Shopping styles of working Chinese females

Sproles and Kendall (J. Consumer Affairs 20(2) (1986) 267) developed a consumer style inventory (CSI) based on the assumption that consumer decision-making behaviour can be explained by eight central decision-making style (in short, shopping style) dimensions. Unlike other studies which intend to validate the CSI, the objective of this study is to couple the characteristics of Chinese consumers with the CSI to identify the shopping style dimensions and shopping styles of Chinese working females in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The current study identified ten shopping style dimensions relevant to the Chinese working females and the four new dimensions which are not found in the CSI including personal style consciousness, environment and health consciousness, reliance on mass media, and convenience and time consciousness. Four distinct shopping styles were identified and labelled as “Active Fashion Chaser”, the “Rational Shopper”, the “Value Buyer”, and the “Opinion Seeker”.