The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality

In this study the objective is firstly to determine which quality cues adult female consumers use when purchasing apparel for formal and casual daywear. The second objective is to use this information to develop an online guide for apparel consumers. As no South African apparel retail website curren...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Retief, Ardina
Other Authors: De Klerk, Helena Maria
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607
Retief, A 2007, The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607 >
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06182007-172513/
id ndltd-netd.ac.za-oai-union.ndltd.org-up-oai-repository.up.ac.za-2263-25607
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
sources NDLTD
topic Consumer
Quality
Textile
Development
Assessment
UCTD
spellingShingle Consumer
Quality
Textile
Development
Assessment
UCTD
Retief, Ardina
The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
description In this study the objective is firstly to determine which quality cues adult female consumers use when purchasing apparel for formal and casual daywear. The second objective is to use this information to develop an online guide for apparel consumers. As no South African apparel retail website currently supplies more than sizing and care related information, this study could fill the need for more textile information that could serve as a guide when consumers purchase garments on the Internet. Although studies concerning the Internet as new shopping environment and the Internet consumer are on the increase, only a few studies have been specifically aimed at the problems that online apparel consumers encounter regarding the disadvantages of not being able to actually see, touch / handle or try on the garment before making the decision to buy (Beck, 2002; Fiore&Jin, 2003, Sasaki, Ikeda& Shimizu, 2004). A need also exists for empirical research on the South African Internet apparel consumer as, with one exception (Jacobs, 2003), the studies referred to were planned and executed in America, Asia and, to a lesser extent, in a European context. Another important issue in the South African context is that very little textile information is supplied in any retail environment. Consumers often have only a very limited textile knowledge, which is usually based on experience. By developing and implementing a consumer guide, consumers could be educated to demand more accurate and informative textile labelling to help them when making purchase decisions. This research is descriptive as an attempt is made to describe and understand behaviour, tendencies, and situations. It is exploratory as it aims to obtain insight into a relatively new area of study, namely the online consumer of textile products. The last phase of the study can be seen as applied evaluation research as the testing of the effectiveness of the quality assessment guide is the ultimate goal of the research. A social-cognitive perspective was used in the study. Consumer decision-making theory and script theory are both used to explain consumer behaviour in the new Internet environment. Career women took part in the study. A quantitative research style was used. For both the first and final phases of the study structured questionnaires were used and the snowball sampling technique was used as primary sampling method. The responses to the questionnaires were coded, captured and analysed. From the results it is apparent that South African career women lack general textile knowledge and seldom have the ability to relate physical fibre and fabric properties to performance properties. They therefore often act on their emotions during apparel assessment and purchasing. The results underline the importance of supplying textile information to facilitate decision-making. Results from the final phase of the study indicate that by supplying information the online consumer is able to make more confident decisions. The study makes a valuable contribution to understanding consumer behaviour, especially in a South African context. The results contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the Internet apparel consumer. === Thesis (PhD (Consumer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. === Consumer Science === unrestricted
author2 De Klerk, Helena Maria
author_facet De Klerk, Helena Maria
Retief, Ardina
author Retief, Ardina
author_sort Retief, Ardina
title The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
title_short The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
title_full The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
title_fullStr The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
title_full_unstemmed The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
title_sort development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality
publishDate 2013
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607
Retief, A 2007, The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607 >
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06182007-172513/
work_keys_str_mv AT retiefardina thedevelopmentofanonlineguidefortheassessmentofappareltextilequality
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spelling ndltd-netd.ac.za-oai-union.ndltd.org-up-oai-repository.up.ac.za-2263-256072017-07-20T04:10:49Z The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality Retief, Ardina De Klerk, Helena Maria arda.retief@up.ac.za Consumer Quality Textile Development Assessment UCTD In this study the objective is firstly to determine which quality cues adult female consumers use when purchasing apparel for formal and casual daywear. The second objective is to use this information to develop an online guide for apparel consumers. As no South African apparel retail website currently supplies more than sizing and care related information, this study could fill the need for more textile information that could serve as a guide when consumers purchase garments on the Internet. Although studies concerning the Internet as new shopping environment and the Internet consumer are on the increase, only a few studies have been specifically aimed at the problems that online apparel consumers encounter regarding the disadvantages of not being able to actually see, touch / handle or try on the garment before making the decision to buy (Beck, 2002; Fiore&Jin, 2003, Sasaki, Ikeda& Shimizu, 2004). A need also exists for empirical research on the South African Internet apparel consumer as, with one exception (Jacobs, 2003), the studies referred to were planned and executed in America, Asia and, to a lesser extent, in a European context. Another important issue in the South African context is that very little textile information is supplied in any retail environment. Consumers often have only a very limited textile knowledge, which is usually based on experience. By developing and implementing a consumer guide, consumers could be educated to demand more accurate and informative textile labelling to help them when making purchase decisions. This research is descriptive as an attempt is made to describe and understand behaviour, tendencies, and situations. It is exploratory as it aims to obtain insight into a relatively new area of study, namely the online consumer of textile products. The last phase of the study can be seen as applied evaluation research as the testing of the effectiveness of the quality assessment guide is the ultimate goal of the research. A social-cognitive perspective was used in the study. Consumer decision-making theory and script theory are both used to explain consumer behaviour in the new Internet environment. Career women took part in the study. A quantitative research style was used. For both the first and final phases of the study structured questionnaires were used and the snowball sampling technique was used as primary sampling method. The responses to the questionnaires were coded, captured and analysed. From the results it is apparent that South African career women lack general textile knowledge and seldom have the ability to relate physical fibre and fabric properties to performance properties. They therefore often act on their emotions during apparel assessment and purchasing. The results underline the importance of supplying textile information to facilitate decision-making. Results from the final phase of the study indicate that by supplying information the online consumer is able to make more confident decisions. The study makes a valuable contribution to understanding consumer behaviour, especially in a South African context. The results contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the Internet apparel consumer. Thesis (PhD (Consumer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2007. Consumer Science unrestricted 2013-09-06T22:38:21Z 2007-06-18 2013-09-06T22:38:21Z 2007-04-17 2007-06-18 2007-06-18 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607 Retief, A 2007, The development of an online guide for the assessment of apparel textile quality, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://hdl.handle.net/2263/25607 > http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-06182007-172513/ © 2007, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.