EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

1527. …and where do you buy your t-shirts? Understanding consumers’ fashion store preferences using a discrete choice experiment

Invited abstract in session TD-47: Consumer Demand and Marketing I, stream Retail Operations.

Tuesday, 14:30-16:00
Room: Parkinson B08

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Helene Ida Kleiber
School of Economics and Business, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
2. Christoph Herrmann
School of Economics and Business, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
3. Katharina Friederike Sträter
Economics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

Abstract

The fashion industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy. At the same time, it is associated with major social and environmental sustainability problems. Thereby, particularly online shop-based ultra-fast fashion concepts are coming under increasing public scrutiny. However, whereby there is a substantial body of research dealing with consumer preferences regarding the characteristics of clothing items, little is known about preferences regarding sustainability- and non-sustainability-related fashion store characteristics. This study aims at bridging this gap using a discrete choice experiment, in which 776 respondents from Germany had to made hypothetical choices between two fashion stores, differing among others in price, company headquarters, distribution channels, as well as social and environmental certifications. The data was analyzed using a mixed logit model and results show that respondents are gaining utility from and are willing to pay more for ecological and social certification of the store, hybrid distribution of the products including stationary stores, and German headquarters. Whereby the preference regarding sustainability related certificates increases with a positive orientation towards slow fashion, environmental awareness in general appears to be in a tradeoff with price sensitivity. Thus, standardized store certifications should be established, while highlighting fashion’s environmental impact can foster slow fashion awareness.

Keywords

Status: accepted


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