: Plus-sized women are more sensitive?
I didn’t go looking for it, but at The Economist I found another story on the economics of plus-sized ladies’ clothing. (Earlier DD post here where it is also relates the fact that it costs more to make plus-sized clothing.)
From The Economist FreeeXchange blog:
In this [recessionary] market, the relationship has deteriorated further. Recently, several fashion lines and department stores have downsized or eliminated their plus-size collections. It’s not personal. Plus-size clothes are more expensive to make because they require more fabric, and different models and patterns. Also, plus-size women tend to be more price sensitive. That suggests smaller profits.
“They’re really bargain shoppers,” says Catherine Schuller, a plus-size expert and former editor at Mode, a magazine for larger women. “Many are homemakers who can’t spend considerable amounts on clothes and are willing to sacrifice their own spending for their families, especially now”.
With people cutting back on consumption you’d expect women spending less on clothes, but the declines have been much larger in the plus-size market. Regular-size women’s-clothes sales have fallen by only 2%, while plus-size sales have fallen 8%.
It is curious that plus-size women are more price sensitive. Overweight women tend to earn less, so they have even less disposable income.
Emphasis added. Why “curious”? Even if they do tend earn less that doesn’t make it immediately less likely they would more price sensitive about clothing. Indeed, if they tend to earn less then that could be channel of commonality that explains why they are more price sensitive.
