Exploring the decision-making process of men's branded underwear consumers

In the newly competitive market of men's underwear, leverage in product sales and advertising can be achieved through an understanding of consumer decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of involvement, brand loyalty, and gender in the purchase of men's branded underwear, and specifically during the evaluation of alternatives and product choice stages of the decision-making process. Using a qualitative methodology, interviews were conducted with fifteen department store shoppers to explore their use of evaluative criteria and the impact of these criteria on product choice.; Results of a thematic interpretation of interview data reveal four main consumer profiles: high involvement/brand loyal, high involvement not brand loyal, low involvement/brand loyal, and low involvement not brand loyal consumers. The majority of participants were either high involvement/brand loyal, or low involvement/not loyal. Results of this study point to the need for marketers to better understand the men's branded underwear consumer in order to successfully market new products in an increasingly diversified apparel product category. Similarly, manufacturers could better cater to consumers' needs and wants by understanding consumer perceptions of brand value. Further research is needed to more fully explore the implications of such considerations as channel type, consumer demographics, and lifestyle marketing for the purchase of men's branded underwear.