Investigating consumer behavior and satisfaction towards online buying - A case study of fashion industry in the UK

Running head: DISSERTATION
Investigating consumer behavior and satisfaction towards online buying - A case study of
fashion industry in the UK
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ......................... whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the............... [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
Customers are the key resources that the business organizations en-cash for generating profit and
revenue for them. Thus, it is essential for the business organizations to launch products or
services keeping in mind the needs and demands of the customers. This allows the business
organizations to ensure customer satisfaction. The purpose of the research is to recognize the
factors the influences the behavior of the customers thereby, facilitating them to use online
platform for shopping fashion clothing. In addition to, the purpose of the research is to consider
the technological advancements and the advantages gained by the customers due to the use of the
online platform. As a result, the research work will shed light on the factors for improving
customer satisfaction and consumer behavior so that they can continue using online platform for
shopping fashion clothing.
The researcher discusses the concepts and factors of consumer behavior and customer
satisfaction and its impact on the use of the online platform for purchasing fashion clothing. The
researcher has used positivism philosophy, deductive approach and descriptive research design.
In addition to, the researcher has also used primary data collection technique for gathering the
data for the survey research strategy. The researcher for selecting 100 online users of the fashion
clothing has used random probability sampling technique. Out the different factors, it has been
seen that psychological, cultural, social and personal factors has mild association with the
consumer behavior. On the other hand, the factors such as product, convenient shopping and
after sales services has a nearly strong association with the level of customer satisfaction.
Supporting the correlation values, the values of the null hypotheses are also less than 0.05
thereby, highlighting that both consumer behavior and customer satisfaction has an impact on the
online shopping of fashion apparels in the UK.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................................10
1.0 Overview.........................................................................................................................10
1.1 Background of the research.................................................................................................11
1.2 Background of UK fashion industry....................................................................................12
1.3 Research rationale................................................................................................................12
1.4 Research aim........................................................................................................................13
1.5 Research hypothesis.............................................................................................................13
1.6 Research objectives.............................................................................................................14
1.7 Research questions...............................................................................................................14
1.8 Structure of the research......................................................................................................15
1.9 Purpose of the research........................................................................................................15
1.10 Summary............................................................................................................................16
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................17
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................17
2.1 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................17
2.2 Concept of consumer behavior............................................................................................18
2.3 Factors affecting consumer behavior...................................................................................19
2.4 Theories of consumer behavior...........................................................................................20

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2.4.1 Marginal utility theory..................................................................................................20
2.4.2 Ordinal and cardinal approach......................................................................................21
2.4.3 Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model..................................................................................22
2.4.4 Nicosia model of consumer behavior...........................................................................22
2.5 Concept of customer satisfaction.........................................................................................23
2.6 Factors affecting customer satisfaction...............................................................................24
2.7 Model of customer satisfaction............................................................................................25
2.7.1 SERVQUAL model of customer satisfaction...............................................................25
2.8 Background of the fashion industry.....................................................................................27
2.9 Concept of online shopping.................................................................................................28
2.10 Factors influencing consumer behavior towards online shopping....................................29
2.11 Factors influencing customer satisfaction towards online shopping.................................29
2.12 Challenges of online shopping affecting consumer behavior and customer satisfaction. .30
2.13 Summary............................................................................................................................31
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................32
3.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................32
3.1 Research outline...................................................................................................................32
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................33
3.2.1 Rationalizing the application of positivism philosophy...............................................33
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................34

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3.3.1 Rationalizing the application of deductive approach....................................................34
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................35
3.4.1 Rationalizing the application of descriptive design......................................................35
3.5 Research strategy.................................................................................................................36
3.5.1 Rationalizing the application of survey research strategy............................................37
3.6 Sampling technique and sampling size................................................................................37
3.6.1 Rationalizing the application of random probability sampling technique....................38
3.7 Data collection technique....................................................................................................38
3.7.1 Rationalizing the application of primary data collection technique.............................39
3.8 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................39
3.8.1 Rationalizing the application of quantitative data analysis technique..........................40
3.9 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................40
3.10 Research limitations...........................................................................................................41
3.11 Summary............................................................................................................................41
Chapter 4: Data Analysis...............................................................................................................43
4.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................43
4.1 Descriptive analysis.............................................................................................................43
4.2 Inferential analysis...............................................................................................................51
4.2.1 Correlation analysis......................................................................................................51
4.2.2 Regression analysis.......................................................................................................55

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4.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................58
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................59
5.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................59
5.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................60
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................63
5.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................64
References......................................................................................................................................65
Appendices....................................................................................................................................72
Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................72
Survey questionnaire.............................................................................................................72
Appendix 2.................................................................................................................................78
Frequency tables of Demographic questions.........................................................................78
Appendix 3.................................................................................................................................82
Correlation analysis of factors of consumer behavior...........................................................82
Appendix 4.................................................................................................................................83
Correlation analysis of factors of customer satisfaction........................................................83
Appendix 5.................................................................................................................................84
Correlation analysis of consumer behavior and customer satisfaction on online shopping. .84
Appendix 6.................................................................................................................................85
Regression statistics output....................................................................................................85

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Appendix 7.................................................................................................................................87
Regression statistics output....................................................................................................87
Appendix 8.................................................................................................................................89
Regression statistics output....................................................................................................89