Abstract

This study explores the differences in Taiwanese women’s purchasing decisions towards two different categories: luxury goods and general products. The application and analysis of demographic variables such as population, purchasing motives, sources of information, product categories, and alternatives, forms the main content of this survey. Stratified random sampling is used and then ANOVA analysis, t-test and chi-square test are used to examine the hypotheses. From the results, we found that; (1) women have different motives to buy luxury goods; (2) women especially, value the opinions from the clerks of luxury goods and information from the mass media such as newspapers and magazines as their sources of information; (3) women tend to buy luxury goods in department stores, shopping malls or duty-free shops in the airports , and general products from the internet, TV shopping or mail orders as their alternatives; and (4) in terms of product categories, most women choose jewelry, purses, watches, or skin care products for their buying of luxury goods, and for general products, most opt for pens, apparel, scooters or bicycles. Through the comparisons of product categories, we found that women choose luxury goods for personal use and general products for family use.

Key words: Luxury goods, general products, consumers’ purchase decision.