Abstract
A questionnaire survey was conducted on male and female college students living in Busan in May 2015 to study customer types and purchasing behaviors based on the benefit sought from undergarments. This study used a total of 460 data reports collected from 203 male and 257 female college students. The results of this study were as follows. First, the undergarment benefits sought were divided into material and function, harmony of outerwear and underwear and design. Consumers were categorized into function seekers, brand and design seekers, and undergarment indifferent customers. In addition, while male college students were likely to be function seekers, female college students were mostly brand and design seekers. Second, both male and female respondents showcased significant differences in the undergarment benefits sought depending on their customer type. Based on the customer type, male college students showed a greater difference in the undergarment benefits they sought when compared to their female counterparts, and marked differences were found in male respondents' undergarment material and function factors and female respondents' harmony factor of outerwear and underwear. Based on their sex, a significant difference in the harmony factor of outerwear and undergarments was observed. Third, after examining the purchasing behavior influenced by the customer type, this study found that both male and female students had undergarment purchasing behavior differences depending on their customer type, while function seekers and design seekers were likely to exhibit similar behaviors in purchasing undergarments regardless of their sex, except for their preferred image and purchasing method of undergarments. However, among the indifferent group of customers, there were significant differences depending on their sex.
