Retail store attributes, fashion leadership and older consumers

The importance of retail store attributes for apparel shopping was examined for elderly (65 and over) men and women (65 and older). A self-administered mail-in survey questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Cronbach's alpha was executed to determine the reliability of the extracted factors. Four extracted factors explained 67.76 per cent of the total variance with regard to the preferences for the retail store attributes by the participating older men and women. Sex was identified as the most discriminating variable for both the extracted factors and fashion opinion leadership variables. Implications of the results for future research in both the US and international settings are discussed.