Size 16 plus women do not enjoy shopping!
According to
researchers at one of the UK’s leading centres of market research and fashion, the majority of women who are size 16 or over do not enjoy shopping for clothes!
A study at Manchester Metropolitan University suggests that, contrary to the accepted wisdom that
shopping is leisure and pleasure orientated, a large percentage of regular
clothes shoppers are unhappy.Shopping created negative
emotions like resentfulness, demotivation, frustration and even anger.
“The belief that all women
enjoy and are motivated to shop is bogus, says co-author Gaynor Lea-Greenwood.
“Shopping and images of celebrity fashion are making people unhappy. They shop
and shop but never find what they are looking for.”
The research was carried out
by Gaynor and colleagues Dr Rose Otieno and Chris Harrow, of MMU’s Department
of Clothing Design and Technology, home of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management and host of the recent Size UK ‘survey of the British body’.
They surveyed 250 women aged
18-40, all self-ascribed clothes shoppers. One in three was a size 16 or over.
(47% of the population is size 16 or over.) The main reasons why women
do not enjoy the shopping experience were merchandise choice, attitudes, price
and environment. Choice was the main area of dissatisfaction.
55% said they could not find
plus size lingerie that fitted well rising to 66% of 16 plus sub-sample. Only half of the
250 interviewed said they could easily find something that was fashionable.
More worryingly, 70% of the plus 16 sample cannot, for most of the time, find
fashionable clothes and 78% of them found their size was not available in
designer outlets. Size 16 plus customers may, the researchers suggested, have a
preconception that they will not find fashionable clothes in their size in
certain shops.
“These people feel bitterly
disappointed. They are willing to buy but are thwarted making shopping not such
a pleasurable experience,” said Gaynor.
When asked why they enjoyed
shopping 41% and 52% size 16 did not give an answer, implying that although
they thought they should like it, on reflection they did not.
Prices also knocked the
shine of the high street experience, particularly for plus size lingerie shoppers.
66.2% said they paid at least 20% more for larger cup sizes. While excitement
can result from obtaining bargains at sales, women were disappointed with high
prices, the researchers said.
Store environments often
proved as off-putting as enticing, particularly for the larger woman, for whom
the major gripe was overly thin shop assistants.
Overall, 60% of shoppers
said they felt frustrated, while some, mainly over 16 size, displayed feelings
such as resentfulness, demotivation, frustration or anger.
The word frustration cropped up many times making it evident this is a powerful
emotion.Gaynor Lea-Greenwood added:
“The nature of the UK high street is having a often-ignored negative
impact on women while retailers could be missing out on a market of millions.”
