The clothing shopping behaviour of young females before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Gauteng

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to explore and describe young females’ clothing shopping behaviour before, during and after the COVID-19 restrictions in South Africa. The research focused more specifically on their clothing buying practices and shopping styles before, during and after COVID-19 restrictions. Clothing buying behaviour is highly dependent on the consumer, product, marketing and situational characteristics and can take on different forms, for example habitual or complex. Changes in shopping behaviour were evident during the COVID-19 pandemic as restrictions caused consumers to switch buying channels, change brands due to unavailability, and limit their frequency of shopping. Clothing retailers needed to adapt quickly to how they sold to their customers during and after the COVID-19 restrictions to retain brand loyalty and avoid becoming irrelevant in a short amount of time. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique situation to understand changes in how, where and what consumers shop. Shopping styles are used by retailers and marketers as predictors and indicators to understand consumers’ orientation towards brands, price, quality, and experiences. Based on their shopping styles consumers are then segmented and retailers aim to serve them better to ultimately maximise their profit. Sproles and Kendall’s (1986) developed a consumer style inventory (CSI) consisting of eight shopping styles: 1) perfectionist and high-quality conscious, (2) brand conscious and price equals quality, (3) novelty and fashion conscious, (4) recreational and hedonic conscious, (5) price conscious or value for money, (6) impulsive and careless, (7) confused by over-choice, and (8) habitual and brand loyal. By using Sproles and Kendall’s model of different shopping styles, it is assumed that consumers have different approaches and outlooks towards shopping through any channel. A survey research design was followed. Data were collected with an online self-administered questionnaire from two samples in 2020 and again in 2023. Data were collected in 2020 and 2023 from convenience samples of young females (between 18-35 years) living in Gauteng, South Africa, to explore how their clothing buying practices (i.e., frequency of shopping, channels of shopping and clothing categories) and shopping styles (i.e., eight styles from Sproles and Kendall) changed within the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during and after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. For Study 2020, an online questionnaire was distributed to respondents during the COVID-19 restriction as part of a larger study focused on food and clothing consumer behaviour, and 188 questionnaires were usable. For Study 2023, an online questionnaire on only clothing buying practices and shopping styles was distributed, and 184 usable questionnaires were obtained. The data analysis was done in correspondence with a statistician to ensure the reliability, accuracy and validity of all the data collected. This was done by systematically applying logic to the data that has been captured and utilising statistical methods to evaluate this data (Creswell, 2013). SPSS 29 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to analyse the data successfully. The use of descriptive statistical analysis also made way for an investigation into female South African consumers’ shopping styles and shopping frequency, as well as for a description of the sample and their purchasing behaviour before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the descriptive analysis were displayed in graphical and tabular format to facilitate the reader's understanding and conclude the research objectives (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). The theoretical constructs were used to determine the means and Cronbach’s alphas. Young female consumers indicated that they mostly shopped seasonally for clothing during the COVID-19 restrictions, in contrast to the majority of them indicating that they shopped 2-3 times a month for clothing before the COVID-19 restrictions. In line with international studies and other relevant studies in South Africa, young female consumers indicated that their preferred shopping channel before the COVID-19 restrictions was in-store shopping. However, during the COVID-19 restrictions, they switched to online shopping. After the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, they indicated that they prefer to shop in-store again but also now have a hybrid shopping model (i.e., in-store and online). Regarding the clothing categories young female consumers shopped for in South Africa before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, school uniforms were the most shopped for during all three times. This is because schools in South Africa were only closed momentarily due to the COVID-19 restrictions during alert level 5, from 26 March 2021 to 18 May 2021, when the South African government let children return to school in phases, starting with Grade 12. There was a change in shopping styles for young female consumers in South Africa from before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, except for the impulsive, careless, and confused by over choice shopping style. There was also a change in shopping styles for brand conscious and price equals quality, novelty and fashion conscious, price and value for money conscious, impulsive and careless and habitual and brand loyal shopping styles during and after the COVID-19 restrictions. The perfectionist and high-quality conscious, recreational and hedonic conscious and confused by over-choice shopping styles did not experience any change during and after the COVID-19 restrictions. Lastly, only four of the eight predetermined shopping styles, namely perfectionist and high-quality conscious, novelty and fashion conscious, recreational and hedonic conscious and impulsive and careless shopping styles changed from before the COVID-19 restrictions to after the COVID-19 restrictions. This indicates that they changed their shopping style briefly during the restrictions due to different stressors, and when their environment returned to a “normal” state, their shopping behaviour and style also adjusted back to how it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. This result aids retailers in Gauteng to understand their target markets better and how they react in emergency events. This indicates that retailers and brands need an emergency plan for black swan events but should not change their whole business plan and structure, as consumers will most likely return to their normal shopping behaviour. It was evident that the COVID-19 restrictions heavily impacted young female consumers in Gauteng. It is also evident that international trends and studies can be used as a baseline for South Africa but cannot be applied due to the different economic development and climate of the South African market and different consumer needs compared to other international consumers. This gives industry role players in South Africa and, more specifically, in Gauteng, knowledge on how to prepare for future unprecedented events.