Visual Merchandising in Sportswear Retail

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Teerada Chongkolrattanaporn
Wasana Thai-Eiad

Abstract

Due to an increasingly health-conscious lifestyle, consumer behavior has changed in recent years. The purpose of this quantitative pilot study is to gain a better understanding of consumer attitudes and behaviors towards visual merchandising in sportswear retail, as well as the relationship between visual merchandising and consumer purchasing. Importantly, this study highlights a correlation between attitudes towards sportswear; attitude toward visual merchandising and purchasing behavior in sportswear retailers; and attitude towards visual merchandising. It also highlights a correlation between attitude towards visual merchandising and purchasing behavior in sportswear retail.
Two-hundred respondents who have made an impulse purchase in sportswear from June 2017 to November 2017 participated in an online and offline survey. The majority of the respondents self-identified as athletic sportswear consumers. Results indicate that the primary reasons for their sportswear consumption are: to wear more comfortable clothing and to enhance an athletic look; in addition, influencing factors in their purchasing decisions include: fit, design, and comfort. Respondents who highly value fashion-related attributes (e.g., design, comfort and versatility) also highly value visual merchandising. They appear to value brand image and the satisfaction in owning certain brands that reflect their self-image and status. As for respondents who value function-related attributes, such as product innovation versus its aesthetic qualities, their attitudes and purchasing behaviors tend not to be influenced by visual merchandising. Lastly, attitudes towards visual merchandising has a direct relationship with purchasing behavior in sportswear retail; in particular, respondents who are attracted by visual merchandising have higher tendencies to make a sportswear purchase.

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