Despite mature consumers' monetary power and their growing share of many product markets, research especially on mature women's buying behaviour and attitudes is still scarce. The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse mature women's buying of clothes.
The empirical material consists of observations made in a department store and of interviews with a sample of ten Finnish women aged 50 to 63 years.
The study yielded empirically grounded elements of mature women's buying processes: the need for clothing, fashionability, clothing fit preferences, brand preferences, retailer preferences, shopping style, and price. Based on an analysis of the findings a new model of mature women's buying patterns was developed.
Albeit limited in size, the study provides a starting point for further research on mature women as well as on buying clothes in general.
Based on the found preferences, the study offers useful suggestions to clothing designers, manufacturers, retailers, and marketers on how to target mature women more effectively.
The paper opens up a hitherto neglected research topic by presenting empirical findings and a model specifically developed based on mature women's garment buying processes.
