Buying behavior - apparel shopping - part

Discount Store News, Dec 9, 1996

Apparel is the single larqest category of merchandize sold in the mass markets, generating anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent of sales at full-line discount stores.

Yet many mass merchants don't describe themselves as destination locales for apparel. Often, retailers say that they believe hard lines or commodities drive consumers into their stores, where once inside the box, customers are lured over to the apparel aisle by compelling, beckoning displays of clothing.

Attractive assortments and well-executed in-store merchandizing techniques are without a doubt instrumental in generating apparel sales - multiple sales in particular benefit from the full-blown treatment. But according to an extensive study conducted for Apparel Merchandising by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, significant numbers of consumers have apparel on their minds before they arrive at the store.

In fact, when respondents who had shopped in a discount store durinq the month before the study was fielded in November were asked, "What was the main item you went to buy the last time you shopped in a discount store?" apparel was - by far - the most frequently mentioned category of merchandise.

More than 27 percent of those queried name apparel as the item of desire; 35 percent of the shoppers who most frequently favor discount stores say that it was the wish to purchase some kind of clothing item that prompted them to go shopping in a discount store.

More good news for apparel merchants: 35 percent of the younger respondents those under 35, say that apparel purchasing was the main reason they last traveled to a discount store. Considering the fact that many merchants are targeting "young women with children," this should be music to retailer ears.

In the apparel category, womenswear is the biggest draw. More than 13 percent say that the main reason they last shopped at a discount store was for womenswear. Draws in that classification were hosiery/pantyhose/socks, 3.7 percent. sweats, 2.4 percent; lingerie/ panties/bras; 1.7 percent; and jeans, 1.7 percent.

The study confirms that mass market retailers have an enormous opportunity in childrenswear an apparel category that is still underdeveloped at most discount stores. More than 8 percent of respondents say that the primary reason they last went to a discount store was to buy kids clothes, a percentage that is significantly higher than the hiqhest-rated nonapparel category, H&BC, which came in with a score of 6.7 percent.

The highest-rated traffic driver in childrenswear is one to which many retailers - including Kmart with its new Sesame Street line - are paying more attention to than in the past, infantswear.

Three and one-half percent of the respondents say that infant gear was the main motivation for their last discount store trip.

Six percent say they last went to a discounter primarily to purchase menswear. Underwear, at 1.5 percent, and jeans, 1.2 percent, are the leading menswear lures.

DISCOUNT STORES ARE APPAREL
DESTINATION STOPS
(What was the main item you went to buy the
last time you shopped in a discount store?)

Rank Category               Total   Discount store
                                       shopper

1.  Apparel                 27.7%       35.4%
    Womenswear             13.3        17.9
    Menswear                 6.0         7.2
    Childrenswear            8.4        10.3
2.  H&BC                     6.7         5.9
3.  Housewares               5.1         4.6
4.  Food/candy/snacks        4.0         4.8
5.  Cleaners/chemicals       4.0         4.2
6.  Toys                     3.3         3.5
7.  Domestics                2.8         2.6
8.  Footwear                 2.4         2.6
9.  Consumer electronics     2.3         2.0
10. Cosmetics/fragrances     2.3         2.0

In the short run, retailers may very well have their best luck marketing their labels to older Americans, although as a long-term strategy, this kind of push may, of course, be questionable. Consumers over 55 are pretty much split when it comes to quality perception of national and store brands. Only 46.4 percent say there is a difference, compared to 45.8 percent who say they don't see one.

Regardless of age group, those who perceive a quality difference between store and national apparel brands over-whelmingly say that the national label is superior. Eighty-one percent of the total group t hat distinguishes says the national brand is better.

In terms of price comparisons, the study points out some interesting perceptual attitudes. Although shoppers say there is a clear difference between store and national brand pricing structures - 72 percent notes there's a difference - only 49 percent say store brands are priced better. Forty-one percent say brands offer the better prices. The fact that retailers utilize their own labels for a variety of positioning strategies - at times they serve as opening price points, and they are also used to denote lifestyle or fashion points of view - may elicit this response.

As the apparel business continues to evolve, merchants, manufacturers and marketers will need to hone their abilities to adapt to changing market conditions. Sophisticated research methods and inventory tracking systems will help them adjust. But the basic premise of retailing, "Give the lady what she wants," will prevail.