The study of international consumer behavior in making buying decision on tailor-made suit: Case Study of Premier Fashions, Thailand.
Thanat Kornsuphkit
Abstract
The objective of this study is to give an overview on international consumer behavior in buying tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions, Thailand. The result will show that buying a tailor-made suit will go through a lot of process of thoughts and factors. We are examining, the behavior of international customers at Premier Fashions, Thailand. Our focus will be on suit Attributes, suit features, price factor, cultural factor, social factor and psychological factor. The result of the research found out that all 6 factors mentioned affected the decision to buy tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions.
Consumers who have tried a particular brand recognize that that brand provides and trust that they can expect the same value every time. By purchasing different brand buyers are able to create a social self and communicate their identity to others and also Premier Fashions customers are sensitive to the persuasion of their families and friends.
This research use non probability sampling method, the sample selected based on the convenience sampling in order to make it easy to obtain information quickly. This research is an empirical study that is limited to the analysis of the various suit brands in relation to consumer behaviour at Premier Fashions, Thailand. The research can be extended to examine the direct competitors of Premier Fashions, Thailand, which are other suit shops in Bangkok and around Thailand.
The result showed that Suit Features, Pricing Factor, Branding Factor, Cultural Factor, Social Factor and Psychological Factor have a significant positive relationship with purchasing decision to buy tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions, the only factor that was not significant was Suit Attribute. Also, it can be concluded that the most important factor that affect purchasing decision to buy a tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions is Brand (M=3.94), followed by Price (M=3.84), Suit Feature (M=3.64) and Suit Attribute (M=2.40) respectively. Lastly, The result can be concluded that the most significant criteria that affect purchasing decision to buy a tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions is social factor (M=4.93),followed by Psychological factor (M=3.95) and Cultural Factor (M=3.82) respectively.
Introduction
Premier Fashions started in 1979 by Mr. Bill, then a young powerful Sikh businessman in Bangkok. Now Mr. Bill’s son (Mr.Bob) has taken over the business founded by his father and has taken another step forward to make his father’s business highly recognized around the world. They have grown and expanded over the years to become one of the finest and most established tailors in Thailand. Having been in business over 5 decades and being one of the oldest tailoring establishments in Thailand, they emphasize on building long term relationships with our customers.
They cater to both the domestic and foreign markets and have a large customer base from European Countries, USA, Japan, Singapore and Australia. They provide a wide range of products for ladies and gents tailoring, followed by services such as mail order services, alteration services, delivery services and pickup services. Whether your style is Armani, Versace, Boss, or anything in between, their master tailors can create any look customer like with a variety of standard and optional details.
Objectives
The objectives of this study are to better understand international consumers’ behaviors for purchasing custom made Suits at Premier Fashions, Thailand. The result of this study will show how international customers at Premier Fashions make decision in buying tailor-made suits at the store. The result of the study will show that custom made suits purchasing have several factors contribute to decision making.
This research is to elaborate the relationship of purchasing behavior of customers from various countries in purchasing custom made suits at Premier Fashions. This research is somehow a primary research; it will help future generation in making further research. The research will also help customer to know factors to put into consideration before making purchase decision on tailor-made suits. The factors that will be used to measure the research will be Product Attributes, Suit Features, Pricing Factor, Branding Factor, Cultural Factor, Social Factor and Psychological Factor.
Keyword: Premier Fashions, Tailors, Consumer, Behavior, Tailor-made suit
Theory and related research
The related research about consumer behavior was the viability of consumer’s behavior in buying hybrid cars. (Voravit, 2012).The consumer behavior’s definition is defined by the American marketing Association (Peter&Olson, 2005) as “The dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspect of their lives”. According to Hogg&Lewis (n.d.) claimed that marketing criteria implicate the activities and inputs of manufacturer and distributors in term of marketing mix, brand, products price, place and promotions. Besides, there are the other factors that involve economic, political and technological attributes in the marketing area. Buying behavior can be affected also by family background and life styles.
Hypothesis
Based on the research purposes and literature review in previous sections, the researcher has placed the hypothesis in order to study the difference between product related criteria and users relate criteria were evaluated considering the relation towards buying tailor-made suit from Premier Fashions. The hypothesis will be shown in next part of the paper.
Methods
This research use non probability sampling method, the sample selected based on the convenience sampling in order to make it easy to obtain information quickly. All respondents are selected from Premier Fashions’ international customer database. Target customer are age more than 18 years old who use service at the shop. The international customer database of Premier Fashions has 2,854 persons. Normally in small scale research 30–250 respondents are commonly collected (Denscomber, 2010). For this research 150 questionnaires were distributed through walk in clients and email survey.
General Data
In term of age of respondents it was found that most of them were in the age range of 20–30 years old for 48.7% followed by age range of 31–40 years old for 32.7%. 10% for the age range 41–50 years old, 7.3% for the age range of 51–60 years old and less than 20 years old for 1.3%. In term of level of education, it was found that most of them graduated in Master Degree for 52%, followed by Bachelor Degree for 41.3%, Diploma and PhD for 2.7% and High School or lower for 1.3%. In term of income of respondents it was found that most of them had the income range of 20,001 to 40,000 THB for 34.0%, followed by less than 20,000 THB for 29.3% the income range of 40,001 to 60,000 THB for 18.7% and more than 60,001 for 18.0% respectively
Hypothesis Testing
The Hypothesis are tested by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0 to determine relationships and needed to focus on the value of sig (2-tailed) of Pearson’s correlation.
If there is a significant value (sig) >0.05, it shows that there is no relationship between the variables.
If there is a significant value (sig) <0.05, it shows that Pearson’s Correlation is positive and there is a positive relationship between them.
Hypothesis 1
Ho: There is no relationship between Suit (product) attribute and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between Suit (product) attribute and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
Table 1: Relationship Between Product Attribute and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit by customer at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 1, the result suggests that there is no significant correlation between product attributes and purchasing decision of Suit by customer at Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.052).
Hypothesis 2
Ho: There is no relationship between Suit Features and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between Suit Features and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 2, the result suggests that there is a significant correlation between suit features and purchasing decision of Suit by customer at Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.000).
Hypothesis 3
Ho: There is no relationship between pricing factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between pricing factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
Hypothesis 4
Ho: There is no relationship between branding factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between branding factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 4, the result suggests that there is a significant correlation between branding factor and purchasing decision of Suit by customer at Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.000).
Hypothesis 5
Ho: There is no relationship between cultural factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between cultural factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 5, the result suggests that there is a significant positive correlation between cultural factor and purchasing decision of Suit by customer at Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.000).
Hypothesis 6
Ho: There is no relationship between social factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between social factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table 4.15, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 6, the result suggests that there is a significant positive correlation between social factor and purchasing decision of Suit by customer Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.000)
Hypothesis 7
Ho: There is no relationship between psychological factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
H1: There is a relationship between psychological factor and purchasing decision of tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions
As seen from the table 4.16, when Pearson Correlation is applied to test hypothesis 7, the result suggests that there is a significant positive correlation between Psychological factor and purchasing decision of Suit by customer at Premier Fashions. (Sig=0.000).
Conclusion and Discussion
Finding 1: To examine the relationship between various factors (Product Attributes, Suit Features, Pricing Factor, Branding Factor, Cultural Factor, Social Factor and Psychological Factor) and purchasing decision to buy tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions.
Result: The result showed that Suit Features, Pricing Factor, Branding Factor, Cultural Factor, Social Factor and Psychological Factor have a significant positive relationship with purchasing decision to buy tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions, the only factor that was not significant was Suit Attribute.
Finding 2: To explore the product related criteria that affect purchasing decision to buy tailor-made suit Premier Fashions. These product related criteria consist of Suit Attribute, Suit Feature, Pricing and Brand.
Result: It can be concluded that the most important factor that affect purchasing decision to buy a tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions is Brand (M=3.94), followed by Price (M=3.84), Suit Feature (M=3.64) and Suit Attribute (M=2.40) respectively.
Finding 3: To explore the user related criteria that affect purchasing decision to buy a new tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions, which consist of cultural factor, social factor and Psychological factor.
Result: : It can be concluded that the most significant criteria that affect purchasing decision to buy a tailor-made suit at Premier Fashions is social factor (M=4.93),followed by Psychological factor (M=3.95) and Cultural Factor (M=3.82) respectively.
Recommendations
The future study might want to examine different factors of buying decision by examining competitors for customer to buy new tailor-made suit. More specific suit features can be measured, for e.g. Type of fabrics customer prefers and more in depth details of competitors can be collected to make the validation more accurate. Lastly, the future research should do more of qualitative nature to illustrate marketing departments’ viewpoints and customers’ attitude toward tailor-made suit and ready-made suit.
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