A qualitative analysis of the factors that affect British South Asian Muslim women and their consumption of fashion and beauty products

Khan, F

Abstract

From past research literature review on British South Asian consumerism, there have
been some issues and problems found in literature review. Firstly, there have been
generalisations about British South Asians as one homogenous group. It can be argued that not all British South Asians are one homogeneous group who all display similar consumer buyer behaviour characteristics. Here, it seems that British South Asians have been grouped together as one group. However, it needs to be stated that British South Asians as consumer buyers may display different types of behaviour according to their religion (Hindu, Muslim or Christian), cultural regional background and country of origin (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh).This concept was taken from the Literature Review and it was decided that this study wanted to explore this belief amongst a different group of consumers i.e. British South Asian Muslim Women.
The British South Asian community make up 4% of the British population and
represent the ‘brown’ pound (Raheja, 2003). They are British citizens, are becoming
increasingly university educated and hold highly qualified jobs with money available
to spend on consumer goods but as yet have little advertising and marketing geared
towards servicing their needs. British South Asian female consumers are an untapped
market in terms of advertising catering for this type of consumer. Marketers have a
considerable way to go to unfathom and understand in detail their consumer buying
behaviour. Through this study it is hoped that the British South Asian Muslim female
consumer’s buying behaviour is understood in detail (in terms of their consumption of
fashion and beauty product consumption) in an academic context and to examine to
what extent culture, family, religion and popular culture influences their fashion and
beauty product consumption. However, it would seem there has yet to have been a study done regarding British South Asian Muslim women’s consumption of fashion and beauty products. The research focus is on the identification of the social factors and how they influence British South Asian Muslim female consumer buyer behaviour. This focus has resulted from possible gaps in the consumer buyer behaviour literature. This thesis hopes to address this.
The aim of this research is to analyse British South Asian Muslim female consumers and their consumption of fashion and beauty products. Specifically, the objectives of this study are to examine the role of culture in British South Asian Muslim women’s consumption of fashion and beauty products, examine how the family influences and plays a role in influencing British South Asian Muslim women’s consumption of fashion and beauty products analyse the role of popular culture and its influence on British South Asian Muslim women’s consumption of fashion and beauty products.
Data was gathered through in-depth interviews which were carried out with 38 British South Asian Muslim female consumers. The interviews were analysed using content analysis where common themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews conducted. The results showed that British South Asian Muslim female consumers are influenced by sociocultural factors such as links to country of origin, popular culture and strength of religious beliefs and socio-cultural influences such as: peer group pressure of family; in country of residence and peer group pressure of British Caucasian society, with regards to consumption of fashion and beauty products.
Regarding implementating this study, a new marketing model has been constructed from the data in order to deliver useful results for improving the current marketing strategies to target British South Asian female consumers, thereby influencing lucrative proposals geared towards British South Asian Muslim women as consumers and develop and recognise British South Asian Muslim women as consumers in their own right.
The model’s implications for retailers and media is that consumers, retailers and manufacturers need to know that in today’s climate, there are now more emerging contemporary social factors, other than traditional buyer models such as socio-cultural influences which influence British South Asian Muslim female fashion and beauty product consumerism. This creates the need for marketing companies to extend their marketing strategy to target British South Asian Muslim female consumer’s family and friends (as a social group) rather than just marketing to British South Asian Muslim female consumers as individuals. This is due to British South Asian Muslim female consumers being motivated to buy in clusters (as consumers they use family groups and friends as a reference groups) due to coming from a collectivist culture. The second and third generation of British South Asian Muslim female consumers are not as bound by tradition, religious or cultural factors, as the first generation of South Asian female consumers, as they buy ‘modern’ goods. ‘Modern’ goods, in this context, refer to Western influenced clothes or beauty products which still comply with religious and/or cultural requirements.
In conclusion, there is a growing market of British South Asian Muslim female consumers who now have money to spend as a result of being more financially solvent. There is a whole industry catering for British South Asian Muslim female consumers living in the western world who do not wear traditional Islamic clothes but who want to wear western clothes that conform to Islamic requirements. Western fashion and beauty companies is a growing sector of businesses which is now joining the halal market, which is rapidly increasing, in order to accommodate this rising number of halal consumers who want to consume halal fashion and beauty products.

Citation

Khan, F. A qualitative analysis of the factors that affect British South Asian Muslim women and their consumption of fashion and beauty products. (Dissertation). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Dissertation
• Deposit Date: Apr 9, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 9, 2015