A typology of south Korean female apparel consumers

As markets become saturated and retail concepts change, American apparel firms are looking beyond domestic borders for new markets. Considering South Korea is a fast growing world economy and South Koreans have adopted westem fashion, South Korea should be a viable market for American apparel. The purposes of this study were to segment South Korean female apparel consumers; profile the consumers; assess relationships between the sample's sociodemographics and degree of fashion opinion leadership and emphasis on life style characteristics; and examine the relationships between the respondents' degree of fashion opmion leadership and emphasis placed on life style characteristics.

Data were obtained in a previous study from a convenience sample consisting of 271 South Korean women residing in four cUies: Seoul, Pusan, Kwangju, and Taejeon. The questionnaUe used in the prior study included five scales: Fashion Opinion Leadership, Life Style Characteristics, Fiber Preferences, Store Selection Attributes, and Clothing Purchase Influences. Other questions addressed sociodemographics and selected apparel shopping attitudes. Statistical procedures employed to analyze data were cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, oneway analysis of variance, two-way analysis of variance, and chi-square test of independence.