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A Study on the Product Designing of Formal Apparels

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

Submitted By: GROUP 2 Manmeet Walia (084) Neha Aggarwal (099) Neha Mittal (100) Nikita Saraiwala (106) Nisha Maurya (107) Pratibha Tatia (117)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We are thankful to Prof. A.K. Dey, Distinguished professors of Research Methodology at BIMTECH and Prof. Tuhin Chattopadhyay, Guest faculty at BIMTECH for giving us the opportunity to work on this project. It was a great learning experience for us and we could actually put in practice, the learning acquired in the classroom. Also the project helped us in understanding the customer perspective for the apparel industry. We are also thankful to the all the respondents of the survey who helped us throughout the course of the project.

GROUP 2

ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this research is to evaluate the factors influencing the buying decision of consumers of the formal apparel industry. Apparel is the second largest retail category in India. The major factors contributing to its growth are greater purchasing power of the young generation, access to fashion trends outside the country, and the superior quality of fabrics. Moreover, due to globalization there has been tremendous rise in the foreign institutional investments which has led to a boom in the corporate sector. Seeing the drastic demand for the western formal apparels marketers are eager to know about the buying behaviour of consumers. Therefore, our research mainly focuses on understanding the apparel industry by studying the various motivational factors influencing the purchase or selection decisions for formal apparels. To achieve the objective a descriptive research was conducted and the data was collected through surveys using structured questionnaire. Factor analysis was performed through SPSS tool to analyse the data and find the major factors influencing the buying behaviour of customers. After the analysis we found six major factors which will help the marketers to understand the consumer purchase intentions and accordingly position their products which in turn will satisfy the consumer needs for western formals.

INDEX
S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Title Acknowledgement Abstract Introduction Literature Review Research Design Findings & Discussions Conclusion Limitations & Future Research List of Tables List of Figures Appendix Bibliography References Page No. 2 3 5 8 14 31 33 34 35 35 36 41 41

INTRODUCTION Introduction to Apparel Industry Apparel is one of the basic necessities of human civilization along with food, water and shelter. The Apparel Industry reflects peoples lifestyles and shows their social and economic status. The Apparel and Textile industry is Indias second largest industry after IT Industry. At present, it is amongst the fastest growing industry segment and is also the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country. The concept of readymade garments was relatively new for the Indians. Traditionally, Indians preferred dresses stitched by local tailors, who had tailoring units in townships or cities and catered exclusively to local demand. The growing fashion consciousness during the 1980s and the convenience offered by ready-to-wear garments were largely responsible for the development of the branded apparel industry in India. Over the years there have been sweeping changes in the apparel industry. Once strictly a made-to-order market for clothing is now transforming into a ready-to-wear market. The growth of the domestic demand for clothing in India is also linked with the success of the retailing sector. Other factors which contributed to its growth were: greater purchasing power in the hands of the youth, access to fashion trends outside the country, and the superior quality of fabrics. Today most of the international brands have found their way into some of the best malls in the country. Brands like Mango, Armani and Diesel were unheard of in India till a few years back but today these brands are found in almost all Indian cities. Apart from providing one of the basic necessities of life, the textile industry also plays a pivotal role through its contribution to industrial output, employment generation, and the export earnings of the country. Currently, it contributes about 14 percent to industrial production, 4 percent to the GDP, and 30 percent to the countrys export earnings. It provides direct employment to over 35 million people. It is said that in the last ten years the fashion industry in India has moved from a very nascent stage to a full-fledged booming industry. The value of the apparel market in India is estimated at around Rs.20, 000 crore. The branded apparel market's size is Rs.5, 000 crore which is a quarter of the total share. The apparel market is India is categorized into branded

and non-branded. The Top Apparel Brands in India are Madura Garments, Arvind Mills, Provogue Zodiac Clothing, and Raymond. Giving a closer look it was found that Mens apparel market include 46% of the total apparel market in India followed by 17% of the market size by women and 37% by kids. Consumer spending on apparel in India has grown over the last five years, touching the global benchmark of 5 per cent of the total income, according to Consultancy firm McKinsey. It continues to stimulate consumer demand for apparels and is estimated to grow at the rate of 12-15 per cent annually in terms of growth in rupee value. The Indian government has targeted the apparel and textiles industry segments to reach $50 billion by the year 2015. One of the most interesting features of the apparel industry is that, it migrates from high cost nations to the low cost nations. TABLE 1: Indian Apparel Industry Value Forecast YEAR 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 $ BILLION 18.3 20.2 22.3 24.4 26.7 29.2 INR BILLION 806.0 891.3 982.5 1078.4 1179.3 1288.9 % GROWTH 12.10% 10.60% 10.20% 9.80% 9.40% 9.30%

CAGR: 2005-2010: 9.8%

Formal Apparel Industry Formal wear or formal dress is a general term used to describe mens clothing suitable for formal events, including weddings, debutante balls, etc. Since, the world is simultaneously

fashion oriented, every women desire to be donned in formal and stylish outfits. In this commercial world, even women are contributing to the business sector which increases the demand for women's formal dresses. The reason why it is important to be donned in impressive formal outfits is that it does not only make you look good during office hours but also creates a good impression at your workplace and gets you exposure. To meet this requirement of the female population, the fashion industry has contributed numerous magnificent formal attires to serve the ladies also along with the men. Evidently, formal wear is something that is in demand throughout the year, irrespective of season and climate. This is the reason why most trend setters include formal attires in their designer collection for outfits. Many national and international brands have come up with exclusive formal range of collections like Blackberrys, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Wills Lifestyle, Marks and Spencers, etc. and have captured a major market share in the industry. And with the growth of western culture in the Indian corporate and businesses and the entry of Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) the industry expected to grow in future as well.

LITERATURE REVIEW ON FORMAL APPARELS Apparel Industry The global apparel industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy in terms of investment, revenue, and trade and employment generation all over the world. Apparel industry has short product life cycles, tremendous product variety, volatile and unpredictable demand, long and inflexible supply processes. The clothing and apparel industry produces finished clothing products made from both natural and manmade fibbers like cotton, silk, wool, Lenin, polyester, rayon, Lycra and denim. The important segments covered in apparel industry include kids clothing, mens clothing, clothing for women and intimate apparel. Word Of Mouth' Biggest Influence on Apparel Buyers - Survey, USA When it comes to buying apparel and electronics, shoppers are most interested in hearing from their peers about products, retailers and past shopping experiences. In a recent survey, conducted for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association by BIG research, consumers say that word of mouth is still the number one influencer in their apparel (34.3%) and electronics (44.4%) purchases. In addition to first-hand knowledge, product reviews (36.8%) and retail advertising inserts (29.2%) or circulars will also resonate with consumers in their electronics purchases this holiday season. Shoppers looking for the best deal on apparel items, from new jeans to winter coats, will check out circulars (33.3%) and in-store promotions (30.4%). Retailers offering great deals will use many channels this holiday season to make sure their customers arent left in the dark. said Mike Gatti, Executive Director, Retail Advertising and Marketing Association. If retailers cant get the word out to shoppers about their sales and promotions this holiday season, the lowest prices in the world wont bring customers into the stores.

Product placement is another huge driver in adults purchase decisions. When it comes to apparel purchases 11.5 percent say it influences their purchase decision. Blogging also influences 3.3 percent of their apparel purchases. Many apparel studies were found to investigate the relationship between an individual stimulus cue and consumers perception of product quality. Many researchers found that price is often interpreted as an important cue by consumers in perceiving apparel quality. Davis (1987) used white blouse to investigate how consumers use label information in ratings of clothing quality, and found that price was one of the five cues that most subjects selected to assess the product quality. Hatch and Roberts (1985) used socks and sweaters, and Render and OVonnor (1976) used shirts to investigate the influence of price on consumers perception of product quality. Both studies found that the higher the price, the higher the perceived quality.

Author(s): Hye-Shin Kim, (Assistant Professor in the Department of Consumer Studies at the University of Delaware (USA)), Mary Lynn Damhorst, (Associate Professor of Textiles and Clothing at Iowa State University in Ames) Citation: Hye-Shin Kim, Mary Lynn Damhorst, (1993) "Environmental attitude and commitment in relation to ad message credibility", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 3 Iss: 1, pp.18 30

Publisher: MCB UP Ltd The product Management in apparel Industry is done through following stepsDesign- Innovate new design by constantly iterating across your global product development team. Development and pre-production Streamline your product development processes from idea capture to specification development, sampling, lab dips, testing, approvals and ultimately, product launch.

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Material management Unify and communicate the material information that your global team needs for production. Sourcing and production Collaborate with vendors to provide the right compliant materials and facilitate timely production, thereby ensuring that you stay on trend and meet committed in-store dates. Quality assurance Ensure quality soft lines, hard lines and footwear products. Distribution and logistics Model fully landed costs and track delivery through seamless supply chain system integration, thereby ensuring that your product assortment reaches the right customers on a cost effective basis. Sales and marketing Centrally manage information and images to facilitate optimal store. Owners experience catalog merchandising incorporate customer feedback captured through social media or store input into future seasonal development. Seasonal and line planning Assign templates for go-to-market styles and product assortments across multiple seasons, based on hot trends, past sales and optimal cost. Finally, Goals of Apparel Industry areAccelerate launch Increase profitable growth Re-use best practices Reduce design costs

Formal Apparel- Formal dressing means dressing well, to be presentable to others. A person may want to give a little more attention to how he/she dress at work because what you wear may be substantially influencing your career path. Looking your professional best in the workplace can give you a competitive advantage and is also a code of conduct in almost all the corporate all over the world. It simply means dressing in a way that projects an image of the sophisticated, successful working individual is or would like to become.

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Company's objective in establishing a formal work dress code is to enable our employees to project the professional image that is in keeping with the needs of our clients and customers to trust us. Because our industry requires the appearance of trusted business professionals and we serve clients at our site on a daily basis, a more formal dress code is necessary for our employees. You must project the image of a trustworthy, knowledgeable business professional for the clients who seek our guidance, input and professional services. For Men Formal dressing (Western) includesSuit (Well Tailored) Shirts ( Both full and half sleeved) TROUSERS Tie Formal pant suite Skirt Formal shirt or Blouse Scarf or a tie

For Women formal dressing (Western) includes-

Factors important in Apparel industry (Source- research papers by Bonnie D. Belleau, (Professor at the School of Human Ecology, Louisiana State University), Jacqueline Didier, (Instructor in the Department of Counselling, Family Studies and Educational Leadership, at South Eastern Louisiana University), Lori Broussard, (Based at Louisiana State University), Teresa A. Summers, sourcesOPpapers.com, Emerald Research Papers) Promotion and Offers- Apparel advertising has evolved from selling a product to selling an image. Various forms of media play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards apparel. Two hundred and twenty nine men and women were surveyed about their attitudes concerning apparel and media. A reliability analysis of the instrument was conducted. A discriminant analysis indicated that, of the 56 items on the apparel and media scales, seven items significantly discriminated between the two groups. There were few differences between age groups, which suggested that Men and women between ages 25 to 40 held

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similar attitudes towards apparel, media and promotional offers. This age group was more influenced by the Promotional offers, discounts, seasonal sales, brand name and image. Men and women of age group 45years and above were found to be less influenced by the same kinds of marketing strategies. They were found to be more tolerant to the ads and promotional offers and tended to be loyal to the Brand of apparel that they have been buying and switched rarely. Comfort- The same survey also suggested that Men and women between ages 25 to 40 were more experimental with fashions and fads and were less influenced by degree of comfort of apparels .Older men and women who are 45+ were more resistant of social appearance errors and more concerned with comfort versus fashion. Older generation also seemed to recognize the magnitude and penetration of media and short fashion lifecycles in the apparel arena more than younger women, and was less satisfied with apparel currently available. Results have implications for apparel manufacturers and retailers, as well as advertising executives. Brand Image- Today's global market witnesses a cut-throat competition. Many new products enter the market, stay for a while, and then go obsolete. Fads come into existence and vanish even quicker than they appear. Rapid changes in the consumers' choices, increase in their disposable income, globalization, media exposure, and influence of global and psychological trends attribute to this behaviour. In order to sustain them in the market, it is necessary for every manufacturer to build a 'brand image' for his product in the market. This is more important for apparel makers as garments have a short life cycle and trends keep changing every now and then. Brands create the strongest competitive advantage for the manufacturer, and the retailer. Branded apparels not only add a stylish image to the apparel, but it also gives something extra to the consumers. It enables them to create perceptions about the value of the apparel and the brand itself. The value of the brand or the 'brand equity' is the difference of cash the customer pays for a non-branded garment, and a branded one. The customer can buy similar apparel somewhere else; without the label and for a lesser price as well. But, branded apparel with a label on it gives a status symbol to the customer thus satisfying his ego. The reputation that the brand image carries helps in promoting the product among status savvy consumers.

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Private Labels are also one of the category killers and many of the prominent apparel industries like Ralph Lorren, GAP Inc., etc. are found to be struggling and more focused on brand image building in order to counterattack. Price- From the data collected and compiled from many countries across globe research papers- Exploring globe for differences between apparel purchasers, browsers and nonpurchasers & their attitudes and An investigation of competitive pricing among apparel retailers and brands were published. The study reveals that the concept of price tiers is applicable to apparel retailers and brands. Price tiring is a vehicle for market positioning for the retail apparel industry. Retailers are enacting a price tier strategy by branding their retail store formats or engaging store brands as a vehicle of differentiation for a tier. Retailers and brands can be successful with a price tier strategy, unless they fail to differentiate between tiers on factors other than on price alone. It was also found that consumers in south pacific and Asian parts of the world were more price and discount sensitive than in the other parts of the world. Apparel retailers operate in an intensely rivalries and highly saturated market environment, with slow sales growth and high price competition. When many firms are competing for the same consumer with homogeneous product offerings, price defines the competitive position, and is as a powerful competitive weapon. However, if a firm is not accustomed to having to compete on price, it is often hard for firms to adjust to that notion. Competing solely on price requires a business model that allows for significant cost cutting measures below those of their competitors. Notably, price alone can rarely build or sustain marketing strategy. Unless committed to this strategy, through cost models and sourcing strategies, this model is potentially highly unstable.

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RESEARCH DESIGN A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve marketing research problems. Although a broad approach to the problem has already been developed, the research design specifies the details - the nuts and bolts of implementing that approach. A research design lays the foundation for conducting the project. A good research design will ensure that the marketing research project is conducted effectively and efficiently.

Figure 1 Descriptive Research was used to study the perceptions of product characteristics. As the name implies, the major objective of descriptive research is to describe something- usually market characteristics or functions. Descriptive research is conducted for the following reasons: 1. To describe the characteristics of relevant groups, such as consumers, salespeople, organizations, or market areas. 2. To estimate the percentage of units in a specified population exhibiting a certain behaviour. 3. To determine the perceptions of product characteristics.

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4. To determine the degree to which marketing variables are associated. 5. To make specific predictions. Sampling Design Process The sampling design process includes five steps. These steps are closely interrelated and relevant to all aspects of the marketing research project, from problem definition to the presentation of the results. Therefore, sample design decisions should be integrated with all other decisions in a research project. Defining the Target Population Sampling design begins by specifying the target population. The target population is the collection of elements or objects that possess the information sought by the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. The target population for our project was defined as follows: Gender: Females Age Group: 18-35 years Geographic Area: Delhi/ NCR Determining the Sampling Frame A sampling frame is a representation of the elements of the target population. It consists of a list or set of directions for identifying the target population. The sampling frame for our research was defined as follows: Target Sample: a) BIMTECH students b) Young women at random in the street c) Other friends and relatives Problems: The selected sample may be unwilling, unable and biased. Selecting a Sampling Technique

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Selecting a sampling technique involves several decisions of a broader nature. In probability sampling, sampling units are selected by chance. It is possible to pre-specify every potential sample of a given size that could be drawn from the population, as well as the probability of selecting each sample. Every potential sample need not have the same probability of selection, but it is possible to specify the probability of selecting any particular sample of a given size. Stratified Sampling is a two-step process in which the population is partitioned into subpopulations, or strata. The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in that every population element should be assigned to one and only one stratum and no population elements should be omitted. For our research purpose, we chose the following sampling technique: Probability Sampling the probability of selection is nonzero and is known in advance for each population unit Stratified Sampling Population is divided into mutually exclusive and exhaustive strata based on gender, age and geographic area. Simple random samples are then drawn from each stratum. Determining the Sample Size Sample size refers to the number of elements to be included in the study. Determining the sample size is complex and involves several qualitative and quantitative considerations. The sample size for our research problem was 158. DATA COLLECTION DESIGN
1. Data Collection Method: The data was collected from two sources:

Secondary Data: Data from research papers, business magazines, websites of the companies, etc.

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Primary Data: The survey method of obtaining information was used. Respondents were asked a variety of questions regarding their behaviour, intentions, attitudes, awareness, motivations and demographic and lifestyle characteristics. These questions were asked verbally, in writing or via computer.
2. Data Collection Instrument: Questionnaire, a formalized set of questions for

obtaining information from respondents, was selected for collecting the data. Structured questions specifying the set of response alternatives and the response format was significantly used. Multiple choice questions, dichotomous questions and Likert scale of 5 were used. Unstructured questions, open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own words, were used as well. STATISTICAL DESIGN:
1. Statistical Techniques: Multivariate techniques which are suitable for analyzing

data when there are two or more measurements of each element and the variables are analyzed simultaneously were used. Both dependence and interdependence techniques were used. Factor Analysis, variable interdependence technique, in which the interrelationships among large number of variable (questionnaire responses) are analyzed and then they are represented in terms of common underlying dimensions (factors). It brought out the hidden or latent dimensions relevant in the relationships among product preferences. 2. Statistical Software: SPSS is a comprehensive and flexible statistical analysis and data management solution. SPSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate tabulated reports, charts, and plots of distributions and trends, descriptive statistics, and conduct complex statistical analyses. SPSS is available from several platforms; Windows, Macintosh, and the UNIX systems.

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FACTOR ANALYSIS Factor analysis is a general name denoting a class of procedures primarily used for data reduction and summarization. In marketing research, there may be a large number of variance, most of which are correlated and which must be reduced to a manageable level. Relationships among sets of many interrelated variables are examined and represented in terms of a few underlying factors. For example, store image may be measured by asking respondents to evaluate on a series of items on a semantic differential scale. These item evaluations may then be analyzed to determine the factors underlying store image. It is an independence technique in that an entire setoff interdependent relationship is examined. Factor Analysis Model Mathematically, factor analysis is somewhat similar to multiple regression analysis, in that each variable is expressed as a linear combination of underlying factors. The amount of variance a variable shares with all other variables included in the analysis is referred to as communality. The co-variation among the variables is described in terms of a small number of common factors plus a unique factor for each variable. These factors are not overtly observed. The unique factors are uncorrelated with each other and with the common factors. The common factors themselves can be expressed as linear combinations of the observed variables. It is possible to select weights or factors score coefficients so that the first factor explains the largest portion of the total variance. Then a second set of weights can be selected, so that the second factor accounts for most of the residual variance, subject to being uncorrelated with the first factor. This same principle could be applied to selecting additional weights for the additional factors. Thus, the factors can be estimated so that their factor scores, unlike the value of the original variables, are not correlated. Furthermore, the first factor accounts for the highest variance in the data, the second factor the second highest, and so on. Several statistics are associated with factor analysis. Statistics associated with factor analysis:

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Bartletts test of sphericity: It is a test statistic used to examine the hypothesis that the variables are uncorrelated in the population. In other words, the population correlation matrix is an identity matrix, each variable correlates perfectly with itself (r=1) but has no correlation with the other variables (r=0). Correlation matrix: A correlation matrix is a lower triangle matrix showing the simple correlations, r, between all possible pairs of variables included in the analysis. The diagonal elements, which are all 1, are usually omitted. Communality: It is the amount of variance of variable shares with all the other variables being considered. This is also the proportion of variance explained by the common factors. Eigen value: It represents the total variance explained by each factor. Factor loadings: Factor loadings are simple correlations between the variables and the factors. Factor loading plot: It is a plot of the original variables using the factor loadings as coordinates. Factor matrix: It contains the factor loadings of all the variables on all the factors extracted. Factor scores: Factor scores are the composite scores estimated for each respondent on the derived factors. Kaiser Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy: The Kaiser MeyerOlkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy is an index used to examine the appropriateness of factor analysis. High values (between 0.5 and 1.0) indicate factor analysis is appropriate. Percentage of variance: It is the total variance attributed to each factor.

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Residuals: They are the differences between the observed correlations, as given in the input correlation matrix, and the reproduced correlations, as estimated from the factor matrix. Scree plot: It is a plot of the Eigen values against the number of factors in order of extraction. Cronbachs alpha test: One of the most commonly used indicators of internal consistency is Cronbachs alpha coefficient. Ideally, the Cronbach alpha coefficient of a scale should be above .7. Cronbach alpha values are, however, quite sensitive to the number of items in the scale. With short scales (e.g. scales with fewer than ten items), it is common to find quite low Cronbach values (e.g. .5). In this case it may be more appropriate to report the mean interterm correlation for the items. Briggs and Cheek (1986) recommend an optimal range for the inter-item correlation of .2 to .4. The cronbachs alpha value is .717 (greater than 0.5) as shown in Table 2

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Case Processing Summary Table 2 N Cases Valid 154 % 98.1

Excludeda 3 1.9 Total 157 100.0 a. List-wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure. Reliability Statistics Table 3 Cronbach's Alpha .717 N of Items 19

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CONDUCTING FACTOR ANALYSIS The steps involved in conducting factor analysis are as follows: 1. Define the factor analysis problem and identify the variables to be factor analyzed. 2. Construct a correlation matrix of these variables and select a method of factor analysis. 3. Decide on the number of factors to be extracted and the method of rotation. 4. Interpretation of rotated factors. 5. Depending upon the objectives, calculate the factor scores, or surrogate the selected variables. 6. Finally, determine the fit of the factor analysis model. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM Problem formulation includes several tasks. First, the objectives of factor analysis should be identified. The variables to be included in the factor analysis should be specified based on past research, theory, and judgement of the researcher. It is important that the variables be appropriately measured on an interval or ratio scale. An appropriate sample size should be used. To illustrate factor analysis, we wish to determine the underlined factors which affect consumers while purchasing formal apparels. A sample of 158 respondents was surveyed using structured questionnaire. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of influence with the following 20 factors. 1. Price 2. Comfort 3. Fabric Quality 4. Novelty 5. Sizes Available 6. Durability 7. Brand image 8. Service Quality 9. Accessibility of brand outlets 10. Brand Ambassador 11. Colours 12. Stitch/Tailoring Component 13. Promotions & offers 14. Customization 15. Designs 16. Latest Trends 17. Outlet type 18. Brand Logo 19. Proper Fitting 20. Family & Friends opinions CONSTRUCTION OF THE CORRELATION MATRIX

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The analysis process is based on a matrix of correlations between the variables. Valuable insights can be gained from an examination of this matrix. For the factor analysis to be appropriate, the variables must be correlated. If the correlations between all the variables are small, factor analysis may not be appropriate. Formal statistics are available for testing the appropriateness of the factor model. Bartletts test for sphericity can be used to test the null hypothesis which is that the variables are not correlated in the population; in other words, the population correlation matrix is an identity matrix. The test statistic for sphericity is based on a chi-square transformation of the determinant of the correlation matrix. A large value of the test statistic will favour the rejection of the null hypothesis. If the hypothesis cannot be rejected, then the appropriateness of the factor analysis should be questioned. Another useful statistic is the Kaiser-MeyerOlkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy. This index compares the magnitudes of the observed correlation coefficients to the magnitudes of the partial correlation coefficients. Small values of the KMO statistic indicate that the correlations between pairs of variables cannot be explained by other variables and that factor analysis may not be appropriate. Generally, a value greater than 0.5 is desirable. The Null hypothesis, that the population correlation matrix is an identity matrix, is rejected by the Bartletts test of sphericity. The approximate chi square statistics is 483.856 with 171 degrees of freedom, which is significant at the 0.05 level. The value of the KMO statistic (0.677) is also large (greater than 0.5) as shown in Table 3. Thus, factor analysis will be considered an appropriate technique for analysing the correlation matrix. DETERMINATION OF THE METHOD OF FACTOR ANALYSIS Once it has been determined that factor analysis is an appropriate technique for analyzing the data, an appropriate method must be selected. The approach used to derive the weights or factor score coefficients differentiates the various methods of factor analysis. The two basic approaches are principals component analysis and common factor analysis. In principals component analysis, the total variance in the data is considered. The diagonal of the correlation matrix consists of unities, and full variance is brought into the factor matrix. Principal components analysis is recommended when the primary concern is to determine the

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minimum number of factors that will account for maximum variance in the data for use in subsequent multivariate analysis. The factors are called principal components. In common factor analysis, the factors are estimated based only on the common variance. Communalities are inserted in the diagonal of the correlation matrix. This method is appropriate when the primary concern is to identify the underlying dimensions and the common variance is of interest. This method is also known as principal axis factoring. We have used principal component analysis. Under communalities, initial column, it can be seen that the communality for each variable from 1 to 20 is 1 as unities were inserted in the diagonal of the correlation matrix. The table labelled initial Eigen values gives the Eigen values. The Eigen values for the factors are as expected, in decreasing order of magnitude as we go from factor1 to factor 20.The Eigen value for a factor indicates the total variance attributed to that factor. The total variance accounted for by all 20 factors is 20, which is equal to the number of variables. Factor 1 account for a variance of 3.387 which is (3.287/20) or 16.43% of the total variance. Likewise second factor accounts for 2.021 which is (2.021/20) or 10.1% of the total variance. Several considerations are involved in determining the number of factors that should be used in the analysis. Table 4: KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Approx. Chi-Square Df Sphericity Sig.

.671 483.856 171 .000

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Table 5 : Communalities Initial Extraction Price 1.000 .615 Fabric quality 1.000 .539 Sizes available 1.000 .423 Brand image 1.000 .666 Accessibility 1.000 .632 Colours 1.000 .457 Promotions and offers 1.000 .582 Designs 1.000 .634 Fitting 1.000 .522 Comfort 1.000 .584 Novelty 1.000 .602 Durability 1.000 .558 Quality of service 1.000 .492 Brand ambassador 1.000 .617 Stitch or tailoring 1.000 .509 Customization 1.000 .486 Latest trends 1.000 .496 Brand logo 1.000 .616 Family and friends 1.000 .506 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

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Compo Initial Eigen values nent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Total 3.287 2.021 1.688 1.253 1.208 1.080 .949 .882 .839 .796 .765 .714 .677 .595 .542 .482 .456 .420 .343

Table 6: Total Variance Explained Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Cumulative % 17.300 27.939 36.825 43.420 49.776 55.462 60.456 65.100 69.517 73.709 77.737 81.492 85.058 88.189 91.042 93.581 95.982 98.192 100.000 Total 3.287 2.021 1.688 1.253 1.208 1.080 % of Variance 17.300 10.639 8.886 6.595 6.356 5.687 Cumulative % 17.300 27.939 36.825 43.420 49.776 55.462

% of Variance 17.300 10.639 8.886 6.595 6.356 5.687 4.994 4.644 4.418 4.192 4.027 3.756 3.566 3.131 2.852 2.539 2.401 2.211 1.808

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DETERMINATION OF THE NUMBER OF FACTORS It is possible to compute as many principal components as there are variables, but in doing so, no parsimony is gained. In order to summarize the information contained in the original variables, a smaller number of factors should be extracted. The question is, how many? Several procedures have been suggested for determining the number of factors. These include approaches based on Eigen values, scree plot, percentage of variance accounted for, etc. Determination Based on Eigen values: In this approach, only factors with Eigen values greater than 1.0 are retained; the other factors are not included in the model. An Eigen value represents the amount of variance associated with the factor. Hence, only factors with a variance greater than 1.0 are included. Factors with variance less than 1.0 are no better than a single variable, because, due to standardization, each variable has a variance of 1.0. If the number of variables is less than 20, this approach will result in a conservative number of factors. Based on the Eigen value criterion first six factors (factor1 to factor 6) are selected. Determination based on Scree Plot: A scree plot is a plot of the Eigen values against the number of factors in order of extraction. The shape of the plot is used to determine the number of factors. Typically, the plot has a distinct break between the steep slope of factors, with large Eigen values and a gradual trailing off associated with the rest of the factors. This gradual trailing off is referred to as the scree. Experimental evidence indicates that the point at which the scree begins denotes the true number of factors. Generally, the number of factors determined by a scree plot will be one or a few more than that determined by the Eigen value criterion. From the scree plot shown in Figure 2, a distinct break occurs at 4 factors. Determination Based on Percentage of Variance: In this approach, the number of factors extracted is determined so that the cumulative percentage of variance extracted by the factor reaches a satisfactory level. What level of variance is satisfactory depend upon the problem. However, it is recommended that the factors extracted should account for at least 60 percent of the variance.

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Finally from the cumulative percentage of variance accounted for, we see that the first 6 factors account for 55.46% of the variance. So finally from the above criterion we have selected 6 factors. Rotate factors: An important output from factor analysis is the factor matrix, also called the factor pattern matrix. The factor matrix contains the coefficients used to express the standardized variables in terms of the factors. These coefficients, the factor loadings, represent the correlations between the factors and the variables. A component with a large absolute value indicates that the factor and variable are closely related. The coefficients of the factor matrix can be used to interpret the factors. The most commonly used method for rotation is varimax procedure. This is an orthogonal method of rotation that minimizes the number of variables with high loadings on a factor, thereby enhancing the interpretability of the factors. Orthogonal rotation results in factors that are uncorrelated. Figure 2

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Table 7: Component Matrixa Component 1 2 3 4 Price .122 .453 .417 .316 Fabric quality .385 .289 -.425 .185 Sizes available .434 .030 -.279 .125 Brand image .320 -.542 -.339 .377 Accessibility .517 -.194 .202 .149 Colours .302 .176 .304 .155 Promotions and offers .361 .156 .590 .166 Designs .417 .013 .267 .413 Fitting .452 .491 -.117 .134 Comfort .356 .422 -.158 -.059 Novelty .452 -.034 .347 -.453 Durability .494 .245 -.149 -.302 Quality of service .576 -.001 -.240 -.248 Brand ambassador .365 -.638 .161 -.057 Stitch or tailoring .510 .108 -.391 -.204 Customization .526 -.068 .211 -.365 Latest trends .385 -.305 .294 -.128 Brand logo .366 -.574 -.151 .224 Family and friends .328 .135 -.127 .306 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. a. 6 components extracted.

5 .239 -.137 -.374 -.084 -.416 -.323 -.162 .279 -.146 .101 -.217 .337 -.056 -.065 .053 .165 .375 .250 .413

6 -.253 -.271 .025 .070 -.302 .339 -.156 .375 .155 .491 -.155 -.167 -.194 .210 .200 .012 .109 -.128 -.316

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Table 8: Rotated Component Matrixa Component 1 2 3 4 Price -.264 -.024 -.111 .380 Fabric quality -.020 .026 .680 -.010 Sizes available .177 .023 .575 .150 Brand image .745 -.138 .295 -.050 Accessibility .295 .150 .356 .609 Colours -.011 -.034 .072 .474 Promotions and offers -.044 .134 -.036 .718 Designs .347 .014 -.160 .241 Fitting -.166 .079 .452 .169 Comfort -.139 .189 .189 -.124 Novelty -.053 .602 .070 .433 Durability -.079 .603 .233 -.137 Quality of service .132 .502 .470 .020 Brand ambassador .640 .259 -.124 .193 Stitch or tailoring .114 .392 .413 -.221 Customization .122 .654 -.033 .163 Latest trends .376 .463 -.311 .102 Brand logo .729 .144 .061 -.061 Family and friends .156 .106 .186 -.046 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 13 iterations.

5 .112 .040 .159 .015 -.157 .448 .086 .580 .485 .691 -.085 .118 -.011 .038 .348 .127 .137 -.126 .020

6 .613 .270 -.115 -.039 -.015 -.158 .195 .306 .141 .014 -.193 .319 .032 -.295 -.038 .018 .122 .203 .658

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Table 9: Component Transformation Matrix Compon ent 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 .383 -.821 -.126 .362 .129 .122 2 .596 -.036 .124 -.730 .283 -.121 3 .462 .250 -.642 .113 -.480 -.260 4 .343 .051 .744 .244 -.486 -.175 5 .359 .390 .020 .191 .125 .816 6 .194 .327 .049 .476 .649 -.453

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. Interpretation of Factors Interpretation is facilitated by identifying the variables that have large loadings on the same factor. That factor can then be interpreted in terms of the variables that load high on it. Another useful aid in the interpretation is to plot the variables using the factor loadings as coordinates. Variables at the end of an axis are those that have high loadings on only that factor, and hence describe the factor. Variables near the origin have small loadings on both the factors. Variables that are not near any of the axes are related to both the factors.

Now, the factors are being extracted according to the highest loading in each column. Like in first column the highest loading is at brand image i.e. .745, second factor is customization with highest loading of .654, third factor is fabric quality with highest loading of .680, fourth factor is promotion and offers with highest loading of .718, fifth factor is comfort with highest loading of .691 and the sixth factor is family and friends with highest loading of .658. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS After conducting the consumer survey and performing factor analysis on data collected we were able to come out with the six major factors by which the consumers were most influenced while purchasing the western formal apparels.

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These six factors are listed below: 1. Brand Image 2. Customization 3. Fabric Quality 4. Promotion and offers 5. Comfort 6. Family and friends Now lets discuss each of the factors in details as to how do they influence the purchase decisions of the consumers. First one is Brand Image. It is an impression in the mind of the consumer about a brand's total personality (real and imaginary qualities and shortcomings). It is developed over time through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme, and is authenticated through the consumers' direct experience. In the case of formal apparels too it plays a major role. Consumers do make a choice according to the image of the brand they are having in their mind. Second is Customization which means marketers can differentiate products by making them customized to an individual. As companies have grown proficient at gathering information about individual customers and business partners, and as their factories are being designed more flexibly, they have increased their ability to individualize their market offerings, messages and media. Western formal apparel industry is also not lagging behind. With increasing trends, customers will demand customization for western formals as well. Next is the Fabric Quality. Our results have shown that consumers do care about the fine quality of the fabric they are buying. Fabric should be durable and of premium quality. Therefore, brands should be concerned of the quality and standards of their clothing. Another important factor found by our research is Promotion and offers. Promotion is advancement of a product through publicity and/or advertising and offers are the special incentives like discount, coupons, rebates, gifts, sweep stakes etc. given by the companies to encourage buyers to purchase their products. Seeing this as the major factor influencing the

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consumer buying behaviour the marketers should indulge in good amount of promotion and offers to retain and enhance the customer base. The fifth factor is comfort. So the brands should keep in mind that the apparels should be designed and styled in such a way that excels in providing the maximum comfort to the consumers. Finally, family and friends are also one of the major factors that influence the buying behaviour of the costumers. So companies cannot ignore the social factors as their opinions too matter in the decision making of the consumer. Therefore the brands should be appropriately positioned to target the opinion leaders.

CONCLUSIONS From the findings, we get a clear insight on the priority consumers give to various factors in the process of decision making while shopping for formal apparels. If one excepts the definition of brand image by Reynolds and Gutman (1984), they have defined brand image in terms of the stored meaning that an individual has in memory, suggesting that what is called up from memories provided meaning we attribute most basically to image, (Dawn and George, 1990), then as founded by our research brand image is in the eye of the consumer. Other factors found in the priority list of the consumer while deciding on the formal apparel in decreasing order of priority are Customization, fabric quality, promotion and offers, comfort, and family and friends. From a theoretical point of view apparel products are seen as having, in the first place, intrinsic physical properties (such as design, materials, construction and finishes), specifying what the item is, and, second, behavioural properties (functional and aesthetical), specifying what the product can achieve (Brown and Rice, 1998; Gersak, 2002).

Limitations and Future Research

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Due to multi-dimensionality of the concept, a qualitative research design has been and therefore the sample size is small. Conjoint analysis could not be carried out due to the statistical constraint of having more than 3 factors. Findings in this study could be used to direct future quantitative studies with a lager sample size that would ensure better representation and further conjoint analysis can be carried out with less number of factors to identify the most sort after attribute that might influence the decision making of the consumer of apparel industry. Similar and more comprehensive research could be carried out for the entire apparel industry.

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LIST OF TABLES Table No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Title Indian Apparel Industry Case Process Summary Cronbach Alpha Results KMO and Bartletts Test Communalities Total Variance Component Matrix Rotated Component Matrix Component Transformation Matrix Page No. 6 21 21 24 25 26 29 30 31

LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. 1 2 Title Research Design Scree Plot Page No. 14 28

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APPENDIX Survey Form for Formal Apparel * Required

1. Name

2. Age * 3. Marital Status *

Single Married

4. Place * 5. Profession *

Student Service Self-Employed Other:

6. How often do you shop for formal Apparels? *

Frequently (Once in a month) Occasionally (Once in Six Month) Seldom (Once in a Year)

7. Which brand comes to your Mind FIRST while shopping for Formals? *

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8. How much importance do you give to price factor while going for formals? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

9. To what extent do fabric quality matters? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

10. Rate the importance given to sizes available in brands? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

11. How much role does the brand image play in making your purchase decisions? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

12. To what extent does the accessibility of brand outlets influence your brand preferences * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

13. How much are you influenced by colours while going for western formals? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

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14. How much are you influenced by the promotions and offers given by the brands? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

15. How much does the design provided by the brand influence your purchase decision? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

16. From where do you prefer to buy formals? *

Retail Outlets Exclusive Showrooms Factory Outlets Other:

18. How much importance do you pay to the proper fitting of formal clothing? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

19. What rank will you give to the comfort factor of formal clothing? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

20. How much are you influenced by the novelty in apparels provided? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

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21. To what extent do the durability matters? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

22. What priority will you give to the quality of service provided? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

23. To what extent does brand ambassador matters while purchasing the formals? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

24. What importance will you give to the stitch/tailoring component of the formal apparels? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

25. What role does customization play while buying formals? 1. Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

26. to what extent does latest trends matters in case of formal clothing? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

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27. How much does brand logo attract you? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

28. How much does the opinion of your friends and family matter to you? * 1.Least influenced & 5.Highly influenced 1 2 3 4 5

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Kotler Keller Koshi Jha: Marketing Management-A south Asian perspective, 13th

edition by Pearson 2. Naresh K Malhotra, Satyabhushan Dash: Marketing Research An applied orientation, 5th edition by Pearson REFERENCES 1. Brown, P. and Rice, J. (1998), Ready-to-wear Apparel Analysis, 2nd ed., MerrillPrentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Chen-Yu, H.L., Williams, G. 2. Davis, L. L. (1987) `Consumer use of label information in ratings of clothing quality and clothing fashionability, Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 814. 3. Dawn Dobni, George M. Zinkhan (1990), "IN SEARCH OF BRAND IMAGE: A FOUNDATION ANALYSIS", in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 17, eds. Marvin E. Goldberg, Gerald Gorn, and Richard W. Pollay, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 110-119. 4. Hatch, K. L. and Roberts, J. A. (1985) `Use of intrinsic and extrinsic cues to assess textile product quality', Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, Vol. 9, pp. 341357. 5. Helena M. De Klerk and Stephna Lubbe, Female consumers evaluation of 6. apparel quality: exploring the importance of aesthetics, Department of Consumer Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa 7. http://www.cygnusindia.com/Industry%20Insight-Apparel%20Retailing%20in %20India-Executive%20Summary%20&%20TOC-March%202004_.pdf 8. http://www.datamonitor.com/store/Browse/?Ntt=apparel%20industry 9. http://www.iigm.in/apparel.html