To be filled in by the student

□ Non Confidential □ Confidential

Title :
The Power of Social Media in the Fashion and Luxury
Industry
Program: MSc - FDLM 4 - Grenoble (2015 - 2017)

Academic Year: 2015-2016

Dissertation / Project / Internship Report: Final Management Project 2015-2016

Student Name: Maria James

School Tutor / Evaluator Name: Mehak Luthra

Summary: This is the digital world where social media is making a profound impact on each of
our lives. With an increasing impact on the fashion industry as well it is becoming crucial for
brands to engage themselves as well as their client base via social media marketing. Through
this research I aim to: 1.examine the development of social media and its importance in today’s
world, 2.analyze social media usage for the means of marketing, 3.exploring the various social
media platforms and analyzing which ones are the most popular among users, 4.to determine
the pros as well as cons of utilizing social media as a means of marketing.

Keywords: (cf. Thesaurus du Management):

LUXURY GOOD

SOCIAL MARKETING

SOCIAL NETWORK

INTERNET SITE

1
 The Power of Social Media in the Fashion and Luxury
Industry

By
Maria Antonette James

A Final Management Project submitted to the faculty at Grenoble Graduate School of Business
in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the MSc Fashion Design and Luxury Management
program.

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 i. Acknowledgements

With a highly grateful heart, I would like to first and foremost thank God for all that He has
provided for me and brought me through so far in life, and also remember the people who have
helped me throughout the completion of my project proposal and final management project.

I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to my mentor at GGSB- Ms. Mehak Luthra, my
program coordinator- Ms. Rahma Dia and my professor and program head- Ms. Nicolette Giusti,
for all their support and immense understanding while looking for an internship during a difficult
phase I was going through during the summer of 2016. Furthermore, in every phase of this
internship period, the supervision and guidance provided by Ms. Mehak shaped this report to be
completed to the best of my ability.

I am also deeply grateful to my family and friends, without whose constant support I would not be
where I am today.

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 ii. Executive Summary

Social media is a part and parcel of each one of our lives. And so is fashion. The internet and social
media has definitely changed the way we function in life; right from communicating to learning
and conducting business as well. It has provided most businesses an easier method to gain a global
market presence and also initiate e-commerce for the brand because of its increase in demand.
Most of us wish to have everything at our fingertips and this is exactly what the internet and social
media allows us to do.

While we can engage in online shopping on the brand’s website, we can also engage in
communication and other related activity with the brand and its other customers on any social
media platform. This makes it a crucial reason for more brands to engage in social media activity
as a means of marketing themselves in the industry. The recent developments in the social media
and fashion and luxury industry make it easier for researchers to provide evidence for brand
marketers to shift their attention to social media platforms and engage with customers on them in
new and innovative ways.

Through this research I aim to

1. examine the development of social media and its importance in today’s world,
2. analyze social media usage for the means of marketing,
3. exploring the various social media platforms and analyzing which ones are the most
popular among users,
4. to determine the pros as well as cons of utilizing social media as a means of marketing.

In terms of research, this was primarily done through the collection of quantitative as well as
qualitative data from a survey that I conducted using the sampling method. The secondary data I
collected was from various scholarly articles and internet news articles that further helped me
through my research.

The results obtained from this research proves how much of an influence the internet, social media
in particular, has over the fashion and luxury industry in today’s world. Furthermore, it was found
that Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were the most used social media platforms and I have given
a short insight as to how a few fashion brands utilized the said platforms to market themselves.
The results also show findings of the various views consumers have in terms of social media
marketing and how brands can effectively go about with the same. A few recommendations are
also provided toward the end of the research as to how brands can overcome a few of the challenges
they may face while utilizing social media as a form of online marketing.

Some of the keywords used throughout the research include:

Luxury, Fashion, Social media and networking, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Online
Marketing, Communication with Clients, Marketing strategies

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 Table of Contents

i. Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………3
ii. Executive Summary……………………………………………………………...4
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………6
1.1 Background……………………………………………………………………………6
1.2 Thesis Objectives……………………………………………………………………...7
1.3 Limitations of this research…………………………………………………………....8

2. Key Variables Involved……………………………………………………………8

2.1 About the Fashion and Luxury Industry……………………………………………….8
2.2 About Luxury Fashion Marketing……………………………………………………10
2.3 Social Media, Fashion and the Society……………………………………………….10
2.4 Some Social Media Lingo……………………………………………………………12

3. Literature Review………………………………………………………………..15
3.1 The Fashion Industry…………………………………………………………………15
3.2 Fashion and Social Media…………………………………………………………….18

4. Methodology…………………………………………………………………….19
4.1 Data Collection……………………………………………………………………….19
4.2 The Questionnaire……………………………………………………………………21

5. Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………25
5.1 General Analysis……………………………………………………………………..26
5.2 Results from the Questionnaires……………………………………………………..30
5.3 Overall Results from Research Conducted…………………………………………..34

6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….40
7. References………………………………………………………………………………..43

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 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Without a doubt, social media has brought about a profound impact in each one of lives. It is hard
to deny that almost every facet of our life is dependent on various social media platforms whether
it is to connect with our friends and family or to share pictures and experiences from the solo trip
we each take for some sort of personal rejuvenation or even to get our daily dose of news from
around the world.

While it has altered our daily lifestyle, most businesses too have taken to utilizing social media as
a means of advertising or reaching out to existing and potential clients. Of the businesses that now
make full use of social media tactics for marketing and garnering popularity in the market, the
fashion industry is one of the businesses that has been impacted by this technological advancement.
What was previously considered a privilege and accessed only by the elite classes of the society,
there are not only major social media platforms that are common to every individual around the
world like Facebook and Instagram, but there are also several platforms that are created especially
for the residents of particular countries and are now gaining popularity around the world, like
WeChat that was specifically designed for the Chinese.

Not only has it helped in breaking down barriers for communication for businesses with its clients
but it has also enabled them to connect with their customers in a way that has revolutionized the
term ‘The Customer is the King.’ From customer feedback to social media traffic, it has enabled
companies to gauge their popularity among the target group of customers as well as analyze where
they can improve themselves. However, like everything else this too has adverse effects if not
utilized in the right way and can probably harm the company rather than being positive for it. This
includes losing the interest of customers if social media marketing is not done right. The fashion
and luxury market is facing constant fluctuations in terms of consumption, marketing strategies
utilized and of course changes in trends according to the season. Of these, the Internet has surely
played a significant role in shaping the fashion and luxury industry to what it is today.

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In a research conducted by Khang et al (2012, 1) it was found that there is s “definite increasing
number of social-media-related studies” that shows immense growth in the number of social media
users as well as stating its impact on the “different aspects of individuals’ life and society”.

Through this study what would be portrayed are the effects of social media in our lives and how
businesses utilize these digital platforms to further improve their business and create better
channels for client-business relations. This particular topic of social media and its effects on the
fashion and luxury industry was chosen due to my personal interest in it. While pursuing my
internship at a high-end boutique in the United States of America, one particular observation that
was made was the fact that every person who purchased from the store wished to be a part of the
store’s social media platforms. They spoke about various events and ‘posts’ on the said platforms
that they witnessed on a daily basis that influenced their lives in some way or the other. Similarly,
while doing some personal shopping I found myself utilizing the same social media platforms to
gather views on several products and stores that I wished to shop from. Participating in
conversation threads about reviews on online sellers and their merchandise was something I found
to engage myself in on a regular basis, not only to keep myself informed but to enable other
consumers like me to be more informed about the purchasing decisions they make, regardless of
whether the product or store in question is an electronic device or a pair of boots or even a seller
on the popular Amazon marketplace.

The research utilizes mostly qualitative data but also includes some quantitative data that was
gathered through questionnaires. These completed surveys together with various observations
made on social media platforms, as well as informal interviews form the basis of my primary data
for the research. The secondary data is provided through a relevant literature review.

1.2 Thesis Objectives

This research aims to answer the following questions:
- Why do Fashion and Luxury brands now turn to social media for marketing themselves?
- What are some of the most popular social media platforms for online marketing?
- How are the mentioned platforms utilized by the brands and how often?

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 - What differences has online marketing (social media marketing in particular) brought about
in comparison to traditional methods of marketing that were utilized in the past?
- What are the positive as well as negative impacts this has brought about on the brands that
go about this route of marketing?
- Finally, how do social media marketing strategies impact a customer?

1.3 Limitations of this research

Due to the fact that social media is a vast field to research on, I have restricted my main exploration
to the following major platforms: Facebook and WeChat (social networking), Twitter
(microblogging), Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest (photo and mini-video sharing platforms).

I have tried to cover a little in every area of this research including consumer behavior online but
have not included several sub-topics like pricing. This research is only intended to provide
recommendations to companies as well as entrepreneurs on how to utilize the services provided
on the social media platforms for businesses to thrive.

2. KEY VARIABLES INVOLVED

2.1 About the Fashion and Luxury Industry

What is Fashion? When faced with this simple yet complex question we tend to answer by stating
that fashion is something each of us deals with on a daily basis. It is a statement. A prevailing trend
in not only clothing but also footwear and other lifestyle accessories. It is a way of expression of
one’s identity and an overall way of living. Fashion is not only aesthetic but also diverse and is fit
for people of all ages and sizes. Change is inevitable in fashion and is what defines it.

What is Luxury Fashion? In an economist’s dictionary, a luxury good is that whose demand
increases as one’s income rises. In the world of fashion however, the concept of luxury is a whole
lot wider. It simply does not mean ‘expensive’. A luxury commodity in the fashion industry exudes
quality, authenticity and a discrete level of ‘richness’.

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While it was once what distinguished the rich from the poor, today’s concept of Luxury in Fashion
has certainly evolved due to three main factors which are Globalization, Democratization as well
as Communication. While Globalization and Democratization have led to changes in the
affordability and accessibility of fashion and luxury commodities respectively, communication is
the key factor that has brought about an immense impact in the way we communicate with one
another and has certainly rained in the digital era faster than one could imagine.

Today’s luxury fashion brands are defined by some crucial trends. In North America, well-to-do
consumers have played a critical role, making the American luxury market to be considered as one
of the largest in the world. However, in spite of the large spending habits of the people residing in
the United States, it does not match up to the spending habits of the affluent in the past. The reason
being there are newer attitudes of spending and align more with how they feel about their
prosperity in comparison to how much they have in the bank. This is an important factor that is
basing the spending pattern in the luxury and fashion industry today and brands must understand
this shift in purchase decisions and act accordingly to instill in their clients and target groups, a
desire to fulfill more of their purchase decisions. 2016 saw a slowdown in the luxury sector due to
several uncertainties and shifts in consumer behaviors all around the world. Major events that
influenced these shifts include the ongoing geopolitical turmoil, instability in the Middle East, the
decreased tourism in several parts of Europe- that is a result of the conflicts and terrorism activities
from certain countries in the Middle East, slow holiday season in the United States as well as a
downturn in the spending habits in China.

However, there are several trends that were noted in the Business of Fashion and McKinsey Global
Fashion Survey that mention could bring about a positive change in the fashion and luxury industry
for the years 2017 and 2018. These trends include the digitalization that is taking place throughout
the world and influencing the millennial generation and their purchasing habits. Being highly
technologically driven, the study states that as long as brands look to social media in order to
capture wider audiences and market themselves, they can truly prosper. Urbanization and growing
into newer economies is another trend that fashion and luxury brands can consider apart from the

9
social media marketing strategies and provide personalized service to people from several different
cultural and geographical backgrounds and having different purchasing desires.

2.2 About Luxury Fashion Marketing

“The Luxury Strategy” book written by Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien, provides readers
with an insight on how to effectively create marketing strategies for luxury fashion brands.
According to Bastien, there are three types of marketing strategies that luxury brands could utilize
when marketing themselves. The aim of a luxury strategy is to create the highest brand value and
pricing power by leveraging all the intangible elements like time, heritage, craftsmanship, etc. The
fashion strategy does not consider such intangible elements, but instead depends on the perishable
aspect of being fashionable. The third strategy which is the premium strategy works on the mantra
of ‘pay more, get more’. Quality is directly proportional to the price in this strategy of marketing,
i.e. the higher the price, the higher the quality. It is a more comparative form of marketing.

2.3 Social Media, Fashion and the Society

Social Media is a powerful tool in today’s world. It is a way for people to be social. It is a society
of people interacting with one another. It is a social instrument of communication. But how is it
different from regular media? In the past the television and the print media were a big thing when
it came into existence. They were a surefire means of expression to the general public. However,
in regular media, all communication is one-sided. It provides information to the viewer about
several topics of interest but does not serve as a platform for garnering feedback from those who
viewed the information. Social media overcomes such obstacles. It is a two-way communication
platform that allows users to communicate with one another, thereby following a process of
communication that involves the message, the sender, the channel of communication and the
receiver; the channel used in this case being the social media platform.

Social media has several sub categories: social networking platforms like Facebook, social image
and video sharing like Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest, social news Yahoo news and Reddit,

10
and of course forums and blogs. It is addictive and has changed lives of users and it is hard for an
individual to imagine life without the use of social media. It is used not only for entertainment or
socializing purposes but also for business purposes. In the past when social media was in its early
phase, businesses found it risky to conform to it due to the risk of loss or leakage of private data.
This however, has been slowly overcome over the years as more online security companies provide
brands the online security they require when marketing themselves on social media. The internet
has made it possible for fashion to reach everyone regardless of where they are located in the world
(Kozinets, 2006).

Digital marketing is the utilization of digital channels to promote brands and its products and/or
services to its end users. Its activities include search engine marketing, search engine optimization,
content marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing and optimization and other
forms of digital media. Some of the popular social networking sites include Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Google +, and other such platforms. Companies can
benefit from social media marketing in the following ways: they can get to be up close and personal
with their client base, response time to any issue that a client may face could be significantly
reduced via social media customer service, sales figures can be increased utilizing cost effective
marketing strategies- which is particularly a positive method to reach out to target clients for new
and upcoming designers and fashion brands, provides an increase in brand recognition and
provides a method for brands to gain more insight into the lives and personal interests of their
clients, thus improving the in-store as well as online shopping experience for the client.

Illustration1: Vector Icons of Popular Social Media:

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ (Top row, left to right)
Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube (Bottom row, left to right)
(www.seoclerks.com)

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 2.4 Some Social Media Lingo

Facebook is a social media platform founded in 2004 that enables its users not only to connect
with their friends and families all over the world but also enables businesses to do so by posting,
sharing and engaging with a variety of content. It hosts about 1.50 billion active users till date.
Instagram is a photo sharing social media application that enables users to take and share images
and short videos with the option of applying several photo filters and adding titles and hashtags to
it. IT currently has over 300 million active users. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking
site having over 380 million members. It is mostly utilized for professional networking. Pinterest
is a photo sharing social network where users are provided with a platform on which they can
upload and curate several images or pins through collections called boards. This social media site
enables users to re-pin other images and tag them with particular themes and titles allowing them
to be identified by other users online. Snapchat is yet another photo and video social media
application wherein users are allowed to send and receive images and short videos that are time-
sensitive, after which they disappear, known as ‘snaps’. Users also have the option of adding
various themed filters and drawings to their images and videos and can also control the list of
recipients they send these to. Twitter is a real-time social network where users or tweeple are
allowed to share messages of 140 characters or less with their follower base. These users can also
retweet and favorite posts of other users and also engage in conversations using @mentions, replies
and hash tags. Finally, an important social networking application that is in use now days is
WeChat. It is the most important social media application in China at the moment. WeChat users
can do just about anything on the application: from playing games, to sending money to people,
make video calls, order food, read news and a lot more. It is basically China’s version of Facebook.
However, it is getting increasingly popular in other parts of the world as well, especially the United
States.

Every social media website has its own special vocabulary that users need to be familiarized with
in order to participate. Some of them include the following:
 Application Programming Interface (API)- IT is a documented interface that enables one
application to interact with another application.

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 Avatar- It is an image (also known as profile picture/ display picture), username or graphic
character that represents an individual on social forums and networking sites.
 Bio- It is a short description of the individual on the social media network that provides
his/her friends, followers or other users to get a brief explainer about the individual.
 Blog/ Vlog- Blog is a word that was created from two words: ‘web log’. It is exactly that
where an individual provides regular entries of content on specific topics on the internet.
Vlogs are the video versions of blogs.
 Board- An area for pinners on Pinterest to post or re-pin images to allow other Pinterest
users to view their images. It is a fully editable area where the title can be edited, and
images can be added or deleted.
 Circles- Clusters of a user’s friends, colleagues, family members and other connections on
Google+. Maintaining circles on this platform enables the user to share specific content
with the particular circle.
 Comment- It is simply the response or reaction one provides on a post on any social media
platform.
 Connections- It is the LinkedIn equivalent of a Facebook ‘Friend’.
 Conversion Rate- It is a social media metric utilized to track the percentage of people who
completed an intended action.
 Direct Message (DMs)- These are private messages that are sent from one user to another
on the social media platform.
 Engagement Rate- It is a social media metric utilized to gauge the amount of interaction
on a particular piece of content on a social media site.
 Fans- They are the number people who like a Facebook page that one creates.
 Favorite- Represented by a small star icon on Twitter, by clicking it you signal to the author
of a particular tweet that you liked it.
 Friend/ Follower- A friend is someone you follow and a follower is someone who follows
you on the social media site in question like Facebook. One can have several ‘Friends’ on
Facebook.
 Hashtag (#)- It is used in tweets, posts and Instagram images to connect it to a particular
subject for clarity. For example, using #food indicates that your post or tweet is about food.
Furthermore, it ties groups of people together around a similar real-time experience. For

13
 example, if you attend a concert by Coldplay in Barcelona, there are chances that there
already exists a hashtag for the event. In this case, if you post an image or video under
#coldplaybarcelona, or simply search for that tag it could connect you with several others
who attended the concert and uploaded their images and experiences at the event.
 Likes- A like is an action on Facebook or Instagram when a user can click on it for a post
on their timeline that they wish to quickly show the author of the post, their approval and
interest.
 Mention- A mention is a Twitter term utilized to describe an instance when a user describes
someone else’s @username in their tweet in an attempt to start a discussion or feature a
piece of content.
 PPC- Pay-per-click is an online advertising model wherein advertisers display ads on
several social media websites or even search engines and pay when a visitor clicks through.
 Pin- The act of posting or uploading an image onto the user’s Pinterest board.
 Pinners- Term for users of Pinterest.
 Post- It is the content that one broadcasts on the particular social media site. It could include
a message, an image or even a video.
 Retweet (RT)- A retweet is when someone on Twitter decides to re-share a message that
one tweets, with his or her followers.
 Re-pin- The action in which another Pinterest user would pin the same image that you
posted on your board, onto their own board out of interest towards it.
 Snapchat Story- It is a string of Snapchats that last for a short period of 24 hours where
users can create various stories of their life to be shared either with all Snapchatters or just
a small customized group of users.
 Tweep- A single Twitter user is called a tweep.
 Tweeple- Multiple Twitter users are called tweeple.
 Tweet- On Twitter, a post is called a tweet. It is a short (140 character or less) message
sent to your Twitter network from whichever device may be used, whether a computer, cell
phone or an iPad.
 Timeline- It is the real-time display of posts or tweets from other people in your social
media network. As the network grows, the timeline moves faster, showing the most recent

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 posts by your friends or followers at the very top. Your posts and tweets can also be viewed
on your timeline. It is called News Feed on Facebook and Home Feed on Pinterest.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is done for a study in order to get views form a scholarly paper and are a source
of secondary data. It is more of an evaluative report of the information one gets from these
literature papers and are related to the subject that is being studied. It gives a theoretical base and
helps in determining the nature of the research.

There are two parts in this literature review: one that gives an insight into the historical past of the
fashion industry. This helps us understand the various changes it has undergone over the years and
is still changing today. Part two is based more on information regarding the relation between
fashion and social media. I have gathered this information various articles in fashion magazines
and blogs, as well as included a little material from journal articles that were published in the past
few years.

3.1 The Fashion Industry

From 1876, sociologist Herbert Spencer researched about the role that fashion played in the
society. This was the start of academic research in the field of fashion and it gave readers an
interesting view of the social impacts of fashion. Thereafter, there were several research studies
conducted from psychological, sociological as well as economic approaches. However, in terms
of sociological views, most people involved in the fashion industry agree that the important piece
of literature one should read and understand in today’s world in particular is the book ‘Fashion-
ology’ by Yaniya Kawamura (2014). This book not only provides accurate information about the
history of the fashion industry but also several important theories in connection to fashion and
sociology. In addition to his work, Kawamura also mentions about the various sociological
research papers of the fashion industry done by Simmel (1904), Sumner (1940) and Veblen (1957),
as well as others who contributed to the fashion industry with their research into the relation
between the sociological aspect and fashion. How this literature review would help in my research

15
paper is by providing the resources that proves the society is affecting fashion and thereby enable
one to understand how social media too plays a major role in the fashion industry today.

What one must understand primarily is the term ‘fashion’. Kawamura (2014) states that the terms
‘fashion’ and ‘clothing’ are often used synonymously in the fashion industry but he also points out
in his study that the term ‘fashion’ refers not just to clothing and accessories. In fact he argues that
fashion is more of a symbolic product in comparison to clothing which is more a tangible product.
This is the fact we must keep in mind for the rest of this research paper. He describes fashion as
‘not the visible clothing but the invisible elements included in clothing’. Kawamura states that it is
the extra value that is added and hence a symbolic cultural product that is a means of expressing
status, authenticity, aesthetic value and a sense of belonging. Furthermore, he also states that
fashion is something that is constantly changing and is an important fact to be kept in mind for this
research conducted. This is because this research attempts to study the impacts that several new
influences in the society, like social media in this research in particular, brings to the fashion and
luxury industry. The whole social media scene will and already is bringing about a significant
impact over the fashion and luxury industry and how people understand fashion, thereby leading
to changes in business strategies in order to cater to this new type of consumer behavior in the
world of fashion (Kawamura, 2014).

The scholarly article Sociology of fashion: Order and Change by Aspers and Godart (2013) also
studies the impact of the society in fashion and provides an insight into what has been previously
studied and what other areas need to be further researched into, particularly in terms of the
connection between sociology and fashion and not just about ‘clothing’. This shows that there is a
need for further research in this area, especially in this ever changing digital world. According to
Aspers and Godart (2014), they define fashion “as an unplanned process of recurrent change
against a backdrop of order in the public realm even if.” This definition could be explained in
several ways. Firstly they imply through this definition that fashion is dependent on the act of
people deciding on their own, as to whether they adopt a new object, trend, etc. This means that
fashion is more of a social process of adaptations where while people may be influenced by the
fashion influencers in the industry, they cannot be forced to adopt to any fashion. They state that
the whole concept of fashion does not stand true when it is not backed up by the various choices

16
and desires by the people who follow it. What I have come to understand from this statement is
that fashion heavily relies on advertising and marketing in any form in order to influence or create
in people the desire for fashion, which is now a major role that social media plays in the society
and will be elaborated in detail in the data analysis section of this research, as to how this is done.

The next implication of the definition of fashion by Aspers and Godart (2014) is the fact that
fashion heavily relies on the aspect of time. This means that fashion constantly changes over time
and there truly is no start or finish for it. It is like a never-ending cycle which makes it survive.
This comes to the third implication of the Aspers and Godart (2014) definition of fashion wherein
it is something that has to be spread and adopted by more than one person for it to become fashion.
However, when viewing the fashion cycle, there is a saturation point when the fashion spreads to
far too many, thereby becoming too common and eventually falling out of fashion, only for a new
one to be adopted. This is another important aspect when it comes to social media marketing as it
could end up to be a negative driving force for the fashion cycle to be sped up at rates that many
fashion houses would not be able to keep up with. The fourth implication would be the fact that
fashion could be connected to the theory that people could be wither followers or leaders in it. This
means that they could have different interests while adopting fashion; leaders would adopt fashion
and spread it to their followers, who in turn may choose to adopt it as well. However, a fashion
leader or influencer is not necessarily the innovator or the creator of the fashion. In most cases, the
designer simply showcases it to the leader who then adopts it in an attempt to be authentic in the
society. Diamond and Diamond (2013) state that influencers are generally a group of people who
are greatly admired in a particular society or target group and some fashion influencers could
include celebrities like Michael Jackson, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Audrey Hepburn.

The fifth implication that Aspers and Godart (2014) wish to portray through their definition is the
fact that fashion is something that should be discernable by the mass via various portals, like social
media in today’s digital world and television and print media in the past. Furthermore, fashion
must have the quality of availability as well. The sixth and final implication of the Aspers and
Godart (2014) definition is that fashion exists as long as there is some sort of order and change to
time. This is because they assume the fact that social constructions like style and habit are stable
in comparison to fashion that constantly changes. However, what one must think about in relation

17
to this research is how the impact of social media may bring about changes to the otherwise stable
social construction. And if these changes do come about, how will it affect the fashion industry.

3.2 Fashion and Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool that has definitely taken control of our lives, and to an extent played
a major role in bringing about changes to it. Hanna et al. (We’re all connected: The power of the
social media ecosystem, 2011) discusses how social media plays a very important role in the
consumer’s life and also changes how businesses tackle their marketing strategies. Consumers play
an active role in the creation of marketing strategies of businesses over the recent couple of years.
A major reason being the active role of social media in one’s life. Many companies have adapted
themselves to social media strategies when it comes to marketing but they may not understand
how to effectively use it to their advantage. Hanna et al. (2011) describe that companies of today
must integrate social media marketing along with their traditional marketing media in order to
capture the attention of a wider audience. They have stated how important it is to understand the
social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and its connection to
marketing.

Schivinski and Dabrowski (The effects of social media communication on the consumer
perceptions of brands, 2014) is a thorough research into how the purchase decisions by consumers
are influenced by social media now days. They found that firms that utilize social media
communication with its clients and prospective audience, has brought about positive attitudes and
reviews of these people towards the brand. However, they also found that user-generated social
media, i.e. social media content that is created by the consumer of a brand via the sharing of images
and reviews of products has a more profound impact on a brand than the firm-created social media.

For example, celebrities Madonna and Lady Gaga are two very influential people in the fashion
industry. They each have millions of followers on social media like Facebook and Twitter but
among the two, Lady Gaga is much better at utilizing social media in climbing her way to fame
and success. Steve Berman, Universal Music’s President of sales and marketing stated that “(Lady)

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Gaga has worked tirelessly in keeping up daily if not hourly communication with her fans and
growing fan base through all the technology that exists now.”

Lutz (2012) and Kim and Ko (2012) have also given a good idea in their research papers as to how
social media has helped connect one thing with another. Today’s technology has definitely enabled
designers, retailers and consumers to connect and grow together, completely changing the fashion
and luxury scene and creating a more intimate engagement between the major parties involved.

From the above literature review, it is evident that over the past couple of years, several factors
including Globalization has helped shaped the technologically driven world we live in today. This
has connected the internet and social media with the fashion and luxury industry in a major way
and brought about globalization in the fashion industry. It has created a deeper connection with
every party involved in the industry and has given industries an idea of how consumers can play a
major role in their marketing campaigns today.

4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 Data Collection

There are several techniques to collect primary data, some of which include observations,
interviews, written/oral questionnaires or these could all be combined for a study as well.

In order to complete my research on the impact social media and the internet has made on the
fashion and luxury industry, I collected information from various sources, one being directly from
consumers. I achieved this by preparing a questionnaire which I then distributed to several people
and had them complete it. This is my primary data. Saunders et al (2009:601) states that a survey
is the method of gathering data through the use of questionnaires. The biggest challenge one faces
while analyzing surveys is the time consumption factor. Similarly, Punch (2003, 2) and (2003, 61)
states that surveys could provide the researcher with both qualitative as well as quantitative data,
and its stands on the foundation wherein the questions posed to the participants are not only short
and simple worded, but also carries an idea, has no double negatives and the language used is clear

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as well as appropriate. Quantitative surveying provides numerical data or statistics to the
researcher and quantifies the problem at hand, while qualitative research is when insights into the
problem as well as idea development is achieved by way of conducting interviews, observations
as well as group discussions.

The reason I chose consumers for my primary data rather than industries themselves is because of
several reasons. The main one being the fact that consumers are the sole basis on which marketing
strategies are created by companies. It is important to know the various age groups that these
companies could target utilizing this social media and how the way consumers think in this day
and age are very crucial to placing themselves in the market. Furthermore, with the restrictions on
time and the information one could collect on the inside secrets of a company’s marketing
strategies, it seemed appropriate to first get consumer views and thoughts on marketing and the
whole social media scene. The survey was open to the participants from the 25th of March 2017 to
the 10th of April 2017 and consisted of mostly multiple choice questions and a final question where
the participant was given the opportunity to voice their extra comments and recommendations, if
they had any, for the further development of online marketing for fashion and luxury brands. It
also included questions with options where participants could only pick single option and those
where they could pick more than one option if necessary.

I did not restrict myself to any particular age group while collecting this data, but at the same time
utilized the sampling technique in order to facilitate the time restriction factor. The sampling
technique is used in order to reduce the amount of data that is required to be gathered as well as
analyzed. Sampling involves gathering data from a small subset of the population that is under the
group that is meant to be studied for the research in question. The survey was distributed to all
those who were older than 18 years of age; an age after which one can afford to save up money
and purchase fashion and luxury items on their own. I have done this for the obvious reason that
every company, including luxury companies have their own portfolio of target consumers. With
the changes in the luxury industry, a lot more young adults and those in their mid-30s are able to
afford perhaps a Louis Vuitton Monogram Handbag or a Chanel Little Black Dress (LBD). For
this reason, it is important to know how to attract target consumers and even other consumers from
various age groups in the most appropriate manner that appeals to the group. Similarly, I have

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ensured that consumers from different continents have taken the survey as what may work in Asia
for example, may not work for the clients in North America. It is important to have an international
view of how the fashion industry works in several countries and adjust the marketing schemes
accordingly. In this world of ‘Customer is King’, especially where it is easy to bring down a brand
with negative reviews on the internet portal, companies must constantly strive to please them in
order to maintain their customer base and attract several more.

I decided to create this questionnaire in an attempt to study and analyze the behavior of people
from various age groups when it comes to fashion, the internet and social media. While performing
the study, the challenges I faced were a few. I spreads most of these surveys via Facebook as well
as WhatsApp and the email service. As a result, most people received these surveys while at work
or during the day when they were busy running errands of their own. Hence, while clicking the
link, if they found it to be a really long survey they would exit without taking it, which I have
noticed occurring several times. Furthermore, there were questions I was asked regarding what the
survey was for and to ensure it was not some automated mail. A few participants were also afraid
if any information they provided would be disclosed or traced back to them. This led me to write
a small note at the beginning of the survey that helped me inform the participant that it was meant
strictly for academic purpose and that it would take a maximum of 5 minutes. I also informed them
how their identity would not be disclosed at any point of time as it was not required for them to do
so. This helped me gain a lot more responses later on. Another challenge I faced was the
distribution of these surveys. This was easily overcome utilizing the several social media portals
once again, helping me gain enough information to do a sampling.

4.2 The Questionnaire

The following is the survey that I distributed as part of my primary data for this research:

Q1. What is your gender?

 Male
 Female

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Q2. What age group do you come under?
 18-25
 26-35
 36-45
 46-55
 Above 56

Q3. What is your nationality?

Q4. Do you have a profile on any of the following social media services?(Choose as many as
appropriate)
 Faceboook
 Twitter
 Instagram
 Snapchat
 WeChat
 YouTube
 Pinterest
 LinkedIn
 Reddit
 Other (please specify) ____________________

Q5. Where do you collect your information on the latest fashion trends, products and
brands?(Choose as many as appropriate)
 Social networking platforms
 Fashion magazines
 Fashion bloggers and vloggers
 From friends, peers and others around you

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Q6. Do you think social media is an effective platform in engaging you with several different
fashion and luxury brands?
 Definitely yes
 Probably yes
 Might or might not
 Probably not
 Definitely not

Q7. If you follow fashion brands on networking sites, what reasons would justify in you doing
so?(Choose as many as appropriate)
 Keeps me updated about the latest in runway trends as well as in-store stock
 To identify and make use of discount opportunities
 To read reviews and product rankings
 To view brand/ product related photos
 To watch brand related videos
 To contact customer services
 To feel like you are a part of a community (sense of belonging to the brand)
 Others (please specify) ____________________
 I do not follow fashion brands on networking sites

Q8. When on a social networking site do you participate in any of the following?(Choose as
many as appropriate)
 Uploading pictures or videos of products you own from a loved brand
 Posting comments/ reviews on pictures and videos of fashion products posted by others
 Sharing videos or pictures from a brand's 'page'
 Submitting new ideas for products (in the form of comments or personal messages to the
brand)
 Engaging in brand related conversations on comment threads, forums and the like
 None of the above

Q9. Do you purchase luxury fashion products?

 Always
 Most of the time
 Sometimes
 Never

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Q10. Which of the following luxury fashion products would you purchase:

In-store? Online? Not applicable

Clothing   
Jewellery   
Footwear   
Scarves   
Sunglasses   
Watches   
Perfumes   

Q11. Which of the following are most likely to influence your purchasing of luxury fashion
products online? (Choose as many as appropriate)
 Convenience (eg: you are located in India but your favorite brand has their closest store
located in Italy)
 Competitive pricing and promotions (better deals and shipping policies)
 Trust (authenticity of online purchases)
 Service (the service they provide on their web portal in comparison to that in-store)
 Brand mix (availability of all of the brand's product lines on the same portal)
 Size range (most online shopping portals offer better size ranges than in-store)
 Social Media Marketing (efforts to maintain brand-consumer relationships)
 Others (Please specify) ____________________

Q12. If you purchased a luxury product online, do you feel it would make the product inferior?
 Yes (Please specify why) ____________________
 No

Q13. Do reviews and comments on social networking pages by other consumers affect your
online purchasing decisions with a fashion and/or luxury brand?
 Always
 Most of the time
 About half the time
 Sometimes
 Never

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Q14. Do you feel a closer attachment to those fashion and/or luxury brands that make the effort
to interact with consumers through social media websites?
 Yes
 No
 Doesn't matter

Q15. Have any brand's marketing tactics on a social media platform helped you make a spur-of-
the-moment decision to purchase a fashion product? If yes, please state whether you purchased it
online or in-store, and state the product purchased.
 Yes ____________________
 No

Q16. Lastly, please feel free to add any comments and/or recommendations you would like to
provide in context to how you as a consumer would like fashion and luxury brands to fully
utilize the potential of social media in today's world.

Furthermore, apart from the questionnaires I have also gathered qualitative data via the research
method of ‘netnography’. This term was formulated by Robert V. Kozinets (2002, 2010). It is the
research method wherein discussions among consumers on several online posts, forums and
communities are analyzed. These discussions include but are not limited to relevant interviews by
people in the related industry and consumer debates of product experiences on blogs and forums.
This research method simply compliments the survey by gathering information and other data from
all parts of the world, thereby minimizing the problem of costs and time in particular.

5. DATA ANALYSIS

Once upon a time, being thousands of kilometers from New York or London would have made it
impossible for a brand to have a global presence. Now, it’s seamless and virtually unnoticeable,

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because in the digital conversation and retail arena, no one cares or notices where you are. All
that matters is the quality of the ideas and the conversation (Walker, 2016).

5.1 General Analysis

On gathering information from various forums, it was evident that the presence of social media in
the field of fashion and luxury is quite strong. When it comes to marketing, several PR agencies
in particular, seem to flock to social media marketing due to two solid reasons: one being the fact
that it is the cheapest method to market a brand and its products, and the second reason being the
fact that it is a whole lot more on a personal level for the viewers in question. This aspect in fashion
is crucial for a company to have a strong foothold in the heavily competitive world now,
particularly in the luxury fashion industry where clients expect the brand to take extra measures to
keep them happy and engaged and form a connection with them.

Many fashion bloggers stated that the reason why they thought social media as a form of marketing
may be heavily popular among the consumers because of the fact that they (the consumers) have
a better and exclusive peek into the world of their favorite brand; something many could not even
afford to think about considering the luxury industry. However, the PR agencies thought
differently. They mention how most fashion brands publish only highly curated information, even
though they utilize social media platforms to interact with their consumers. From the data I
gathered online, it was clear that the three most important platforms for the major fashion houses
are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In fact this was stated by the PR agent Emma Parlons,
according to Katie Hope in a news article for BBC.

One of the prominent luxury fashion posts on social media that was followed by millions all over
the world was the Burberry eight hour shoot with Brooklyn Beckham, son of David and Victoria
Beckham. It was recorded that more than 15 million viewers were following the fashion house’s
post via the various social media platforms. However, like every other matter in this world, this
too has its negative effects. Post shoot, Burberry hired Brooklyn Beckham as their new
photographer for the brand’s fragrance ad campaign. This news spread like wild fire and was shot
down by thousands because of his age and the lack of professional skills. According to Katie Hope,
Burberry however, did not take the criticism that was being posted by the several thousand on
these social media platforms and instead considered hiring him based on the 15+ million viewers

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they got for the shoot they had with him in the first place. In fact. The chief creative and executive
officer at Burberry, Christopher Bailey, stated that he found Brooklyn Beckham to have a great
eye for image and that Instagram was a spectacular platform for him to showcase his work. All of
this just proved how easy it is to create a future by having a business based off of the numbers one
receives on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and the like.

Illustration 2: A picture of Brooklyn Beckham that was on

his Instagram when he released that he was the new
photographer for Burberrys fragrance ad campaign
(Morungexpress, 2016)

Similar futures have been created over the years for several celebrities like super model Kendall
Jenner, and regular people who turned into celebrities due to their ‘followers’, like Lilly Singh,
also known by the tag ||Superwoman||. These people relied on social media platforms like
Instagram and Twitter (Kendall Jenner) and YouTube (Lilly Singh) and showcased their talents
on them to garner followers (people who follow your posts or videos on any social media platform)
and build a business out of it. However, thought this may be a great way to figure out which people
have created great futures utilizing the available social media services, it is tricky to decipher data
like sales performances in relation to the marketing campaigns on the said platforms. At the same
time, due to the increasing importance of social media usage in today’s high-tech world, it is
becoming increasingly important for fashion houses to adopt marketing strategies that target social

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media and its users. E-commerce and regularly updating its main websites are also equally
important to leverage themselves in the fashion market. This applies not only to mass consumption
fashion outlets but also to popular luxury fashion houses like Gucci and Chanel. If these traditional
luxury houses fail to place themselves on social media, it could be a negative impact for them,
according to Katie Hope from BBC. This further proves how important social media has become
as a strategic business tool.

An important usage for these social media platforms in the fashion world was for the several elite
fashion weeks. The ones where people below the elite class would only dream to get a small sneak
peek of. The said platforms however has now made this a dream come true for all who have internet
connection and a social media account, which is more than half of the population in this world.
This has totally changed the fashion scene as it has made available to the general public, the top
trends and collections by the popular luxury and high-end designers and design houses in the world
at the touch of a button and as soon as it hits the ramp. This also totally changes the concept of
‘The Consumer is the King’ and provides those involved behind the scenes of any fashion house
to constantly put their best work and foot forward to please existing and attract more clients. Being
major luxury and top class fashion houses, many state that this could pose a risk and a threat to
new and upcoming fashion designers as they would need to constantly keep up with the change in
seasons and promotions and this may incur a huge amount in terms of costs for them, and further
hinder their process to have a foothold in the fashion industry. This may be true to an extent but
personally I feel this could also be a great opportunity for such upcoming businesses and designers
to showcase their designs on a smaller scale and move up. This means that with social media and
the ability to connect with a large number of people and communities in a city for example, they
can gain clients and audiences and several other contacts by hosting mini events of their own. It
may be a slow start initially but then again which fashion house started off as a big business? It is
highly possible for anyone to take advantage of the multitude of services every social media
platform constantly provides in order to leverage themselves and garner followers and customers.

While evaluating the usage of Instagram as a marketing platform for major and smaller fashion
brands, it was noted that this was one of the best methods to communicate with clients and
prospective consumers. Instagram allows a fashion brand to not only post pictures but also be a
storyteller for the brand. Since the fashion industry is all about visuals and graphics, it is a great

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way to showcase not just pictures of products but also images from fashion shows, short videos of
the shows, behind-the-scene images and details that make almost everyone feel that exclusivity;
that they are ‘involved’ with the brand. This may make a brand that is high on exclusivity, feel that
it may lose that aspect of it once it engages in social media marketing. But this is not the case. Eva
Chen, Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnership has stated that Instagram democratizes fashion;
that it builds a very unique relation between the brand and its customer. And this is what customers
look out for in this digital world where almost everyone seeks out relationships and the feel of
‘belonging to a community’.

Fashion GPS (2015) mentioned that Instagram is redefining the fashion industry in four major
ways: providing brand identity, engaging customers and followers in a community, behind the
scenes stories that give a deeper picture to followers and monetizing social media. This, as I
mentioned earlier, is via the use of hashtags that is connected to the brand and its online posts.
Similarly, various brands have taken to social media to engage their clients and followers in
contests where they ‘tag’ the brand utilizing hashtags on Instagram and even on other social media
sites like Facebook or just tagging the brand via their account name. Some notable contests held
by major fashion houses include the #CastMeMarc contest by Marc Jacobs, wherein nine lucky
winners were chosen to be featured in their fall campaign. Lancome is yet another brand that
launched a similar campaign, generating 50% sales for the product in the campaign.

Illustration 3: The #CastMeMarc

campaign launched by Marc
Jacobs on various social media
platforms (www.buro247.me)

The negative effects of this kind of campaigning however, could be that a brand could lose control
of who promotes the brand. This is because once they provide open platforms for consumers to
communicate with the brand, they end up promoting the brand as well and these may even be

29
negative reviews that could affect the brand’s image, especially if they are an upcoming designer
or brand. In fact, it was noted that many companies do not know how to effectively manage any
social media marketing that they perform. This was proved when Hanna et al. (2011) showed how
companies that lost control over communication and promotion of the brand when they hand over
to consumers the ability to communicate and connect with the brand, were the ones that couldn’t
utilize the social media marketing schemes effectively. Also, it was noted by Walker (2016) that
location was not a major issue when it came to reaching out to consumers via social media. Sure
it is an important aspect when it comes to fashion weeks and the fact that Paris, Milan and New
York would always be the top cities known for its elite fashion and designers. But at the same
time, location didn’t matter so much when social media marketing came into picture solely because
it enabled fashion houses to reach out people from all over the world.

5.2 Results from the Questionnaires:

When analyzing the data I gathered from the questionnaires, several observations were made. As
mentioned, this survey was done without placing restrictions on the age, gender or location. This
was done in order to get a broad view of how different groups of people think in terms of social
media marketing, because at the end of the day a brand must cater to several groups of people in
order to get a wide range of clients depending on the types of merchandise they specialize in.

I ensured I had an equal number of questionnaires filled in by both genders firstly. The majority
of participants however, were from the age group of 18-25 years. They constituted close to 45%
of the total surveys collected. The remaining surveys were almost equally divided between the
following 4 age groups: 26-35, 36-45, 46-55 and the above 56 age group. I also asked a question
related to the nationality of the participant in order to analyze the consumer behavior in different
regions of the world, on a small scale. The regions I was able to gather information from include:
North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

According to the survey I conducted, it was evident that 90% of the participants owned one account
on a social media website at the very least. The remaining 10% who did not own a single social
media account was someone above the age of 56. The reason they provided for not owning an
account on any social media platform was either because they were not social media literate or
preferred not to keep up with the new trends in digitalization and the internet. When asked if they

30
felt like they were missing out on anything by not having an account, they mentioned that they
were happy that they did not have such a profile on the internet as they felt it would take away
their privacy, and be cumbersome to keep a track on it. They also mentioned that they relied on
newspapers and other mass media for their entertainment and news. When it came to shopping,
they relied on print media most of the time. One of them mentioned that their grand kids would
update them on the social media scene whenever they visited and helped them with any e-
commerce issues that they may have faced.

Of all the social media platforms that were utilized by the participants of this survey, Facebook
had the most popularity. Every single participant of this survey who had at least one social media
profile, had one on Facebook. According to this survey, the second popular social media portal
utilized was Instagram and LinkedIn. YouTube and Twitter occupied the 3rd and 4th positions
respectively in terms of popularity, while Snapchat, Pinterest and WeChat trailed behind. Other
social media platforms that a small percentage of the participants utilized included Tumblr, Google
Plus, WhatsApp, Hike Messenger and Quora. When it comes to collecting information on various
fashion trends and other fashion related information, even though there was a higher tendency for
people of various ages to look to their circle of friends, peers and other street fashion, there is an
ongoing trend to follow celebrities and trendsetters and other fashionistas like bloggers on social
media platforms in order to get their insight into what’s hot and what’s not in the fashion industry.
In fact, there was a time when fashion magazines provided such kind of information and all those
who were involved in the fashion world looked to these for their daily dose of fashion. But slowly
this too is being replaced by the internet and social media in particular and it is evident by the
lower percentage of people who selected fashion magazines instead of social networking sites for
their fashion information.

When asked their views on whether social media is proving to be an effective marketing platform
for the fashion and luxury industry, more than half the participants of the survey agreed to it while
a much smaller percentage that mostly consisted of participants from the age 46 and above
disagreed with the same. 50% of the participants for this survey mentioned that they followed
fashion brands on social media in order to be updated with the latest in trends as well as the new
collections that these brands offered every season. They also followed them on the various online
platforms in order to view images and videos that the brand posts as a marketing campaign or to

31
create further awareness of the brand. Everyone loves promotional offers and discounts on their
favorite products and this is another important reason several customers follow fashion brands on
social media. Sometimes, clients also make use of the presence of brands on social media by
creating small conversation threads or forums where customers can give their ranking or feedback
on products and the brand as a whole. This also enables the brand to communicate with those
consumers who play a significant role in promoting the brand and creating awareness about it
among their friends, fans and peers. Some other reasons that were mentioned by clients as to why
they followed these brands online is because it helped them feel like they were a part of a
community. It felt like their voice mattered to the brand. They also stated that it helped them create
a bond with the brand when their issues, recommendations and comments were acknowledged by
a customer support team on the page. Furthermore, some customers also go to the extent of
uploading images or short videos of themselves with products from the brand and sharing these
with their friends and followers on the social media site. A couple of the participants also
mentioned that they wished to be more engaged with the brand by submitting ideas or sketches or
other inspiration of their own, in hopes that it may be seen and considered for any of the future
product collections. However, there was also a small percentage of participants for this survey who
mentioned that they didn’t follow brands on their social media platforms, for the sole fear of losing
their privacy to these companies. This, I feel is a concept that many companies have to tackle in
order to reach out to this group of individuals as well.

In the past, luxury products was something that could only be afforded by the rich and affluent. It
was something that had to be disregarded by the lower and middle classes because it was something
they could not afford. Not just this, they never felt the need to own something in this category
because it was an unnecessary expense or just unavailable when sought. However now with the
advancement of technology and the internet in particular, and of course other factors like
Globalization, there is now an evident change in the luxury segment of the market- be it for fashion,
accessories, cars or even wine. Luxury products are of course still on the higher end of price but
are now available easier. This was evident when the percentage of those who purchase luxury
fashion products, even if only at times, were a lot more than those who didn’t at all. Also, the fact
that the accessibility and availability of luxury fashion products to every consumer from all parts
of this vast world has further increased the demand of these products online. In this digital world
where everything is at our fingertips, consumers now also wish to purchase at least a little less than

32
half of their luxury purchases online, whether it be clothing, footwear, scarves or certain
accessories, for the reason that it is easier and that many luxury fashion houses now offer the option
of e-commerce on their website making it more trustworthy to make online luxury purchases. Of
course, luxury e-commerce could not replace physically experiencing the luxury shopping
experience but it definitely is making a mark in the fashion and luxury industry. Among clothing
and accessories however, participants found themselves purchasing more luxury clothing and
scarves and footwear online than jewelry and watches, for the sole risk of facing authenticity
issues.

Participants in this survey who stated that they purchase luxury fashion merchandise stated that
they could be attracted towards online shopping with the brands if it placed a lot of effort into its
social media marketing strategies; which also included several contests, promotional offers and
also online customer services that removed the hassle of communication with after sales customer
service. Other than these factors though, trust is also important to build loyalty towards the brand
along with its e-commerce activities, if any. More than half the participants stated that when this
trust was built and when they noticed the brand utilizing social media, they tend to consider online
shopping with the brand, without feeling the product to be inferior in quality. However, there were
a few others who stated that even building a level of trust could not get them to conduct online
business with the company because of the fact that ‘Anything can happen on the internet these
days…especially when you involve a debit or credit card’, as stated by a male participant in the
age group 36-45 years. He felt that any form of authenticity issues or mishaps during an online
transaction could be completely avoided when you just visit the store in person.

Nevertheless, participants who did base their base their purchasing decisions of fashion and luxury
products online on the extent of effort a brand made on social media to attract their consumers, are
plenty. Many felt that they have to read through other customer reviews online before making a
purchasing decision whether in-store or online, while several others have experienced instances
when the brand’s marketing tactics online influenced their purchases with the brand. This is
especially true with fashion retailers like H&M where one of the participants was influenced to
purchase a bomber jacket that was worn by a popular music artist on their music video
collaboration with the brand. Yet another participant was influenced to purchase items advertised

33
by brands like Zara, Bershka and Abercrombie and Fitch after viewing advertisements and
celebrity endorsement images on Facebook and Instagram.

5.3 Overall Results from Research Conducted

Out of all the forms of social media, though Instagram seems to have more marketing activities by
major fashion houses, Facebook seems to be the king of all. This is because of the fact that site
serves as a fantastic platform for several forms of media from texts to images to videos. It engages
users in infinite number of ways by not just providing them a platform to share their life stories
and images but also to keep in contact with their friends and family, to have a private conversation
with any of them, to follow celebrities and popular companies, designers and the like, to ‘check-
in’ their location by pin pointing where exactly they are to their friend using GPS location services,
to play games online, to read news articles and other articles, to post their views on anything and
everything and even find job opportunities. The list is endless when it comes to the activities one
can perform when on this highly engaging social media platform and this is what makes it the king
of all social media. When it comes to business strategies, there are several ways a business can
take advantage of all the services Facebook provides. For one, it enables the integration of
applications. This allows a brand to perform several activities like distributing discount and
promotional codes for purchase both in store and online; link their website with the Facebook page
they own, conduct several contests for their followers that enable them to connect with them at a
level that could not be imagined in the past and even hold separate forums where consumers get
to voice their opinion on the brand and the products they use with other consumers. There is a risk
in such cases to get negative reviews as well but this also ensures that the brand constantly strives
to keep their customers satisfied.

Brandanew, a media platform that assists brands by curating the best ideas in content marketing
and branding, has created a list of the 5 top brands that are currently performing their very best on
Facebook. The list includes Burberry, Adidas Soccer, Lacoste, Levis and Umbro. If you notice it
is only Burberry form the luxury fashion world that utilizes Facebook effectively to engage its
customers. Having created its page on Facebook in 2009, it has about close to 16 million fans and
followers today and posts not only rich visual advertisements but also videos that portray true

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brand identity. Apart from engaging with their clients, this step has significantly led to growth in
sales, especially on its e-commerce website, which it also invested in to further improve it.
According to Chloe Rigby on internetretailing.net, Burberry saw a 29% rise in sales and a 24%
rise in pre-tax profits in September 2011 due to the social media marketing strategies it adopted.
Adidas Soccer has a page with around 21 million fans, which it created in order to connect with
football fans all over the world as they took up a charity campaign that had its central theme around
the HIV epidemic issue in Africa. This marketing campaign not only brought about the awareness
of how many people in Africa suffered because of the epidemic but also proved Adidas to be a
very socially responsible brand in the eyes of its consumers. It was a win-win for everyone.

The premium brand Lacoste too has its success story on Facebook marketing when they created a
fan page on the social networking site in order to garner followers and increase traffic on the page
and website and in turn raise sales. With over 5 million fans and counting, Lacoste ran a series of
Marketplace Ads during January and February 2011. There were about 100 different ads and each
one of them directed fans and followers to the brand’s online store for one of the following
markets: France, Germany and the United Kingdom. What enabled them to have a success story
when it came to social media marketing is that they utilized a clear cut strategy wherein four main
criteria shaped its use of Facebook’s target filtering, namely: Location, Gender, Age and Likes and
Interests. These ads were then separately targeted to men and women in each of these three
countries. Furthermore, there were two main age groups as well, 18-24 and 25-44. In terms of likes
and interests, Lacoste targets people with a significant interest in fashion using keywords such as
‘design’ and ‘fashion TV’, along with specific products that were made available on the e-
commerce portal. Once this was done, there was a constant check and optimization of the ads by
removing low-performing ones, testing certain image and product combinations, making amends
to target groups and also allocating higher budgets to the best performing advertisements. Filipp
Goldscheider, an account manager at Netrada Digital Marketing, the e-marketing company that
worked with the fashion house, stated that they utilized the Glow Machine (which is an ads API-
Application Program Interface tool) in order to run the ads and convert the success into sales. The
result was that the Facebook Ads received approximately 66 million impressions in Germany, 70
million impressions in France and 43 million in UK. The high click-through rates translated into
low cost-per-click rate for the company. Ultimately, Lacoste achieved an overall conversion rate
for the campaign that was a 500% improvement on its first Facebook Ads Campaign. They could

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identify their online customer base and find out how it differs from the brand’s traditional retail
clients, and also provided and insight into its consumers’ online behavior which they could utilize
later on as well.

Illustration 4: Lacoste Marketplace Ad

Campaign on Facebook
(www.scribd.com)

Levis was yet another fashion brand that successfully utilized Facebook in promoting themselves
and enhance its grip on smaller towns in the United States. Just like Lacoste, they released targeted
geographic ad campaigns that helped them garner over 35% more fans and followers in a short
amount of time. It also offered various discount offers through their ads that enabled an increase
in foot traffic for both their retail stores and e-commerce website. Currently, the brand has
partnered with several music artists and set up their “storytelling ‘live in levis’ stories” which are
shared on Facebook, landing the fashion brand to have over 21 million followers from around the
world. Lastly, what Umbro, a British apparel brand, achieved is an increased level of brand
awareness among people from hard to reach places through its ‘Tailored to England’ ad campaign
where the brand opted to pay for its ‘reach block’- a geographic block where the ad is shown to
100% of the people who reside in that particular geographical location. Apart from increased
awareness, this also led to a significant increase in its sales figures.

Twitter and Instagram are two other social media platforms that are quite popular in business
strategies according to various observations made. Twitter with its tweets and hashtags have
gained popularity among celebrities over the years and this is one of the most prominent ways
people use to give a ‘shout-out’ to everyone about their views and comments on trivial matters as
well as major happenings around the world. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior and Gucci are some of

36
the top few fashion houses that utilize Twitter for their marketing campaigns and now have over a
million followers for their accounts. While using Keyhole, a web portal that is utilized by
marketers, social media analysts, journalists and other agencies, it was proven that on an average
week day, 299 is the average number of times the hashtag for Burberry was used for a new post.
This hashtag was viewed by or retweeted a little over 600,000 times. And this is just for one day.
It also shows that the average time of the day when this hashtag was being distributed and posted
the most was between 8 AM- 10 AM. Similarly, it gives information on the top posts, top
influential people for the brand on the said social media platform and even the popular locations
in the world for such posts. Such information is very helpful for a company while they analyze
their consumers’ online behavior as it gives them an idea of when and how to go about with their
social media marketing schemes. There are several other websites that also do this analysis and
provide more services for a small fee, but is worth the end result for a brand.

Pinterest and Instagram are two platforms of social media wherein images and hashtags are the
main medium of communication. It is synonymous to a fashion brand to tell compelling and
congruent stories when it comes to brand marketing and attracting clients, and both Pinterest and
Instagram serve this purpose. What sets the two apart is the way people use them. While Instagram
is a photo sharing application that is utilized by millions today, Pinterest is a more curated version
of it that is utilized more by creative individuals or professionals who spend time organizing and
creating story boards with images of products, inspirations and other such media onto one frame
and publishing it. Pinterest, as mentioned earlier, works on ‘pins’, which is the equivalent of tweets
in Twitter. Once a pin is created, one may re-pin a story or image under several keywords which
could match the keywords of another person’s as they search for something similar. While there
are several major fashion brands and designers like Kate Spade and Oscar de la Renta on Pinterest,
this form of social media is a lot more useful for upcoming and small scale fashion businesses for
the sole reason that they can put themselves out there in the fashion industry by utilizing several
relevant keywords that could be used by fashion bloggers, consumers and others while searching
for specific content on Pinterest. This helps them gain popularity in the online world and build the
brand in a faster way in comparison to Instagram. ModCloth from San Francisco, U.S.A utilizes
Pinterest perfectly to maintain its followers’ interest by collaborating with bloggers, featuring
images of clients wearing their merchandise, share pin boards with styling and makeup tips, DIYs
(do-it-yourself’s) and other major event wear inspiration like wedding wear for instance. This

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gives them a big advantage in being found more often while users of Pinterest search for specific
content utilizing keywords entered by the company as well. These methods are important for a
small-scale or upcoming fashion business to thrive in today’s highly competitive market.

Illustration 5: The Pinterest account of

ModCloth, a San Francisco based fashion brand
(www.smallbiztrends.com)

Instagram = hashtags (#). This is what all of us think of this social media platform. They allow the
user to post an image or a short video and connect it with an event, a category or even a point of
view by using the hashtag. For a fashion business it means they can search for and connect with
new customers, fashion bloggers and influencers, retailers and the media as well. One strategy that
works very well in Instagram as it does on Facebook is to choose the right time to make a post.
The Hootsuite blog states that the best time to post content on Instagram is between 12 PM and 1
PM from Monday to Friday, considering the fact that this is the average lunch time for most
employees and according to surveys it is noted that most people go onto social media sites to spend
their lunch breaks and commuting time. However, it can also be noted that many companies also
post between 6 AM and 12 PM on a weekday as most people check their social media accounts
the moment they wake up and during the day. This being said, companies can also take advantage

38
of the fact that the volume of posting content is relatively low during this time so there will be less
amount of content to compete with and a good sized audience to cater to. Furthermore, in order to
cater to international clients, it is important to keep in mind the variations in time zones and post
content accordingly. For example, a company could post content related to a particular location
like India utilizing the Indian Standard Time (IST), while at the same time posting content related
to consumers in the Eastern part of North and Central America utilizing the Eastern Standard Time
(EST). Nike, Adidas and Michael Kors are three fashion and lifestyle brands that have made it big
on Instagram. Michael Kors is one of the brands that adopted digital innovation at an early age.
Their Marquee marketing campaign on Instagram where they filmed 3 videos of Lilly Aldridge in
beautiful Paris wearing shoes from their Jet Set 6 collection specifically for frequent travelers, led
to a lift in brand awareness in United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada. This meant
they gained about 200 thousand plus people visiting their website in over 30 days, with a 2.6 times
increased visit to the Jet Set collection and the shoe products page. In the luxury fashion industry,
Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Christian Louboutin are the top 3 players on Instagram with 5.7 million, 5.2
million and 4.7 million followers respectively.

Illustration 6:
Christian Louboutin
on Instagram
(www.clickz.com)

Even though there was a time when customers wished Luxury brands stopped utilizing social media to
market themselves due to the fact that it made the brand less exclusive and hence gave it a less luxurious
feel, times are changing and most, if not all, fashion luxury brands are now realizing the importance of

39
adapting to the changes in the fashion industry due to digitalization and putting themselves on the social
media platforms in their unique ways. If anything, one suggestion I feel that could be considered by fashion
brands when marketing online is to target particular audiences instead of generalizing. Create audience
specific marketing schemes and tailor them according to the geographic location too because of there is one
thing we all learn from e-newsletters by companies in our email inbox, it is spam or junk email. Brands
must learn from this and strive to cater to their clients in more innovative methods that would not only
engage them but also influence them to stay with the brand for years to come. Constant curating of the
content that is posted on the social media page of the brand is also required in order to ensure no loss of
control in promoting the brand. Furthermore, another aspect that many brands could also consider is
development of their social; responsibility. While digitalization equips the user with everything at his/her
fingertips, it also makes the buyer more informed and concerned about social and environmental issues. So
much so that there are now many stories of clients who walk away from their loved brands when they
realize that the level of social responsibility on the part of the brand is quite low. One way to improve it is
by collaborating with any charitable organization or taking up any charitable campaign online like Adidas
did, which in turn gives them a great sense of social responsibility in the eyes of their treasures customers.
Yet another recommendation I would like to give would be to constantly provide personalized treatment to
clients in the form of knowing the client behind the profile they hold on the site. They can do this by
engaging in conversations, holding quizzes and other contests where likes and dislikes of clients are
showcased to the brand. They can utilize this information to create customized and a more personal
experience to the client similar to what they feel when physically present at a luxury fashion house. To add
to it, fashion houses can also look towards adding to the experience by providing the service of sending
stylists or other professionals to the client’s home with products that the client may have created a wish list
of on the social media platform. This further strengthens the brand-customer relationship in a luxury
environment even though the actual store is not in the picture.

6. CONCLUSION

From all the above research it is evident that social media has brought about a major shift in the lives of
everyone. It is impossible to imagine a life without it. It can be noted that it has changed aspects of our lives
that were more or less stable and thus created changes in the business industry. It has globalized the fashion
and luxury industry to a huge extent. Many retailers and luxury fashion houses now turn to social media in
order to market themselves in a way that attracts not only their existing clients but enables them to build a
wider client base. While it is true that many businesses are not fully aware of how to effectively utilize the

40
social media platforms for online marketing, there are several brands who do. More researchers in every
field, the fashion and luxury field in particular are coming up with several resources to assist these brands
and keep them aware of the changing trends in the digital world. Bloggers and other social media influencers
also include celebrities like Kanye West and Kylie Jenner and they continue to make profound impacts on
those who follow the fashion industry. Similarly, several other people have now turned into celebrities via
social media platforms and continue to do so by propagating their ideas, styles and knowledge on these
sites. They become sought after and followed on the social media portals and eventually icons.

From the survey conducted, it was evident that it is important for fashion and luxury brands to utilize every
service offered by social media platforms for their advertising and marketing campaigns. These brands
could leverage the high potential that digital media and social media provides and constantly fight to stay
at the very top of the vicious fashion cycle. It is noted that a digitally active brand can easily scale upwards
as long as it follows the right mix of online as well as traditional marketing strategies and tailors them
according to the several age and ethnic groups that they cater to. Another positive aspect of social media
marketing that fashion brands can take advantage of, especially the upcoming designers and fashion brands,
is the fact that it is one of the most cost effective methods of marketing.

Just like everything else, social media has both its pros and cons when it comes to marketing. Though it
may be a cost effective method of management, it surely is a time intensive one. Social media marketing is
not something that every person is capable of achieving without investing a considerable amount of time
and effort to learn and use. For this very reason, most of the social media marketing jobs are passed on to
the younger generation or interns who are generally more fluent in social media lingo than those who have
worked with other marketing media in the past. This could also be seen as a pro however, as it also creates
more jobs for the youth. Another con is the fact that social media now has too much ‘noise’ on it. This
could be related to the fact that the internet has made it possible for everyone to share and retrieve
information in such an easy way. This constant process by billions of people on a daily basis makes it an
overcrowded and noisy platform for any personal marketing schemes to be implemented. Similarly, some
companies invests all their time and resources for social media marketing that they eventually forget the
other means of marketing which are equally important for a business to thrive, for the sole reason that every
customer thinks and acts differently and what may work for one may not work for the other. Finally, another
con that most marketers and customers face is the lack of change for online and social media marketing.
Because of this sudden shift to online marketing methods, many companies tend to shift to it without prior
experience or knowledge in online marketing and tend to imitate or copy marketing campaigns by other
brands, making bad marketing easier. This eventually leads to boredom and irritation from the customer
when they are bombarded with several similar advertisements and marketing strategies that brands use to

41
capture their attention. It is up to the brand to ensure that they make the right decisions and gain sufficient
knowledge before moving to social media marketing.

At the end of the day, one cannot disagree that there surely is a huge power over the fashion and luxury
industry by social media. It has made fashion accessible for everyone and now it is the consumer who has
a lot of control than the brand. Brands can take advantage of this fact and further cater to their customers
using personalized marketing strategies in order to effectively utilize this platform.

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