The importance of attributes in customers' buying decisions: a case of bridal business

This paper describes an application of the best-worst scaling method to identify attributes that are perceived important by customers shopping for a bridal package. The best-worst scaling method requires respondents to choose from a set of attributes one attribute which is perceived the most important and one the least important. A total of 239 valid responses were collected during a three-day wedding exhibition and analyzed. Besides the importance of attributes, analyses showed that some of the attributes had high heterogeneity. A high heterogeneity among attributes generally indicates a probable niche market. A two-step cluster analysis was also performed to explore if the respondents could be further categorized into clusters. Two clusters were identified. One cluster appreciated tangible attributes, whereas the other appreciated intangible attributes. The findings provide valuable customer insights for the formulation of business and marketing strategies in the bridal business