The Importance of Identity and Self-concept for Marketers

The Importance of Identity and Self-concept for Marketers
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The Importance of Identity and Self-concept for Marketers
Introduction
Brand personality in the fashion industry fulfills a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted function in providing identity to companies while expediting effective communication. A human form or character helps in enhancing symbolic representation while expediting effective communication with consumers. The proliferation of high fashion brands into the local market has influenced marketers to assess the link between customers and their preferred brands. High-end fashion brands symbolize differentiation and quality based on the importance that customers place on specific brands. The clothing companies can formulate communication mechanisms based on self-concept to build a corporate brand while attracting customers. Equally, fashion companies have to consider their brand image in designing adverts to enhance customer loyalty. Clothing companies have to assess consumers' identities since they consume a product that aligns with their preferences. In the current era of intense competition in the fashion industry, branding in the fashion industry has emerged as a strategy to have a competitive edge over close rivals in the market. Consumer's identity and self-concept are vital considerations that organizations have to consider in formulating adverts for fashion products.
Body of Literature
Marketing executives ought to understand the processes that underlie consumer behavior as one of the critical areas of research to expedite business growth and productivity. According to Japutra and Molinillo (2019), understanding consumer behaviors is crucial in marketing strategy. Self-concept is an equally relevant aspect as a totality of an individual's feelings and thoughts. Therefore, the cognitive structure has a close connectedness to the behavior and emotions of consumers. Fashion marketers and consumer psychologists collaborate to study fashion innovativeness to explore fashion diffusion.
Fashion innovators are the main target customers in the apparel industry as the first buyers of clothing in the marketplace. As such, their reaction to fashion is a critical determinant of the success or failure of new brands. Although researchers examine the characteristics of fashion innovators, self-image has only received little attention. Apparel marketers seek to identify and appeal to fashion innovators with anticipation of expediting their business growth and expansion (Japutra & Molinillo, 2019). Research on characteristics of fashion innovators focuses on attitudes, social communication, lifestyles, and demographics as main variables of customers. Apparel marketers utilize the information in developing advertisements that fashion innovators can find persuasive.
Female fashion innovators are likely to be indulgent, colorful, fashion followers, and formal. Gonzalez-Jimenez (2017) argues that self-concept is a practical aspect in the apparel industry to understand customers' behavior. Self-concept includes self-image, self-esteem that are of interest to marketers since consumers prefer products that align with their attitudes. Self-concept is critical since self-perceptions are likely to motivate behavior to determine human performance. Furthermore, consumers utilize self-concept to determine ways that they view salespersons, brands, and advertisements. Therefore, marketers have to introduce products that are congruent with their ideal self-concept. Therefore, clothing theorists devote special attention to the behaviors and motivations of fashion innovators.
Consumption of products is one of the strategies through which customers can maintain their self-concept. According to symbolic interactionism theory, clothing products are the primary social stimuli to the customers in the apparel industry (Segre, 2019). Such customers consume products for their social meaning and practical value. Symbolic purchasing behavior helps define the exercise of purchasing products based on the value of the society members. According to the theory, the symbols attached to products can convey information about an individual, including social role. Importantly, consumers can use products for self-definition. Individuals rely on the social symbolic meaning of fashion products to enhance their role performance. As such, they have an opportunity to shape their self-image. Therefore, the consumption of desired fashion products is vital to improving self-concept. In the fashion industry, consumers have an enhanced self-concept if they purchase products that match their self-image.
According to Partington (2017), conspicuous consumption is expected in the fashion industry to purchase brands that can boost their self-esteem, wealth, social status, and self-image. Such consumption is "lavish" spending on products and services to display their wealth and income. Therefore, marketers focus on ensuring that offered products can display social status and an individual's self-image. Self-image is significant guidance to consumers' decisions, thus choosing products that match their self-esteem. Product image congruity and self-image are the critical determinants of purchase behavior. Therefore, customers purchase the positively-valued products as a way of maintaining a positive self-image to maintain self-consistency. Self-consistency and self-esteem are the primary motivators on consumer's behavior.
According to literature findings, the level of self-image congruity that a customer portrays is likely to influence their conspicuous consumption. Over the years, researchers have conducted studies on the connectedness between branded fashion accessories and self-image congruity. A higher congruity of self-image reflects a higher conspicuous consumption (Partington, 2017). Similarly, enhanced self-image congruity positively impacts the level of preference, future purchase intentions, and consumers' attitudes. Notably, some consumers desire to display various aspects of self, both social and ideal, that influence the behavior of consumers. Ideal self-image and self-image are critical aspects that determine consumer behaviors and are congruent with preferred fashion brands. Ideal self-image reveals a higher discrepancy with the least preferred brand than self-image. Although self-image and ideal self-image correlate, purchase intention and ideal self-image vary.
Klabi (2020) argues that individuals purchase specific prestigious brands to inform others about their self-image, social status, and self-esteem. As a result, they boost their self-esteem and sense of self. Authors argue that product choice leads to self-affirmation, primarily for aesthetic products. However, customers have to choose between functional value and aesthetic products. Individuals with a disaffirmed sense of self are likely to select aesthetic products to indicate a desire...