An Research about Relationship among Fashion Life Style Dissertation

An Research about Relationship among Fashion Life Style - Dissertation Example The paper "An Research about Relationship among Fashion Life Style" examines consumer psychology. The Chinese economy has grown at a very fast pace in the past decades resulting in a high number of affluent and middle class consumers. With phenomenal growth in the number of affluent households China has now become the third largest consumer market for luxury goods. However, the affluent consumers in China do not necessarily fall under one consumer segment. While different regions within China have consumers with different levels of affluence, the consumption behaviours of these consumers also vary. GEOLIA, founded in 1985, is a ladies’ fashion brand headquartered in China. Their vision is to discover, to live and to share a fashionable and healthy lifestyle with their customers. They offer quality, trendy products at affordable prices and have easily accessible distribution network. Their customers comprise of ladies between mid-twenties to early thirties who are at that phase in their lives when values and lifestyle are cultivated. The brand aims to partner with their customers in grooming their personal styles both in fashion and everyday life. Brand GEOLIA is impressed upon the Chinese consumer’s mind as the friendly women’s apparel brand. A consumer behavior model proposed by Hawkins et al (2004) reflects the effect of self concept and life style on consumer behavior. The self-concept and lifestyle influence the needs and desires; these needs and desires can be satisfied through consumption. Lifestyle involves multiple levels and it is determined by people’s individual characters, past experience and current condition. Lifestyle keeps changing with changes in the internal and external environment. As consumer fashion life style and self concept increases consumer purchase intention becomes more powerful (Ahmad et al., 2010). Consumer Purchase Consumer purchase has become a leisure activity and is used to enhance social status. Th is is based on the concept of the self and a material symbol of who a person is and how he/she would like to be known (Dittmar and Drury, 2000). Clothing and fashion are the medium through which people express their identity (Rathnayake, 2011). Fashion and clothing display how a person would like to, in other words, the person’s self concept. Self-concept Self concept has received considerable importance in marketing literature as it can significantly impact consumers’ decision making and product and brand choices (Ye, Bose and Pelton, 2012). The theory of self-concept suggests that consumers prefer products that are consistent with their self-image and hence the brand or product can enhance their self-image. The self-congruity theory suggests that the self-concept is dynamic and conflicting traits may exist in an individual’s self-concept. Fashion and Fashion Consciousness Fashion has been defined as â€Å"a way of behaving that is temporarily adopted by a dis cernible proportion of members of a social group because that chosen behavior is perceived to be socially appropriate for the time and situation† (Sproles cited in Chen, Shang and Lin, 2008). People like to be perceived as trendy and hence would follow the trend that the group follows. With the inclination to follow the fashion trend they may tend to neglect their own personal feelings and