The buying behaviour of counterfeit fashion products in Indian market

Research Methodology and Elimination

The main objectives of the research are gained through a structured two step framework- in depth quantitative study fully reliable on the primary data collection and the through structured logical derivation from secondary research. The structure followed for research was to first identify the main factors that affected the buying behaviour through extensive literature researches and logically deriving the factors and its influence on the buying behaviour followed by designing the questionnaire (extrapolitation technique based on Likert) showcasing the already identified determinants. In the end, samples of 400 customers in the area of MGF shopping complex were identified and survey taken. Simple linear regression was used to identify the major factors that influenced the buying behaviour of the Indian customers. Chi- square test was the important tool in determining the influence of gender and the buying behaviour of counterfeit products. Furthermore binary logistic regression was used to understand the gender biased consumption pattern of counterfeit products individually.

The well-structured research identifies the parameters that are influential or plays an important factor in determining the above mentioned objectives and the rest are kept out of scope of the project. The study will pick out the key issues identified in the previous carried out researches which have been documented and will address the identified factors in the context of Indian consumer by asking their opinions via primary research through the questionnaire. The objectives and the factors that would determine/influence the objectives will be in scope of the research and the rest will be kept out of scope of the research. The research will thus limit to counterfeit products study in the Indian consumer context and buyers because of the increasing demand in the goods and already existing researches carried out by notable researchers like Vida (2007) and Budden and Griffith (1996). The study will keep the legal issues out of scope as the study is solely based on the counterfeit goods consumption. The research will also keep the effect of other demographics like the age group and the affect of the annual family income out of scope of the project. A qualitative study on the influence of recession, the branding influence, and the world economy mainly the shift of powerhouse from the western world to the eastern world mainly the people‟s republic of China and The Republic of India will also be kept out of scope of this dissertation. This portions will remain out of scope due to project constraints like the time, cost and quality. Balancing these constraints with the available resource would keep limited things in scope of the project. The scope of the project is to identify the pivotal factors that influence the purchasing behaviour and the influence of gender on the buying behaviour and determine the ethical behaviour of the two genders. Due to constraint of time and resources, the data collected was limited to only one Indian city and couldn"t be compared with the other cities of the country.

Counterfeiting as a Threat

The threats and problems have always been a topic of discussion by various marketing moguls, business scholars, economist and various crime specialists. As former chief of organized crime, James Moody pointed out that the counterfeit would be the biggest crime of the twenty-first century (International Anti-counterfeiting Coalition 2008). The words of the former FBI cheif have been supported by various scholars and researchers who have sited various drawbacks, problems and threats associated with counterfeit trading. The maximum counterfeit threat is faced by one multi-billion dollar industry called the global fashion industry and is facing the utmost brunt by this illegal trading activities. (Yoo and Lee, 2009 and Oldenburg, 2005)

According to a report by Customs and Border control of the United States in 2006, forty five percent of seized counterfeits were of fashion origin , including accessories and apparels. (Casabona, 2006) The major fashion brands counterfeited were Louis Vuittion, Prada, Gucci, and Nike (McGlone, 2006). The problems of counterfeiting like consumer safety, branding and other economic and legal factors have been looked upon in various journals and literatures by various researchers and scholars. Of the major scholars. Tom et al (1998) summed up the problem by pointing out the economic, political and social problems associated with counterfeiting trade and he further went on to analyze the impact of counterfeiting in socio-economic strata of the society and its visibility in the lifestyle of people.

It has been studied and researched regarding the defamation, loss of good-will and brand damage to the original authentic brand due to numerous factors mainly deceptive nature of the counterfeit products and the confusion existing in the mindset of the people (Papavassiliou and Mitchell, 1997; Bush et al 1989). The threat is immense on the brands which rely on the brand equity and its brand image to make a sell to the customer. They get heavily dampened by the counterfeit brands damaging their brand value and equity in the market. (Hui and Zhou, 2003). More than tangible damage to the brand, the counterfeit business has been found to make intangible damage to the image of the company, In the Indian fashion market, it has been found that the customers show a inclination towards international brands than the home brands.(Elimimian and Agbonifoh, 1999).

Based on the consumer hazards, authors have studied the problems associated with the safety and health issues of the consumers. (Nash 1989, Cordell et al. 1996. Shaprio and Grossman, 1988). The sub-standard quality of dyes and fabrics caused many health related issues to the customers including skin irritations as the counterfeit apparels do not match the standards of the original authentic brands.

Counterfeit and illicit trading has made enormous economic impact in the business worldwide and it has been discussed in depth in various literatures. To start with, counterfeit market and the evolution of this particular brand and trade have lowered the consumer confidence (Zaichkowsky and Wilke, 1999). The effect of lower consumer confidence is seen in the buying behaviour of the consumer with the sales of the brands going down, ( Bush et al, 1989; Grossman and Shapiro, 1988). The brands are adding up their expenses in form of additional marketing and moreover increasing the security to decrease the counterfeit products in the market and above all with lower sales and revenues, it is affecting a lot of jobs worldwide. (Scammon and Bamossy, 1985)..The premium brands like Aberercrombic & Fitch, Rolex etc have spent millions and are spending huge amounts every year to combat against counterfeiting using private investigation agencies and tracking down the illegitimate facilities (Ryan, 2006; Pallay, 2006). Counterfeiting trade accounts for a loss of over $200 billion per annum (IACC) in form of taxes, sales and job layoffs (Valgeirsson and Furnham, 2007). The economic problem has been the most tangible and visible of all the problems and hence it has been in-depth analyzed on various occasions than the other problem by scholars and researchers,

The major problem that lies in combating this type of trading and manufacturing is the lack of a global agreement on the laws fighting against counterfeiting, For example, due to lack of copyrighting rights in Kazakhstan, thus making trade easier through such countries.( Freeman and Low, 2007). Apart from not so unison global treaty, not so harsh punishments against counterfeiting offences and having no unison global laws against counterfeiting trade, it provides further motivation and support for counterfeiters and hence booming of the parallel trade.(Karpova and Kim, 2010). For instance, a French court awarded Louis Vuitton € 38 million for failure of E-Bay to block a sale of a counterfeit Louis Vuitton product while in US it denied Tiffany and co the liability of E-bay which couldn‟t block the sale of a fake branded Tiffany product (Waters, 2008). In the Indian market, the trademarks and Intellectual property rights are protected and hence the problem isn‟t as severe from the countries where it is not protected at all. The added problem aroused when the improving quality and increasing standard of counterfeit products due to technological advancement led to being a competitive advantage with lower price against the original brand themselves. (Shultz and Nill, 1996). This is the major problem existing in Indian retail fashion market as the quality is increasing and above all India has eventually become leading supplier of both authentic brand and the counterfeits and with the technological evolution in the garment and other major fashion industry it is pretty much logical conclusion that the Indian market will be flooded by the counterfeit and other fake branded products, and with the technological expansion and betterment it will have a huge resemblance with the original brand. This will keep the demand of counterfeit products on a positive slope.

However the above mentioned reasons where categorically criticized by Karpova and Kim (2010) as they put forward the aspects of characteristics of the product for the motivation and inclination for purchase quoting that value consciousness, product appearance and normative susceptibility are important dominant predictors of the attitude of a customer in buying counterfeit fashion product and went on to explain that attitude towards buying of counterfeit products and proved that the attitude towards the products is prominently related to purchasing of counterfeit fashion products.

The research has not been limited to the counterfeit products but has gone further to investigate the mindset of the customers and their buying behaviour to know exactly what drives them to go ahead and purchase the counterfeit products. D‟Astous et al (2005) was the among the pioneer to talk about the historical purchase behaviour and the already existing relation with the retailer and have countered the ethical dilemma by suggesting that they have already purchased in the past. (D‟Astous et al, 2005). It becomes a key component of difference between the non purchasers and purchasers. Another important determinant is the characteristics of demographics of the shopper in the purchase of counterfeit products. According to a poll carried out in UK, 50% of the counterfeit consumers for fashion primarily belonged between the ages of 15 and 24. (Anti counterfeiting Group, 1997). Insights made into the profiles of demographic have resulted in astonishing results. The study also showed that the female consumers were more ethical in their buying behaviour than the male species. The male consumers were cost driven in their buying behaviour but the female consumers were driven by the intangible features including status, brand, peerpressure and the circle of friends.(Veloutsou and Bian, 2007; Prendergast et al, 2002).

The prominent determinant of the sales of counterfeit products has been financial stability. It has been found to be the foremost motivator to counterfeit consumption of products. The low attractive prices of the fashion products drive the customer to buying the product. This has been supported by many literatures. (Prendergast et al, 2002)

Apart from the above mentioned prominent factors there have been other factors which have been noted by great researchers and scholars in various literatures. Stumpf and Chaudhary (2011) even went on to name pleasure as one of the factors in the buying of counterfeit products naming hedonic shopping eclipsing the ethical part of the argument. But this has not been a part of extensive research in the literature so far in any market so far and thus on that basis the consumption based on hedonic shopping in Indian Market is considered premature for the scope of this dissertation.

Based on the analysis of the available literature, the following motivational factors were identified for understanding the purchasing/consumption behaviour of the customers:

1. Product Characteristics: This include factors like novelty and appearance of the product (Karpova and Kim, 2010)
2. Financial Factors: This is the factors that are based on the purchasing power parity and the buying power of the customer and the cheap competitive advantage of the counterfeit brands. (Prendergast et al, 2002)
3. Status Consciousness: Due to a symbolic value generated due to high brand awareness and brand image of the real authentic brand. (Eastman et al, 1997; Perez et al, 2010; Willcox et al, 2009)
4. Value Generation: People tend to buy the counterfeit because of the high value generated by the original authentic brand (Garza, 2006).
5. Personal factors: It is mainly determined based upon their past purchasing/consumption behaviour and other demographics like age, gender and the group/peer they belong in. ( Bian and Veloutsou, 2007; D‟Astous et al, 2005; Prendergast et al, 2002)
6. Other influences: Peer pressure and the society affect on the buying behaviour plays an important role. (Bearden et al, 1989)

Market Research and the Indian Market Context

The studies carried out have mainly focussed on the customer point of view and the data have been only gathered from limited and selected economies. Majority of the study has been done in the developed economy primarily US and UK (Karapova and Kim, 2010; Bloch et al., 1993; Veloutsu and Bian, 2007 Tom et al., 1998; Zaichowsky and Nia,2000; ) while there was very few research on the Asian market (Phau et al., 2001;Anderson 2004; Wee et al., 1995; Presndegast et al., 2002). There has been high purchasing power growth and the demand of goods in the Asian countries which are mostly undergoing economic transition owing to booming middle class and have got access to major foreign brand after their equals from the western world. This is believed to be one of the important factors for the lack of in-depth extensive study on counterfeit fashion in the developing and changing economies which are undergoing an economic transition (Al-Khatib et al. 2004). However, the customer empowerment have been of interest in economies like Brazil, China and Mexico.( Perez et al, 2010;De Matos et al, 2007; Teah and Palau, 2009)

There has been no or very limited study been done on the behaviour of consumer with reference to counterfeit fashion products and the buying behaviour in India, which is the second quickest growing nation in economical terms in the world at this moment and one of the economic powerhouses of emerging Asia. According to a study conducted by Chartered Bank in 2010, India is considered to be the fastest growing economy in the world by 2012. The major study on counterfeit in India has been the study on counterfeit drugs and there is not much literature on the counterfeit fashion goods (Chaudhry et al, 2009).

The Gross Domestic Product of India has seen an average expansion of over 7.5 percent annually for the past decade and will evidently rise over the years to come (Prahalad, 2007). India was one of the few countries to see a positive growth of more than 7 percent even during the economic downturn. India is ranked 7th in Gross National Product. India and China combined account for more than 40% of the world‟s population (Jin et al, 2010). The clothing bazaar in India shows a remarkable twenty percent growth per annum in sales of branded clothing (Mozumder, 2006).

It"s also observed and cited that Indian customers do not hesitate in buying counterfeit products primarily fashion goods and apparels because of its real appearance and quality similarity to the branded original authentic brand.(Sharma, 2009). It has been noted that the consumers who can even afford to buy the branded products prefer to go for the counterfeits just in order to keep up with the changing disposable dynamic fashion. So, it is just not the customers who cannot afford to buy the original product the primary targeted customer of the counterfeit product market but also the ones who can afford to buy (Sharma, 2009). Another important aspect to this trade in India is the easy accessibility to the products. India being the largest manufacturer and supplier to many American and European brands, the factories tend to overruns and eventually the market gets floated with the counterfeit products.

The increasing purchasing power parity and the establishment of the foreign brand in the country and its effect have been already discussed in the previous sections. This section mainly deals with the researches and through studies which has been done in both developed and developing nations. This section will finally showcase the growing demand and popularity of counterfeit products mainly fashion goods and fashion accessories in the Indian market. The nationality and the culture of the nation also plays a pivotal role in the influence on the consumption behaviour of the counterfeit products and the response varies depends upon this factor influencing the market (Phau et al, 2009) Thus, a vital need of establishing a thorough research on the context of Indian Market and its consumption behaviour is established.

The main factors from the research and literature were noted and the impact they hold on the purchasing/consumption behaviour of the domestic counterfeit customer was researched , studied and noted with the help of a mathematical tool called Linear Regression. Most of the key issues shown in the figure were studied and some of the aspects of buying behaviour like pleasure were kept out of scope of the dissertation. The key aspects like the economic and the social interaction and strength of influence of these factors were keenly noted and studied (Nancarrow and Bayley, 1998) while quantitative methods of study have been used to identify the other factors of motivation and a huge size of sample have been used for the study. The gender impact on the purchasing conduct of the customer was considered as the moderating factor for the dissertation. The purchasing behaviour of the customers based on the gender was studied based on the direct and indirect influence of the sexes on the buying behaviour. Direct relationship was established using chi square test for the proving the exclusivity and the indirect relationship was identified by determining the major market and identifying the factors and dealing with them separately as male and female gender.

Summary: The chapter can be summarized all the key determinants for counterfeit products mainly fashion and fashion accessories like the characteristics of the product, the influence of social and economical influence on the market owing to the counterfeit products on the market, and it also discussed the effect of the high value of the original brand and its positive influence on the counterfeit sales and market and the past purchase behaviour of the customers and the relationship it has with the past retailers and other shoppers. This dissertation will evaluate the effect of the significance of the identified factors of motivation on the consumption behaviour of fake products in the Indian market context and its domestic customers.

Research Methodology

The research methodology for this dissertation can be described in two steps: thorough and extensive qualitative study and analysis of literature and finally supported by the quantitative analysis by using a close ended survey questionnaire taken up by the counterfeit customer of fashion in Indian Market. The section starts with giving the rationale behind the choice of the country of research and continues to discuss the viewpoint of the research methodology. It is then followed by data sources discussion used for the study and finally it talks about the sampling techniques used and the design of the survey for the reseach.

India as chosen country for the study gives an appealing place for carrying out the study owing to the grounds described underneath:

• Not enough research investigation on the demand of counterfeited fashion brands in emerging market. (Al Khatib et al. 2004)
• Rising family income of consumers in emerging economy leads to increasing in demands for counterfeit products due to strong demand for high fashion brands.( Bloch,1993; Casabona,2006; Sheth et al ,2009)
• The swift escalation of the presence of high end fashion brands in the Indian luxury market and the association of luxury fashion merchandise and fashion counterfeits(Moore and Doyle,2010; Perez et al, 2010)

The main intention for research was kept in the mentality while constructing and brainstorming of the methodology for research and thus the research was constructed by recognition and identification of the major key factors leading to the consumption of Counterfeit goods of non-deceptive nature which has been the scope of our study in the literature and the analysis of the identified factors on the consumer buying fashion merchandise of counterfeit fake nature in India was established. The gender of the customer has to be kept in mind while analyzing the consumption behaviour of counterfeit fashion.

3.1 Research Philosophy

Burrell and Morgan (1985) research paradigms were used to discuss the research philosophy it was a blend of a phenomenological and a positivist paradigm. The study objectives involved recognizing the factors of incentive of purchase from the conceptual thorough analysis of the already done research literature by many prominent scholars and researchers and quantify and pinpoint important factors in the Indian fashion market context via a questionnaire constructing an positivist approach for the methodology. This also gives and quantifies the perception of the Indian domestic counterfeit customers and their buying behaviour and showcases the essentials of socio constructive advancement to the study. Hence the philosophical paradigms of the research construct the foundation of the research methodology and all the techniques of research. (Chen and Towers, 2008)

3.2. Data Sources

The topic starts with an in-depth research of the secondary data on the major factors that motivate the customers to demand and purchase of fake fashion merchandise. The existing exploratory researches studying the demand of fake fashion merchandise have looked at shoppers from of various nations and come up several factors of motivation for the escalating demand of fake fashion merchandise amongst the fashion shoppers and the rise in the amount of procurement of fashion counterfeits. This comprehensive analysis and detailed exploration of the existing literature (secondary information) becomes the dissertation"s framework and thus will give a direction to the complete dissertation through aiding the formation of the questionnaire for data collection from the shoppers. The several factors of motivation that drive the customer for the purchase of the counterfeit products are identified, cited and the ones which are similar are grouped together, the following factors of motivation for the buying/consumption of counterfeit products were identified:

1. Product Characteristics: This include factors like novelty and appearance of the product
2. Financial Factors: These are the factors that are based on the purchasing power parity and the buying power of the customer and the cheap competitive advantage of the counterfeit brands.
3. Status Consciousness: Due to a symbolic value generated due to high brand awareness and brand image of the real authentic brand.
4. Value Generation: People tend to buy the counterfeit because of the high value generated by the original authentic brand
5. Personal factors: It is mainly determined based upon their past purchasing/consumption behaviour and other demographics like age, gender and the group/peer they belong in.
6. Other influences: Peer pressure and the society affect on the buying behaviour plays an important role.

These factors formed the base in the formation of the questionnaire and were used to identify the most important factors which influenced the Indian counterfeit fashion consumers and help in getting the feedback from the customers. A similar methodology of identifying the key motivational factors of the country was done before by Karapova and Kim (2010) while doing a research on the US consumer and market towards the counterfeit products of fashion origin. Both of them managed to identify eight prime factors of motivation that influenced the buying behaviour of the counterfeit products.

The primary data for this research was collected from the western part of India, Jaipur, Rajasthan which is one of the hubs of International brand over-run factories and the counterfeit brands and products, and also street side open market making Jaipur one of the hottest destination for shopping by not only the domestic customers but also the International customers.

3.3. Data collection Process

The questionnaire was used to collect data directly from the primary customer. It was used as the primary tool of data collection. It was divided into two major parts based on the factors of motivation cited in the work done by the previous scholars and researchers. The initial part of the questionnaire dealt with gathering information regarding the demographics of the customers primarily, age group, gender and their previous purchasing behaviour. This part of the questionnaire illustrates the genuineness of the feedback from the customer, and moreover the feedback could determine the more ethical fashion customer and thus helping us establish one of the aim of the study.

The latter part of the questionnaire will deal with the influence level by each and every identified and cited factors of motivation that determines the purchasing behaviour of the customer in the context of Indian market and its domestic consumers. To get a more authentic and accurate results, the categories of similarity were not placed consecutively.

Likert type of scale was used to quantify the relevance of the identified factors of motivation influencing the customer while buying/consuming/purchasing fashion product of counterfeit origin. The Likert- type scale has been used by persuasion researchers for over three decades. The original scale of this type was developed by Rensis Likert and is explained in his article, "A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes,” in Achieves of Psychology(1932). The scales ranged from 1 to 5, 1 being least important and 5 being the most important factor. The logic of using this scale was to identify all the factors of motivation because a customer is not influenced by just one factor when he/she buys a counterfeit product.

Most of the questions in the questionnaire were close ended apart from one which was kept open ended to identify if there was a new determinant other than the identified ones. The questionnaire was designed so as to give sufficient independence to the customers while answering the question and the open ended question was designed to make it personalized to the customer as they were asked to give reasons for their purchases. It took approximately five minutes to the fill the questionnaire.

3.3.1 Survey Design

The primary on field survey was titled “Factors of motivation that influence the consumer buying attitudes towards fake fashion products with regards to Indian fashion industry”. The questionnaire was formed on the basis of in-depth literature analysis.

The justification for all the queries given in the questionnaire are given underneath -

Nationality – The question was posed to verify that the participants of the survey were all of Indian origin. An option for other nationality was given is order to sample the responses as Jaipur is considered to be also a tourist hub.

Gender – It has been cited and seen in the literature and researches by other prominent authors that females are found to be of more ethical nature than the male in countries like United Kingdom and China. (Veloutsou and Bian, 2007;Prendergast et al., 2002)

Age Group – This has been a part of the questionnaire to get a better view of the demographics of the customer and verify the influence of age on the buying behaviour of counterfeit products. It will furthermore help in further studying the consumer profile. It will be interesting to see if the younger age groups were more prone to buying counterfeit products (Anti-counterfeiting Group, 1997).

Occupation – This gave a further information on the demographic of the customer and would help in consumer profile on a later stage.

Monthly Household Income – This question helps us in indentifying the purchasing power parity of the consumer and help understand if the consumer who can actually pay for the expensive brand goes for the counterfeit look alike products(Sharma, 2009)

Frequency of Purchase – This determines the genuineness of the participants based on the consumption pattern of the customer and see the factors of motivation between the customers who buy regularly and the ones who are not so frequent buyers of the counterfeit products.

The various factors of motivation has been identified after a thorough study of the previous researches carried out and then finally drafted into a customer friendly questionnaire. The reasons behind the factors of motivation included in the survey are explained as follows:

I find the product appealing as well as attractive–It took care of the product characteristics i.e. attractive and proper packaging, the design, novelty or the appearance of the product. ( Karpova and Kim, 2010)

I sense I belong to the upper class of the society – This depicts the status consciousness which was identified by researchers and scholars as a factor of motivation. (Eastman, 1997; Wilcox, 2009; Perez et al, 2010)

I have bought it before – It helps us in getting a better idea of the function of the previous consumption pattern as a factor of motivation for fake products in the Indian fashion Industry. (D"Astous, 2005)

I don't hesitate in buying the counterfeit one because I love the original brand– This checks the brand awareness and the equity of the brand which plays a factor of motivation for the buying behaviour of counterfeit products (Garza, 2006)

I buy it because the original brands are way more expensive than counterfeit brands – The price has always been the competitive advantage for the counterfeit products and one of the chief factor of motivation for the purchasing behaviour of counterfeit products (Prendergast et al., 2002)

Peer-Pressure and influence of others– The socio-economic influence is one of the factors of motivation in the fashion purchase of counterfeit nature which will be seen from an Indian Market. (Bearden et al, 1989).

3.3.2 Sampling Methods

The concluding phase of the Research Methodology was to get participants for questionnaire survey.

The sample space of the research was selected from sampling cluster technique. Which was divided into two stages and the first stage was to select the area to choose the respondents for survey.

Location and low price are the two major factors by which the counterfeit fashion brands are identified. (Prendergast et al, 2002). So it was very important to decide and select a appropriate location to conduct the survey for the research work. Jaipur being the most famous and developed city of India and also the capital city of state Rajasthan was selected and famous market call MGF shopping centre was the location for research. Where many factories are overruns and counterfeit products are sold in the local market and street markets which is major shopping destination in Jaipur. The second stage of the research sampling is choosing participants from the identified clusters which are MGF shopping centre in Jaipur. In order to get maximum quality result from the questionnaire based survey all the samples were selected from those participants who spends considerable amount of time during shopping in market and are serious shoppers in the market.

Cluster sampling methods found the best method to be considered among different types of methods to choose for this study.

A random sampling method was decided upon whereby random distribution of questionnaire would take place and an analysis of the tenth response of the sample. The issue with doing this sampling method is that there is a high chance of similarity of tenth data being the same according to data periodicity hence leading to not so accurate analysis of the research (Kothari, 2004). Multi-stage sampling tool was used to analyze the results and gathering data because of the importance on the location and the stress of location given in the literature. This method would help us in getting the required data and easy analysis for this particular research.

Chapter 4: DATA RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The research results and the in-depth analysis and the understanding of the on field data gathered through the questionnaire are being primarily discussed in this chapter. The chapter discusses the significance of the already recognized factors of motivation and its India context.

4.1. Quantifying the value of the factors of motivation

The main objective of this study was to quantify the value of different factors of motivation mentioned in previous works done by authors. As cited earlier in this report, a survey was conducted using primary questionnaire as a tool for data collection. The participants were asked to rate the value they gave to each other factors of motivation when they indulged in buying of fashion products primarily of counterfeit origin. From the thorough study and research of the existing work done by scholars and researchers, six important factors of motivation were identified which was drafted into the questionnaire in a user friendly way so that the participants who filled out the survey found it earlier and quick to answer the survey. The customer was told to rank the different factors of motivation that influenced the purchasing of counterfeit products.

The six motivational factors used for getting the primary data from the questionnaire survey are listed below –

1. I find the product appealing and attractive– This took care of the product characteristics i.e. attractive and proper packaging, the design, novelty or the appearance of the product. ( Karpova and Kim, 2010)
2. I sense I belong to the upper class of the society – This depicts the status consciousness which was identified by researchers and scholars as a factor of motivation. (Wilcox, 2009; Perez , 2010)
3. I have bought it before – It helps us in getting a better idea of the function of the previous consumption pattern as a factor of motivation for fake products in the Indian fashion Industry. (D"Astous, 2005)
4. I don’t hesitate in buying the counterfeit one because I love the original brand– This checks the brand awareness and the equity of the brand which plays a factor of motivation for the buying behaviour of counterfeit products (Garza, 2006)
5. I buy it because the original brands are way more expensive than counterfeit brands – The price has always been the competitive advantage for the counterfeit products and one of the chief factor of motivation for the purchasing behaviour of counterfeit products (Prendergast et al., 2002)
6. Peer-Pressure and influence of others– The socio-economic influence is considered to be an important factor of motivation for the procurement of fake fashion merchandise. (Bearden et al, 1989).

4.1.1 Likert Scale Ratings

As examined in the last chapter (See Chapter 3: Research Methodology), 5 pt. Likert scale was utilized to measure and quantify the value allotted to every factor of motivation by the participants of the survey. A numerical score was assigned for each factor of motivation by the participant and then the total score was calculated to form the final score and then the attitude of the participant measured (Kothari, 2004) The participants were asked to rank the different motivation factors from 1 to 5, 1 being the least important and 5 being most important that influenced their purchasing behaviour regarding counterfeit fashion products.

Hence, the most possible score that could be awarded was 5 and the least being 1, sample size of 300 was selected and analyzed to get the final results for the research. Based on the assumption that all the participants will rank all the factors of motivation, the following scores will be the highest achieved
300*1= 300 (least)
300*5= 1500 (Maximum)

The factor of motivation which gains the highest ranking from the participant becomes the most prominent factor of motivation for the Indian consumer in the sample survey conducted..
Since during analysis of the research 67 respondents had never bought a counterfeit product, the sample size got reduced to 233. Thus, the following maximum and minimum score could be achieved by a factor of motivation.
233 * 1 = 233 – (Minimum)
233 * 5 = 1165 – (Maximum)
The most prominent factor of motivation to buy the counterfeit fashion customer for an Indian customer was found to be the characteristics of the product, i.e. the customer bought the good based upon the features of the product including its appearance and beauty. This factor of motivation got a net figure of 759 and the least important factor of motivation was determined to be “other influences” with a net figure of 503. The factors of motivation that led to an Indian consumer buying/purchasing a counterfeit product are mentioned below in decreasing ranking, the highest being on the top and the lowest taking the lower position:

1) I find the product appealing and attractive

2) I buy it because the original brands are way more expensive than counterfeit

3) I have bought earlier

4) I sense I belong to the upper class of the society

5) I don‟t hesitate in buying the counterfeit one because I love the original brand

6) Peer-Pressure and influence of others

The factors of motivation and the respondent‟s response to each and every factor of motivation and the net sum of each factor is depicted in a bar diagram below

Likert scale was used to identify the general perception of the customer and the impact of each factor of motivation was determined using regression analysis, and the top impact factors identified,

4.1.2 Simple Linear Regression

The technique called simple liner regression was implemented to generate the results where the regularity of shopping was considered to be the independent variable and the options posed to the participants of the survey in the questionnaire as the key motivation of factors, income of the participants and their age as the dependent variables.

The clarity of regression model evident by the usage of simple linear regression was the main reason for the implementation of the technique on the statistical data obtained from the questionnaire. The method was the most apt technique for the analysis of the data obtained through the questionnaire due to the fact that it can quantify and precisely estimate the impact of the association between two variables apart from presenting their relationship (Babbie, 2010). The table for simple Linear Regression of the significant determining factors is given below

Beta value (X) –Coefficient of Standardized regression
B – co-efficient of un-standardized regression
With standardization done, we ensure a uniformity of data analyzing by measuring and analyzing it on one small scale and keeping it standardized. This helps us in determining the effect of the exclusive factors and the impact and identifying the major determinant variables which influence the consumption pattern of the customer. The consumption pattern is a dependent variable and the aim is to find out the independent factors that influence this dependent factor.
As the beta value moves positively, the impact moves in proportion.

Sigma (Sig). – Once the ANOVA analysis was conducted, the P value was found out which determined the authenticity of the analysis done during regression analysis. The value of Sig. should be below 0.05 which ensures the correctness of the data analysis and it to be of major value. It is noted that the four factors showcased in the table has a value which is below 0.05 which proves the authenticity of the factors and hence they majorly influence the consumption pattern of the Indian economy.

The greatest value of Beta of the factors corresponds to the impact of the factors on the will to buy fashion counterfeits of the Indian consumers. Therefore, the previous buying behaviour of the Indian shoppers is the deepest influencer on the purchasing pattern when they shop fashion counterfeits. The will to buy a fake fashion product is also dependent on the age of the shoppers, attractiveness of the merchandise and the salary of the shoppers (named in a declining order of the intensity of impact)
Therefore, purchasing behaviour has the following equation –
Purchase behaviour (Y) = X1 * B1 + X2 * B2 + X3* B3 + X4 * B4
= - 0.235 * - 0.196 + 0.191 * 0.346 + (- 0.164 * 0.159) + 0.157 * 0.180
It was found through simple linear regression that features of the merchandise and its innovativeness are the two important factors in motivation of buying behaviour related to counterfeit fashion products in Indian fashion market. It should also taken into account that demographic factors like family income and age group of participants also notably leave an impact on the buying patterns of the fake fashion shoppers.

4.2. Establishing the more ethical fashion shopper amongst males and females

Total 300 people have participated during the survey and among 300 participants there were 172 male and 128 were females. The pie chart below shows the percentage of both the genders out of total 300 participants.

On the other hand it was found that out of 172 males participants 54 males have never purchased any counterfeit brands and out of 128 females only 13 females have never shopped any counterfeit brands.

The graph on the next page will show the number of participants from different genders that never purchased any counterfeit fashion brands.

Blue bar in the left side shows the males participants and the red part shows the females participants who never purchased any counterfeit fashion brand and on the other right bar shows the rest participants who actively purchase the counterfeit fashion brands.

From the above graph it can be noticed that 89% of the total females participants were indulge in shopping counterfeit brands and on the other hand only 32% of male participants have never purchased any counterfeit fashion products. On concluding the above results it was found that very few male customers in Indian fashion market gives preference to purchase counterfeit fashion brands compare to female counterparts

4.3. Gender relation with consumption of fake fashion products

Chi square test was tested to perform and analyze the relationship between the both gender - male and female consumer with the purchase of counterfeit brands and determine the exclusivity of “How often you have shopped a counterfeit fashion brand” i.e. the first one to the buying pattern related to gender of the customer who never purchase counterfeited brands and the second who indulged in buying of counterfeited fashion brands.

On the two criteria the chi square test was conducted and the value was found to be 19.332 with p< 0.001. The very low p value proved that the results were genuine and there is a relationship between the gender and the buying behaviour of the counterfeits.

For getting a detailed relationship of the gender on the different factors of motivation, all the factors of motivation were individually analyzed to see the preference of both male and female in relation with each factor of motivation and see the similarity if any,

The individual factors of motivation and gender of the participants were checked by making a cross tabular analysis and the exclusiveness of each factors identified using the ratings given by the respondents gender. Chi square test helped in proving the fact that the factors of motivation vary according to the gender i.e. different factors of motivation were spotted based on the gender, the factor rankings changed. Appendix (See Appendix _) illustrates by pie charts and tables the ranking given by each factors of motivation.

Once the preference of the factors of motivation identified, by each gender separately, logistic regression helped in identifying the key determinants that actually influenced the consumption pattern of both female and male shoppers individually then as gender was considered as an independent variable and then logistic regression tool was used to inspect the relations of gender on various determinants to understand the consumption pattern of both female and male customer. When there are two values being introspected, statistically logistic regression is used. Male and female are the two values in this scenario (Kleinbaum, 2010)

The most prominent factors of motivation that plays the major role in influencing the consumption pattern of the male participants are tabulated below with the influence level

Where,
S.E. – Standard error around constant coefficient
B – Constant Coefficient
Exp (B) –Beta value. This determines the consumption pattern influence. Higher the value of the B, the higher the influence of factor of motivation.
It can be noticed and concluded that the male customers are influenced most by the stability of finance and the affordability of the counterfeit product. The other factors that helped in the influence of consumption pattern for male are previous consumption pattern, the age group and the income.
The most prominent factors of motivation that plays the major role in influencing the consumption pattern of the male participants are tabulated below with the influence level

Where,
S.E. –Standard error around constant coefficient
B – Constant Coefficient Exp (B) –Beta value. This determines the consumption pattern influence. Higher the value of the B, the higher the influence of factor of motivation.
It can be noticed and concluded that the female customers are influenced most by the status symbol and consciousness, i.e. it makes them feel of higher class. The status becomes the biggest determinant for the buying of counterfeit fashion products. The second most determinant factor of motivation is the brand equity, the brand awareness and its personality. The other factors of motivation are the influence from the society. From the responses of the questionnaire, it was noticed that the main people who were the source of influence have been other female friends, family and colleague who are the main people that influence their buying behaviour. The final factor of motivation is the previous consumption pattern of the female shoppers, i.e. the female shoppers who have already bought the counterfeit product is more likely to be the a customer again and make a purchase. Hence, it is observed that sex/gender plays a prominent part in the consumption of counterfeit products, , thus influencing the opinions of the shoppers concerning the fake fashion merchandise. It is also evident that male and female customers have a considerable difference of attitude on the vivid factors of motivation for the purchase of counterfeit products primarily fashion products.

4.4 Responses given to the exploratory questions presented in the questionnaire.

The two exploratory questions asked to the customer are stated below –

• Who influences you to purchase fake/counterfeit fashion.(colleagues, friends , family) ?
• Any other criteria for buying counterfeit product?

For the first question, there were standard replies most ranging from families, friends and colleagues. The most interesting responses found from the female customers were the influence of female colleagues or friends. This clearly highlighted the importance of gender that helped in opinion forming of the customer and thereby seeking validation from the fellow female customers. The last question also received come fascinating responses like few customers had an view that the luxury and authentic brands are overvalued and thus did not find it unethical to the buy of counterfeit products and not so difficult. Another prominent factor shoed out by few customers was the unavailability of the luxury brands in the neighbourhood.

Summary: The importance of the customer perception

The importance of consumer perception was measured using a likert scale and the effect of motivational factors on buying patterns of the fake fashion shoppers of India was estimated by the use of regression analysis. A chi- square test was conducted for testing the exclusivity of the regularity of shopping on different genders and a cross tabular analysis was also conducted to determine the shoppers who are more ethical towards fashion branded products among males and females. The change in customers view according to the gender was examined by an extensive comparative analysis between gender of the respondents and the regularity of the procurement. Motivational factors that influence the buying patterns of both the genders were determined individually using logistic regression.

Chapter 5: Discussions

The section will discuss the actual conclusions and inferences obtained from the research which we have segregated into four divisions. The first division of this chapter it reinforce the main objectives of the research topic undertaken; which has been questioned as research question at beginning of this study. The first part of this chapter also presents the answers of research question. In the second part of this chapter the available existing literature related to counterfeit consumption has been compared and the final part explains the practical implications of the research dissertation.

To find the major influencing factors which lead to the buying decision of non deceptive counterfeit fashion products was the first important objective of the research and that has been fulfilled by detailed analysis of the literature researched. This objective of research was achieved by undertaking an detailed analysis of the academic literature researched and the most prominent motivating factors behind the buying decision of counterfeit brands were recognized through in-depth research of secondary data presents the logical answer to the important question which was asked in the beginning of the research "what are the major factors for an Indian customer to purchase counterfeited fashion products".

The second objective of the research undertaken was to examine those factors in detail which influences the Indian customers in India. It was done through analysing primary data generated through the questionnaire survey.

The query in the mind while pursuing the exploratory study on the topic in the Indian market was – which determinants of all the stated and recognized ones were the most important ones and hold a higher value than the rest in Indian market customer context. It was realized that the pivotal factor that dictated the consumption behaviour of the customers of counterfeit nature was determined by the historical and past purchasing behaviour of the customers, product attractiveness and the features. The third aim of the study was find out the major role take place by gender for buying behaviour of counterfeited fashion products in Indian fashion market and to determine the true and ethical loyal customers of fashion brands in Indian market. A test called Chi square was been taken to determine the independence of gender and there buying behaviour and the result showed that purchase behaviour is affected by gender of the respondents.

It was found that Indian male consumers are more ethical than Indian females as the research showed that 89% of female participant‟s shops counterfeited fashion brands on other hand only 68% of male participant‟s purchases counterfeited fashion products.

Both the male & female gender displayed different sets of motivation factor in the purchase decision for the purchase of counterfeit fashion. The most important factors for the male gender customers were the cheap price of the counterfeit brands and the purchasing decisions taken in the past. The main motivation behind the female customers to purchase the counterfeit fashion product was the higher status reflected while using the brand. The image of the original brand greatly influenced the consumption of the same in the female customers. One of the other prominent factor for female customer for the consumption of counterfeit fashion brands is the influence of their close friends, family members and colleges who are already an customer of counterfeit fashion and very likely to purchase it in the near future.

5.1. Contribution to the Literature A very interesting comparison was obtained between through the analysis of primary data obtained from Indian customers and the available literature on the topic. The main deciding factors behind the buying decision of counterfeit fashion goods by the Indian customers in the Indian fashion industry were the product aesthetics of the counterfeit goods and the previous buying behaviour shown for the same goods by the Indian customers. This conclusive finding was very much consistent with the conclusions obtained by Kim and Karpova (2010) and d‟Astous et al (2005) both of whom concluded that the consumer buying pattern for the counterfeit fashion goods were highly correlated to the previous buying behaviour of the consumers. One more prominent motivation factor for the buying decision for the counterfeit fashion was the personality reflected by the product, i.e. The features and characteristics of the products like its appearance and the aesthetics of the goods which influenced the buying decision of the customers. Thus the results obtained by the Wee et al (1995) and Kim and Karpova (2010) are validated with respect to the Indian market. One of the findings also confirmed that the gender of the consumers have a prominent influence on the buying decision undertaken by the consumers and it was also concluded by research taken by other prominent authors who undertook research and academic studies on this research taken in the different countries(Bian and Veloutsou, 2007; Prendergast et al., 2002). Although the research undertaken for the Chinese and United Kingdom customers concluded that the females were much more ethical while buying luxury fashion products and have minimum participation for the buying of counterfeit fashion products in comparison to male gender.

This was totally opposite with the findings of primary research undertaken for the Indian consumers; it was observed that the Indian male consumers were much more ethical consumers in comparison with the female consumers in Indian market as male consumer participate less in the buying of counterfeit fashion products. There were many kinds of different motivation factors responsible for influencing both the genders to a very different level. The low cost for the counterfeit fashion goods compare to original one paves the path to their economical affordability emerged as prominent motivational factors for the male consumers. This finding was consistent with the previous studies undertaken by Prendergast et al (2002) with the Chinese consumers who also concluded that cheap prices of counterfeit products as prominent deciding factors for the buying decision of counterfeit fashion goods by the Chinese consumers. The prominent factors affecting the buying decision of the female gender were image and the high satisfaction value provided by the real branded goods. This finding was also in the same line with the earlier research undertaken in this area for the consumers from various countries (Garza, 2006; Eastman et al, 1997; Wilcox, 2009). It was also discovered that the thinking of friends, family and colleagues also affects the buying behaviour of females for fashion brands. (Bearden, 1989).

The exploratory questionnaire methodology during our research stage also provided some useful insights regarding consumer opinion on counterfeit fashion goods. A particular type of consumers reflected their belief that the counterfeit fashion products didn‟t put any negative effect on the original branded goods; as per their opinion the popularity of counterfeit brands shows and enhanced the popularity of the original branded products in the market. Some respondents also stated that the counterfeit fashion product creates a very high amount of free advertisement for the original branded products. These findings were also concluded by Nia and Zaichkowsky (2000) who stated that mostly counterfeit fashion is an offence or a threat without any particular sufferer or casualty as the authentic branded products are not the casualties of fake fashion but in reality provide a free advertisement platform for the brands.

5.2. Empirical Implications The Indian fashion industry is expanding at a very high growth rate in comparison to the global economy. The Indian middle class made India as important destination for the international popular brands who cannot afford to ignore it for a very long term. The high growth rate economy with high disposable income with middle class in most of the developing countries of the BRIC nations are under the influence of “look good, feel good” effect. After Chinese economy, Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economy not only in Asia but as well as in the global level. The Indian economy‟s GDP is seeing a consistent growth at 7.5 % on annual level and estimated to be 12 % % in the long term and the national economy is ranked 7th on the globe in terms of the GNP also referred as the Gross National Product (Prahalad, 2007). If we combine India and China, a 40 % of the whole humanity on the planet earth is covered in terms of population (Jin et al, 2010). It is a fact which cannot be ignored by the international fashion brands in textile and apparel Industry. The branded clothing market of India had shown an impressive yearly rise of 20 % in the sales of fashion brands during the previous years (Mozumder, 2006).The organized retailing is growing at a very rapid rate (Lui et al, 2011) and specially the fashion retail sector is expanding at an immense yearly rate of 7.8 %, which is predicted to be worth $39.4 billion till the year 2013(Byun and Mann, 2011). With the accessibility of Indian retail business sector to the global brands, India is going to witness a high presence of global brands in the near future (Patel and Mukherjee, 2005). It is fairy tale wish come true to the consumers who had already shown a taste for global brands over domestic Indian brands (Elimimian and Agbonifoh, 1999). The recent policies of present and previous government had also shown great acceptance to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector and therefore escalating the possibilities of globalisation of retail industry in Indian market (Mukherjee, 2011).Globally the luxury fashion industry has chosen India as a go - to destination for their future growth strategy. Leading fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger and Hermes have already entered the Indian fashion Retail set up and other luxury fashion companies are considering India very seriously in their plans for expansion (Emerald Group, 2009). The social and economic divide in India and the newly acquired buying capacity of the middle class in India because of the high level of spendable income has made the fashion market of India much more significant in the eyes of global fashion conglomerates (Sengupta, 2008).

Due to the symbolic meaning and high brand image the middle class and newly rich customers‟ in India would like to prefer such brands which show the adoption of latest western style and tremendous preference for these brands. (Srivastava 2008; Kottak, 1990).

The growth of such global brands has also seen international fashion brands like Levis, Adidas, Louis vitton, Rolax and many other such international venture into the market of B and C class cities of India. (Niehm and Batra, 2009). Hence it shows that Indian fashion market is very important strategically for luxury fashion brands and the one who is market leader in India have competitive advantage than other competitors for luxury brand market in Indian fashion market.

Beside all the positive news about Indian fashion market we also have to consider that it is not possible to ignore that international and luxury fashion brands are seriously affected and victim of counterfeiting trade in India.. ( Perez et al, 2010; Phau et al, 2009). As mentioned in the literature that with the growing popularity of counterfeit fashion brands in Indian fashion market and Indian local streets makes fake products of Gucci and Nike easily available at local product price. (Sharma, 2009). Therefore we can conclude that with the increasing popularity of international apparel and luxury fashion brands in Indian retail market also arising challenges and problems for the existing internal fashion brands and for those who are looking to enter into Indian fashion market in future.

The study tries to understand the buying behaviour of Indian customers for counterfeit fashion brands and determine the factor of motivation behind the shopping of counterfeit fashion products in Indian fashion market. The research provides suggestions for luxury brands to avoid such threat of counterfeit products by understanding strategies related with marketing communication and techniques for brand management.

Hence the implication of the study and the study"s contribution to the existing literature has been summed up and discussed thoroughly in the section above.

Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS The conclusion of the research will be explained in this concluding chapter. The chapter starts with verification and conclusion with detailed analysis of the study of research question. There has been some limitation for this research so the further scope related to this research topic has also been highlighted. The main objective of the research was to analyze the main factors of motivation that influence the buying behaviours of Indian customers for counterfeit fashion products and to study its impact for male and female customers for counterfeit products and this research has been achieved effectively.

Simple linear regression was used to study the factors of motivation of counterfeit product consumption in the Indian Market and its context which were already identified and cited in the literature before. The research tells us that Indian customers buying behaviour is highly influenced by two factors- one being previous purchasing buying behaviour of counterfeit brands and another being due to its characteristics and features of counterfeit fashion brands. It been noted that the consumer who have purchased counterfeit fashion brand in past are more interested to repeat and purchase it the second time than others.

During the research on counterfeit fashion and its consumption behaviour based upon the gender, it"s been found that generally males are more ethical towards original fashion brands. Lower price of counterfeit brands influence Indian males to purchase them and it also depends on their previous satisfied experience on buying counterfeit fashion brands. On the other hand Indian female customers are loyal towards original products of original brands due to different motivation factors like status consumption. It is the major determinant factor in buying of counterfeit products due to the perception of being amidst the higher class of the society. The personality of the original quality product is also important factor for influencing Indian female customer to choose with positive attitude and purchase original fashion brand than counterfeit brands. During the study it has also been noticed that female buying behaviour for counterfeit brands also depends on others influences like peers, family and colleagues who has positive attitude towards counterfeits and their recommendations. The only common factor found between both genders related to buying behaviours of counterfeited brands was past purchase behaviour. So it has to be noted that both genders are more likely to go for counterfeited fashion that have previous positive experience with counterfeited fashion brands.

6.1. Limitations of the Research During the early stage of the research dissertation the scope was well constructed, which would be achieved by limiting the boundaries . Factors like income and age group of the customers related to counterfeited brands and its buying behaviours have to be narrowed down to the impact of males and females purchase behaviour due to limited time for nature of the study. The study also unable to discover any new factors pertaining to the Indian customer demand due to limited and lack of extensive open ended questions. Due to limited available resources another limitation was that the study samples were collected from market of single city of India and have not been compared from any other Indian market.

6.2. Scope for Further Research A new scope of research has been identified which can been researched after this first research on counterfeit fashion brands and its consumption in Indian market which can be used as foundation to do an extensive study on the customers dark side in Indian market. The factor of motivation that influence the purchase of counterfeit fashion products with Indian Market context can be acknowledged within in the research topic using qualitative research. During the open ended question interview with customers it has been suggested that many customer feels counterfeit fashion brands perform as a publicity platform for authentic fashion brands rather than victimize them. Hence the relationship between counterfeited brand and original fashion brand can be another area of research for Indian fashion market. The important impact of different age groups and annually family income of customers of counterfeited fashion brands has been suggested from the result of simple linear regression.

An extensive research can be possible to find the impact of both the demographic factors. Another scope related to the research of counterfeited fashion brands can be studied on inclusion of different Tier 1 and 2 Indian cities which might be helpful to compare the buying behaviour of customers for counterfeited fashion brands.

Summary The objective to the research topic has been achieved with extensive qualitative study and using different analysis techniques like logical regression, simple linear regression, Likert scaling and chi square test. The earlier buying behaviour and the characteristics of the counterfeit brands were found to be influential factor for the buying behaviours of Indian customers. The male species in Indian market are found to be ethical towards original fashion products than female‟s species and gender takes place an important role to influence the consumption of counterfeit fashion in Indian fashion market. This research study was just limited with single demographic factor of gender and can have new motivational factors for the buying behaviour of counterfeited fashion brands. Further research can be done on Indian customers for counterfeited brands with the impact of different demographic factors like family income and age group of consumers.