Research Objective
Sapience analyzes the role of social media in fashion on the different stages of the consumer journey leading up to fashion purchases.
It starts by shedding light on the awareness and usage of different social media platforms;
then taps into the exploitation of those platforms for fashion-related purposes.
Highlights on how social media shapes individuals’ behavior and decision-making concerning fashion products are also available.
The findings herein should provide insights on planning future marketing activities.
Role of social media in fashion with respect to:
- Initiating purchase desire
- Searching for products info and updates
- Purchase decision making
- Interacting and sharing brand experience
Note: In this post, we are showing only a sample of the report
Cluster analysis: Identifying variations that boost marketing planning
The study uses a cluster analysis to isolate segments that possess different psychographic profiles. The study aims to aid planners and marketing professionals in their activities.
While demographics provide a vague (sometimes misleading) picture of the actual behavior of an individual, psychographic profiles tend to identify groups of people that think, act, and behave similarly. This makes psychographic-based targeting more directed and focused than demographic-based targeting.
Meet our personas
Anood
Anood is a young, employed married housewife. She is a fashionista who cares a lot about her image and tries to set the trend by what she wears and buys. When it comes to social media, she acknowledges the benefits that social media has introduced into this industry and is very sensitive to advertising on different social media platforms.
However, Anood is not reliant on social media; on the contrary, she is a resourceful and tech-savvy individual demonstrating an ability to manage without social media platforms when shopping for fashion products.
Hessa
Hessa is a married and unemployed housewife; she is older than Anood but almost the same age as Ameera. She prefers to keep a low profile regarding fashion and image by avoiding attention and buzz. Hessa looks for advice regarding fashion trends and is starting to exploit social media for this purpose. As a “late” adopter of social platforms, she doesn’t mind shopping for fashion by “traditional” methods and is not sensitive towards social media advertising.
However, Hessa displays limited “negative” views towards social media and looks set to exploit this medium more for fashion purposes
Ameera
Ameera is also a married and unemployed housewife; she is slightly younger than Hessa. She likes to be the center of attention and applaud what she wears. Ameera doesn’t look to set any trend, and instead, she checks and follows the latest launches and fads. Ameera yearns for old fashion shopping ways but has become very reliant on social media when it comes to fashion.
Instagram is the go-to platform when it comes to fashion
Instagram’s high popularity could be attributed to its fashion-related content and its attractive and aspirational interface. Awareness levels of the newcomer, Snapchat, have sky-rocketed in a relatively short period of time. The introduction of Snapchat’s lenses, in September 2015, was a key ingredient in Snapchat’s swift rise to fame.
More than 8 out of 10 use Instagram regularly, followed by Snapchat, gaining ground over established platforms (especially Facebook) with the appeal of its filters and lenses. But when it comes to utilizing a social media platform for product search, checking fashion updates, purchasing fashion items, and other fashion-related purposes, Instagram leads on its own.
Ameera and Anood appear to be more active than Hessa, especially on the top three platforms, provided they are the most tech-savvy with an interest in fashion. In contrast, Hessa is more inclined to use sources that encompass different types of information (such as YouTube) as she is still in the exploratory phase.
Choice of social media platforms for fashion tasks doesn’t differ significantly between the ladies – they all focus this activity on Instagram
But it is not only about Instagram:
Social media as a whole is immensely benefiting the fashion industry
Social media has altered consumers’ approaches to fashion. Most notably, it has made more brands within reach. Also, more than 8 out of 10 respondents credit it shortening the trend life, making shopping more fun, and becoming the first place for spotting trends.
Anood and Ameera share similar opinions towards how social media has changed the fashion industry. Still, Ameera agrees less that consumers are now dictating the trends more than brands because of social media.
Hessa exhibits a more conservative attitude towards social media’s modifications on fashion.
6 out of 10 check social media more than once daily for fashion updates
On average, respondents search for information about products and fashion’s new trends on social media almost 6 times a week.
This average frequency is relatively higher for Anood as she does not only keep up to date but also sets trends, thus, investing more time on social media.
The search for fashion updates and trends is concentrated in two places:
When consumers log on to search for a fashion product or recent trends, they go straight to the source – the brand/retailer page. Closely, celebrities and fashion icons are also viewed as pioneers in promoting and endorsing new items, becoming role models to many on social media platforms.
Hessa, who looks for fashion guidance more than the other two ladies, tends to resort to all kind of sources while searching. Anood, the trendsetter, has a more concise search concentrated on brand pages, celebrity accounts and posts from friends. Though Ameera yearns for old shopping ways, her increasing reliance on social media when it comes to fashion is demonstrated by a condensed search on brand pages and celebrity accounts.