Study on Brand Selection of Ready Made Shirts

Brand Selection of Ready Made Shirts:  A study among the University students

G.Suryanarayana Reddy and P.Govinda Reddy

SRM Management Digest. Vol.1, No.1, December 2000. 

Market segmentation and product positioning are closely related.  When market segmentation is done on demographic variables, it is necessary to do market research in order to understand the preferences of the segmented group.  The target group selected for this study is 40 students (boys) in the age group of 20 to 24 years pursuing master’s degree in the University of Madras.  All of them are familiar with different brands of Ready Made Shirts in the market and they have been wearing shirts of one or more of these brands.  The aim of the study is to find out inter-relationships between different psychographic constructs relevant in the brand selection decisions of Ready Made Shirts.  Six brands of Ready Made Shirts are selected for the study.  They are Arrow, Allen Solly, Louis Philippe, Park Avenue, Peter England and Van Heusen.  Each one of these students is asked to write down independently the possible variables that affect their brand selection of shirts. 

Total number of questionnaires answered are 40 (Number of respondents) X 6 (Number of brands) = 240.  The data matrix is factor analyzed with principal components on the constructs and on the barnds.  Varimax rotation is used.

23 attributes of Ready Made Branded Shirts as possible means for inter brand comparisons and brand selections are developed.  The analysis narrowed down just to two attributes out of these 23 attributes that are most important in brand selection and purchase decisions of Ready Made Shirts by university students.  These two attributes are “Making them look attractive to girls” and “They are fashionable to wear”.  If the Ready Made Shirt manufacturers were to be successful in targeting the segment of university students, their marketing mix decisions ought to be based on “Making them look attractive to girls” and “Being fashionable”.  The design of the product shall meet these requirements. Advertisement themes must be focused on these attributes.  Distribution and pricing decisions shall confirm to the concept inherent in these attributes.

The factor analysis on brands indicated that the university students consider Louis Philippe as closest substitute to Allen Solly and Van Heusen is closest substitute of Arrow.  They consider Peter England as very different brand from the other five brands.  This indicates the nature of competitive structure in Branded Ready Made Shirt market.