Master's Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: Merti, University of Lincoln (Graduate School), course: Master's in Business Administration, language: English, abstract: The study is based on analyzing young Indian’s perceptions on foreign branded apparels and analysis of Indian youth customer’s behavior. The investigation primarily aimed at analyzing young Indian customer’s behavior and exploring the relation between them with foreign branded apparels. It also included the theoretical study of Brands & Brand Management and the key drivers that has a likely impact on customer’s behaviors, which used Indian young customers as target participants for the study. The study finalizes that fact that brands have significant impact of customer’s behavior by outlining the key drivers that would enable gradual sales for organizations, by presenting various theories, models, and methodologies to arrive at a conclusion. In the theoretical part of the study, the researches makes a prompt attempt to explore the relationship between consumer behaviors and brands considering the influential factors acting upon the mindsets of the customer’s. The consumer’s decision-making abilities and process are subjected with brands elements and factors that would build effective global brands to fulfill the objectives of the study and arrive at conclusion. Findings from theoretical and practical analysis determines that the global brands managers should realize that building brands on target customer bases and their perceptions would contribute to the growth of their businesses. The study also outlines that fact that, young generations are more attracted towards the brands rather than the products they purchase. The study also confirms that, consumer behaviors are subjected to brand perceptions and among the targeted Indian young Indian customers; brands play a significant role in facilitating the purchase decision. These facts are the empirical evidences provided by 102 participants of the survey and 38 industry and retail experts who took place in interviews conducted by the researcher. Finally, the study outlines recommendations for the readers and brand marketers stating; brands are the intangible building tools of organization and global firms operating in India should consider the young generations as their major source of customer bases and design their strategies that would cater all the young customers irrespective of locations in India.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out and analyse the consumer buying intention of young Indians, residing in North India, and their perception towards International Readymade Apparel Brands.Design/methodology/approach: The association between customers's buying patterns and their preference for International Readymade Apparel Brands is studied using a sample of consumers in North India. Empirical conclusions are calculated by means of online survey in the form of questionnaire through Google forms technique considering a sample size of 300 young men and women in North India.Findings: Results indicate a clear inclination of the Indian youth towards International Readymade Apparel Brands and the impact of six selected variables- first Brand Equity, then Brand Loyalty, followed by Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality and Brand Association and lastly Price Perception that have profound implications on both Educational as well as Industry perspectives.Research Limitations/Implications: Firstly, the respondent's views may be based on intuition, current factors and their own experience, rather than quantitative facts. Secondly the fact that information is obtained from only one geographic location brings uncertainty to a sample that represents the entire population. Practical implications: International Brands are an influencing factor that affects the buyer's decision-making process and the right form of marketing can establish them to generate positive brand associations and initiate sales activities that are considered positive. On the other hand, national pride, support for the Indian economy, and support for domestic manufacturers is being challenged, as more and more Indian youth are inclined to western brands.Originality/value: By analysing consumer behaviour patterns based on Brand Equity, Brand Loyalty, Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality and Brand Association towards International Brands, the findings can help marketers to acquire precise knowledge related to a target consumer segment and consequently enable them to strategize and execute approaches to improving their brand equity.

"This study examines how young Indian professionals make decisions about apparel products considering the myriad of options that are now available to them in the marketplace. Declared an emerging market by the US Department of Commerce in 1993 (Bandyopadhyay & Banerjee, 2003), and with projections of increases in urban per capita GDP of 6% every year until 2025, India has become an attractive market for many foreign companies. Considering its large population and emerging young professional middle class, many apparel brand companies have begun to compete for the Indian consumer's attention. However, little is known about what this consumer looks for when considering apparel brands. In this study, a qualitative approach was used to understand the role of brands in the decision-making process of young, urban Indian consumers. Multiple methods were employed to collect data, including focus groups, spousal dyad interviews and observation. Data collection took place in Bangalore, a large city in the South of India. Thirty-four males and females between the ages of 22 and 35 participated in the study. In addition, consumption behaviors of young consumers in three shopping malls in and around Bangalore were observed. Data analysis was conducted for commonalties and differences that surfaced in the participants' experiences which were then grouped together to form themes. These themes were used to structure four conceptual areas that help in understanding the decision-making process of young professionals in urban India: Brand Awareness, Brand Choice, Brand Meaning and Understanding the Young Urban Indian Consumer. Participants were segmented into groups by factors that surfaced as important to their decision-making, including brand consciousness, price consciousness, whether they were from the city or had migrated to the city, and whether they were married or single. Practical implications of the study for retailers and marketers are provided along with suggestions for further study."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, , course: Ph. D., language: English, abstract: Private Labels occupy a significant share of organized retail in Europe and United States. With recent growth of organized retail in India Private Labels also emerged in Indian retail landscape. Though private labels arrived in India long back but still Private Labels have not picked up in India, the way they have picked up in other countries. Many of the Indian retailers like Shoppers Stop, Future Group, Tata’s Croma and Aditya Birla Retail’s More, Spenser’s etc are relaying on Private Label strategy in a big way as consumers seek quality products at affordable prices. Besides, rapid technological and socio-economic changes over the last decade have affected the buying behavior of consumers, forcing retailers to innovate and build new brands (private brands/ store brands) across different categories and various price points to attract more buyers to their stores. They have not only created new labels but have customized and localized those products to suit Indian tastes. Private Labels have attracted attention of researchers from the western world for a long period of time. In India even after introduction of Private Labels by retailers very few studies have been conducted to understand different dimensions like introduction and management of Private Labels by retailers and adoption by Indian consumers. The book presents an analysis of consumer perception and attitude towards Private Labels in India which is the outcome of study conducted in NCR region in India during 2008 - 2010.

The apparel industry of India comprises sales of Men wear, Women wear and Children wear. Within the current marketing environment, competition between products and services is becoming increasingly tough. In order to face the offensive of competition, branding was introduced by for marketers in this industry to have a clear understanding of Indian companies as a marketing strategy to differentiate a number of homogenous products including clothing. The present study primarily focuses on how consumers evaluate branded clothes based on factors like price, quality, variety etc. Within the context of this study, customer perceptions regarding branded clothing were tested considering their brand awareness, price, quality perception and overall brand attitude. This research throws light on consumer behavior focusing on the following areas: the frequency of purchases of branded apparels, most possessed brands, future purchase behavior, place of purchase, source of information for branded apparels, etc. The research is conducted in Jamnagar, Rajkot and Ahmadabad cities and the sample size is 200. Questionnaire method was used in this research. One way ANOVA test has been used as a statistical tool for hypothesis testing. The findings of the present study provide important insights to branded clothes manufactures in India to increase their foothold and successfully compete in the Indian apparels market.

Although one perspective depicts young consumers as vulnerable and passive in the marketplace system, our knowledge of this consumer group will be inadequate if limited to this contention. Their roles and relevance in family consumption activities are becoming increasingly profound. Available evidence shows that they cannot be ignored in the marketplace dynamics as they consume goods and services in their households and are involved in various other active roles in their household consumption including making decisions where applicable. Hence, the landscape of young consumer behaviour is changing. Young Consumer Behaviour: A Research Companion focusses on exploring the behaviour of young consumers as individuals and societal members. The chapters address different aspects of consumption activities of children as individuals like motivation, involvement, perception, learning, attitude, the self, and personality. Similarly, chapters on consumer behaviour in social settings contextualised to young consumers including culture, sub-culture, family, and groups are incorporated into the book. This book fills a gap in the literature by addressing the dynamics of consumption patterns of this consumer group, in relation to various marketing stimuli and different stakeholders. It combines eclectic perspectives on the topic and specifically, bridges the gap between historical perspectives and contemporary issues. Building on the extant literature in the field of marketing and consumer behaviour, this book is a compendium of research materials and constitutes an essential reference source on young consumer behaviour issues with both academic and managerial implications.

Purpose - This paper aims to study the perception of young consumers' about clothing quality. It aims to identify different attributes (of apparel) consumers use to judge the quality of apparel. It also seeks to understand the effect of demographic factors on choice of criteria for selection of apparel.Method - This paper analyses primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from the young consumers' (students) in India, one from small city of Gujarat in western India and other from big city of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.Findings - The study found mixed evidence about, intrinsic and extrinsic, attributes important for young consumers. The findings also suggest that demographic factors (gender, location) affect importance assigned to certain attributes.Value/Originality - Retail sector in India is growing at phenomenal rate, so is the apparel category. This has attracted lot of suppliers into this segment increasing the competition. With a large proportion of Indian population in the age group of 19 - 25, this segment presents remarkable opportunity. Therefore, it is important for marketer to understand, how consumers in general and in this age group in particular evaluates the quality of a product. This paper provides multidimensional view of the apparel quality. Also it provides empirical findings in Indian context, comparing young consumers from different cities and states.