Attitude towards foreign brands vs ethnic brands

Abstract

With the rise of Indian middle-class and increased spending power in the hands of the young population. India shows promise for the growth of brands in the apparel market. Formals, casualwear and sub-genres of apparels have seen rise of brands in the recent years and the number of such brands are rising. If the imagery of these brands is studied, most of them show a foreign landscape and in most cases the brands also sound foreign. This lead us to investigate the effect of country of origin effect (perceived or actual) on the product evaluation of brands in this sector. But COO is strongly intertwined with the individual orientation of ethnocentrism which has played a major role in product evaluations in the post-independence era. But if this value is at all relevant in this era needs to be studied. Also, if the newer generations have a higher degree of susceptibility towards global culture and if this moderate’s product evaluations need to be studied. After an extensive Literature survey was done to pin point which parameters moderated COO and Ethnocentrism when it came to brand evaluation of Indian apparel market. Product necessity, Global susceptibility, product typicality, store image as a surrogate, warmth and competence of the country origin were taken into account for this study. Subsequently a questionnaire was floated, and 48 responses were recorded. For some questions, half the group was treated as control group and the other half as experiment group and the results were studied thereafter. The analysis was done using t-tests and the statistical results show that most the results are in line with the previous findings. Finally, using the journals we studied and our survey findings recommendations were provided to a Chinese brand trying to enter into India. These recommendations would increase its brand presence in the country and may lead to stronger brand equity. The number of apparel brands in India has increased exponentially over the last decade and the Indian retail scenario is growing profusely. With the rise in spending power of the middle-class and higher spending power of the Indian youth, the brand space in Indian apparel sector has bright prospects. With the rise of online retail giants like Amazon, Flipkart or eBay, there are now multifarious opportunities for new brands. New brands from small players have grown using these channels only. Global fashion brands like Zara and H&M has opened offline stores and have posted profits within a decade. However, this space has also seen the demise of brand businesses like Abof etc. Thus, it becomes important to understand what underlying currents lie when Indian consumers choose a brand for their consumption. After the days of independence, there was a strong favour towards Indian clothes based on ethnocentrism but as times changed, Indian consumers increasingly started favouring apparel which came from brands with foreign sounding names. Standing in the 21st century, with most brands looking up to the Indian millennials as their main engine for revenue growth, it is important to find out if ethnocentrism still plays that important a role in brand evaluations. Also, with a plethora of foreign sounding brands in the apparel sector, it is important to find out how Country of origin played an important role in product evaluations. However, country of origin is a very broad concept interconnected with store image etc and filled with nuances like country of manufacture, country of design etc. It is important that the effects of these finer details are studied so that the brand imagery can appropriately accommodate the figure or ground of the positive country of origin and make it appealing to the target group. Objective of the study:- The aim of the study is to * Check the effect of ethnocentrism on brand evaluations in the apparel sector for products which are known for conspicuous consumption. We also will for these effects for products where the utilitarian value is more important than the hedonic value. * Check for the effect of Country of Origin when it came to the product evaluations in the apparel sector. Many of the theories checked the COO from the perspective of developed countries while there is not much literature available for developing countries especially India. * Check for the interplay between COO and Store image in the Indian context. With the rise of retail brands, it is imperative to find out if foreign brands(even with perceived negative COO) can gain positive product evaluations if placed in a store with positive brand image.