Footwear: Annotated Bibliography

Those who appreciate malls also argue that they serve as a cultural reflection of the American population. Farrell (2003) argues that, “[the mall] is more American than Apple pie.”(p. 271). He argues that malls have become an identity symbol for the Americans. He argues that for one to study the American culture, he only needs to visit a mall. Jon Pahl (2003) notes that malls usually target women because of their love for admiration and beauty (p. 297). Despite the fact that most American men don’t like going into malls, they usually fall victims because they are also subject to groom themselves. George Lewis also acknowledges that malls bring out the central concept of the American shopping experience because they act as civic centers. By studying the shopping trends and myths that

West Coast Fashions, Inc. a large business of men’s and women’s apparel decided to dispose of one of their segments; Mercury Athletic. John Liedtke, head of the business development for Active Gear, Inc. saw it has a possible opportunity for them to acquire it. The footwear industry is very competitive, with low growth and stable profit margins. AGI is very profitable but it is smaller than its competitors, which is becoming a disadvantage. Therefore, Liedtke believes that if they takeover Mercury will double AGI’s revenue, increase its leverage with contract manufactures and expand its presence with key retailers and distributions. Liedtke is evaluating the company in order to find out whether the future benefits justify or surpass the present value of the investment in Mercury.

The purpose of this paper was to observe the consumers of a retail store of my choice; I chose to observe Victoria’s Secret and Targets consumers, because I myself am consumers of those stores quite often, then to analyze the behavior of the consumers of Victoria’s Secret and Target. Victoria’s Secret and Target consumers differ because of the difference in type of retail they offer and sell. Victoria’s Secret consumers know what they are going to be shopping for women and certain needs or wants they are looking to satisfy. Target consumers shop for any age and any gender,

For this Compare and Contrast paper I decided to do it on the similarities and differences of Online and in person shopping. Shopping in general differs in various forms. Whether it is online, in person or even window shopping where no money is actually involved shopping is shopping. As of lately online shopping has been my go to for finding cheap thrills but I enjoy all ways of shopping.

The behavior was observed from a large sample of people. This included twenty people shopping alone and twenty people shopping in a group, for a total of forty subjects, each ranging in ages from approximately 19 to 40 years old. The subjects were observed from the time they entered the store until the time they left. The reasoning behind this was to see the buying behavior differences for the whole experience and figure out which areas of the store could be improved in order to appeal to groups of people shopping. The behaviors observed included the amount of time spent inside the store, the amount of money spent, the interactions with associates, and the areas of the stores that were navigated.

Our group interviewed five people at the Gretna Outlet Mall about their overall shopping experience. Common themes that were brought up by the interviewees over the course of the conversations included the influence of brand names as well as the pros and cons of online versus in-person shopping. In the later conversations, these common themes were something we steered the interviewees toward as they were a major part of the problem that, as a prospective business, we would hypothetically attempt to solve.

II - OBJECTIVE 2: To investigate the shoes sector for both men and women and examine the nature of the local competition:

A customer 's purchasing conduct is affected by social, social, individual and mental components. Shopper conduct is a piece of human conduct and by concentrating on past purchasing conduct, advertisers can appraise how customers may carry on later on when settling on obtaining choices. (Kotler & Armstrong 2010). The accompanying sections concentrate on the social, individual and mental qualities of purchaser conduct.

In this field study, data on the independent variables and dependent variables were collected from consumers above 21 years old in several shopping malls through short questionnaires drafted specifically for this analysis.

The upward trend for discounters contrasts with a decline in spending preference for clothing at apparel specialty stores, value department stores, and traditional / upscale department stores in the same time period. For shoe purchasing, shoe stores are actually gaining spending preference, although the price-driven discount store/super center channel is as well. Shoe, discount, and apparel specialty stores are capturing shoe spending preference from value and tradition al department stores, particularly Sears (www.sears.com) and Dillard’s (www.dillards.com), as well as Payless (www.payless.com).

The fashion industry especially the retail business has not received full exploitation and therefore an opportunity exists in the bringing affordable quality products to the proximity of customers. Many retail shops stock women only fashion products excluding other sensitive groups such as children. Therefore, Trendy Fashions will house a chain of products that cater for the needs of both women and children. The reason why this class of people is chosen is because they have been identified to shop regularly for clothes compared to men.

This survey is targeted on the sportswear users in Malaysia. In this research studies involving large populations, it is not feasible to take a census. Therefore, a sample is the only viable option. The respondents were mainly 20 years old and above as they have the financial ability to consume branded sportswear. The questionnaires are given to male and female equally to ensure the results are fair and balance.

Agreeing with Shields (1992), the presumption of shopping no longer included the concepts of utility and need and rather transformed consumption into a cultural event predominated by the emphasis on providing a pleasurable experience by regarding shopping as a leisure activity, thereby demarcating the shoppers among the ones who found pleasure in it and those who did not. It became a significant marker for understanding identities through a series of socially constructed and subjective experiences, while simultaneously peeling the complex layers of the psychological ideologies of desire and want.

Based on the data, it can be seen that the majority of respondents from Zara stores amounted to be balance. While from H&M stores the number of respondents for men is slightly higher than women. And in total, based on the graph above, of the 200 respondents, males have a higher frequency that is 51% greater than a few women who are only 49%. Thus, the authors have attempted to create a balance between men and women.

Consumer shopping preference and behavior have a huge effect on the marketing share and benefit. Studying their shopping orientation is helpful in understanding and targeting the costumer; it could be analyzed based on their reaction on certain brands or products. In the demographic information in all class levels of college students 77.8% are female, 22.2% are male. In addition, 63% said their parents paid for them. (Bahng, Kincade, & Yang, 2013). Buying a product of a certain brand is more than just buying a product; that product is a symbol of that brand assigning a different meaning of the product. A brand develops over time. When you buy a product the value of the brand is more than the product. It communicates with people non-verbally. People will receive that message clearly and understand your social status just based on the brand you choose to purchase. In total 320 respondents are participated with the age group of 15-40, which included 162 males and 158 females (Rajput, Kesharwani, &Khanna, 2012). With greater affluence, the children have more opinion about their appearance when it comes to shopping. They are making their own decisions by asking their parents to buy certain brands or specific products based on their self conception. A little over half of the participants are age from 30-34, about 46% were housewives, and more than 43% of the interviewees household income level was