Buyer Behaviour To Fair Trade And Ethical Clothing Marketing Essay

Buyer Behaviour To Fair Trade And Ethical Clothing Marketing Essay Abstract Being an ethical consumer means buying products which were ethically produced and/or which are not harmful to the environment and society. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2001/feb/22/ethicalmoney1) In todays society, consumers are becoming far more aware of the law breaking and inexplicable exploitation of workers including young children in many of the factories across Europe and the World that produce clothing good that are sold all over the United Kingdom as well as many other countries. There is currently a massive gap in the market for a major player to come into and promote that they are using fair trade clothing, showing that they are an ethical business, which would almost definitely up there levels of custom. In effect, the consumers who choose to take their money to ethical businesses would rather purchase ethically manufactured goods rather than the alleged unethical products if the price isnt significantly more than the ethical one. In order to know this however, these consumers need to have appropriate information of the conditions and standards in which they were made before they get to the buying situation. With this only being a recent matter to come up in the c lothing industry coherent information is scarce and it is beginning to cause friction between consumers and businesses. So with issues to do with companies corporate social responsibilities being as big as they ever have been we wanted to know what local consumers felt. Introduction The intention of this report is to analyse and assess consumer behaviour when it comes to fair-trade and ethical clothing. The objective is to find out what consumers beliefs are, whether ethics has an impact on their clothing range, and why they would choose to wear what they do. This was achieved via the use of both secondary and primary research. The secondary analysis involved research using articles on fair-trade and ethical clothing and the appliance of appropriate buyer behaviour concepts and theories. The report will carefully examine, contrast and report on the characteristic decision making processes prone to be used by a particular target market for the purchase of fair trade clothing. This will entail the primary research in which 6 participants will be interviewed with questions regarding to consumer behaviour when it come to purchasing ethical clothing for self wear. Interviews were used as a method to find the qualitative research as they are far more reliable than que stionnaires. The participants are all from Leeds, they are all male and students and aged between the years of 18 and 25. The interviews didnt follow a particular format, as they were informal based, using a number of open and closed questions in an attempt to get honest and appropriate answers from the participants. Research and findings Many aspects of peoples lifestyles can affect the choices they make due to the opinions they form and the interests they have. Looking into somebodys lifestyle can help us develop in depth insights of their consumer behaviour. Some people only buy clothes for comfort, yet others opt to buy clothes as they are branded and they believe it will help them gain respect and a status amongst peers. These points were evident throughout all of the research. An example of it is from interview 3, when asked What aspect of clothing is most important to you? he replied Style and comfort are both important as you to look good but it has to be comfortable as well. This is showing that they wish to look good, yet also desire to feel comfortable. If you take Maslows Hierarchy of Needs (see figure 1 in appendix) and select the Esteem part of the pyramid, we found that this was an ever present issue with the sample with what they had to say. When asked What aspect of clothing is most important to you one participant replied Looks smart and another when asked If you were to wear it do you think your friends would be impressed (as regards to expensive clothing)? He replied with Yes. This shows consumers need to feel confident with themselves when it comes to what they are wearing. They also want to gain respect from others, and sense a feeling of achievement. It is assumed that family and friends will also have a huge influence on dress sense with students. All participants but one agreed with this. When asked Do family and peers tend to have a large influence on the clothes that consumers wear and purchase? one participant answered with yes, because youre constantly around them and they are your family and friends for a reason so you are more likely to have similar dress sense to fit in but everybody does have their own individuality even though you hang around with similar people who wear similar clothing to you. This is proof that you may choose to dress just to fit in amongst peers and family sometimes losing sight of you individualism. The one member of the sample who didnt agree with the above was the only participant from outside of the UK. He was from Eastern Europe. This bring up the topic of whether culture also determines opinions and choices. Culture is the lens through which people see their world. It is also a blueprint of human activity. (McCracken 1986). A Western Value is characterised by separateness in the sense of people being relatively independent and individualistic with the view of the self emphasising separateness, internal attributes and uniqueness of individuals. Non-Western cultures are more connected (interdependent and collective) and have the view of the self stressing connectedness, social context and relationships. This is evident from the way he went around answering specific questions. For example when asked what are your views on how ethically clothes are manufactured? he answered with I have no view, its not my business, which is showing that this topic doesnt really mean much to him . From this we can only assume that this is what the Easter European culture believes and that he is speaking on behalf of them. With most products and brands there is a system of meaning that comes along with them and it is more often than not culturally specific and shared, learned and transmitted through generations. If you look at The Semiotics Triad (see figure 2 in the appendix) we get a better idea of how to change cultural beliefs. If we can get it nailed in to their heads that there is a message behind Fair Trade, perhaps it shows how much you care for the welfare of producers, and let them know what the meaning of Fair Trade is, that you will be providing a better lifestyle for these producers if you purchase the goods, they may become more inclined into buying these Fair Trade goods. From the socio gram in figure 3 (see appendix) you can see that only the Eastern European participant was the only person who disagreed with the question of Does clothing show personality?. T o have any chance of overcoming this cultural difference business must promote all of the benefits that come along with purchasing fair trade clothing. They need to show just how it affects peoples livelihoods and that it isnt just happening in one area, its happening all over the world and everybody needs to do their part to make sure they exploitation is abolished. One of the ways in which this could be promoted and open up to the public is via the use of television advertisements, these would be effective in showing the problems and have the best chance of creating empathy amongst people no matter what culture they may be associated with. Another aspect that was apparent from the research is that consumers look to buy benefits rather than buy things. This was especially the case as the sample were all students and the need to save money yet still have a status and fit in whilst constantly gaining respect is apparent for all to see. When dealing with fair trade consumers can look at benefits in different ways. They can look at the benefits that will be received by the original manufacturers. Or consumers could view fair trade clothing as being more expensive then the benefit to them is not to buy it and go elsewhere therefore saving their self money purchasing a cheaper option. An example of this is, when asked Would you pay slightly more for fair trade clothing one participant replied Yes, however Im not prepared to empty my pockets. This brings up the myth of fair trade being too expensive. If you look at the Market Map (see figure 5 in the appendix) you can see that consumers believe that fair trade clothing is expe nsive to buy and the quality of it doesnt match the price, yet in actual truth the quality is just as good so this myth needs dealing with. The stereotypical mindset of a student is for them to seek the most economical option with clothing that is unless it is branded. This hampers their chances of purchasing fair trade clothes, as the perception is that they are more expensive and that it comes without a brand. If marketers can dig into this perception showing that the little added value is more than worth it and show that it isnt all that much more expensive they will be half way there in changing the perception of students towards it. You can see from figure 4 (in the appendix) that 2 of the participants said that knowing that the clothes were fair trade would not convince you to buy them. This shows that a majority of them would yet a third of them wont. Again one them being of a different culture and the other being British which could prove that is isnt only Eastern approaches yet, only one participant doesnt show that this is how Westerners may also feel. A topic that also occurred throughout is that of motivation. What is it that motivates students to buy the clothes they do. Different factors motivate different people, whether its: brand, price, comfort or style etc. If we look at David McClellands Need Based Motivational Model it suggests that there are three main motivators when purchasing goods. Some have the need for achievement, some have the need for authority and power, and others have a need for affiliation. Basically saying we purchase to get recognition and respect. One example of this is when asked Since being a student has your attitude towards clothing changed and if so how? one reply was Yes because I used to wear scruffy clothes where as now I am more self conscious of how I look, I would rather buy designer makes in order to fit in with friends. This shows just how people like to fit in within a group even if they may not genuinely like what they are doing. Another participant answered Yes I would when asked Would yo u buy an item of clothing just because its expensive?. This also backs up this model. Conclusion To conclude it is evident that more needs to be done to raise awareness of fair trade clothing to students. Figures show that in 2008 a total of  £77.9 was spent on fair trade cotton goods in the UK to drop to  £50.1 in 2009 (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/what_is_fairtrade/facts_and_figures.aspx)so as well as students perhaps the whole country needs more awareness, however this drop is more than likely to be linked to the recession as luxuries such as fair trade goods will be put to the side by many consumers. However this drop could also be linked to a lack of repeat custom. Once somebody has purchased a fair trade piece of clothing they may feel they have done their bit and have no need to help out anymore. Also advertisement from companies who sell fair trade needs to be increased to give many consumers especially students more knowledge or where it is and how it is produced. Part B Discuss, citing several sources, the differences between the B2B and B2C buyers from the perspective of a sustainable marketer Although business to business buying and business to consumer buying are very similar in many ways, the marketing of the two has to be done in different manners. Buyers are individuals and many different subjects can influence one. Whether it is word of mouth, reputation of a business, or past custom. Business to Business can be described as Business that sells products or provides services to other businesses. (http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/b2b/). An example of this could be Heinz selling its ketchup goods to McDonalds. Business to business buyers are very intelligent with what they do. They understand everything to do with the products and/or service better than anybody else and they are able to continually purchase these products or services and still make sure that they are making a profit. Marketing copy must talk to a sophisticated audience. Taking this into account, business to business marketing needs to be of very high quality, looking for areas that perhaps the buyer wont previously have visited and opening them up to new education. Business to consumer can be described as Business that sells products or provides services to end-user consumers. (http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/b2c/). An example of this could be a retailer selling a pair of shoes to its customer. Business to consumer buyers are on the lookout for the best value for money deal and always tend to look around different places before making their mind up on who to purchase from. It is more personal then B2C as it is done on more of a one to one basis. One of the major issues that arises for business to consumer buyers is that of faith and trust. Even though you are able to purchase the same goods from more than one different source whether it be in the high street or on the internet if a consumer knows that they can trust a particular source it is more than likely they will get their repeat custom. Taking this into order, businesses to consumer marketing needs to shows the consumer all of the benefits that buying a product has and prove that they are a trustworthy firm. In business to consumer marketing it is most likely that there wont be much time to play with as consumers can purchase their goods in a split second. Consumers may not even need to view any of the marketing before they opt to buy, it may be word of mouth that convinces them maybe from a friend or member of family. However they may not even need this. Many people buy on impulse, there and then so marketers need to make sure their marketing is noticed therefore it needs to be aimed at the appropriate target in order for it to go noticed, via leaflets or advertisements whether they be on a billboard or television etc. When it comes to business to business buying this idea of impulse buying is scarce. There is normally a list of many things that all need to be ticked before the thought of purchasing even comes to mind. Thus the time is increased and marketers will have more time to play with in marketing their goods and services as B2B buyers need to take their time and make sure they are making the correct and most efficient decision. As well as it having far more time, there are also many more people involved within it. These range from directors to cleaners as everybody needs what is best for them in their role. With more time being available marketers can think of more coherent ways to get the consumers attention and convince them that their goods are better than their competitors. Another difference between B2B and B2C marketing is that the business to business needs to make sure they keep that chain of command in mind. They will have to make sure that all queries are sufficiently answered and there is nothing for potential buyers to believe that they are making a mistake in choosing them instead of others. For example, if you take the Head of I.T from a business, they may decide they want to upgrade all of their computer systems. In their mind they will be thinking of the best value for money supplier to buy from, they will want top quality software but at an affordable and realistic price. They may also want to receive perks for doing business with them. Although this Head may not be the person eligible to make the final decision it is more than likely that the decision maker will take advice from the head and trust them with their opinion. The decision maker will also look at other areas such as reputation of the supplier and speed of delivery etc so market ers need to make sure everything is covered. Another difference between the two is the overall value of a sale. The cost of the initial B2B sale is only half of it, the business then goes on to sell the products it purchased. Initial transactions can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds and it is more than likely that these products will be again sold on. Therefore the value over the lifetime of a product can span many years and add up to thousands, potentially millions of pounds. With B2C they are bought solely for the consumers benefit with them not looking at the possibility of selling the product on. Therefore only a one off payment is made and nothing else needs doing. However marketers should continually be trying new ways of keeping the consumer updated in an attempt to get repeat custom. Appendix Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5