The Shape of Things to Come

American Demographics, July 1, 2003 by Rebecca Gardyn

For our current story, SMRB gave us a sneak peek at their preliminary findings. Not surprisingly, the survey finds that people who are underweight (women especially) are the most likely to love shopping for clothing, to want to keep up with the latest fashions, and to turn to fashion magazines to help them determine what clothes to buy. This makes sense, considering that much of the fashion industry caters to them. But underweight Americans make up just 2 percent of the population, according to both SMRB and government estimates, so a look at the rest of the population's thoughts on the subject should be of some use to marketers.

SMRB data shows that the heavier the consumer, the less likely she is to say she really enjoys shopping for clothes. In fact, just 42 percent of obese women and 18 percent of obese men say that they enjoy clothes shopping, compared with 54 percent and 26 percent of normal weight women and men, respectively. Once in the store, however, larger women spend more time than their skinnier counterparts cruising the racks. Almost half of overweight and obese women (46 percent and 45 percent, respectively) say that they tend to spend long periods of time in a store browsing, compared with just 33 percent of underweight female consumers.

Heavier consumers are also more likely to go out of their way to stores that carry their favorite brands and offer above average service. For example, 43 percent of obese women and 37 percent of overweight women strongly agree that they only shop at certain stores specifically because they know they carry the brands they like, compared with 34 percent of underweight women and 35 percent of normal weight women. Larger men are loyal to stores that provide good service. Almost a quarter of obese men (22 percent) strongly agree that they only shop at certain stores because they know they offer good service, compared with just 15 percent of normal weight men. - R.G.

CONSUMERS WEIGH IN

PERCENT OF AMERICANS WHO AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS, BY GENDER AND BODY MASS INDEX (BMI)*:

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More than a third of department store and mass merchant shoppers say that proper size and fit is among the top three attributes they look for in clothing they buy.

PERCENT OF SHOPPERS WHO SAY THAT THE FOLLOWING FACTORS ARE AMONG THE TOP THREE MOST INFLUENTIAL WHEN IT COMES TO MAKING APPAREL PURCHASES:

CLOTHING: THE PURSE STRINGS TIGHTEN

Black and Hispanic Americans continue to spend more of their annual earnings on clothing than do whites, despite the poor economy. The average black household spent 6 percent and the average Hispanic household spent 5.4 percent of its annual household expenditures on apparel in 2001, compared with 4.3 percent of the average white household's budget.

SHARE OF ANNUAL EXPENDITURES SPENT ON APPAREL, BY RACE AND ETHNICITY: