The Importance of Quality by Product Category
Although other attributes, such as price and brand, drive more purchases of apparel, spending on apparel based on quality grew faster from 1999 to 2000 than did spending based on any other attribute. On a unit basis, the only attribute that outpaced quality as a driver of sales was fiber or fabric.
Tailored apparel (specifically suiting) is the item most likely to be purchased on the basis of quality. However, in their quality-driven apparel purchases, consumers discriminate within product categories. Both male and female consumers scrutinized men’s dress shirts for quality more than they did work shirts or women’s blouses. Consumers who were concerned mostly with quality bought more denim jeans than slacks. Consistent with earlier findings, consumers said they expected denim jeans to last an average of 12 months longer than casual slacks.
The majority of consumers tend to agree that higher-priced clothes are not necessarily of higher quality, longer lasting, or more stylish than lower-priced clothes. For example, 64% percent of consumers maintain that lower-priced clothes look as good as higher-priced alternatives, and 64% say that higher price does not mean better quality. But, paradoxically, consumers tend to agree that “in clothing, you get what you pay for.”
Analysis of this question reveals an attitudinal divide based on income. For example, the belief that lower-priced clothes are as stylish as higher-priced ones is negatively correlated with income. Lower-income consumers are most likely to agree with this statement, but as income increases, agreement declines. By outlet, the consumers most likely to agree with this statement are mass-merchant shoppers (83%), followed by chain- (66%), specialty-(55%), and department- (53%) store shoppers. Nonetheless, a sizable majority of consumers do believe that when you buy clothing, you get what you pay for. Mass-merchant shoppers are the least likely to believe this, but the majority still agree (64% of mass-merchant shoppers, versus 74% of all other shoppers). |
