Comfort me : A qualitative study on the behaviour of Generation Y when purchasing the high-involvement product everyday bra.

Abstract: Background: It is an essential clothing piece for women, which is proven to enhance the consumers’ perception of themselves, namely a woman everyday bra. There seems to be a lack in recent research on women lingerie especially within the Generation Y. The complex purchase decision for the high-involvement product everyday bra in combination with the characteristics of this generation have a vital impact on their considerations. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis was to describe how Generation Y is considering the perceived influential factors in their purchase decision of the high-involvement product everyday bra. Thereby, an existing theory was extended by two new factors, namely psychosocial and physiological and tested on the Generation Y. To fulfil the purpose of this study, one research question was established. Method: An interpretivism philosophy was used as part of this study, along with an abductive approach. Descriptive research was conducted to analyse the qualitative data collected through 18 semi-structured in-depth interviews. To adequately reach the selected target population, a combination of convenient, judgmental and snowball sampling technique was employed. Conclusion: The empirical findings of this study suggest, that six factors are considered by Generation Y’s purchase decision. A remarkable recognition is given to comfort, followed by a high relevance of aesthetics and the remaining factors. This knowledge is highly relevant for lingerie companies, especially when considering the store layout and supplementary distribution channels such as e-commerce.