A Study of Purchasing Behaviors on Female Markets Segmented by Clothing Image Preference

The purposes of this study were to segment female consumers on the basis of their clothing image preference, and to investigate the clothing purchasing behaviors of each segmented market. The research method was a questionnaire survey and participants were 700 women aged from 20`s to 60`s in Daejeon and Chungnam province. The questionnaire consisted of items for clothing image preference, clothing purchasing behaviors and the participants` demographic characteristics. The data were analyzed by Cronbach`s , factor analysis, cluster analysis, test, ANOVA and the Scheff test. The results were as follows. Female consumers were divided into 7 types(sophisticated, natural, characteristic, elegant, active, feminine, and neat type) by clothing image preference. The 7 segmented market groups differed in many ways in terms of demographic characteristics and various clothing purchasing behaviors(clothing selection criteria, purchasing motives, fashion information sources, places of purchase, shopping frequency, and quantity and cost of purchases). The results of this study supported the view that clothing image preference can be a useful and effective variable for female market segmentation.