Selecting a sportswear brand on a marketplace based on the process of hierarchy analysis
Abstract. The relevance of the research topic is due to the increasing role of e-commerce, in particular marketplaces, in the formation of new consumer preferences related to the choice of goods and services of many competing brands. The purpose of the article is to study the problems of choosing goods of a certain group (sportswear) on the marketplace based on the method of hierarchy analysis. The theoretical basis of the study was the works of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of digitalization of markets, development of marketplaces, as well as motives of consumer behavior. When conducting the empirical part of the study, the methods of sociological survey and hierarchy analysis were used. Well-known brands of sportswear acted as alternatives in constructing the hierarchical structure. Based on the sociological study, the criteria that respondents focus on when buyingsportswear were determined: accurate size chart, stylish design, ergonomics of materials, price and loyalty programs, availability of very large and very small sizes, a large line of accessories, sports equipment. Using the hierarchy analysis method, the authors constructed pairwise comparison matrices of brands based on rankingthe importance of factors that respondents use when making a purchase. The most significant factors were ergonomic materials and stylish design. The resulting matrix with weight criteria can be useful for both sportswear manufacturers and marketers involved in the sports industry.
Keywords: brand, marketplace, digitalization, alternatives, selection criteria, sportswear, hierarchy analysis method, multi-criteria choice.
Highlights:
- an analysis of the buyer`s choice of a sportswear brand among many relevant ones was conducted based on a multi-criteria approach;
- the most significant factors when buyingsportswear were identified and ranked: ergonomic materials, stylish design, price and loyalty programs, a large range of accessories, sports equipment, an accurate size chart, as well as the availability of very large and very small sizes;
- the weighting coefficients of preference for each of the four sportswear brands studied were determined, which allows the brand with the most significant criterion to take a leading position in the market.
Anna Yu. Strizhak - Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Mikhail Yu. Volokobinsky - Saint Petersburg University of State Fire Service of EMERCOM of Russia, Saint Petersburg, Russia