Luxury brands join hands: building interactive alliances on social media

Abstract

PurposeThis study, which is based on the extended hierarchy of effects (HOE) model, aims to examine whether social media interactions with one or more luxury brands can affect consumers' knowledge of, affection for and purchases of as well as loyalty to luxury fashion brands as a category.Design/methodology/approachSoJump (a leading data collection company in China) launched an online survey to collect data from Chinese luxury fashion brand consumers. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to analyze data from the random sample of 308 Chinese luxury fashion brand consumers.FindingsThe findings of this study demonstrated that social media interaction had direct positive influences on three stages of the luxury fashion brand decision-making process – knowledge, affection and loyalty – but not purchases. The results also empirically confirmed that consumers' response to social media interaction follows the cognition-affect-conation sequential process presented in the HOE model.Practical implicationsThis study not only provides a new perspective for researchers to investigate the impacts of interactive social media marketing on purchase decision-making in the luxury fashion brand category but also underpins the importance of building interactive alliances for luxury brands to increase consumers' knowledge of, affection for, purchases in and loyalty to the luxury fashion brand category.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate whether social media interactions with luxury fashion brands as a category influence consumers' knowledge of, affection for and loyalty to that category. In addition, this study is the first attempt to explore whether social media interactions can directly influence consumers' luxury fashion brand purchases.

Do Social Media Marketing Activities Improve Brand Loyalty? An Empirical Study on Luxury Fashion Brands

“…Thus, our results supported the significance of this relationship (H3) with path coefficient value of 0.282. Accordingly, the result indicates that Qatari females using SNS pages for luxury fashion brands love and respect their brands and hence as a result Qatari females have loyalty towards such luxury fashion brands (Zhang et al, 2021). Thus, the notion of lovemark helps improving Qatari females' brand relationships in particular loyalty.…”

Behavior of Russian Premium Fashion Consumers and Designers after the COVID-19 Pandemic and International Sanctions

“…Additionally, the development of computer technology and artificial intelligence, combined with the capabilities of Instagram accounts, gives consumers a more thoughtful way to make their purchases on social networking platforms. This trend appeared in the self-isolation period during the pandemic, which influenced the formation of a new customer experience in choosing fashion products and the development of trust in social networks in the context of the digitalization of the economy, which is confirmed by Zhang et al (2021) [43].…”

“…Famous scholars and experts on luxury brands and their marketing strategies from France Chevalier and Gutsatz debunk the myth of conservatism and traditional strategies for distributing premium and luxury goods by brand owners and the need to create an online boutique in response to the demands of global consumers, who are increasingly justifying their choice and making the decision to buy premium fashion clothing online [42]. The research results obtained by numerous scientists, Zhang et al (2021) [43] and Gronow & Zhuravlev (2015) [44], in particular, show that the quality of information, transaction security, the company's reputation, and its location significantly impact customer trust and willingness to buy clothing through social networks. This trend emerged and intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to be important.…”

“…Considering that in Russia, in March 2022, the social networks Facebook and Instagram of the Meta company were recognized as extremist, the opportunities for brands and fashion designers to use these social networks, which were previously very popular among Russian consumers, have decreased [43]. Therefore, entrepreneurs in the Russian market should look for new opportunities for delivering information and organizing trade, including through social networks or in a traditional format, by opening their brand stores on vacant retail spaces in shopping malls.…”

Why do consumers prefer a hometown geographical indication brand? Exploring the role of consumer identification with the brand and psychological ownership

“…, since GI brands is usually associated with positive brand image and quality reputation, they have positive influences on consumer purchase intention, local governments and policy makers can benefit from the empirical findings of this study to facilitate the local economy growth and expansion by promoting particular GI products and regional brands. Because a GI brand is typically representing a group of businesses in the same region, instead of being owned by one specific enterprise, local government can coordinate industrywide cooperation among firms to work together as an alliance to enhance the brand image and competitiveness in the countrywide and global markets(Zhang et al, 2021).GI Brand Label Hometown GI Brand Label …”