Abstract
Being an moral consumer means buying products that have been ethically produced and/or that are not harmful to the environment and society. (http://www. guardian. co. uk/money/2001/feb/22/ethicalmoney1)
In today's society, individuals are becoming a lot more aware of regulations breaking and inexplicable exploitation of employees including small children in lots of the factories across Europe and the earth that produce clothing good that can be purchased all around the UK as well as many other countries. There is currently a massive difference in the market for a significant player to enter into and promote they are using reasonable trade clothing, displaying they are an honest business, which would almost definitely up there degrees of custom. In place, the consumers who choose to take their money to moral businesses would prefer to purchase ethically manufactured goods as opposed to the alleged unethical products if the purchase price isn't more than the honest one. In order to know this however, these consumers have to have appropriate information of the conditions and expectations in which we were holding created before they get to the buying situation. With this only being a recent subject to come up in the clothing industry coherent information is scarce and it is beginning to cause friction between consumers and businesses. So with issues to do with companies corporate communal responsibilities being as large as they ever before have been we wished to really know what local consumers felt.
Introduction
The intention of the statement is to analyse and assess consumer behaviour when it comes to fair-trade and moral clothing. The target is to learn what consumers beliefs are, whether ethics comes with an impact on their clothing range, and why they would choose to wear what they do. This is achieved via the use of both secondary and most important research. The extra analysis engaged research using articles on fair-trade and ethical clothing and the applying of appropriate buyer behaviour principles and ideas. The article will carefully examine, contrast and statement on the characteristic decision making procedures susceptible to be employed by a particular target market for the purchase of fair trade clothing. This can entail the principal research where 6 participants will be interviewed with questions regarding to consumer behavior when it come to purchasing ethical clothing for personal wear. Interviews were used as a method to find the qualitative research as they are a lot more reliable than questionnaires. The members are all from Leeds, they are all men and students and aged between your years of 18 and 25. The interviews didn't follow a particular format, as they were informal based, by using a number of available and closed questions so that they can get honest and appropriate answers from the individuals.
Research and findings
Many aspects of people's lifestyles can affect the choices they make because of the ideas they form and the passions they have. Looking at somebody's lifestyle can help us develop in depth insights of the consumer behaviour. Some individuals only buy clothes for comfort, yet others opt to buy clothes as they are branded and they believe it can help them gain admiration and a position amidst peers. These factors were noticeable throughout every one of the research. An example of it is from interview 3, when asked 'What aspect of clothing is most important to you?' he replied 'Style and comfort are both important as one to look good but it needs to be comfortable as well'. This is showing that they would like to look good, yet also want to feel comfortable.
If you take Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (see number 1 in appendix) and choose the 'Esteem' area of the pyramid, we found that this was an ever before present concern with the sample with what among the to say. When asked 'What facet of clothing is most important to you' one participant replied 'Looks smart' and another when asked 'If you were to use it do you think friends and family would be impressed (as regards to expensive clothing)? He replied with 'Yes'. This shows consumers need to feel at ease themselves as it pertains to what they may be wearing. In addition they want to gain esteem from others, and sense a feeling of accomplishment.
It is assumed that relatives and buddies will likewise have a huge influence on dress sense with students. All members but one decided with this. When asked 'Do family and peers generally have a large effect on the clothes that consumers wear and buy?' one participant replied with 'yes, because you're constantly around them and they're your friends and relations for a reason so you will have similar dress sense to fit in but everybody has their own individuality even though you loaf around with similar people who wear similar clothing to you'. This is proof that you may choose to dress just to fit in amongst peers and family sometimes dropping sight of you individualism.
The one member of the sample who didn't buy into the above was the only participant from outside of the UK. He was from Eastern European countries. This talk about this issue of whether culture also determines opinions and alternatives. 'Culture is the lens through which people see their world. Additionally it is a blueprint of human being activity'. (McCracken 1986). A Western Value is characterised by 'separateness' in the sense of individuals being relatively self-employed and individualistic with the view of the self emphasising separateness, interior characteristics and uniqueness of people. Non-Western cultures tend to be more 'linked' (interdependent and collective) and have the view of the self stressing connectedness, cultural context and human relationships. This is noticeable from just how he went around answering specific questions. For example when asked 'what are your views about how ethically clothes are constructed?' he answered with 'I haven't any view, it's not my business', which is showing that this topic doesn't really mean much to him. From this we can only assume that this is what the Easter European culture believes and this he's speaking with respect to them. With most products and brands there is a system of and therefore comes along with them and it is generally culturally specific and shared, learned and sent through generations. If you go through the Semiotics Triad (see shape 2 in the appendix) we get a better notion of how to improve cultural beliefs. If we can obtain it nailed in to their heads that there is a message behind Good Trade, perhaps it shows how much you look after the welfare of providers, and let them know very well what the meaning of Fair Trade is, you will be providing a better lifestyle for these providers if you purchase the goods, they could become more inclined into buying these Fair Trade goods. Through the socio gram in figure 3 (see appendix) you can view that only the Eastern European participant was the only one who disagreed with the question of 'Does clothing show personality?'. To get any chance of overcoming this cultural difference business must promote every one of the benefits that come along with purchasing good trade clothing. They have to show precisely how it impacts people's livelihoods which it isn't just happening in a single area, it's going on worldwide and everybody must do their part to make certain they exploitation is abolished. One of the ways in which this could be promoted and open up to the public is via the utilization of television adverts, these would be effective in showing the issues and have the best potential for creating empathy among people whatever culture they might be associated with.
Another aspect that was clear from the research is that consumers look to buy 'benefits' rather than buy 'things'. This was especially the circumstance as the test were all students and the necessity to save money yet still have a position and easily fit into whilst constantly getting respect is obvious for any to see. When interacting with reasonable trade consumers can look at benefits in several ways. They are able to look at the benefits that'll be received by the initial manufacturers. Or consumers could view reasonable trade clothing as being more expensive then your advantage to them is never to buy it and go anywhere else therefore conserving their do it yourself money purchasing a cheaper option. An example of this is, when asked 'Would you pay marginally more for reasonable trade clothing' one participant replied 'Yes, however I'm not ready to empty my pockets'. This introduces the misconception of reasonable trade being too expensive. If you go through the Market Map (see body 5 in the appendix) you can see that consumers believe reasonable trade clothing is expensive to buy and the quality of it doesn't match the purchase price, yet in actual truth the quality is merely as good so this myth needs interacting with. The stereotypical way of thinking of students is for them to seek the most economical option with clothing that is unless it is brand. This hampers their chances of purchasing reasonable trade clothes, as the notion is they are more expensive and this it comes with out a brand. If marketer's can dig into this perception showing that the little added value is more than worthwhile and show that it isn't all that a lot more expensive they will be half way there in changing the understanding of students towards it. You can view from figure 4 (in the appendix) that 2 of the members said that realizing that the clothes were fair trade would not convince you to buy them. This implies that most them would yet a 3rd of these won't. Again one them being of a different culture and the other being English which could confirm that is isn't only Eastern methods yet, only 1 participant doesn't show that this is how Westerners may also feel.
A subject matter that also took place throughout is that of drive. What is it that motivates students to choose the clothes they actually. Different factors motivate different people, whether its: brand, price, comfort or style etc. If we check out David McClelland's 'Need Centered Motivational Model' it shows that there are three main motivators when purchasing goods. Some have the necessity for achievement, some have the necessity for specialist and power, yet others require affiliation. Basically expressing we purchase to get popularity and respect. One example of the is when asked 'Since being a university student has your frame of mind towards clothing altered and if just how?' one reply was 'Yes because I used to wear scruffy clothes while now I am more self conscious of how I look, I would rather buy developer makes to be able to squeeze in with friends'. This shows precisely how people prefer to fit in within an organization even if they may not genuinely like what they are doing. Another participant solved 'Yes I would' when asked 'Would you buy something of clothing because it's expensive?'. This also backs up this model.
Conclusion
To conclude it is obvious that more must be done to improve awareness of fair trade clothing to students. Characters show that in 2008 a complete of 77. 9 was allocated to fair trade natural cotton goods in the united kingdom to drop to 50. 1 in '09 2009 (http://www. fairtrade. org. uk/what_is_fairtrade/facts_and_figures. aspx)in order well as students possibly the complete country needs more awareness, however this drop is more than likely to be linked to the downturn as luxuries such as fair trade goods will be placed to the side by many consumers. However this drop could also be linked to too little do it again custom. Once a person has purchased a fair trade piece of clothing they could feel they did their bit and also have you don't need to help out any further. Also advertising campaign from companies who sell fair trade needs to be risen to give many consumers especially students more knowledge or where it is and exactly how it is produced.
Part B
Discuss, citing several sources, the differences between your B2B and B2C potential buyers from the perspective of a ecological marketer
Although business to business buying and business to consumer buying are very similar in many ways, the marketing of the two should be done in several manners. Buyers are individuals and a number of subjects can effect one. Whether it's word of mouth, reputation of an enterprise, or previous custom.
Business to Business serves as a 'Business that offers products or provides services to other businesses'. (http://www. marketingterms. com/dictionary/b2b/). An example of this could be Heinz retailing its ketchup goods to McDonalds. Business to business purchasers are very sensible with what they are doing. They understand everything regarding the merchandise and/or service much better than anybody else and they're able to continually purchase these products or services but still ensure that they are simply making a income. Marketing backup must speak to a complex audience. Taking this into account, business to business marketing needs to be of very good quality, looking for areas that possibly the buyer won't recently have frequented and opening them up to new education.
Business to consumer serves as a 'Business that offers products or provides services to end-user consumers'. (http://www. marketingterms. com/dictionary/b2c/). An example of this may be a retailer offering a pair of shoes to its customer. Business to consumer customers are on the lookout for the best value for money package and always have a tendency to look around different places before making their mind up on who to purchase from. It is more personal then B2C as it is performed on more of a someone to one basis. One of the major conditions that arises for business to consumer clients is that of beliefs and trust. While you are able to buy the same goods from more than one different source whether in the traditional or on the internet in case a consumer knows that they can trust a specific source it is probably they will get their do it again custom. Taking this into order, businesses to consumer marketing needs to shows the buyer all of the benefits that buying a product has and establish they are a trustworthy company.
In business to consumer marketing it is most likely that there will not be much time to try out with as consumers can purchase their goods in a split second. Consumers might not even need to see the marketing before they opt to buy, it might be person to person that convinces them maybe from a friend or member of family. However they may not even need this. Many people buy on impulse, there and then so marketers need to be sure their marketing is noticed therefore it must be aimed at the appropriate goal in order for it to travel recognized, via leaflets or advertising if they be on a billboard or television etc.
When it comes to business to business buying this notion of' impulse buying' is scarce. There is normally a set of many things that have to be ticked prior to the considered purchasing even comes to mind. Thus the time is increased and marketers will have significantly more period to play with in marketing their goods and services as B2B potential buyers need to take their time and get them to making the correct and most productive decision. As well as it having far more time, there's also many more people involved within it. These range between directors to cleaners as everybody needs what is best for them in their role. With more moment available marketers can think of more coherent ways to get the consumers attention and convince them that their goods are better than their rivals.
Another difference between B2B and B2C marketing is the fact that the business enterprise to business needs to make certain they keep that string of command at heart. They have to make sure that all queries are sufficiently solved and there is nothing at all for potential buyers to assume that they are simply making a mistake in choosing them rather than others. For example, if you take the top of I. T from a business, they may decide they want to upgrade all their computer systems. In their mind they'll be thinking of the best value for money provider to obtain, they will want top quality software but at an affordable and natural price. They may also want to receive 'perks' for employing them. Although this Head may not be the individual permitted make the ultimate decision it is probably that the decision maker will need advice from the top and trust them with their impression. The decision manufacturer will also look at the areas such as trustworthiness of the dealer and swiftness of delivery etc so marketers need to ensure everything is covered.
Another difference between the two is the overall value of any sale. The cost of the initial B2B sale is merely half it, the business enterprise then goes on to sell the products it purchased. Initial deals can cost hundreds or thousands of pounds which is more than likely that these products will be again sold on. Which means value in the lifetime of a product can span many years and add up to thousands, potentially an incredible number of pounds.
With B2C they may be bought exclusively for the consumers gain with them not considering the probability of selling the product on. Therefore only a one off repayment is made and nothing else needs doing. However marketers should regularly be trying new means of keeping the buyer updated so that they can get do it again custom.
