Demographic Characteristics, Consumer Values and Personalization Strategies of Apparel Brands

The apparel market is extremely competitive and thus apparel manufacturers should try to maximize consumer satisfaction with cost-efficient but consumer-oriented strategies. Personalized strategies considering each consumer's characteristics have to be developed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumers' characteristics on personalization strategies of apparel brands. Investigating personalization based on consumers' values and demographic characteristics will allow apparel manufacturers to attract target consumers. A survey method was used for the empirical study. Questionnaires from 420 respondents were analyzed using factor analysis, cluster, t-test, and ANOVA. The results indicated a significant influence of consumer values on customer service-related aspects of personalization. Female consumers demanded product- and information-oriented factors of personalization. Age, residential area, and clothing expense also had significant influence on the need for personalization of apparel shopping.