FOREVER 21 Research

FOREVER 21 ADV380J - QQRM Laura Galvan Hailee Franck Samantha Larsen Ashley Udell

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Introduction Forever 21 is a global retail brand that manufactures the latest trends in modern fashion, accessories, and shoes for both men and women. The Forever 21 brand has capitalized on the concept of “fast fashion,” which is known for low prices and fast inventory turnovers, by offering merchandise that is “available today, and gone tomorrow” (Hogan, 2012). The store has experienced tremendous success since first opening its doors in 1984, and now owns over six hundred stores worldwide with locations in the Americas, Asia, Middle East and the United Kingdom (UK). In addition to its retail locations, consumers can purchase apparel through the company's online web site, Forever21.com. The goal of this research paper is to discover who shops at Forever 21 and determine their perceptions of the brand. We also want to understand the brand’s position relative to its competitors and explore the consumer purchase experience.

Lastly, we want to learn how the target market interacts with the brand through social media. The following report first mentions a brief history on the company, then outlines our research objectives, qualitative results, quantitative results, and conclusion.

Preliminary Research Objectives After conducting background research, it was important to determine the type of information that was necessary to collect in this qualitative and quantitative research study of Forever 21. We composed five preliminary research objectives: 1. Discover our target demographic – This is important to determine because based on the background research, the demographic may be wider than originally suspected. That being said, further research is needed to determine the age, education level, income,

ethnicity, and gender of Forever 21’s target market. A demographic needs to be established for Forever 21 to understand how to advertise to the people who should/could be interested in its fashion merchandise.

2. Reveal how the target market feels about the Forever 21 brand – Once the target market has been established, it is necessary to determine the current attitude towards Forever 21 by that demographic. If the demographic is hostile towards Forever 21, for example, it is important to understand why that attitude exists to determine if it is worth trying to change it. And if it the opposite is true, that the demographic is pleased with Forever 21’s current merchandise and company policies, than it is important to discern why they feel that way and how they would feel if Forever 21 changed anything.

Discovering how the target market feels about the Forever 21 brand can also explore where Forever 21’s current position is compared to its competitors, which leads to preliminary research objective number three.

3. Understand the position of Forever 21 and its competitors – There is such a strong variety of competitors that it became necessary to determine both who are Forever 21’s strongest competitors and where Forever 21 stands against them.

4. Explore the consumer purchase experience – This research objective is important because without it, it’s impossible to understand what consumers go through when they purchase products from Forever 21. It can help determine if consumers purchase online or in store, if the customer service was helpful, if they even spoke with employees, if they found what they needed or wanted to buy, etc. Determining the consumer purchase experience can help explore both the positives and negatives of shopping at Forever 21.

5. Learn how the target market interacts with Forever 21 through social media – The background research indicated that Forever 21 spends a lot of energy trying to reach their target through social media campaigns. It’s vital to research whether the target demographic uses social media as well as how they use it. Once that is determined, the next step would be to research how and if the target market interacts with Forever 21 on those social media websites.

Background We conducted our research by examining different financial studies, various articles, as well as examining Forever 21’s own websites. We were hindered in our secondary research because there was a dearth of information regarding Forever 21’s financial records. Forever 21 is a privately held company (“History and Facts”, n.d.). This means that they can withhold financial and demographic information from the public.

Forever 21, originally titled Fashion 21, was founded by Korean immigrants Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang in Los Angeles in 1984. After a year of hard work, this nine hundred square ft. boutique began to quickly generate sales. By the end of the first year, sales had risen from $35,000 to $70,000 (“About Us”, 2010). Within the span of five years, the owners changed the name of the store to Forever 21 and expanded their chain to 11 stores, averaging about 5,000 square feet. Forever 21's store size expanded rapidly as real estate became available. Thirty years later the global franchise still remains a family owned business. Although some information is available online, the company is known for its privacy with a scarcity of accessible information.

The company reviews about four hundred designs a day in order to ensure that the styles it offers are constantly evolving (Verhaegen, 2012). Forever 21 purchases in limited quantities so consumers will buy their items as soon as they are available.This concept has given Forever 21 a competitive advantage, along with their reasonably priced products that most retailers cannot compete with. It is also known for its legal battles - Forever 21 has been involved in more than 50 lawsuits of copyright infringement brought on by designers such as Anna Sui and Diane von Furstenberg.

In its core fast­fashion market, Forever 21 ranks among the most inexpensive sellers. Its prices fall well below those of Arcadia Group Ltd.'s Topshop and Inditex SA's Zara, both of which target a similar set of shoppers (Holmes, 2010). Items are priced so that customers do not feel as though they are making a big commitment to a single purchase. In 2013, Forever 21 had generated over $3.8 billion in sales and hopes to become an $8 billion company by the year 2017 (“About Us”, 2010).

Over the past thirty years, Forever 21 has grown tremendously. Once being a small shop in California, the chain is now worldwide, with stores in places like Kuwait, Korea and the Philippines, to name a few countries. Forever 21 possesses not only worldwide stores, but also a global presence. The company has an online blog in addition to having several social media accounts, including Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook.

The official Forever 21 blog is titled 21st Street blog, and dedicates itself to exploring ‘street style’ which is a fashion style that Forever 21 chooses to emphasize in its products. There are many pictures and posts about fashion that also link back to Forever 21’s official website

where consumers may purchase the items that are mentioned in the post(s) or in the picture(s) ("21st Street Blog," n.d.).

The Instagram content of Forever 21 is full of models wearing Forever 21 clothes as well as artistic displays of merchandise. Users are able to comment and like the pictures and if they like the merchandise in the picture, they can go to a link on Forever 21’s Instagram page that will lead them to the product in Forever 21’s online store. Forever 21 has 5.4 million followers.

In contrast, the Forever 21 campaign on Pinterest is organized into 21 boards, each board being a different type of fashion/style. For instance, one board is dedicated to “street style” while another is dedicated to “the active life”. These boards don’t only show Forever 21 merchandise, often they are pictures that are links to fashion websites, blogs, and/or articles that will usually include the Forever 21 brand. There are over 200 thousand followers on the official Forever 21 Instagram ("Forever 21 Pinterest," n.d.).

The Forever 21 Youtube account is currently full of video interviews with its newest celebrity endorsers Nick Young and Iggy Azalea. It discusses a range of topics from love to fashion. There are also videos featuring different fashion collections. For example, the most recent fashion collection video features Warner Bros. fashion products, where a female model wears the different merchandise and the background changes back and forth between different Warner Bros. cartoons. There are over 35 thousand subscribers on the Forever 21 Youtube account ("Forever 21 Youtube," n.d.).

Like the Forever 21 Youtube account, Forever 21’s Google+ account’s immediate focus is on Nick Young and Iggy Azalea. However, a lot of the official Pinterest pictures are also on

the Google+ page. It is also important to note that Forever 21 has over 1 million followers on Google+ and over 60 million views ("Forever 21 Google+," n.d.).

The official Twitter page is very similar to the Google+ page, with an immediate focus on Nick Young and Iggy Azalea along with tweets and pictures that were seen on Pinterest and information about sales. Forever 21 is following 575 people on Twitter, have over 1.8 million followers, and over 12 thousand tweets ("Forever 21 Twitter," n.d.).

The Forever 21 Facebook account allows users to comment on its pictures as well as give information about sales and other company news. The company currently has over 10 million likes on its Facebook page. Also, like the above social media websites, the official cover photo is of Nick Young and Iggy Azalea, although there is less about the celebrity endorsers on here than on the other social media websites ("Forever 21 Facebook," n.d.).

Based on how many different social media accounts Forever 21 has, as well as how in­depth they are, it is a simple assumption that its target audience is under the age of 30 and skews female and fashionable. Forever 21 has a vast number of competitors reaching for a similar audience.

In the past, it has contended with retailers such as Abercrombie and Aeropostal, but the strongest, current competitors of Forever 21 lie within the “fast fashion” market that Forever 21 is trying to dominate. H&M and Zara are both considered fast fashion retailers. Zara is ultimately more expensive than Forever 21 while H&M is within the same price range, with some items being more expensive than Forever 21’s merchandise.

Qualitative Research We selected a focus group as our primary qualitative research method. The construct of a focus group would not only help us satisfy and refine our research objectives, but also allow us to explore and interpret participant responses to deduce meaning from unrestricted responses.

Performing secondary research revealed background and contextual information about Forever 21 that provided foundational insights. However, background research provided us with limited knowledge, particularly regarding how our target is specifically defined, the ways in which they interact with the brand, and attitudes toward both the category and the brand.

Comprehensive background investigation illuminated fundamental insights that enabled us to formulate a set of objectives to inform our research decisions in pursuit of these goals.

From these insights, we derived a series of questions to be posed during our focus group session intended to openly explore relevant, subjective user responses. Each question was designed to procure information answering one of the aforementioned research objectives. The following topics were investigated during the focus group session: 1. Personal style and preferred retail stores ○ Where does our target prefer to shop and what factors go into these decisions? ○ How our target characterizes their personal style, and how Forever 21’s products align with their personal tastes. ○ What are our target’s attitudes and purchasing behaviors with regards to Forever 21?

2. Forever 21’s competitive position ○ How loyal is our target audience to Forever 21? ○ How frequently does our target make retail clothing purchases?

3. Consumer purchase experience ○ How does the online shopping experience differ from the in­store experience, and which does our target prefer? ○ What is our target’s perception of the customer service relationship with Forever 21?

4. Social Media Integration ○ How does our target consume information regarding fashion, and what brands do they interact with on social media? ○ In what ways, and to what degree, does our audience engage with Forever 21 on social media?

The flexible nature of our focus group also gave participants the ability to explore other concepts critical to their experience and understanding of fast­fashion and Forever 21 and guided our further exploration.

In order to reach participants who appropriately fit within a broad target based upon

important established variables, each one of us reached out to colleagues and friends in person and/or through social media. All participants fit within the age range of 18­27 and held buying power independent of parental control. Background research, including analysis of content publication through the brand’s social media properties, suggested a more significant interaction with female consumers. This helped us to establish gender as a limitation of our selection process. Choosing individuals in both academic and professional circles provided a sample of women in unique disciplines and with diverse interests. Potential participants were given little information about the purpose of the focus group, initially, as a means to avoid the influence of preexisting attitudes on the conversation. It was particularly critical that our candidates for

participation did not know who our client of interest was during the earlier stages of the session.

Our invitation to participate included a general description revealing that the group discussion would be primarily concerned with fashion. To entice participants, we provided snacks, pizza, and refreshments. In addition to incentivizing them, these also served to create a pleasant environment in which participants felt comfortable enough to share ideas, practices, and beliefs.

The focus group discussion guide was created based on the five research objectives. Each

research objective has a breakdown of multiple topics that were discussed during the focus group in order to meet the objectives. The moderator controlled the discussion of the focus group down the list of the objectives, making sure the discussion touched on each of the secondary points.

The moderator made sure to steer the discussion in the right direction when a topic was no longer generating fresh ideas or when the discussion started to get off topic.

The breakdown of each question was put into a specific order so that it would flow naturally in a group discussion. Knowing there is no way to control the exact flow of a discussion among several people, it was the moderator’s job to make sure to jump back to any missed questions when the discussion called for it. By the end of the focus group discussion, every point on the guide had been talked about among the participants. It was important to have this guide for the moderator in order to have a structure among the group discussion and to make sure no talking points were missed. The moderator was able to see where the discussion was going and how to lead it in the right direction if things went off topic by having the guide.

The focus group continued for 31 minutes and 30 seconds with the five female participants. All five females participated in the conversation, some a little more dominant than the others. The focus group started off with an introduction from the moderator and then the first

question was introduced to get the conversation flowing along the discussion guide. The moderator let the participants do the majority of the talking and only interjected to further probe the conversation or to get a little more explanation on some statements. As the focus group continued, the participants began to feel more comfortable with everyone, talking more, even grabbing cookies from the center of the table to eat.

There were several key insights discovered about Forever 21 during the focus group.

When it comes to the second objective of finding out how the target market feels about the brand, several of the participants named Forever 21 as one of the stores they currently shop at, as well as H&M, Charlotte Russe, Target, Old Navy, Marshalls and unspecified thrift stores. All participants were aware of Forever 21, however, all participants but one currently shop or have shopped at the store. It was a group consensus that everyone thought prices were cheap at Forever 21, as well as the general impression is it is overwhelming in the store due to so much space and apparel to browse. When the participants were asked to describe their initial thoughts about Forever 21, some of the phrases and terms used were, ‘young, hip, and cheap’, ‘a little bit of everything’ and ‘trendy’. Trendy was used on multiple occasions during the focus group to describe Forever 21.

Several insights were discovered about the participants loyalty to Forever 21 compared to their competition. When the participants were asked who they thought Forever 21’s competition is, H&M was the first answer from almost every participant. Charlotte Russe was also named as a competitor by one participant who had this to say about the brand: “I had been to Charlotte Russe before I had been to Forever 21 or H&M. And then when I went to Forever 21 it was like the bigger, better version of Charlotte Russe.” – Amanda

When comparing Forever 21 to its competitors, one participant said there is more of a selection at Forever 21 than the competitors, however, it was agreed among the majority of participants that Charlotte Russe has better sales. How often the participants shop for clothes was also discussed during the focus group. The majority of the focus group shops anywhere between one to two times a month or when they tend to need new clothes for changing seasons.

The participants of the focus group gave key insights about their purchasing experience

when purchasing clothes at Forever 21. One participant said when she goes to shop at Forever 21 the employees are always really busy and have a lot going on so they are unable to really help her with her shopping experience. Another participant had a similar experience where she was looking for a particular item and an employee was not very helpful. The main idea that was discovered about this objective through the focus group is that the shopping experience at Forever 21 is not always a positive one. Another key take away that is important is a majority of the participants found the store to be overwhelming at times.

It was discovered through the focus group that none of the participants interact with

Forever 21 specifically, through social media. Most of the participants keep in touch with their favorite stores through e­mail. Catalogs received in the mail is another way one participant keeps in touch with her favorite store. Finally, Instagram was mentioned as a way of keeping up with fashion and the latest trends. No interaction occurs between the target market in the focus group and Forever 21 on social media, which is a key insight learned from this research.

Finally, the last research objective to gain further insight into is to define the Forever 21

target market in terms of demographics. All five participants were female and ages ranged from 18 to 26. Four of the five participants are currently students at The University of Texas, studying

a range of topics while the fifth participant currently has an associate degree. All of the participants are of white ethnicity. A breakdown of the participants’ demographics can be referenced in Appendix A.

Quantitative Research We selected Qualtrics as the method for building our survey because it is a user­friendly software that permits the creation and distribution of survey materials. This program also stores the data and analyzes all the findings of our survey. Our questionnaire consisted of likert scales, semantic differential scales, text entry, and rank order. The beginning of the questionnaire contained general questions pertaining to shopping habits. We then proceeded to ask if they shopped at Forever 21. Those that did shop at Forever 21 were directed to a series of questions that were created to gauge their perceptions about the brand and their shopping experience.

Those that selected no were directed to questions which asked why they did not shop at Forever 21. After the questionnaire was completed, all respondents were directed to a page where they had to fill out information pertaining to their demographics.

Before we released our survey to the public, we conducted a pretest. We asked a range of 5­8 people to take the survey. We received very helpful responses that enabled us to change and clarify multiple questions. This allowed our survey to be more accessible to our sample population.

Our survey was conducted using a convenience sampling method. We all individually posted the link to our survey on our Facebook pages. We asked our friends, families, and colleagues to participate in our Qualtrics survey and to pass it on to their social network. This is

commonly referred to as a snowball sampling method. We received 54 complete responses and 13 incomplete responses.

Our sample population was not varied in gender, only 7% of those who took our survey identified as male, while 93% identified as female. However, the ethnicity of our sample population was wide­ranging with 2% of our population identifying as black or african american, 2% identifying as American Indian, 4% identifying as Asian, 17% identifying as Hispanic, 76% identifying as white.

As for the age of our respondents, the majority of our respondents were born between 1989 and 1993 (total percentage: 67%). However, the range of the respondents was a forty year difference ­ from from 1966 to 1997.

Most of our respondents have completed at least a two year college degree (80% have completed an Associates degree or more) and the majority of them have completed a four year degree (54%). The income level however, was widely spread, with over 63% of our respondents making less than $50,000 dollars/year. Based on the employment status of our respondents, this makes sense as 44% of our respondents are only employed part­time and 17% are currently not employed (33% are employed full­time and 6% said “other”). All of the demographic data can be found in Appendix B.

Results How Our Target Feels about Forever 21 To satisfy our second objective of understanding consumers’ attitudes and perceptions of Forever 21, our survey asked respondents to rate their satisfaction with Forever 21 among the following categories: customer service, size availability, and the overall shopping experience.

Customer service inquiries yielded a mean value of 3.89 among respondents who indicated that they have previously shopped or currently shop at Forever 21. This suggests that Forever 21 shoppers are slightly dissatisfied with the customer service offered. More favorable attributes of shopper engagement with Forever 21 take the form of size availability and overall shopping experience, both of which generated mean values of 4.57 and 4.46, respectively.

Understanding our target’s perceptions of Forever 21 was critical to develop research that would inform an advertising strategy. The 37 respondents who confirmed having previously shopped at Forever 21 were asked to rate Forever 21 on semantic differential scales with respect to fashionability, expense, modesty, and approachability. When presented with options on the spectrum of fashionability ranging from fashionable to out of style, results yielded a mean value of 2.76. This is indicative of an overall perception of Forever 21 as fashionable retail store by our audience. Unsurprisingly, we found respondents viewed Forever 21’s product offerings as slightly inexpensive, with a mean value of 5.27. Additionally, the product mix is considered to be more on the revealing end of the modesty continuum (mean value of 4.73). When asked about approachability, given the consensus expressed during our qualitative research that Forever 21 was overwhelming to approach, it was surprising to discover that consumers found the brand slightly more approachable than unapproachable (given a mean value of 3.46).

We decided to analyze the relationship between age and the importance of quality as a factor in purchase decision making. We found that quality was important to a majority of the people born in 1990 . According to the Chi Square Test it was statistically significant (.022).

Understanding Forever 21’s Competitive Position Through survey responses we were able to address our third objective motivating us to learn about Forever 21’s position relative to its competitors. Our results show that Forever 21 is favorably positioned within its competitive set according to participant ranking. 40 of our respondents reported shopping at Forever 21, while only 25 revealed they shop at Zara, and the same number reported shopping at Charlotte Russe. H&M did command a larger purchase participation, however, with 45 of respondents indicating they shop at the Swedish company.

A’GACI and American Eagle were other notable inclusions in our consumers’ shopping set.

Our results indicated that Aeropostale was the favored store among our respondents based on the mean value which was 2.00. H&M tied with Aeropostale ­ it also had a mean value of 2.00 on the ranking order question. Following after H&M and Aeropostale, Zara had an average mean value of 2.16 among respondents. Forever 21 placed fourth among its competitors with an average mean value of 2.35. American Eagle with 2.50, Charlotte Russe with 2.60, and AGACI was the least favorite store with an average mean value of 3.5.0

Exploring the Consumer Purchase Experience Exploring the purchasing preferences of consumers revealed that 72% of individuals prefer the in­store shopping experience, as opposed to online. While consumers favored the element of convenience present in the online shopping experience, the results indicate that the ability to try clothes on in­store was a more desirable attribute, leading to a preference for brick­and­mortar stores.

When inquiring how often individuals shop for clothes, choosing from never to daily, respondents’ answers skewed more toward infrequent shopping tendencies, with 94% shopping no more than 2­3 time per month. A substantial amount (28%) of those did demonstrate a tendency to shop for clothes on 2­3 occasions per month. This behavior is advantageous to the fast turnover of inventory characterizing Forever 21’s fast­fashion nature.

The amount of time consumers spent during an average shopping trip to Forever 21 was an important consideration for us. Four options were presented: Less than 30 minute (assigned a value of 1), 30­60 minutes (assigned a value of 2), 60­90 minutes (value of 3), 90+ minutes (value of 4). The majority of Forever 21 shoppers (59%) reported spending between 30 and 60 minutes in the store before completing their visit. The mean value given representing consumer time spent in­store was 1.95.

Learn How Our Target Interacts with Forever 21 Through Social Media Of the 37 respondents who were asked if they follow Forever 21 on social media, five respondents (14 percent) answered they follow the brand. The mean value for this question in the Qualtrics survey is 1.86. The respondents who answered yes to the original social media question were then asked to choose all of the methods in which they follow the brand. At 80 percent (four respondents), the most preferred choice for following Forever 21 on social media is Instagram.

Facebook was the next most chosen answer among respondents at 40 percent. Youtube and Google+ were both equally chosen by one respondent.

Conclusion At the onset of this study, we established 5 objectives, the first of which was to characterize our target audience in terms of demographics. The second of these objectives focuses on what the target demographic’s attitude is towards Forever 21. The third objective aimed to understand where Forever 21 was positioned amongst its competitors as well as who their competitors were (the main competitors of Forever 21 were discovered to be H&M, Zara, and Aeropostale). The fourth objective focused on the consumer purchase experience ­ what did consumers prefer when shopping, we specifically focused on Forever 21. The fifth objective was created to analyze how the target demographic engaged with Forever 21’s current social media.

The results of this study have important implications for how Forever 21 conducts their business and advertising efforts. In summation, we have discovered in our research study that Forever 21 is seen as an inexpensive and a fashionable brand by their target demographic (young adult females). However, on the opposing side, the participants of our study felt that Forever 21 appeared cheap, was poor quality, and looked immature. The perception of low quality items as well as the mismatch of personal style were the main reasons the study participants would be disinterested in purchasing from Forever 21 stores.

There is potential for further research on Forever 21, for instance, it would be a worthwhile pursuit to create a new study that would analyze participants of high school. These consumers’ points of view about Forever 21 would be valuable because this age group is a large part of Forever 21’s target audience and we were unable to reach a large majority of this age group in our research study. Another potential future research study would be to analyze the male perspective on Forever 21 since most of our respondents were female. Forever 21 is

currently selling clothes for men and it would be profitable for Forever 21 to further understand this consumer base that they are trying to reach.

References 21st Street Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://blog.forever21.com/ About Us. (2010, May 5). Retrieved from http://www.forever21.com/Company/About.aspx?br=f21 Hogan, M. (2013, April 2). Forever 21 has built a brand on the idea of fast­fashion.

Retrieved from http://markdhogan.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/forever­21­has­built­a­brand­on­the­idea­o f­fast­fashion/ Forever 21 Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/Forever21 Forever 21 Google+. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://plus.google.com/+Forever21/posts Forever 21 Instagram. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://instagram.com/forever21 Forever 21 Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pinterest.com/forever21/ Forever 21 Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Forever21 Forever 21 Youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/Forever21 History and Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.forever21.com/company/history.aspx?br Holmes, E. (2010, June 24. Forever 21 Pursues Big­Store Branding. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704629804575325121769810944 Verhaegen, B. (2012, November 2) Forever 21: The secrets of success for Gen Y. Retrieved from http://www.howcoolbrandsstayhot.com/2011/11/02/the­secret­success­of­forever­21­gen y/

Appendix A Qualitative ­ Focus Group Discussion Guide Discussion Guide 1.

How does the target market feel about the Forever 21 brand?

1.

Where did you guys get your outfits?

2. What are your favorite stores to shop at?

3. Why do you like these stores?

4. How would you describe your own personal style? a. Do you feel like Forever 21 embodies that style?

5. Have you ever shopped at Forever 21?

6. Why do you shop at Forever 21? What do you like and dislike about Forever 21?

7. What are the most important things you consider when purchasing clothes?

8. It is important to you to purchase name brands/high fashion brands with regards to apparel?

9. How do you feel about the prices at Forever 21?

2.

Loyalty to Forever 21 compared to competition 1. Where do you shop for clothes, and why?

2. How often do you shop at your favorite stores? Forever 21?

3. Do you ever recommend Forever 21 to friends?

3.

Learn about the consumer purchasing experience 1. Describe your recent experiences with shopping at Forever 21 2. Do you purchase items online from Forever 21? If so, why /If not, why not?

3. How would you describe the customer service

4.

How does the target market interact with the Forever 21 brand on social

media?

1. How do you keep up with the latest trends?

2. Do you interact with Forever 21 on social media and in what ways?

5.

Find target in terms of demographics 1. age 2. education level 3. income 4. ethnicity 5. gender

Qualitative ­ Focus Group Demographics

Appendix B Quantitative Survey Answers and Statistics

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Appendix C SPSS Statistics from Quantitative Research Frequency Tables

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Correlation Statistics

Quantitative Demographic Breakdown ­ Pie Charts

Appendix D Qualitative Research ­ Focus Group Transcript Laura: Alright, so we’re going to start off by thanking you guys for being here because as you can tell it was kind of hard to get people out here. So we really appreciate you taking the time out of your day. For those of you who don’t know I’m Laura.

Ashley: I’m Ashley.

Samantha: I’m Samantha.

Hailee: And I’m Hailee.

Laura: And today we’re going to be talking about fashion. In the end we’ll talk about our research purpose, but right now we’re going to keep it general and talk about fashion. So what this basically is just a conversation, everybody gives their opinions, we’ll ask questions, we really like open­ended, we’re gonna give you open ended questions and if you can expand on your answer or anything like that’ll be great. You don’t have to have all positive comments, we also appreciate negative comments ‘cause those will help us out too. Alright, so let’s start off by introducing ourselves, let’s start here.

Amanda: I’m Amanda, do you need to know anything else?

Ashley: Yeah, tell us more. An interesting fact.

Amanda: I’m a senior in the College of Education.

Laura: A senior, ok.

Phillipa: My name is Phillipa Maples. Interesting fact, I was raised in England.

Laura: So cool.

Ashley: That’s awesome.

Sarah: I’m Sarah, I’m an English major, and I’m Phillipa’s friend!

Katie: I’m Katie, I’m a freshman, undeclared. So yeah.

Lily: I’m Lily, I already have my associates and I’m going back for a – major.

Laura: Cool, cool.

Lily: So I’m not at UT, but I will be.

Laura: Ok, so we’re going to start off with, um, first off, our general question would be, where do you guys like to shop? So anyone can start off, you can interject this is a conversation.

Katie: H&M. Laura: H&M. OK why?

Katie: Um, it’s like a, well, it’s kind of affordable, it’s not super cheap, but like, it’s affordable and also stuff that’s in style, and I don’t know. I just like it.

Laura: That’s cool. Anyone else?

Amanda: Old Navy and Target.

Laura: OK, why those places?

Amanda: Because they are affordable, often have good sales and coupons, and I fit their clothes better than other places Laura: OK, cool. Anybody else?

Phillipa: I like to shop online, mostly because they have really good prices and sort of eclectic clothes. While if you go to any store in Austin it’s going to be hipster clothes, not really much variety.

Lily: I like Forever 21 if I’m going to buy not­used things, but then I love Goodwill and Savers and going to all because I don’t feel like paying very much.

Laura: I know you guys mentioned cost is that an important factor? Why or why not?

Amanda: Yes. Katie: We’re poor college students.

Laughter Lily: Why pay full price when you can get it cheaper?

Amanda: Yeah.

Ashley: Also, sidenote she’s doing most of the talking because she’s the moderator so if we’re just sitting here for the most part don’t think it’s weird, she just has the responsibility of – just thought I’d let you know so it didn’t look like we were just like, like…

Hailee: Hmmm

Laughter Laura: I know you said you like shopping online…

Phillipa: Yup. Laura: Can you expand on why – Hailee: What kind of sites, what specific sites or – Phillipa: Well usually it’s more that I saw some boots I liked on somebody, so I go those are cool boots so I google ‘cool white boots’ or something and I find something I like and then I find a place that sells it cheaply. So it’s no specific store, it’s just whatever I like I see and buy. And it’s also great for people with strange proportions, like you were talking about clothes that fit you, I know some of my friends have a really hard time finding pants because they’re really tall so by buying online you have more opportunities to find clothes that actually fit you.

Lily: Especially European clothes, because they’re taller.

Ashley: Does anyone else do any online shopping for clothes specifically.

Amanda: I don’t like it.

Ashley: Oh really why?

Amanda: I don’t, I ­ my sizes fit weird especially pants and I’m just really kind of picky and so I don’t want to deal with the hassle of paying shipping and I don’t want to deal with the hassle of shipping it back if I don’t like it Katie: or if doesn’t fit.

Amanda: Yeah, which most likely will be the case I feel.

Laura: So you’ve had bad experiences, do you know what stores you’ve had problems with that.

Amanda: I just don’t do it. The only time I have done it is at Old Navy and things that I know are going to fit already by shopping in person.

Lily: Yeah if I do online shopping I’ll normally go to the store and try it on and then go online because there are coupon codes and stuff like that.

Amanda: Yeah.

Lily: But especially shoes because I have different arches on each feet.

Katie: Oh no.

Lily: So it’s like I have to try on each pair so many times. Especially cowboy boots. Ugh. Laughter Laura: So where do typically go to find shoes and stuff of that nature.

Lily: Mm, I like to go, sometimes Payless has some good ones, and then, like Burlington Coat Factory or Famous Footwear or Cavenders, for boots, they’re not cheap but they’re so good, they last forever.

Laura: Would you say, um, is there anything you like about the online experience or anything you dislike about the experience? We’ve touched on the fact of sizing…

Lily: I like it because it’s convenient. You don’t have to deal with crowds especially during the holidays. You can just stay at home and not have to deal with all that nonsense. And there’s other places like if you go to Victoria’s Secret and they don’t have it, you can go order from their thing and they don’t charge shipping and it’ll go right to your house. So there’s always a mix between…

Katie: I like when you can sort it by price and do the cheapest first. You can’t do that at a store…

Laughter Katie: they have all the expensive stuff in the front you have to go to the back. Except for some websites don’t do that and you have to go through all of that.

Ashley: Does anyone use an app to shop for clothes? Or have an app for any clothing stores…

Phillipa: I’m not sure if this really counts but I have the Wanelo app.

Katie: Wait what?

Ashley: What is it?

Phillipa: It’s basically this huge cluster of items, how would you explain it? It’s like a hub for cool and exotic items.

Hailee: Yeah and it tells you where you can get it and how much . . .

Phillipa: Yeah, yeah, it’s not necessarily clothes but it’s a whole bunch of stuff for sale and it usually directs you to where it can find it in the store.

Lily: Mainly groupons, livingsocial, sometimes it’s for clothes, but…

Laura: So, how do you feel about promotion. Like if you get an e­mail are you more likely to respond if there’s a sale going on?

Lily: Absolutely. Like 75% of the time, I’ll at least look at it.

Katie: I was at Urban Outfitters and I was on the fence about whether or not I should get this sweater, and then the lady was like we’re having a 25% off sale on sweaters if you download our app. And, I’m like, okay, I’ll get the sweater now. I guess it influences me.

Amanda: I was gonna say that I do like online shopping for other people around the holidays because that’s more convenient for me, and I don’t have to try their clothes on.

Laura: How do you guys keep in touch with your favorite stores. Do you..the latest trends. Social media, do you go to their website, e­mails? How do you keep in touch with your favorite stores?

Amanda: E­mail.

Lily: For the most part e­mail because I always sign up for their things, and then send me little infos. That and just apps.

Amanda: I like that express sends things in the mail. They send physical coupons and for some reason that feels like tangible and I can take it in and turn it in for cheaper clothes or something.

Phillipa: I like catalogues and the scenes are set up and the people are posing.. I like to see what kind of context people would be wearing these things in.

Laura: Okay, cool. So, do any of you guys like mail, as well? Does that influence you, or does another way influence you? Do you like instagram or Facebook or magazines?

Lily: Probably instagram the most, because I always just search for things. Or if I go to a festival, and then I go on to that festival’s hashtags and then I see all these people wearing, and it’s something that I really love, then I’ll like go on.

Laura: So, is fashion very important to you? Like current trends? Is that something that is very important to you?

Amanda: No. Lily: Not super important. If there’s something that I really like and it comes out then I try and like get it while it’s here, but otherwise, I don’t really care what everybody else is wearing.

Ashley: Would you say that friends are a big­­or not even necessarily friends, but like seeing people in clothing­­is that like a big influence on what you want to wear?

Phillipa: If I see somebody and they’re rocking this outfit and I’m like “dang!” I want that.

Amanda: I also see trends that have gotten so popular that I’m like I don’t wanna wear that because I’m not trying to be in that crowd of people, maybe. Does that make sense.

Agreement.

Lily: So, it just affects you in the opposite way.

Amanda: Yeah.

Phillipa: Yeah, it’s like it’s so popular I don’t even want to be a part of this. It’s too popular right now. You want to be original kind of thing.

Laura: Do you have examples of some trends that kind of get on your nerves?

Amanda: Well, as you can see by my fitted t­shirt, I prefer shirts that fit, not big t­shirts. So I steer clear of..

Phillipa: Sorority t­shirt Amanda: Yeah, and all of that. But also, I don’t kow, I’m trying to think of a different examples.

Katie: Uggs Lily: I’m from Washington. I don’t give a shit what anybody says, it gets cold. You want your feet warm. It’s like one of the only ways. Yeah...Uggs and shorts.

Laughter Lily: But, they’re comfy.

Katie: Everyone has Sperrys.

Ashley: What is that?

Amanda: Sperry Topsiders. They’re those boat shoes Ohs. Ashley: No, but I’m not very with it Amanda: I mean, I’m not, but I..no but, I”ve tried them on.

Ashley: You mean like mocassin type things?

Phillipa: No, they’re like boat shoes.

Amanda: Loafers. Casual loafers.

Ashley:That’s what I’m thinking of, I think.

Amanda: Casual loafers, not penny loafers.

Laura: I need to Google this.

Amanda: With my terminology and my snail mail.

Ashley: I don’t know what either of those are. I mean, I know what loafers are but I don’t know the difference between those two.

Katie: And it makes me not want to get them because I’ve seen them everywhere.

Ashley: Yeah, like what she was saying, yeah.

Lily: Like, hipster guys with their skinny jeans rolled up and their boat shoes.

Ashley: Yeah, that’s in Austin, for sure.

Laura: So, what would you guys, each one of you, describe as your style? What is your style?

What do you look for when you go shopping? What do you feel most comfortable in?

Lily: This might not be very appropriate, but trip on and watch it (?), but it’s like, yes...so, pretty much hippy­tastic.

Laura: Cool.

Amanda: I was not knowing what that meant. (laughter) Ashley: I wasn’t until she got to the end, either, and then I was like “Oh, okay okay.”

Laura: Okay, so like hippy, comfortable clothes.

Lily: Lots of fun patterns. It’s a little too much sometimes. I’m like whoa, I need some solid colors here and there.

Laura: Anyone else want to describe what their fashion is?

Katie: I just like pretty things better. I don’t think I have like a certain style.

Phillipa: I’m pretty random. Sometimes I’ll be like super girly, wearling skirts and pink all over the place, and other times I’ll be like biker chick, goth. It just depens on what I’m feeling I guess.

Katie: Whatever’s comfortable. If I can lounge around in it, then I’m good.

Amanda: I think I like pretty modest things, usually. And I don’t like things that make me look bigger than I am. Like fitted in the right way, you know?

Lily: Anything high­waisted.

Lily: I’m not, I’m like I’ve got legs let me show them.

Laura: and what about you guys Philippa: Well, I’ve never actually been in a Forever 21 store because there was never one by me so I don’t have an opinion.

Laura: what about online have you visited the website?

Philippa: I have not.

Lily: I like the cheap jewelry .I’m like if it goes out of style whatever, I only spent like 2 bucks anyways. It’s not really a big deal.

Amanda: I like it but I need like a day that’s cut out for forever 21 because it takes me like a 3 hours because I like to look at everything because I don’t want to miss anything. That’s how I am, so I try not to go there. Its too much, its kind of overwhelming, and I always end up leaving with like one shirt that I kind of like.

Laura: So would you say that you tried on the entire store?

Amanda:Well I’ve looked, I’ve literally spent over 2 hours looking at every section in forever 21 Ashley: Do you just go through like part of the store at a time, you just go through the entire thing?

Amanda: Yeah because I don’t want to miss the opportunity of missing something awesome, but I never find it.

Philippa: So is that like your idea, you feel like Forever 21 there’s a diamond in the rough somewhere?

Amanda: Yeah Katie :But I feel like when you get there it looks like “Oh im definitely going to find something here because its got the wow factor.”

Amanda :It seems like theres so many options, why can you not find something, but then you don’t.

Amanda: I like the cheap Jewelry too.

Laura: So do you think the atmosphere is enticing, like it draws you in?

Katie: Yeah, you see the window and you’re like oh I like that stuff but then you look closer at it and you’re like I don’t know.

Lily: It can be overwhelming, especially the ones that are like 2 stories.

Katie: Especially the one in time square. It’s 3 stories I think and I didn’t find one thing that I wanted. I was like how is that possible?

Lily: Oh My God! Hailee: When you didn’t find anything was it just cuz like the sizes were off, or the price wasn’t there, or did you even try to find anything to try on or was it like no I don’t think I found anything here I didn’t want to try on.

Katie :Um, I think I tried on a couple of things and the stuff I did try on it didn’t fit very well Lily: Yeah I have to go up in sizes, which I don’t really care, its like whatever I don’t really care it’s a number. But for other girls its like “Oh I can’t wear over a size 8, oh my God!” Philippa: I feel like that’s another problem with clothes and fashion. Girls clothes are like really random in sizes, it will vary in different stores. Where like boys sizes are like pretty uniform.

Amanda: I don’t think I know the number, but why can’t it be the same for every size. Why cant 8 be this many inches around, but we don’t talk about that because we don’t want to..

Lily: We don’t want to know.

Laura: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the experience, like what did you feel when you visited did you feel frustrated? Has there ever been a good experience you’ve had?

What about customer service? How do you think Forever 21 ranks in customer service?

Katie: They’re just always really busy so I feel like, well customer service isn’t bad they just kinda have a lot going on so they cant, you know like you go into a boutique or something and like there’s one girl with you the whole time asking you what you are looking for and then you go into forever 21 and they’re busy they have other things to do.

Lily: well there’s a price variation too, like you’re going to spend 100 dollars on one item so you’re going to have one person with you.

Katie: And its like smaller and Forever 21 is a chain and they only have those in like big cities.

Philippa: so like less personal?

Katie: I guess, I mean I don’t know, they just don’t have time to talk to you as much,.

Laura: So do you think if somebody was there to assist you to help find stuff that It would be better?

Katie: No, I don’t think so, or for me.

Lily: I mean like the last time I went there I really wanted to find a romper but it was getting later in the summer so they were starting to do all the fall stuff and I wanted some short ones and they were like “They’re over there.” I was like OVER THERE! That’s like the whole store what are you talking about? It would have been nice if she said let me show you where the place is that would have been better.

Ashley: Well I have a quick question. So like Forever 21, if you could just describe them, and sorry if you already said this, but if you could just describe their style or what you think about them in 3 words or one sentence what would it be?

Katie :A little bit of everything Lily: Young, Hip, and Cheap Philippa: I have no opinion Sarah: Yeah that’s pretty much it Amanda: Trendy Katie: Trendy Laura: So does brand names affect your purchasing decisions, is that important to you?

Lily: It used to be more important when I was younger and then I just stopped caring about designer names and everything and then because I like cheaper clothes anyways and now I just go for fit and look.

Katie: I would like to think that I don’t care about them but like I shop a lot at Marshalls and they have a lot of brand name stuff that’s cheaper and I was there a couple months ago and I was

looking at the dresses and there was one that was Calvin Klein, and I was like oooh Calvin Klein and I wanted to try it on. That’s really dumb but it was good quality.

Lily: I do that with purses. I’m like oooh its Coach , or Betsey Johnson.

Laura: How often would you guys say you go shopping for clothes?

Amanda: As little as possible, like once a month.

Philippa: Yeah like I don’t go out and binge shop but I sort of just like oh I sort of need a jacket or I need new shoes, its like little….

Lily: I tend to binge shop, its pretty seasonal. Like if its getting colder I’m like Alright, I need new winter shoes, or snow boots. Or if its getting warmer I’ll get a new bathing suit. Basically when the seasons change.

Katie: I probably shop like twice a month.

Laura: Most of the time which stores do you say you visit?

Katie: When I’m in Temple I shop at like Marshall’s and Target, pretty much that’s it. I guess like, I don’t really know yet for Austin because I haven’t been here that long, but Buffalo Exchange is like what I prefer the most..

Lily: Yeah, I haven’t gone to the one here yet, but the one in Portland is pretty great though.

Philippa: They have a lot of really cool thrift stores here, which is really cool.

Lily: Some of them here are a little too pricey.

Philippa: Really?

Lily: I mean some of them.

Philippa: Yeah, that seems like a contradiction doesn’t it?

Lily: I think that’s because they want to call it vintage.

Sarah: Which is a big thing in Austin, to have expensive vintage clothing. But I’m like, it’s still used.

Katie: Like the Patagonia thing, oh nevermind. It was like this big thing about vintage Patagonias. I think it was kind of dumb because you could buy a new one for the same price. I don’t get it.

Laura: In your opinion who would you consider Forever 21’s biggest competitor? Like if you didn’t go to Forever 21, which store would you go to?

Lily: H&M Katie: H&M Laura: H&M? Amanda: Yeah, that’s the first thing that came to mind.

Sarah: Yeah, H&M. Lily: They haven’t really been in most of the states for long either because like, I tried to find one after I went in Germany 10 years ago and they’re like, “Oh yeah, they’re in New York.”

Katie: But now they’re like, everywhere.

Amanda: Yeah. I thought of Charlotte Russe.

Philippa: Yeah, I can see that.

Amanda: I had been to Charlotte Russe before I had been to Forever 21 or H&M. And then when I went to Forever 21 it was like the bigger, better version of Charlotte Russe.

Lily: Yeah.

Amanda: But I don’t know if that’s a competitor.

Lily: I like going to their outlet store. Like, in Roundrock.

Laura: The Charlotte Russe store?

Lily: Mmhmm. The outlet one.

Someone: I didn’t know that existed.

Hailee: I didn’t know that existed either!

Laura: Yeah, I’m gonna go!

(All girls laughing) Lily: My first experience in Charlotte Russe was, like, at the outlet mall and then I went to the real one and I was like, ‘gosh, way more expensive’.

Ashley: I thought they only had it at Highland Mall? I thought that was the only one. Do you guys know where Highland Mall is?

Philippa: I do. But it’s a chain, so.

Ashley: Yeah, I just thought that was the only one near Austin.

Philippa: Oh, okay….. There’s plenty of cookies left. (Slides cookies across table) Ashley: Yeah, I remember in Indiana that was all we had…

Laura: So um, what would you say, well like, you guys stated some competitors what would you say are some of the advantages that the competitors have compared to Forever 21 and some disadvantages? If you could sum it up in like, a word.

Hailee: A word?

Amanda: Less selection at Charlotte Russe. There’s less….

Laura: What would you say price wise?

Lily: Cheaper.

Laura: At Forever 21 or at Charlotte Russe?

Amanda: Maybe slightly cheaper at Charlotte Russe. Or better sales that are ‘buy three pieces of jewelry for $10’ or buy one, get one for $0.99. I did that once.

Philippa: They have really good sales at Charlotte Russe.

Laura: Wow. I need to go shopping there.

Katie: I think a disadvantage of H&M is they have, like, random things that are really expensive.

Like, I don’t know if ya’ll shop there ever, but like they have these like weird designer, I guess it’s cool but like designer promotion things. So they’ll have like a shirt that’s like a hundred dollars so it’s like that designer. And you’re like, I went to H&M I didn’t really want to buy a designer shirt. I wanted a H&M shirt. So that’s kind of a disadvantage because I feel like a lot of people when they see that they just want to leave. And then, an advantage for me is I think it’s more like my age group.

Laura: Anybody else want to expand on that?

Amanda: On the age group? Well I guess I might be slightly wrong, but I’m not like making fun of you, it just made me think that’s funny because I know people that would say that H&M is more their age group compared to Forever 21. But they’re older than, they’re grad students not

college freshmen and I’m like in the middle of that I guess. But I think Forever 21 is too young for me. Should I say my age?

Ashley: Yeah.

Amanda: I’m 26, so Forever 21, when I go there I’m like, “Yeah, forever young! I’m forever 21!” And then I don’t buy anything cause it’s all too short or too revealing. And I can’t do it.

Laura: So do you guys agree that there’s a big age gap? Like for other stores like Forever 21 and the younger demographic?

Lily: Yeah, I wouldn’t assume that like over forty year olds would be shopping at Forever 21 just cause it is like younger and everything…. But I’m like pushing thirty and I still shop there.

Laura: And I still shop there too and I’ll be thirty in like four years.

Amanda: In like four years.

Ashley: I was going to say, you’re not there yet. (laughter) Laura: I feel like I’m there. Um, so. Is there anything else you guys would like to briefly mention because I think we’ve touched over all the questions already.

Ashley: Yeah, if you could just, I know you already, sorry that we didn’t do this earlier, but if you could just go around like one more time and then quickly say your name again and then how old you are, maybe where you’re from what city you’re from, one more time. Or ethnicity, if you feel comfortable doing that.

Amanda: I’m Amanda, I’m 26, I’m white and I’m from San Antonio.

Philippa: I’m Philippa, I’m 19 and I’m very white. (**Philippa is from San Antonio even though she didn’t say**) Sarah: I’m Sarah, I’m pretty white too, I’m 19 too and I’m from around Dallas.

Katie: I’m Katie, I’m 18, I’m white and I’m from Temple. I don’t know if ya’ll know where that is.

Lily: I do, I lived in Killeen for two years. I’m Lily, I’m 26. I’m Norwegian, white, mutt thing.

From like, mainly Seattle area, Washington.

Laura: Alrighty cool. Well thank you guys so much for being here.

Ashley: Yeah, thank you guys so much for coming!