Consumers' definitions of apparel value: An investigation of department store shoppers

Value is a word that is frequently used by consumers, retailers and manufacturers. Understanding how consumers define value is imperative to the success of the industry. Value has often been defined as price or quality; other factors such as time, energy, product category and type of retail outlet may determine the definition of value by consumers. The purpose of this research was to define value, specifically how department store consumers define apparel value. Value ivas examined with two apparel products, a man's dress shirt and a woman's jacket. Research was conducted using focus groups (qualitative) and in‐store data collection (quantitative). The two hypotheses were tested by using t‐tests and forward step‐wise regression. Results from the 533 department store consumers indicated that: (a) value can be defined using qualitative and quantitative methods, (b) the definition of value was different for the two product categories, men's dress shirt and women's jacket, (c) the value definition for the majority of this study's consumers was ‘I look for the highest quality with an acceptable price’, and (d) product features and marketing attributes are weighted differently, yielding three consumer value equations for the sample's department store consumers. Implications exist for fibre producers, textile mills, apparel manufacturers and retailers in the product development and marketing of ‘value’ apparel products to meet diverse core consumer groups.