Reseach factors afftecting Hanoi Consumer buying decisions of fashion products

Vu Thanh Tu ANH - Fulbright University in Vietnam, USA Le Xuan BA - Centural Institude for Economic Managerment, Vietnam Hervé B. BOISMERY - University of La Reuinion, France H. Eric BOUTIN - Toulon Var University, France Nguyen Thi DOAN - Vietnam Learning Promotion Association, Vietnam Haasis HANS - Dietrich - Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (isl) Bremen - Germany Le Quoc HOI - National Economic University, Vietnam Nguyen Thi Bich LOAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam Nguyen Hoang LONG - Thuong mai University, Vietnam Nguyen MAI - Vietnam Economist Association, Vietnam Duong Thi Binh MINH - University of Economics HoChiMinh City, Vietnam Hee Cheon MOON - Korean Trade Research Association, South Korea Bui Xuan NHAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam Luong Xuan QUY - Vietnam Economicst Association, Vietnam Nguyen Van Song - Vietnam National University of Agriculture Nguyen TAM - California State University, USA Truong Ba THANH - University of Danang, Vietnam Dinh Van THANH - Institude for Trade Research, Vietnam Do Minh THANH - Thuong mai University, Vietnam Le Dinh THANG - University of Québec à Trois Riviéres, Canada Tran Dinh THIEN - Vietnam Institute of Economics, Vietnam Nguyen Quang THUAN - Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Le Nhu TUYEN - Grenoble École de Managment, France Washio TOMOHARU - Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan Zhang YUJIE - Tsinghua University, China THE Members Editor in chief NGUYEN BACH KHOA Deputy Editor in Chief SECTRETARY OF EDITORIAL OFFICE PHAM MINH DAT Editor in English NGUYEN THI LAN PHUONG Editorial SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL Dinh Van SON - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - President Pham Vu LUAN - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - Vice President Nguyen Bach KHOA - Thuong mai University, Vietnam - Deputy President Journal of Trade Science Volume 5 Number 1 April 2017 C O N T E N T S 1. Nguyen Thi Phuong LIEN - Solutions to Develop Government Bond Market in Vietnam 2. Nguyen Tran HUNG - Attract Online Customers to Job Websites in Vietnam 3. Nguyen Thi Kim OANH - Research Factors Affecting Hanoi Consumers Buying Decisions of Fashion Products 4. Chu Viet CUONG - Trade development in the mountainous region of northern Vietnam: Lessons from Chongqing and Yunnan, China 5. Dang Thi Minh NGUYET - Factors Affecting Productive Efficiency of Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade 6. Ying-Kai LIAO and Vu Minh QUAN and Alfiyatul Qomariyah - An Integrative Approach to Investigate Antecedents, Moderators and Consequences of Brand Equity Page 3 13 24 33 41 53 1. Introduction Globalization is taking place at an increasingly high pace and impacts on many aspects of life; its impacts on production and trading operations are espe- cially strong as it creates both opportunities and chal- lenges to enterprises. Apparel sector in Vietnam cannot get out of these impacts. Besides, together with the development of the society, demand for fashionable and beautiful dressing has become an integral part in everyone's life. Fashion trends keep changing with the changes in society and vary greatly depending on cus- tomer ages or characteristics. At the same time, the competition in the fashion industry becomes fiercer with the participation of local and foreign companies. To gain good performance in a fast-changing business environment, enterprises need to make further attempts in business operations, especially marketing activities. To reach these goals, enterprises need to understand customer behavior so as to work out effective market- ing strategies and raise product competitiveness in the market to satisfy customer needs better than competi- tors. In that sense, marketing activities to products should be planned and implemented by enterprises, so that they can fully meet customer requirements in eval- 24 Journal of Trade Science 5:1 (2017) 24 - 32 JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh Thuongmai University Email: oanhntk1987@gmail.com Received: 04th January 2017 Revised: 13th February 2017 Approved: 20th February 2017 Keywords: factors, buying decisions, fashion products, consumers ietnam's apparel business has developed strongly in recent time. Together with this development comes fiercer competition among domestic and foreign fashion companies. Therefore, enterprises need to make further efforts in their business activities, especially in marketing, of which the key is to understand customer behavior so as to work out effective marketing strategies and raise their competitiveness in the market. In that sense, this article aims to identify and evaluate the impacts of factors affecting buying decisions of fashion prod- ucts by Hanoi consumers. Research findings reveal that there are 9 factors, including: brand and product diversi- ty; product features; price levels and promotional programs; convenient store locations; convenience of the store; product display in the store; awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants; information provi- sion of the store; services and selling modes of the store. Some solutions have been suggested to help fashion companies understand customer needs and work out appropriate business strategies and policies to increase fash- ion product competitiveness so as to further develop the local fashion market. uating and buying products. Therefore, researching the impacts of factors affecting buying decisions of fash- ion products becomes necessary as the research find- ings will be a foundation for enterprises to build up their marketing programs to satisfy customer demand. This article aims to identify and evaluate the impacts of factors affecting consumers' buying decisions of fashion products. Based on these findings, domestic enterprises can understand market demand, factors affecting the buying decisions of consumers, from which work out solutions to raise the competitiveness of local fashion products. 2. Literature review Theoretical and practical issues in customer behav- ior and fashion products have caught the attention of numerous local and international researchers, state administrators and managers. Their studies have shed lights to theories on customer behavior as well as the reality of consumer buying behavior in different spe- cific products such as food, safety food, banking serv- ices, etc. However, there has not been direct research on factors affecting buying decisions of fashion prod- ucts by Vietnamese consumers. Motivated by that situation, this study aims to ana- lyze and evaluate the impacts of factors affecting the buying decisions of fashion products by Hanoi con- sumers. The research findings can provide further ori- entations for marketing mix of local fashion enterpris- es so that they can improve their competitiveness and differentiation to be more attractive to customers. 3. Theories and research hypotheses The article analyses the impacts of factors affecting the choice of fashion products on buying decisions of Hanoi consumers. The study is based on theory of cus- tomer behavior by Philip Kotler, specifically the buy- ing decision making process model. The model con- sists of 5 steps of demand recognition, information search, option evaluation, buying decision and after- purchase behavior, of which this content is at step 3 - option evaluation. At this step, customers should iden- tify factors affecting their choice and buying consider- ations, they also should identify the importance of each factor to their decision to buy products. When considering buying a product, depending on their buying demand, purposes and motivations, consumers may look into the features and qualities of the products and marketing activities that enterprises provide for these products to make their choice. Very often, the features of the products and marketing activities of the enterprise which meet customer buy- ing demand, purposes and motivations will be used as a background to make buying decisions. These fac- tors will be used to evaluate products and marketing activities of different enterprises with similar market 25 journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Figure 1: Model of Buying Behavior. Source: Marketing Management - Philip Kotler (2014) Attitude parameters Coefficient of importance Point (1-10) Level of importance = (Coefficient of importance x point) 1. Quality 2. Functions 3. Durability 4. Price 5. After-sales services Total 1 offers. With ultimate users, they often pay most atten- tion to features which can bring them the benefits they are seeking and meet their using motivations. With other buyers, different conditions, circum- stances and motivations may lead to different factors affecting their product choice and the importance of these factors also vary. Sometimes, the important features related to the functions of fashion products may not be the most important features to every customer. Some features may become more outstanding than others because marketing activities of the enterprises recommend them to potential customers as foundations for their choice via their communication activities. By contrast, some features are not distinctive as customers cannot remember these features but when reminded, they real- ize that these features are factors. So marketers need to care about features of products and marketing pro- grams which customers may evaluate as important fea- tures when they are considering buying products. This research also bases on previous studies and consults experts in fashion industry to perfect the research measurement scales. Based on previous stud- ies and qualitative research methods, this study identi- fies 9 independent variables as follows: brand and product diversity; product features; price levels and promotional programs; convenient store locations; convenience of the store; product display in the store; awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants; information provision of the store; services and selling modes of the store. Dependent variable is buying decision of fashion products by Hanoi con- sumers. Research model was built up to investigate the impacts of independent variables (factors affecting choice, consideration and buying decisions of fashion products of consumers) on dependent variable (buying decisions of customers). The relationships and direc- tions of impacts between variables are generalized in Figure 2. From the model, research hypotheses are made up, including: Hypothesis H1: Brand and product diversity have impacts on customer buying decisions Hypothesis H2: Product features have impacts on customer buying decisions. Hypothesis H3: Price levels and promotional pro- grams have impacts on customer buying decisions Hypothesis H4: Convenient store location has impacts on customer buying decisions Hypothesis H5: Convenience of the store has impacts on customer buying decisions. Hypothesis H6: Product display in the store has impacts on customer buying decisions Hypothesis H7: Awareness, consultancy and serv- ing attitudes of shop assistants have impacts on cus- tomer buying decisions. Hypothesis H8: Information provision of the store has impacts on customer buying decisions Hypothesis H9: Services and selling modes of the store have impacts on customer buying decisions 4. Data collection method To investigate the impacts of factors affecting the choice of fashion products of Hanoi consumers, in July 2014 the author conducted a survey on 300 consumers in the age group of 18-44 who lived in Hanoi and reg- ularly bought fashion products, using convenient sam- pling method. Samples included 300 consumers cho- sen conveniently, they work in different organizations, aged from 18 to 44, have mid-income and do different kinds of jobs. These samples were interviewed at home, firstly the researcher contacted them via tele- phone to arrange appointments, then she had face-to- face interviews with the samples. Survey data were collected via two above-mentioned methods, eventual- ly 265 questionnaires were gathered back. Upon removing invalid questionnaires from the sample, 210 valid ones were coded, inserted and analyzed via SPSS. Collected data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and testing methods to determine the correlations between independent and dependent variables of the model. Based on the results of linear regression analysis, the factors affecting the choice of fashion products were evaluated, from which solutions to marketing activities of fashion companies were suggested. 26 Journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS 5. Research findings 5.1. Cronbach Alpha results Cronbach Alpha coefficients were analyzed to determine the reliability of each observation variable constructing independent and dependent variables before the relationships between each variable were identified. The higher the coefficients, the closer the correlations between variables (Tr?ng & Ng?c, 2008) and they must range between 0.6 and 1.0 to guarantee that the observation variables constructing the sur- veyed variables have significant correlations. Variables with correlation coefficient smaller than 0.3 are con- sidered garbage variables and eliminated from meas- urement scale. After invalid variables were eliminated, results of Cronbach Alpha are presented in Table 1 5.2. EFA results The results of factor analysis of independent vari- ables are presented in Table 2 and Table 3 KMO = 0.800 > 0.5 indicates that factor analysis is appropriate with research data with significance level of 0.000 in Bartlett's test (Table 3). Therefore, it is pos- sible to reject the homogeneous factor theory, in other words, these factors have correlations with each other and satisfy the conditions of factor analysis. The table indicates that the extraction coefficient of each constructing factor >1.0 meets requirement, so it is possible to conclude that 9 constructing factors affecting the choice of fashion products are estab- lished. The accumulated value of the average variance extracted = 83.130 >50%, which means 83.130% of data variation can be explained by the 9 factors and all variables have factor loading >0.5. This illustrates that variables and factors have close relationships and can ensure the practicality of the research model. 27 journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Source: Result of data analysis Figure 2: Research model on impacts of factors of choice on customer buying decisions of fashion products Brand and product diversity Customer buying decisions H1+ Awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants Product display in the store Information provision of store Services and selling modes of store H7+ H8+ H6+ Product features Price levels and promotional Convenient store location Convenience of the store H2+ H3+ H4+ H5+ H9+ 28 Journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Table 1: Results of Cronbach Alpha analysis Source: Data analysis results Variables No. of observation Cronbach Alpha Independent Brand and product diversity 4 0.651 variables Product features 2 0.751 Price levels and promotional programs 3 0.675 Convenient store location Convenience inside the store 4 2 0.746 0.708 Product display in the store Awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants 2 2 0.604 0.569 Information provision of the store 3 0.701 Services and selling modes of the store 2 0.636 Table 2: Results of KMO and Bartlett's tests Source: Data analysis results Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Level of compatibility 0.800 Bartlett's test Approx. Chi-Square 106.814 Df 102 Sig .000 Table 3: Results of constructing variables Source: Data analysis results Factors Extraction % accumulation Brand and product diversity 6.042 23.237 Product features 3.937 38.379 Price levels and promotional programs 2.314 47.277 Convenient store location 2.168 55.617 Convenience inside the store 1.914 62.978 Product display in the store 1.637 69.274 Awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants 1.344 74.444 Information provision of the store 1.352 79.259 Services and selling modes of the store 1.007 83.130 5.3. Hypotheses testing The testing of correlation was conduced to test if there exist relationships between independent and dependent variables (table 4). Pearson analysis results draw to some conclusions as follows: all 9 variables serving as the foundations for choosing fashion prod- ucts are related with buying decisions of fashion prod- ucts of consumers (I am certain to buy fashion prod- ucts). As Sig.<0.05 and Pearson coefficient is positive, there exists a positive correlation between independent and dependent variables. Linear regression analysis was conducted with results presented in Table 4. As can be seen from the results, all 9 research hypotheses are accepted. There are quite close positive correla- tions between factors affecting the choice of fashion products and buying decisions of fashion products of Hanoi consumers. 6. Discussion and conclusions The research looks into the impacts of factors affecting the choice of fashion products on buying decision of fashion products of Hanoi consumers. Research findings on the impacts of affecting factors reveal that there are 9 factors with positive correlations to buying decisions, the impact levels of these factors on buying decisions of consumers as ordered from the strongest to the lightest are as follows: Brand and prod- uct diversity; Services and selling modes of the store; Price levels and promotional programs; Awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants; Information provision of the store; Product features; Convenience of the store; Convenient store location and finally, Product display in the store. 29 journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Table 4:Results of multi regression Hypotheses Sig. Correlation coefficient Conclusion H1: Brand and product diversity have positive impacts on customer buying decisions .000 . 428** Accepted H2: Product features have positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 . 265** Accepted H3: Price levels and promotional programs have positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 . 409** Accepted H4: Convenient store location has positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 . 076** Accepted H5: Convenience of the store has positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 . 239** Accepted H6: Product display in the store has positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 .011** Accepted H7: Awareness, consultancy and serving attitudes of shop assistants have positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 .320** Accepted H8: Information provision of the store has positive impacts on customer buying decisions. .000 .371** Accepted H9: Services and selling modes of the store have positive impacts on customer buying decisions .000 .417** Accepted From the research findings, some implications can be drawn for fashion companies: there are 9 groups of factors that affect the buying decisions of fashion prod- ucts and they all have positive impacts on buying deci- sions, so companies should employ these factors extensively to attract and encourage customers to buy more of their products. Fashion companies can use one or some of these factors to create superior differentia- tions from the offers of competitors in the market. The variable that companies need to develop most is brand and product diversity: this is the variable with the strongest impacts on consumer buying decision, so fashion companies need to raise the level of this con- struct variable. Specifically, they should product a wide variety of fashion products to facilitate customer choice. Moreover, companies should identify a group of target customers and position their products in that market and differentiate from competitors. In that way, they can build up a good product and company image and brand in the mind of target customers and market. Secondly, the factor with the second biggest impacts on consumer buying decisions is services and selling modes of the store. Therefore, fashion compa- nies need to focus on and develop supporting services to products such as product returns or product perfec- tion. As users of fashion products may be direct buyers or those who get products as gifts, fashion companies should provide product return services in case cus- tomers are not fully satisfied with the products, prod- ucts have flaws or are of the wrong size, etc. Companies should also set up online selling modes so that customers can save time and search for product information in advance. Thirdly, price levels and promotional programs has the third biggest impacts on customer buying deci- sions. This factor is a useful tool in increasing sales and attracting current as well as potential customers to fashion stores. Therefore, companies should build up a systematic and unique promotional campaign of their own rather than follow or copy the programs of others. Besides, they should not provide special offers only at the year-end but spread across the year at different time to attract and retain a stable number of customers. Depending on the conditions of each period, they should come up with appropriate promotional forms, including: discounts on special occasions, vouchers, cash refunds, new product launch offers, discounts on inventories, slow-sell or end-of-season products. Fourthly, awareness, consultancy and serving atti- tudes of shop assistants are considered the key to suc- cessful sales of a business. Salespeople are the those with direct contacts with customers, an interactive information channel to help companies promptly adjust their acts towards customer feedbacks. Research findings indicate that what customers highly appreci- ate is shop assistants should have good awareness of products and consultancy skills to help customers choose the best suitable products. Consumers consider shop assistants as experts who can help them choose products in the store, so it is important to set up and train a team of shop assistants with good awareness and serving attitudes. Sales assistants should improve other skills such as communication, understanding customer psychology and demand to offer appropriate consultancy. Fifthly, companies need to raise the quality of information provision of the store, particularly infor- mation about products, promotional programs, etc. This information must be extensively communicated to a large number of customers. As illustrated by research findings, customers believe that it is impor- tant that they be kept informed of new sales programs, discounts or product launches. Therefore, fashion com- panies should pay attention to publishing product and company information via popular means of media such as social networks like Facebook, Instagram, etc. or websites which attract customer attentions such as Ngoisao.net, eva.vn, guu.vn, etc. Sixthly, product features: this is the sixth construct variable with impacts on customer buying decisions. 30 Journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Companies should attend to product designs such as using diverse and appropriate colors to local and inter- national fashion trends. As customers are totally dif- ferent in their appearance, they need different choice of colors to suit their skin or shapes, etc. At the same time, fashion products should have modern designs appropriate to their uses such as office wear, casual wear, etc. Seventhly, convenience of the store also has impacts on customer buying decisions. Fashion com- panies should care more about customer parking areas. Research findings show that customers hope to have comfort and peace-of-mind when choosing products in the stores without worrying about the safety of their vehicles such as careful locks or cautions of thefts, etc. Eighthly, convenient store location is important for customers to access, view and buy products. Research findings uncover that customers prefer to shop in stores located in shopping streets or inside shopping centres as they tend to think that buying in these stores, they can feel safer about product quality and it is more convenient for them to go to the stores. Besides look- ing for good locations in the shopping areas in the cen- tres of the city and districts or in big shopping malls, companies should open stores in busy streets such as Ba Trieu, Thai Ha, Chua Boc, Kim Ma, Ton Duc Thang, Cau Giay, etc. as these streets can help compa- nies to build up good brand image and approach cus- tomers easily and quickly. Finally, it is product display in the store. This is also a variable with impacts on customer buying deci- sions. That companies have good displays of new and unique products near windows or beautiful displays near store entrance will attract customers and help them to perceive the fashion styles of the stores right from the external looks. The displays of new products, eye-catching and unique designs by front windows will help to grasp customer attention, thereby drawing them to the stores. Therefore, those products displayed in the front should be eye-catching, distinctive and constantly changed to create novelty for the stores. This is the way stores attract customer attentions and create the first impressions on the fashion gouts of the stores. Besides, fashion companies should also care about interior decorations as well as displays inside the stores; for example, when installing goods shelves, they should arrange the shelves and hangers in- between rather than arranging one space for shelves and the other for hangers only. It is also necessary to categorize the stores into different areas for trousers, shorts, shirts, jypes, etc. to make it easy for customers to look for products. The central area of the stores should be devoted to the most distinctive and attractive designs. Depending on the space of the stores, shelves, boards and hangers should be arranged suitably and conveniently for customer choice. Conclusion To conclude, the qualitative research on factors affecting the choice of fashion products of Hanoi con- sumers can help fashion companies develop a better understanding of the choice and decision making processes of consumers, from which they can know what factors consumers often consider when buying fashion products. Hopefully, via this research, fashion companies can use marketing mix variables effective- ly and raise their business performance. References: 1. Phillip Kotler (2013), "Marketing Management", Statistics Publishing House 2. Nguyen Dình Tho (2012), Scientific Research Methods in Business, Social Labor Publishing House, Hà N?i. 3. Hoang Trong, Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc (2008), Research Data Analysis via SPSS I, II, Hong Duc Publishing House, Ho Chí Minh. 4. W&S, Reports on Fashion Consumption Habits of Vietnamese People 31 journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS Summary Ngaønh kinh doanh haøng may maëc thôøi trang cuûa Vieät Nam ñang phaùt trieån maïnh meõ. Cuøng vôùi ñoù laø söï caïnh tranh ngaøy caøng khoác lieät cuûa caùc coâng ty thôøi trang trong vaø ngoaøi nöôùc. Chính vì vaäy, caùc doanh nghieäp phaûi khoâng ngöøng noã löïc hoaït ñoäng kinh doanh cuûa mình ñaëc bieät laø hoaït ñoäng market- ing, maø neàn taûng ôû ñaây laø doanh nghieäp phaûi hieåu ñöôïc haønh vi cuûa khaùch haøng ñeå töø ñoù ñöa ra chieán löôïc marketing hieäu quaû vaø naâng cao söùc caïnh tranh saûn phaåm treân thò tröôøng. Vì vaäy, muïc tieâu nghieân cöùu cuûa baøi vieát laø xaùc ñònh, ñaùnh giaù taùc ñoäng cuûa caùc yeáu toá ñeán quyeát ñònh löïa choïn mua saûn phaåm thôøi trang cuûa ngöôøi tieâu duøng treân ñòa baøn Haø Noäi. Keát quaû nghieân cöùu cho thaáy coù 9 yeáu toá bao goàm: Thöông hieäu vaø söï ña daïng cuûa saûn phaåm; Ñaëc ñieåm cuûa saûn phaåm; Möùc giaù vaø chöông trình khuyeán maõi; Vò trí cöûa haøng thuaän tieän; Söï thuaän tieän cuûa cöûa haøng; Tröng baøy saûn phaåm cuûa cöûa haøng; Möùc hieåu bieát vaø trình ñoä tö vaán, phuïc vuï cuûa nhaân vieân baùn haøng; Caùc hoaït ñoäng cung caáp thoâng tin cuûa cöûa haøng; Dòch vuï vaø phöông thöùc baùn haøng cuûa cöûa haøng. Töø ñoù ñeà xuaát moät soá giaûi phaùp ñeå caùc coâng ty kinh doanh saûn phaåm thôøi trang hieåu roõ nhu caàu ngöôøi tieâu duøng, ñöa ra caùc chính saùch, chieán löôïc kinh doanh phuø hôïp ñeå taêng tính caïnh tranh cho saûn phaåm thôøi trang, giuùp thò tröôøng thôøi trang trong nöôùc ngaøy caøng phaùt trieån. 32 Journal of Trade Science JOURNAL OF TRADE SCIENCE ’S JTS NGUYEN THI KIM OANH 1. Personal Profile: - Name: Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh - Date of birth: 3th October 1987 - Title: Master - Workplace: Department of Marketing Principles - Faculty of Marketing - Thuongmai University - Position: Lecturer 2. Major research directions: Marketing, Customer buying behavior 3. Publications the author has published his works: - Trade Science Review - Trade Review