Profiling Fast-Fashion Purchase Intentions Among Gen Z and Millennial Women through AI-Driven Consumer Analytics

Fast Fashion, purchase intention, environmental concerns, consumer behaviour, gen Z, millennial

The consumer purchasing behaviour among Gen Z and Millennial women has transformed significantly with the presence of affordable and trendy clothing available by the fast fashion businesses through rapid production cycles. This trend among the young buyers and the resulting growth comes with increased environmental concerns like excessive water consumption and pollution. While there is an increasing awareness of sustainability among young buyers, they continue to prioritize fast fashion and trend appeal over environmentally responsible purchasing. In this context, this study aims to examine the influence of fashion preference, fast fashion perception and purchase intention with an awareness on environmental issues among young women consumers. The study further attempts to profile consumers based on their purchase intentions.  Primary data collected among Millennial and Gen Z women consumers, reveal that Gen Z consumers dominate the fast fashion market, with most respondents relying on pocket money and spending below Rs.5000 monthly on fashion products. The study also highlights that there is a significant difference in the spending behaviour observed among working women and those dependent on pocket money. The findings also reveal that there exists a weak relationship between environmental awareness and purchase intention initially. However, with an intervention using an environment-awareness video, the multiple regression shows that fast fashion perception being the dominant predictor of purchase intention. The cluster analysis further segmented the consumers based on behavioural and attitudinal aspects providing targeted marketing strategies for the fast fashion business.