Trend-conscious clothes buyers, known as "fashion-forward shoppers" in the industry, tend to spend more on clothes and other items than those who prefer a more traditional look or buy based on bargains, according to a new consumer report. It might seem an obvious conclusion, but retailers might use the study in their in-store marketing. And they could use the help: Retail sales dropped in May for the first time in eight months.
The latest Acxiom's Retail Consumer Dynamics survey, released Wednesday, identifies consumer behaviors based on their fashion preferences. Acxiom, a marketing firm, analyzed data from a survey conducted by Ohio-based consumer intelligence firm BIGresearch in April. BIGresearch asked nearly 8,200 adults about their behaviors related to shopping for men's and women's casual and dress clothing, children's clothing and shoes in the semi-annual survey.
"If the recovery is really going to take hold for the retail community, [apparel] is an area that needs to pick up and improve," says Mike Gold, Acxiom's director of global research.
The subjects of the survey self-segregated into behavior-based categories when they answered the question asking them to describe how they felt about fashion. Those who selected "newest trends and styles are important when shopping for apparel" became the fashion-forward category. One in three surveyed said they preferred a more traditional conservative approach, while half identified themselves as value-driven, meaning they put price and comfort above fashion.
Nearly three-quarters of the fashion-forward shoppers indicated that they intended to spend the same or more than usual in the next 90 days on casual women's apparel. In addition, the report found that fashion-forward women spend 2.7 times as much on apparel as value driven-women.
Many of these trend-savvy shoppers are still benefiting retailers after their purchases. More than half of the fashion-forward women indicated that they were "extremely likely" to recommend a women's apparel store to a friend. Fashion-forwards were also twice as likely as consumers in the other categories to spend more on other products, ranging from home furniture to electronics.
This report is useful for retailers and advertisers because, if they can identify specific segments of shoppers and find trends in the way they behave, they can modify the way they communicate with the segments and make marketing choices with them in mind. For instance, they can arrange in-store displays to cater to fashion-forward shoppers, or whichever group best fits the retailer's identity
