Brand-centred fashion clothing behaviour modelling within generation Y. a two-country comparison

Abstract

The study focuses on investigating the fashion clothing buying behaviour and potential brand loyalty within Generation Y by using buying antecedents, demographic, and behavioural variables. Samples of 400 people (Romanians/South Africans) were considered in a step-by-step methodology, using principal component analysis and logistic regressions. A rational buying behaviour for both nationalities was displayed, influenced by magazines and scholarship/bursary (Romanian sample), and celebrities, TV advertisements, buying frequency and budget for clothes (South African sample). Brand loyalty was established only for the South African sample. This study enriches the literature by exhibiting an intra-Generation Y image and extending this cohort's heterogeneity view through the uncovered brand loyalty differences. Managers can position fashion clothing brands for Generation Y based on rational buying motives, using magazines or endorsers in TV advertisements. The model can be improved by including the number of brands purchased from one clothing category, employing more metric scales, and other predictors.