S AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1Conclusions

From the findings above, it is clear to draw two main conclusions, which are; first, from a
consumer’s point of view the colour of apparel products does not only concern the physical
appearance of the product and the functional behavioural qualities, but more importantly, the
aesthetical behavioural qualities, and secondly; it is the sensory, emotional and cognitive
dimensions of the aesthetic experience which play a major role when female consumers
assess the colour of apparel products (Brown & Rice 1998, p.37)

When speaking of colours in clothes and relate to the satisfaction of consumers’ needs as well
as applying to clothing products. It can be concluded that, from this research that, colour is in
the “eye of the consumers”. For the female apparel consumer the colour of apparel products
for that reason not only includes the functional behavioural qualities of a specific item, but
also the aesthetical behavioural qualities, these qualities have to be included in any future
research that concerns the consumer’s view point.

Having a look at the theoretical point of view apparel products are seen as having, in the first
place intrinsic physical properties ( such as design, material, construction and finishes) which
specifying what item it is, and secondly, behavioural properties (functional and aesthetical)
which specify what product can achieve (Gersak, 2002). If one thus adopt the view point that
colour is about what the product can do for the consumer in order to satisfy her explicitly and
applied needs, this means that both behavioural properties should be included in research that
concerns the colour of apparel products from consumer’s point of view, as it was explained in
this research. Unfortunately, many previous researchers concentrated only on the intrinsic
physical properties and the functional behavioural properties without regarding the aesthetical
qualities as the crucial thing of the colour of the apparel products. (Karnes et. al., 1995).

58
Apparel consumers can evaluate the quality of an item during the evaluation stage at the point
of purchase, again when wearing the item and when the item is discarded (Linquist & Sirgy,
2003). However, consumers do not necessarily evaluate the quality of apparel products in the
same way at the point of purchase, as they would probably do after having worn it for a
while. At the point of purchase, the main concern is probably “what the item can and will do
for me” – an evaluation of the estimated capabilities of the item to satisfy the needs that the
consumers are aware of at the point of sale (which not necessarily include all the important
needs of the consumer) (Murali & Litell, 1995). It can be concluded from this research that
the aesthetical behavioural qualities of apparel products play an important role in female
consumers' evaluation of colour of apparel products at the point of sale to the extent that it
seems as if their needs with regard to the aesthetical qualities of a product probably
overshadow most of the functional needs that they may experience when wearing the item.
(Eckman et. al., 1990)

As noted in discussing the results, it would seem as if the female apparel consumer does not
purposively evaluate most of the functional qualities that may become important when
wearing the item, although one cannot assume that the participants will never consider
functional aspects such as durability or easy-to-care qualities. Although the participants
referred to the physical properties of textiles and to a lesser extent to design, none of the
participants made reference to the importance of construction as an inherent physical quality
of apparel products that has major implications for functional qualities such as durability as
well as for aesthetic qualities, such as straight hemlines or seams that do not pull. Sieben
(1991, p. 71) refers to the fact that because most consumers probably do not have adequate
knowledge of the physical properties of apparel products, they tend to concentrate on the
psychic performance aspects. Consumers also tend to emphasize characteristics that they can
evaluate adequately, such as the visible elements of the garment and in most cases they only
anticipate the physical utility of the item. This apparent lack of attention to functional detail
that could play an important role in quality evaluation when the item is worn, may in a post-
purchase stage result in dissatisfaction with many of the important functional properties that
may satisfy the consumer's needs, and for the retailer in more returned articles due to
unsatisfactory construction or even textile properties that do not live up to the needs of the
female consumer. Fully rational decisions cannot be made unless consumers are informed
and able to appraise the relative merits of competing products.

59
The consumer must have the ability to make clear distinctions of colour in product in order to
achieve efficient decision making.

The above conclusions have major implications for the retailer and even more so for the e-
retailer. First, because of the fact that it would seem that female apparel consumers do not
consciously and purposively evaluate important functional qualities that may satisfy their
later needs during the post-purchase stage, retailers and e-retailers therefore should
purposively draw their customers attentions to the linkage between the physical properties of
the apparel product that influence important functional properties that may play a role in the
satisfaction that they would experience when wearing the item. This is especially important
with regard to limited decision-making and routine decision-making. When consumers are
familiar (or think they are familiar) with a particular product and/or decision-making
situation, or when they buy products (such as clothing) on a regular basis, they tend to spend
less time on each of the decision-making stages, including the evaluation stage. In many
cases they then may not consider alternatives and in many cases, brand recognition or store
image may then ease the process, to the extent that it may appear as if the decision-making
process is almost non-existent.

In addition to the above, Poloian (2003, p. 304) points to the fact that responses to stimuli
may be deep in the sub-conscious. Colour, odours and textures (all of which form part of the
aesthetic experience) may conjure up past experiences and urge the consumer to buy certain
clothes. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the consumer's attentions be drawn to the
linkage between the physical properties of the product and the behavioural qualities. These
linkages could be an inherent part of fixed as well as additional labels and should certainly be
part of the on-line information that e-retailers provide to their customers who are not in any
position to handle the product and therefore are unable to apply any previous knowledge or
experience, especially with regard to the textiles.

Secondly, knowledge on the importance of specific sensory, emotional and cognitive

dimensions of the aesthetic experience for female apparel consumers could direct the apparel
retailer or e-retailer's fashion merchandizing strategy, while knowledge on the consumer's
preference for specific formal qualities in career and casual wear, such as colour, texture or
line, is crucial for the buyer and should also direct visual merchandizing and other forms of
advertising.

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Consumers look for their idea of colour. If colour is in the eye of the consumer and
aesthetics, the lens through which the colour is evaluated (as is here suggested in the case of
the female consumer), then surely it should be an integral part of the retailer or e-retailer's
fashion merchandizing strategy. Consumers should be able to “see” colour from their point of
view, even before they have entered the store. It should be kept in mind that, in the case of
apparel products, the buying process, in many cases falls in the domain of symbolic
consumption (Lindquist & Sirgy, 3003, p. 133), the process through which consumers – on
the basis of symbols – buy, consume and dispose of products. Symbols are the most powerful
of signs because they can be used to induce certain states of mind or feelings in the consumer.
Formal qualities (such as colour, textures, lines and others) of the outside and inside of the
store as well as the store lay-out and visual merchandizing, should clearly spell out to the
consumer the various dimensions (sensory, symbolic and emotional) of the aesthetic
experience that she would experience as part of the colour of the apparel products that she is
looking for, and most probably will find in the specific store.

6.2 Recommendations

Consumers learn colour association, which make them prefer certain colours for different
ranges of products. People who come from different cultures are exposed to different
associations and they develop colour preferences based on their own culture’s association.

Marketers can learn this; therefore they can identify the associations made by consumers for
their product category and make an attempt of matching appropriate colours.

As part of the marketing strategy, marketers should consider their product’s colour,
packaging colour and any colour associated with advertising. These are all within the
marketer’s control.

With the changing of consumer behaviour as a result of globalization, as a result, there are
growth options available for speciality retailers like Zara. The best way for Zara to maintain
their sustainable growth is to seek new opportunities in the apparel market. Zara can create
different sector for distribution of their goods so as to decrease logistics in order to deliver
fashionable goods in a faster manner. This will also allow them to have additional funds to
spend in other areas of business such as advertising.

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By allowing the consumers to purchase direct on the internet, still Zara Should make sure that
all of its ever-changing fashion online should be displayed.

Another recommendation to Zara is that, to offer specialized products for different

geographic locations within the same city. This will increase consumer demand and will
motivate them to visit more Zara locations within their own region. Differentiation of its
products from location to location could increase shopper traffic. This will make a shopper to
pay a visit as they would hear about new different products from word of mouth or increased
advertising and they will pay a visit.

The company must continue to re-invent and innovate themselves in order to stay awake in
the apparel industry.

6.3 Suggestions for future study Research

Due to a certain circumstances, the researcher chose qualitative research design and used a
small sample size. Findings can be used in future studies in quantitative style with the use of
the larger sample size to ensure better representation. This study concentrated on female
consumers as they enjoy shopping in nature. However due to social and demographic changes
there is involvement of males. Future studies can thereby concentrate on male consumers and
can include other geographic areas, age groups and cultural groups.

Colour research in the field of marketing still appears to be immature. As a result, studies
which examine variety of measurement related to colour should be considered. Especially,
more research on colour preference should be conducted so as to establish strength as a factor
in purchase behaviour. Furthermore, colour may have an effect on other variables that may be
found in a marketing context. Specifically, colour may affect memory for objects, which
could affect advertising and display strategies, combination of colours may have effects to
consumers too. Advancement in technology for creating colour layering over one another,
and thereby creating new colour palette may have effects to consumers.

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To sum up, associations in colours that consumers formulate can predict their behaviours so
as to understand how associations manifest themselves in people’s product. Colour choices,
requires the examination of a complex network of associations that individuals formulate. It
appears in many cases that consumers are able to articulate associations and provide their
reasoning for choosing particular colours. If this happens, then marketers can help clarify
their own colour strategies but in other cases where marketers are unable to identify the
existed associations, there is opportunity of developing new colour associations for products
that the marketer can control.

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