Title: The relative significance of product quality attributes driving customer satisfaction within the fast fashion market: a UK perspective

Authors: Daniella Ryding; Gianpaolo Vignali; Robin Carey; Mengfei Wu

Addresses: Department of Design, Fashion Business, The University of Manchester, M1 3BB, UK ' Department of Design, Fashion Business, The University of Manchester, M1 3BB, UK ' The Lancashire Business School, The University of Lancashire, Fylde Road, Preston, PR1 2HE, UK ' China Venturetech Plaza, No. 819 West Nanjing Road, Jingan District, Shanghai, 200041, China

Abstract: As a result of recent global trends, high street retailers are under increasing pressure to sustain the low cost business model whilst at the same time fulfilling the needs of an increasingly demanding consumer. This paper examines customer expectations of product quality and customer satisfaction drivers in the context of fast fashion using a segmentation analysis approach within the female target group, since this is largest group for purchasing clothing (Zhang et al., 2002). A questionnaire survey, using a quota sample of 500 respondents was implemented both online and offline in the North West of the UK. A descriptive one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis was conducted using SPSS (Mac 20.0) and excel to test hypotheses created from the existing literature. The findings confirm that expectations and satisfaction drivers vary between different types of shoppers on the high-street.

Keywords: customer satisfaction; value; consumer expectations; fast fashion; market segmentation; product quality attributes; UK; United Kingdom; fashion industry; high street retailers; fashion retailers; female customers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2015.068730

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2015 Vol.16 No.2/3, pp.280 - 303

Received: 31 Mar 2014
Accepted: 15 Nov 2014
Published online: 10 Apr 2015 *

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