Analyzing the Impact of Country of Origin on ASOS UK's Consumer Base

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The impact of Country of Origin on Consumer Perception and
Buying Behaviour: a Case Study of Asos UK
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Abstract
In order to conduct the research the researcher has considered different objectives to fulfil the
aim of the project. The issues faced by the company Asos have been discussed. For data
collection, process survey and interview have been conducted and data have been analysed. The
researcher has provided proper conclusion and the future research scopes as well. On the other
hand, the researcher has provided needed recommendations as well to make proper alterations in
future.
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Acknowledgement
I hereby acknowledge that the data and all of the models and the related theories that have been
used by me throughout the research are true and authentic as per as my knowledge. I extend my
sincere thanks to all of the individuals who have helped me in conducting the research project. I
hereby also acknowledge that no unethical means have been adopted during the entire research.
The data that have been collected for the primary as well as the secondary research processes are
authentic and the data will be used solely for the research process.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................7
Chapter 3: Methodology................................................................................................................11
Chapter 4: Result and Findings......................................................................................................14
Chapter 5: Analysis........................................................................................................................17
Chapter 6: Conclusion...................................................................................................................23
Chapter 7: Recommendation.........................................................................................................25
References......................................................................................................................................26
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Selecting the research topic
It has been identified that the consumer perceptions as well as the consumer behaviour is one of
the major factors that have been affecting the success of any industry (Cho, 2015). It has been
identified that in most of the cases, the country of origin of that particular country has been
affecting the consumer perceptions as well as the buying behaviour. The current research will
focus on the ways in which these factors have been affecting the sales of the products of retail
industry in case of Asos UK.
1.2. Importance of the research problem
It is a known fact that globalisation has indeed reduced the impact of barriers in case of business.
In the words of Chan (2016), people have come much close and hence the impacts of these have
also been witnessed in the business activities as well. This has practically opened up the market
for all of the products that are produced by the organisations. Now anyone can enjoy any product
sitting in any part of the country. However, it has been identified that there are a certain factors
that have been affecting the consumer buying behaviour in most of the countries. It has been
identified that surprisingly the country of origin of the product has turned out to be one of the
major factor that have been affecting the consumer behaviour. In most of the cases, it has been
identified that in most of the cases, consumers try to access the origin country of the product for
accessing the quality and the standards of the product. Hence, the retail industry has been
affected greatly by the factors like this (Chung et al., 2018).
It has been identified that the effects of this have been witnessed particularly in case of the
clothing section that are sold by Asos. The consumers prefer accessing the country of origin of
the product for accessing that whether the products are up to date or in accordance with the
latest trends or not. The current global position of the country of origin is something that has
been affecting the customer buying behaviour of the country excessively.
1.3. Research Aim
The aim of the research is to determine the effects of the country of origin on the consumer
perceptions as well as the buying behaviour of the customers
1.4. Research Objectives and Research Questions
The objectives of the research are:
 To determine the impact of country of origin on customer perception and purchase
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behaviour
 To assess the way the country image of UK affects customer perception of apparel
products
 To identify the way customer perception and purchase of UK apparels influence the
business of Asos
 To determine how brand familiarity and performance of Asos affect the customer
purchase behaviour
The main research question is:
 What is the impact of country of origin on the customer perception and purchase
behaviour?
The subsidiary questions are:
 In what way the country image of UK affects the customer perception of apparel
products?
 What are the ways in which the customer perception of UK apparel influences the
business of Asos?
 In what way the brand familiarity and performance of Asos affect the buying behaviour
of customers?
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.0 Introduction
The literature review forms one of the significant segments of the entire research project. The
literature review provides a detailed idea as to the different aspects of the research. The literature
review sections below will discuss in details the consumer behaviour, the factors affecting the
consumer behaviour as well as the impacts of country of origin on the consumer behaviour of the
country.
2.1. Consumer perceptions and the buying behaviour
In the words of Gillespie and Riddle (2015), the consumer behaviour is the summation of the
ideas concepts as well as the perceptions that have been affecting the decisions of the consumer
for buying a particular product. There have been a number of theories that have been put forward
for understanding and estimating consumer behaviour and these are
Motivation- Need Theory
In the words of Javed and Hasnu (2018), the motivation need theory states that the consumers
will always prefer buying the products once they feel the need to buy it. In accordance with the
theory, it is essential for the organisations to create a sort of demand in the market for motivating
the customers in buying the particular products. It has been noted that if the customers are
motivated then they can even buy luxurious products if they are motivated to do so.
Figure 1 : The Motivation- need Theory
(Source: Javed and Hasnu, 2018)
Economic man
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In accordance with this particular theory or approach, the consumers are considered as a rational
individual who considers all of the aspects as well as the advantages of buying the product before
actually buying it. The theory further states, that consumer consider all of the available options
for the product before actually buying it. In the words of Akman and Mishra (2017), the
consumer aims at buying the best products within the estimated budget and hence considers
looking for all of the other options as his basic right. In most of the cases, it has been noted that
the consumers would always prefer looking for satisfactory choices rather than settling for the
optimum choices and hence name “Economic Man”.
2.2 Factors affecting consumer behaviour
Considering the immense importance of consumer behaviour, it is obvious that there are actually
a number of factors, which have been affecting the consumer behaviour. In the words of Hassan
and Harun (2016), it has been identified that the consumer demographics form one of the
significant factor that have been identified as one of the significant among them. The
demographics identify the different factors such as the race, gender as well as the age group that
have been affecting the consumer behaviour of the country.
Apart from this, the Psychological factors such as the need as well as the need and the
motivations of the individual also play a significant role in the entire process. It has been
identified that in most of the cases, the customers are driven by particular attitudes and beliefs
towards a certain product and this affects the consumer buying behaviour of the individual
extensively. There are customers who prefer buying certain luxurious products just because it
gives some kind of social status to the customers. Again, there are also certain customers who
prefer buying certain branded products just for enjoying some sorts of social status among family
and the relatives.
Apart from this, there are also certain social factors that have been affecting the consumer
behaviour. Well, it is a known fact that man is a social animal and hence the social factors indeed
affect the consumer behaviour. In the words of Nadeem et al. (2015), some of the significant
social factors that affect the consumer behaviour are reference groups, the family as well as the
social status of the particular individual.
The other economic factors such as the personal income, family income, the consumer credit as
well as the other miscellaneous factors also affect the overall consumer behaviour in an
appreciable manner.
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2.3. The effect of the brand on the consumer buying behaviour: from a the theoretical
perspective
The country of origin of the product is one of the significant factors that have been affecting the
consumer behaviour of the individual in an extensive way. One such example of the influence
of the country of origin is that the perfumes manufactured by companies of French origin have a
greater value in the market as compared to the other perfumes. In the words of Phau et al.(2015),
this is just because that the perfumes from France have a greater brand value and people have the
image that these are the best in the market. Most of the customers have agreed, that using these
also adds to the social status and hence they always prefer using these over the perfumes
produced by the other countries.
The Associative Network Memory model can be used extensively for providing an in depth idea
about these factors. The theory clearly identifies the presence of a number of nodes and the links
in the human memory. While nodes point out towards the presence of some stored information in
the human memory, the links on the other hand help in pointing out towards the level of intimacy
of the customers with these types of stored information.
Figure 2: Associative Network Memory model
(Source: Phau et al., 2015)
The particular model provides a clear idea as to customer perceptions as well as behaviour
towards certain product considering the entire positive as well as the negative aspects of the
product. In the words of Parker and Wang (2016), this not only analyses the perceptions towards
a product, but also helps in accessing the consumer attitude towards the particular organisation
and hence of course the country of origin of the product. It has been identified that the links as
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well as the associations in this regard also take into consideration, the prior experiences of the
customers regarding that product. It has been identified that these factors as well as the ways in
which the nodes and the links are related affect the overall consumer buying process in an
effective manner.
2.4. The effect of the country of origin on the consumer behaviour
It has been identified in the above sections that the country of origin plays a significant role in
affecting the consumer behaviour. The French perfume stand as a live example to this. In the
words of Ozuem et al. (2017), there is a peculiar trend among the customers to rely on the
products, which have originated from an economically stable country. It has been identified that
more than 90% of the consumers have this particular tendency among themselves. The
consumers are driven mostly by the beliefs that since the products are from an economically
stable country; hence, the products are bound to be of good quality. In most of the cases, these
drive the customers towards the foreign products. Consequently, the declining economic
conditions of the country also restricts from buying the products from these countries. Clothes
from Paris have a greater brand value in the market as compared to any other places in the world.
Thus, the image of the country in the global market is one of the significant factors that have
been affecting the consumer behaviour and perceptions appreciably.
2.4. Conclusions
Thus, it can be concluded that the consumer behaviour as well as the perceptions are some of the
significant factors that have been affecting the sales of the products in the global market. Some
of the significant theories of consumer behaviour such as the motivation-need theory, the
economic man as well as the other significant theories have also been discussed in the sections.
The Associative Network Memory model has been included in the discussions above.
2.5. Literature Gap
However, the above literature review have been carried out extensively, but there are of course
some of the significant steps that have not been covered in the sections. However, it has been
estimated that the country of origin indeed affects the consumer behaviour and the perceptions,
but the extent to which this are affected have not been included in the above sections. A proper
primary as well as the secondary survey processes will be conducted for developing an in-depth
idea about these factors.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.0 Introduction
The research methodology forms the backbone of the research process. If conducted effectively,
the research methodology provides a clear idea as to the steps and the processes that are to be
adopted for conducting the overall research process.
3.1. Research Philosophy
In the words of Alvesson and Skoldberg (2017), the research philosophy identifies the ways in
which the data needs to be gathered and followed throughout the entire project. The research
philosophies are of the four distinct types and these are realism, interprevism, positivism,
pragmatism. The positivism identifies on the process of gathering the factual data that are
relevant to the topic. For this particular project, the positivism research philosophy has been
selected as this will help the researcher in conducting the overall research effectively.
3.2. Research Approach
The research approach identifies the process through which the research is approached. The
research approach can be broadly categorised as inductive and the deductive approach.
Considering the immense complications that are associated with the process, the inductive
research approach has not been considered. The inductive approach considers developing a range
of new theories and models throughout the research. Since no such theories will be developed
here, hence this have been rejected. The particular research for determining the impacts of the
country of origin on the consumer perceptions and behaviour will concentrate on the adoption for
the deductive research approach (Nardi, 2018).
3.3. Research Strategy and the research methods
The data collection techniques that are used for the research are of two types and these are the
secondary as well as the primary data collection methods. The adoption of the primary data
collection methods enables the researcher to collect the data that are relevant to the topic. The
primary data collection techniques actually help in providing a proper practical life implication
of the research topic. The primary research allows the researcher to collect relevant data through
proper techniques.The secondary data collection techniques, on the other hand rely much on the
usage of the existing case studies that are relevant to the topic (Neelankavil, 2015). For this
research, a combination of both primary as well as secondary techniques will be used. For the
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secondary data analysis, all the relevant articles, books, as well as the journals relevant to the
topic will be selected. As part of the primary data collection, survey will be conducted.
3.4. Research Design
The research design provides a general plan for carrying out the research. The research designs
that are in use are of three distinct types and these are the explanatory, explanatory and the
descriptive research designs. As part of the primary research techniques, the exploratory
research techniques have been selected and as part of the secondary research techniques, the
explanatory research techniques. The explanatory research techniques are an effective one, as
this will help the researcher in developing a proper analytical view of the research.
3.5. Sampling size and sample techniques
As part of the sampling techniques, the non-probability purposive sampling and the random
probability sampling have been selected. The probability random sampling is much justified, as
this will help the researcher to concentrate on a large population size.
As part of the sample, size 200 customers who buy products from the stores of Asos UK will be
considered.
3.6. Sample profile
The sample profile will cater individuals from all the age groups residing within the premises of
UK will be considered.
3.7. Data Analysis techniques
The combinations of qualitative as well as quantitative data analysis techniques will be used for
the research.
3.7. Ethical considerations
The Data Protection Act will be instigated and the data that will be collected will be used for no
other commercial means without the consent of the participants. Moreover, none of the
participants will be forced to take part in the process. The Equality act will be followed and none
of the participants will be judged based on caste, creed and skin colour.
3.8. Conclusion
The above sections have provided a clear idea about the different steps that need to be followed
in the research. It has been estimated that the positivism research philosophy, deductive research
approach are some of the steps that should be followed.
3.9. Research Limitations
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