DRIVERS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS SECOND HAND CLOTHES IN KENYA

Abstract

Over time, the global secondhand clothing market has experienced significant growth, a trend that has been replicated across all African countries. This growth can be attributed to the global economic crisis, as well as the relatively low prices of secondhand clothing in comparison with new garments. However, despite the existing literature showing that people from all social classes purchase secondhand clothes, there is a need for further research to investigate the reasons behind this behavior. This study aimed to fill the existing knowledge gap by investigating the influence of internal, external, personal, and market factors on consumer behavior towards secondhand clothes, and the moderating role of situational factors on effect of those explanatory variables on the consumer behavior. Consumer behavior was measured in terms of the amount of money spent, and the choice of secondhand clothes retailers. To achieve the study's objectives, a survey and causal research designs were adopted. The target population was 1.5513 million adult consumers from seven counties and a sample of 384 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1979) table and formula. Adult population size in each county was divided by the total adult population for the seven counties to get the ratios/proportions used to distribute the 384 respondents. The study used questionnaires and direct interviews to collected primary data, both descriptive and quantitative techniques were used to analyze the data. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. While descriptive statistic was used to provide basic information about variables in a dataset and in highlighting potential relationships between variables, inferential statistics, mainly Multiple regression and binary logit was used when testing the hypotheses. The study's results revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between internal, external, personal, and market factors and consumer behavior towards secondhand clothes in Kenya. Moreover, situational factors were found to have a significant moderating effect on consumer behavior towards secondhand clothes in Kenya. This suggests that situational factors have a significant moderating effect on consumer behavior towards secondhand clothes in Kenya. The findings of this study have the potential to assist secondhand clothes traders and new manufacturers in formulating more effective marketing strategies, as well as being relevant to other stakeholders. It is therefore recommended that traders of secondhand clothes in Kenya must align their marketing strategies to the internal, external, marketing and situational factors. The government should also make appropriate policies regarding the trade with secondhand clothes, particularly those regarding the physical environment in which those clothes are sold. It is recommended that the government designate open spaces with standard physical environment for open air market secondhand clothes retailers (including street retailers