Consumer Behaviour · A/B Testing
Fast-fashion brands increasingly communicate the environmental and ethical attributes of their products. My dissertation examined whether providing this information meaningfully changed how willing consumers said they were to make a purchase.
I designed a randomised experiment involving UK university students. Both groups evaluated the same Zara hoodie, but only the treatment group received additional sustainability information. After analysing 129 valid responses, I found that the treatment group reported significantly higher purchase intention than the control group.
Built a randomised Qualtrics experiment in which participants evaluated the same product with or without additional sustainability information.
Collected responses from UK university students, removed incomplete submissions and prepared the final dataset for analysis.
Tested the overall difference between groups and examined how the results varied by product perceptions and participant characteristics.
Found significant effects overall, for products perceived to have poor or average design, for medium-quality products and among students aged 22 to 24.
This research showed me that sustainability information can influence stated purchase intention, but its effect depends on the context in which consumers evaluate the product. It had greater influence when design was perceived as poor or average and when quality was considered moderate. However, quality, affordability and trendiness remained the most common purchase considerations. The study also reinforced the importance of distinguishing purchase intention from actual purchasing behaviour and interpreting subgroup findings cautiously.