As China has gradually globalized, consumers in China have changed for culture-oriented consumption life, getting out of the propensity to materially consume. In particular, China has imported Korean popular culture such as Korean drama, K-pop, and Ko...
As China has gradually globalized, consumers in China have changed for culture-oriented consumption life, getting out of the propensity to materially consume. In particular, China has imported Korean popular culture such as Korean drama, K-pop, and Korean movies since the end of 1990s, which triggered the Korean wave in China, and brought out growing interest in Korean culture and society such as fashion, food, cosmetics, and hair style, together with sensational popularity in Korean pop culture such as Korean drama, K-pop, and Korean movies.
China with approximately 1.3 billion people serves as a manufacturing plant of the world, which is grabbing attention from the world people for the global market. Together with rapid growth in economy, increased income and education levels, and improved standard of living, the quality of average life has risen, so the consumption pattern of the people has changed from the basic necessities of life to decent life which they can afford. Following global luxury goods and the latest fashions in Europe is not a rare case any more in China today. Such a change also has led to change in clothing consciousness of the people in China.
For Chinese today, clothing is no more a fundamental need, but a symbol for personal satisfaction or individuality expression, representing their social status. Behind this, there is considerable purchasing power of Chinese students who study in South Korea. The Chinese students studying in South Korea use and enjoy trendy Korean clothing, culture and music, and then recommend and promote them to their family and friends in China. Research on purchasing behavior of the Chinese students studying in South Korea will enable Korea clothing industry to establish long-term strategy and strategy for its advancement to Chinese market.
Thus, this research herein aims to investigate what difference the purchasing behavior can make by demographic characteristics, targeted for Chinese students studying in South Korea on their purchasing Korean clothing products. To achieve this, a questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain what difference each of the purchasing behavior can make by demographic characteristics such as age, region, academic background, residence period in South Korea, average monthly spending money, and average monthly spending money on clothing, by classifying purchasing behavior into 5 factors (i.e. purchase motivation, information source, apparel attribute, store selection criteria, and after-purchase satisfaction).
The questionnaire survey was intended for Chinese students attending 10 universities in Gwangju and Jeonnam areas, including Honam University, Chosun University, Gwanju University, Chonnam National University, Kwangju Women's University, and Nambu University in Gwangju, Sunchon National University in Sunchon, Sehan University and Mokpo National University in Mokpo, and Dongshin University in Naju. For data collection, a total of 250 copies of the questionnaire were distributed from May 7, 2014 to May 18, 2014 with each 25 copies of them distributed to the universities, and the 208 copies of them were collected. Out of them. a total of 183 copies of them were used for final analysis data, except for 25 copies of them having inappropriate responses.
Results show that the average values of items 'Because of the change of seasons', 'Purchase experience in their past', 'Color', 'Quality of Product' and 'Suitability of body type (comfortable wearing sensation and size)' were the highest 3.60, 3.27, 3.85, 3.74, and 3.60, respectively for purchase motivation, information source, apparel attribute, store selection criteria, and after-purchase satisfaction.
Purchasing behavior by age showed no statistically significant difference in difference by demographic characteristics. The two items 'worn clothing' and 'to show financial affordability' showed statistically significant difference in purchase motivation by region, and the four item 'to show financial affordability', 'because of the change of seasons', 'to wear trendy clothing', and 'to wear clothing on holidays and birthdays' showed statistically significant difference in purchase motivation by academic background, meanwhile there was no statistically significant difference in purchase motivation by residence period in South Korea.
Firstly, when it comes to purchase motivation, the four item 'Because of feeling the urge by seeing clothing displayed in shops', 'To wear trendy clothing', 'Because of desire to wear new product of fashion magazine' and 'To participate in social activities' showed statistically significant difference in purchase motivation by average monthly spending money. The four items 'Because of feeling the urge by seeing clothing displayed in shops', 'to wear trendy clothing', 'to express my individuality with clothing' and 'because of desire to wear new product of fashion magazine' showed statistically significant difference in purchase motivation by average monthly spending money on clothing.
Secondly, when it comes to information source, there was no statistically significant difference in information source by region, meanwhile the two items 'advice from sales clerk' and 'advice from friends or co-workers' showed statistically significant difference in information source by academic background. There was no statistically significant difference in information source by resident period in South Korea. The four items 'clothing of entertainers and celebrities', 'advertisement through printing media (e.g. newspaper, fashion magazine advertisement), 'newspaper and broadcasting articles about fashion', and 'display of shops or shop window' showed statistically significant difference in information source by average monthly spending money, meanwhile one item 'clothing of entertainer or celebrities' showed statistically significant difference in information source by average monthly spending money on clothing.
Thirdly, when it comes to a