Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end ...dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/dissertations/2016-17/External/Shang_S.pdf · Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end

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Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end Fashion Brand’s

Social Media Marketing

A study submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of

MSC Information Management

at

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

by

Siyuan Shang

September 2017

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Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.0 Research Title, Aims and Objectives ...................................................................................................... 5

2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5

2.1 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 7

3.0 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 8

3.1 Theoretical Background ...................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Social Media in Marketing ................................................................................................................ 13

3.3 The Customer Experience in the Age of Social Media ..................................................................... 15

3.4 Fashion Brands Use of Social Media Marketing .............................................................................. 16

3.5 Literature review summary ............................................................................................................... 19

4.0 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 20

4.1 Research Paradigm ............................................................................................................................ 20

4.2 Research Approach: Qualitative Interviews...................................................................................... 21

4.3 Question Selection ............................................................................................................................ 23

4.4 Data Collection Methods .................................................................................................................. 24

4.5 Data Transcription and Analysis ........................................................................................................ 26

4.6 Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................................................... 28

5.0 Analysis of Findings ............................................................................................................................. 31

6.0 Conclusion and Limitations .................................................................................................................. 41

References ................................................................................................................................................... 43

Appendix ................................................................................................................................................. 48

Appendix 1 – Interview Transcripts ........................................................................................................ 48

Appendix 2 – Tables ............................................................................................................................... 72

Appendix 3 – Ethical Approval Letter .................................................................................................... 78

Appendix 4 – Access to Dissertation form ............................................................................................. 79

Appendix 5 – Address & First Employment Destination Details form .................................................. 81

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Abstract Background

Social media is one of the most prominent innovations of the 21st century, with the past decade

having seen its proliferation at a rate that touches almost 1 billion people on the planet. In recent

years, fashion brands have begun to use the technology extensively for the purposes of marketing

and engaging customers. Despite ample citations, few sources have provided any empirical

evidence of the impact upon the customer’s experience, especially from the latter’s perspective.

Aims

There exists a research gap on whether social media marketing does indeed have the intended

effect on the customer’s experience of the brand. In order to address this gap, the aim of this

research study is to ascertain the impact that social media marketing has had upon the customer

experience of both high-end and low-end fashion brands

Method

This study analyzed the impact of social media marketing by undertaking in-depth interviews on

15 young customers of both high-end and low-end fashion, using the pioneering brands ASOS

and Burberry as the respective representative brands. Interview questions were developed using

Montoya’s (2016) framework with Roger’s DOI theory serving as the research paradigm.

Results

The study uncovered that social media marketing had a positive impact in 80% of instances for

low-end brands, and 73% of instances for high-end brands. Furthermore, it was found that the

impact of social media could be categorized using Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory. The

compatibility of social media with customers' needs and values, along with its ease of trialability,

were the most crucial factors explaining the degree of the innovation’s impact.

Conclusion

The results of the research can be taken as proof that social media market does have a tangible

impact upon the customer experience of both high-end and low-end fashion brands. Moreover, in

80% of the instances, the respondents of the research cited a positive impact. While the impact

applies to both high-end and low-end fashion brands, it manifests itself in different ways for the

two brands

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1.0 Research Title, Aims and Objectives

1.1 Research Title: Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end Fashion

Brand’s Social Media Marketing

1.2 Research Aims

The primary aim of this research study is to ascertain the impact that social media marketing has

had upon the customer experience of both high-end and low-end fashion brands. In doing so:

1. ASOS will be used as a representative brand for the low-end fashion market

2. Burberry will be used as the representative brand for the high-end fashion market

1.3 Research Objectives

The following research objectives will be used to guide the research and verify the eventual

degree of success (or failure) of the study -

1. To identify the impact of social media marketing on the experience of the customers of

low end fashion brand (ASOS) by pertinent qualitative research.

2. To identify the impact of social media marketing on the experience of the customers of

high-end fashion brand (Burberry) by pertinent qualitative research.

3. To identify any differences in customer experience based on the market segment

(high/low-end) and contrast the differences if applicable by using a relevant method of

scaling

2.0 Introduction

Social media came to prominence in the Mid-2000s, initially through the network Myspace and

then spawning current market leader Facebook before going on to a swath of different

permutations that targeted specific markets or use-cases, such as Instagram and Snapchat.

Research by the ONS (2016) shows that approximately 84% of adults in the UK have a social

media presence, and 48% of adults use/access a social network at least once per day.

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For marketing purposes, some sources have criticized social media as a fad that while big enough

to necessitate a presence, will have no long-term impact, while others have categorized it as a

buzzword that has few practical advantages if any (Holt, 2016).

However, empirical evidence suggests the contrary is true; for example, Demers (2014) cites a

study which found that 53% of Americans who followed a brand’s social media channels

actually displayed increased loyalty to the brand in their purchasing and referral decisions.

Furthermore, a different study found that as little of six hours effort on social media was enough

to increase visibility by 84%.

Perhaps the area where social media marketing has been cited as having the biggest impact is

that of the customer experience. According to Demers (2014, p. 59) “Every customer interaction

you have on social media is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate your customer service level

and enrich your relationship with your customers. For example, if a customer complains about

your product on Twitter, you can immediately address the comment, apologize publicly, and take

action to make it right. Or, if a customer compliments you, you can thank them and recommend

additional products. It’s a personal experience that lets customers know you care about them”.

Numerous sources of literature appear to be in consensus over one fact: social media has

changed what the customer expects in terms of their experience when engaging with their

favorite brands; 87% of shoppers now engage with the brand online before actually purchasing

anything (Roderick, 2016). Furthermore, the customer now expects to be part of the brand as

opposed to it being a 1-sided business-to-consumer marketing flow; for example, one of the

reasons for the success of ASOS is that it utilizes user-generated content featuring photos of

customers wearing its products (Roderick, 2016). Phan et al (2011) go as far as crediting

Burberry’s turnaround from a brand maligned by its association with British hooligans to a

bellwether of British upper-class fashion to social media.

While there have been ample instances of this and other social media marketing efforts being

cited, few sources have provided any empirical evidence of the impact upon the customer’s

experience, especially from the latter’s point of view. While experts have discussed at length

how fashion brands can use social media for marketing, there exists a research gap on whether

these efforts do indeed have the intended effect on the customer’s experience of the brand. In

order to address this gap, this current study will analyze the impact of social media marketing by

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undertaking qualitative research on customers of both high-end and low-end fashion brands,

using aforementioned pioneers ASOS and Burberry as the respective representative brands.

2.1 Background

Lindbeck and Foley (2010) state that present-day businesses are constantly on the lookout for

novel ways to communicate their marketing message and interact with customers. The authors

found that while the late 20th

and early 21st century featured e-mail, posted newsletters and

surveys, and telephone-based call centers as the primary means of communication; these have

been supplanted in the past decade or so by newer methods, especially amongst the so-called

“Millennial” cohort (the generation born between 1982 and 2000) who are fast becoming the

largest and most valuable market of customers. This generation grew up with the digital

revolution directly impacting their lives, and as such are used to – and expect – digital

communication and instantly-available information. As such, practitioners such as Kerpen (2012)

believe that in order to reach out and enhance these customers’ “experience” from a marketing

standpoint, it is essential to use their preferred means of communication which is digital means

such as microblogging, content sharing services and social networks – technologies collectively

referred to as “Social media”.

Social media helps individuals to connect with others who share the same common interests, and

foster relationships with people – or for that matter, businesses and other entities – which might

otherwise not be practicable for reasons of geography and reach; it has also provided a platform

by which previously passive audiences have now become active participants in their own

customer experience as brand’s customers (Kumar et al, 2009). Enders et al. (2008) cite the

simplicity of the platform as one of the primary reasons behind the success of social media, as it

enabled the users of these platforms to quickly adopt to the applications.

Collins et al (2011) noted that the blanket term social media can be applied to various different

technologies. These include:

Social networks

Content sharing services

Microblogs

Wikis

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Forums

Content aggregators

What this disparate service all have in common however, is a focus on getting users to

collaborate with each other, and generating or “uploading” their own content. Social media

facilitates the sharing of opinions, ideas, experiences and of related content (such as photos and

video).

The importance of social media to the young customer (i.e. those currently below the age of 35)

cannot be understated. A survey by Nielsen (2010) found that the majority of this generation

spend almost twice of their personal time on social networking when compared to any other

computer-mediated i.e. digital activity. Social media has also become the preferred means of

interaction and communication; for example, Ostrow (2010) conducted a study of the

communication habits of 182 individuals over a one year period between June 2009 and June

2010, during which the use of e-mails dropped from 11.5% of instances to 8.3%, and instant

messaging fell by 15%; the slack in both cases was picked up by social media.

A study by (Koren 2012) found that more than half of the business surveyed indicate that social

media is the “most effective” means of marketing as it has a tangible impact on client

relationships as well as sales revenue. Increasingly, employees are bringing their own personal

experiences of using social networks to create links with customers (and peers) in an

exponentially more significant manner.

3.0 Literature Review

In this section, pertinent literature will be researched and critically analysed to provide the basis

for the primary research to be carried out later in the study. The view is to arrive at a sound of

theoretical foundation that illustrates whether or not social media marketing has an impact on

fashion brand’s consumers, before qualifying the impact on the customer’s experience. In doing

so, numerous sources will be analysed including but not limited to: academic journals, industry

periodicals, trade publications, government sources, reputable newspapers and websites.

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3.1 Theoretical Background

The research theory that will be used for this dissertation study is Roger’s (2010) Diffusion of

Innovation (DOE) theory, which has been refined over the years since its initial publication in

1983.

Some sources in current literature actually equate the diffusion of innovation as a social process;

the adoption of an innovation by the individual is encouraged, or restricted, or otherwise

affected, by the group(s) that he/she belongs to (Lievrouw, 2002) .

DOE identified five factors that are credited with facilitating the widespread proliferation or

“diffusion” of a given technology. Rogers (2010) further notes that organisations which grasp

these concepts can make effective and efficient use of said technologies for their purposes – e.g.

for enhancing the customer experience. These factors are as follows:

1. Compatibility: This refers to what degree the technology conforms to potential adopter’s

needs, values, and experiences. It allows the user to gain familiarity with the new

innovation (Russel et al, 2012)

2. Complexity: This factor is in reference to how easily the potential user can understand the

innovation. If not, then the innovation has a high degree of complexity which might

negatively affect adoption (Rogers, 2010).

3. Trialability: An innovation is said to possess trialability if it is easy for the users to

experiment with it for a limited amount of time before they “commit” to it. This allows

the user to establish whether it is compatible with their needs without a financial outlay.

4. Observability: This factor refers to the easy of observing the results of the innovation;

some technologies have readily observable or comprehendible benefits such as reducing

time taken to do a task, reducing cost etc. Others might have more abstract benefits which

might be difficult to observe on initial application (Russel et al, 2012).

5. Relative advantage: When an innovation supersedes another technology/process, the

extent to which its is perceived to be better than its predecessor by its adopters is called

relative advantage. The higher the degree of this perception, the better the chances of

persistent adoption (Rogers, 2010).

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During the course of the literature review, this theory will be applied to social media marketing

in the context of how it can impact the customer experience, using measurable metrics from

research sources as well as applicable cases of real-life application from the literature.

3.1.1 Application of DOI to the use of Social Media for Marketing

If social media is to be considered an innovation, then its usage must be associated or correlated

with an individual’s – or businesses – needs, norms, pre-existing practices and their societal

uniqueness Kwok et al (2010); the increasing popularity and prominence of social media further

creates awareness of the technology amongst non-users and awakens individual’s natural

curiosity about new things. The first stage would probably begin with an individual

experimenting with the different social networks that are available. Once they find a network that

they are able to identify with or which conforms to their particular needs of communication and

interaction, the individual starts to become psychologically involved. At this point, the individual

begins to (subconsciously or consciously) consider whether it is beneficial to them to adopt or be

part of this innovation on the long-term (Koren, 2012). This is where the DOI features –

compatibility, complexity, observability, trialability and relative benefit - can influence the

individual to adopt the technology on a long-term basis.

Social media’s compatibility to the individual is largely dependent on how well it is able to fulfill

their needs and requirements. As Folerenso et al., 2009 notes, communication and interaction are

vital to an individual’s sense of belonging, and their feeling of being at place within their

community and social circle. This might even explain why social media has ascended so quickly

as the most popular way to communicate as of the present day, because not only does it facilitate

communication but its social features (such as likes/mentions etc.) also serve to heighten the

individuals sense of belonging and community.

Rogers (1995) notes that technologies which place an inordinate demand on the individuals

ability to understand and require a substantial investment of time and effort to grasp its

functionality have little to no chance of finding widespread adoption. Social media run almost

totally contrary to this, with an ease of use based upon a simple web-platform that in most cases

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is designed to appeal to the widest possible cross-section of the general public. Thus social

media’s complexity (or more precisely, its lack thereof) is intrinsic in making it “sticky” and

keeps users coming back to use it and spend more time on it, which makes it a near-ideal

platform to grasp their attention for marketing reasons.

In terms of trialability, social media typically places very little demand on the user giving up

anything; most if not all social networks are free to use, at least for the majority of their feature

sets. Increasingly, new social networks use technologies such as APIs to pull in user’s

information from other sources so that they do not even have t spend time entering the data that

is required for them to use it (Kerpen, 2012). As such, it is extremely easy for the user to simply

“jump-in” to the network and start using its features, which is more likely to then keep them

using it.

Folerenso et al., 2009 note that the observability of social media has been very crucial in it

reaching – and exceeding – a critical mass necessary for the innovation’s wider diffusion and

sustainability. Social media has become so prominent and has such a large volume of users from

all walks of society that increasingly, businesses find it hard not to integrate it into their

marketing activities lest they risk losing out on a substantial number of “eyes and ears”. Social

media’s visibility means that it is integrated into societal environments, making it hard to ignore.

The persuasion component looks at “the relative advantage of economic profitability, social

prestige and other benefits. The open and freely accessible nature of social media provides a big

advantage economically in terms of communication and interaction among individuals (In

addition to this, individuals can get access to information free of cost while using social media

based platforms. This provides a big economic profitability for individuals. Furthermore, social

media also allows people to communicate and share their views and opinions without being

charged for such services. It can be argued that this process provides a big boost to the attraction

factor of social media. Social media also helps people gain more self confidence as it brings

people closer and communicate more with each other” (Kocak et al., 2013, p.76). These factors

may be considered critical advantages for individuals to adopt social media from a prestige

perspective, which serves to reason why high-end fashion brands can use it as tool for marketing.

From the above analysis, it may be observed that Rogers’ (2010) 5 characteristics of innovation -

compatibility, complexity, observability, relative benefit and trialability – play a major role to

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persuade individuals when it comes to adopting a new innovation. The persuasion stage is

followed by the decision stage, whereby the individual makes a decision to either accept or reject

the technology. Chi (2011) notes the importance of social interaction as an influencer on the

individual’s decision making process on social media adoption. As noted previously by Kocak

et al (2013), social media provides the individual to connect societally and express themselves as

a part of said society; social media acts as the conduit for the interaction and communication that

enables them to feel part of the community or society. Furthermore, social media also provides

an entertainment factor through the various content that is uploaded to it, which further fosters

individuals’ decisions to adopt it.

The above factors – in combination with the economic and prestige advantages of social media

usage discussed previously, makes it temping for marketers when deciding which channel to use

for their efforts; this is exacerbated by the fact that the usage of the innovation could itself be a

trend that influences people’s decision-making process (Kerpen, 2012).

According to Rogers (2003), after the decision-making stage, the individual may decide to either

adopt the innovation – known as the implementation stage – or may decide that it does not meet

any of their needs/requirements and decide not to adopt the innovation, as was seen with a lot of

users of nascent social networks like Hi5 and Bebo. The reversal of opinion in deciding not to

adopt a trend is referred to as “discontinuance”. Coursaris et al (2010) opine that there are a

variety of factors that may lead to discontinuance, such as concerns over privacy or a lack of

enough like-minded individuals on the social network to provide them with a sense of

community. The authors also suggested that the “gossip-filled” nature of the

communications/interactions on social media may be to blame, but there is no empirical evidence

given to support this somewhat controversial statement.

Some of the individuals who have decided not to adopt the innovation or discontinued its

adoption, will continue to reject it even after it has achieved a critical mass needed to

demonstrate its lasting adoption; this is called continued rejection. However, others might feel

left out once their peer group in society has also decided to adopt it and come back to it at this

stage, a process called later adoption (Rogers, 2003). As such, it is clear from the above analyses

that Rogers’ DOI theory is highly applicable to the study of social media marketing.

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3.2 Social Media in Marketing

One of the reasons that social media has emerged as such a key part of any brands marketing

strategy is the sheer reach that it enables the organisation to have. Currently, the largest and most

prominent social media network is Facebook, which has over 1 billion active users who spend a

cumulative 700 billion minutes per month on the website, thus making it the most third most

highly trafficked internet domain in the world according to Alexa site rankings (2017). The

second-most popular is Twitter, which has 328 million active users who spend an average of 7.5

minutes per day on the site, reading updates, clicking on links and consuming media. Twitter

ranks 12th

in the world in terms of page views per month. There is some debate as to whether

YouTube can actually be considered a social media site, as it has historically had more of a 1-

directional flow of content. However, given that the majority of the content is now user

generated and users spend a lot of time commenting or interacting on the basis of said content,

most literature seems in consensus that it is in-fact a social network (Clow and Baack, 2014); if

so, that makes it the most popular social media service in terms of page views, ranking #2 in the

world behind only Google (Alexa, 2017). In total, 42% of adults around the world used social

media sites at one point in the last year (Pew Research Center, 2016).

Current literature appears to be in critical consensus that social media does in fact have a tangible

impact on marketing efforts, although the opinion is split between whether this impact is

beneficial or harmful with a skew towards the former. Agnihotri et al (2012) found that

especially in industries where there was an emphasis on being seen as trendsetting or innovative

– for example, fashion – social media was increasingly being adopted as a preferred means of

communicating with customers as it allowed the organisation to connect with a wider group of

potential customers at a lower cost-per-customer.

Naylor et al (2012) found in a 2012 study that approximately 83% of the Fortune 500 list of

organisations was using social media to connect with prospective and existing customers. Studies

have also found that consumers in certain sectors were increasingly relying on social media as

their means to conduct research on brands and their products/services, especially so for the

millennial generation where 75% of this demographic around the world regularly used social

media services (Mitchell, 2014, p.27), where it was noted that “social media is not only useful in

promotional and sales aspects, but in building mutually beneficial relationships with the target

audience, which is why it is a popular public relations tactic”.

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Tuten and Angermeier (2013) produced a balanced viewpoint on the use of social media in

marketing, noting that the use of social media can be mutually beneficial for both the customer’s

experience and the brand in areas such as promotions, customer service, product development,

research and lead generating. While the business is able to realize a greater access to targeted

markets, better quality leads, a reduction in media spend, and connectivity at the personal level

that had hitherto not been possible, the customer gets to make their voice heard, social

enhancement, and the chance to contribute their preferences toward the design and promotion of

new products and services. On the other hand, Tuten and Angermeier (2013) also caveat this by

reminding brands’ marketing professionals about the possible negative connotations with

improperly implemented social media campaigns. These included concerns over privacy and new

forms of liability that are commonly mentioned in most literature related to new technological

innovations. However, the authors particularly highlight the negative fallout that social media

can enable when a customer has had a bad experience, including a negative word-of-mouth or

feedback that can be seen and heard by the wider world for the first time, and a loss of control

over so-called “viral campaigns” that may organically progress into a different – and frequently

much darker – territory than the brand envisioned.

Corstjens (2012) notes that the customer experience has been significantly impacted by the

diffusion of adoption of social media because its widespread use has allowed a critical mass of

customers to have – for the first time – an impact on brand-reputation and -building. A customer

who had a poor experience interacting with a fashion brand – for example, a promotion code that

was advertised did not work – can tweet back at the company and contribute negatively to that

brand’s reputation. In his study, Corstjens (2012) compared brand-related activity on social

networks and micro-blogs with the brands performance, and found that negative conversations

far outweigh positive conversations on social media, i.e. when a customer criticizes a brand, the

degree of the negative impact is higher than the degree of the positive impact from when the

customer praises the brand – a reflection of the “Yelp review” trend commonly cited where a

single negative review on social media review site Yelp has a significant business impact on an

otherwise well-liked local business. This is an oft-cited reason why some marketing

professionals are reticent in embracing social media (Clow and Baack, 2014). It may ultimately

be argued however, that the two-way nature of communication flows on social media is what sets

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it apart from conventional media and why it has been embraced so much by the new generation

on consumers, and that businesses must innovate to this reality.

3.3 The Customer Experience in the Age of Social Media

Social Media has been cited by numerous authors as having substantially altered the customer

experience offered by companies worldwide since it rose to prominence in the mid 2000’s

(Hansen et al, 2011). “Social media” refers to a disparate set of online tools that support social

interaction between users, including but not limited to micro-blogs (such as Twitter), pin boards

(such as Pinterest) messaging services (WhatsApp) content sharing (YouTube, Instagram) etc.

(Kano, 2015).

In the traditional world, it was hard for marketers to “guess” what people wanted, as purchase

decisions are not always influenced by rationale or logic. Social media has changed that by

giving marketers a wealth of data based how people share/like/post or otherwise interact on these

platforms; however, people also no longer just want to buy a product – they want the experience

that comes with it. A customer experience that stands out - from finding an item on a curated

social channel to finally buying it - also gets a greater chance at marketing exposure on social

media. Newman (2016 p.3) states that “People use social media to share the best and the worst

things in their lives, which includes their purchasing decisions. Therefore, companies that

master the customer experience will generate sales and referrals. The best products aren’t

always the best-selling products- they are the ones that offer the best customer experience”

Straehle et al (2015) note that the customer experience is quickly emerging as one of if not the

most tool for successful marketing; their study found that 89% of businesses that produced

products in the current era actually relied on customer experience as their primary means of

competitive advantage. Social media plays a key role in this experience by allowing the company

to respond “personally” to feedback from its customers, issue a prompt response when customers

are dissatisfied, and engage the customer to make them feel “invested” or part of the brand.

A study by the Pew Research Center (2013) of over 3000 executives across different countries

and industries found that companies that had implemented social media strategies outperformed

other companies in profitability, market share, and industry leadership. As Tuten and

Angermeier (2013) note, the positives of social media marketing will ultimately outweigh the

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negatives as long as the business in question recognizes and embraces the changes it has brought

upon the customer experience.

3.4 Fashion Brands Use of Social Media Marketing

Hope (2016) notes that the appeal of social media for the fashion-business is two-fold: it is

cheaper to implement than conventional media for a business with relatively low margins, but at

the same time the marketing appears to be more authentic and personal to the individuals it is

targeted towards.

Fashion brands are evolving how they use social media for marketing. While celebrities have

been used to promote such brands for a long time, recent signings offer insight into how social

media has changed the paradigm: Estee Lauder signed reality star Kendall Jenner in 2015 to be

the face of its cosmetics line, while Burberry choose David Beckham’s son Brooklyn Beckham

to curate its Instagram channel with his photographs. In both cases, the reasoning behind this was

not their artistic talent or looks, but the fact that they brought the brands to the attention of their

millions of Instagram and twitter followers (Hope, 2016).

The fashion industry has been at the forefront of the shifting trend in marketing, where brands

use social media to “make connections” with the customer as opposed to just “trying to sell”; this

has meant that brands that have changed their approach to interact with customers (such as

Burberry and ASOS) have risen to the forefront while erstwhile leaders (such as Sears and

Debenhams) have fallen behind due to the failure to recognize this channel (Naylor et al, 2012).

The primary benefit that fashion brands derive from a social media presence, according to

Kerpen (2012) is that they can connect with current and potential customers where they “live”,

i.e. in the present day, most customers have a presence on social media and it is easier for the

brands to reach out to them here than drive traffic to their corporate website. Social media has

allowed fashion brands to tell “stories” that appeal to a targeted market; for example, Meyers

(2013) notes that Kate Spade uses the hashtag #ohNewYork to project the persona of a New

York obsessed fashion trendsetter which ties into the kind of customer it would like to target.

3.4.1 ASOS

Budget or so called “fast-fashion” brands have their primary customer base amongst the 16-25

year old demographic, with average spend by females on such brands far outranking males (Patil,

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2013) Therefore, any means to reach out to a large percentage of this young female demographic

is absolutely crucial to a fast fashion brand. Social network Pinterest has a curative content

approach that has led to 85% of its user base being women, of whom 56% fall into the coveted

16-25 demographic; the fast-fashion brand ASOS has been singled out by numerous authors as

owing a significant proportion of its recent success to its Pinterest channel (Vizard, 2013). By

frequently updating “looks” on its Pinterest channel, ASOS has cultivated a following of young

fashion conscious women who can easily be directed to its site to buy these “looks”.

ASOS’s success has hinged on Social media, with the organisation itself noting that up to 40% of

its sales originate as referrals from social media channels. Furthermore, each product page on the

ASOS website has an integrated ability to share or like the product on various social media

channels such as Facebook or Instagram; effectively, the organisation uses its customers to reach

out to the “friends” or followers that they have on social media, knowing that the current

generation is much more likely to buy based on social influences than a traditional advertisement

in media such as magazines or TV (Clark, 2014).

Newman (2016b) states that the social media team at ASOS is very engaged with its customers’

experience, noting that they respond to comments or mentions very promptly even when the

customer is just trying to gain a “freebie” item. It is also noted that ASOS has separate Twitter

and Facebook channels for customer care and fashion updates; this is a very effective means of

ensuring that the marketing messages are not lost (and therefore hijacked) in the midst of

responses to dissatisfied customers.

ASOS has been lauded by The Marketing Society in the United Kingdom for the way in which it

has used social media to enhance the customer experience. One of the methods it uses is actually

having some if its customers and social media followers to act as models and therefore brand

ambassadors for the company. For example, Mackenzie (2013) notes its use of the hashtag

#bestNightEver and the AsSeenOnMe campaign - the former took place on Instagram where

customers posted photos wearing ASOS clothes on nights out and had 39,000 “hearts”

(Instagram equivalent of likes); the latter was a Facebook gallery of trending looks and fashions

modelled by ASOS customers and curated by the company which had over 55,000 interactions.

Finally, Perkins (2014) notes how ASOS uses polls on Facebook not just to add to the customer

experience, but also to gain key marketing information; for example, it may ask its social media

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followers to vote on one trend versus another. This engages the customer and makes them feel

part of the brand, and at the same time informs business decisions about which look to invest in.

3.4.2 Burberry

Faced with an increasing number of players in a very limited market space, luxury fashion

brands have been even more innovative in their use of social media for marketing and branding;

a study of 133 luxury-fashion consumers by Kim and Ko (2010, pg. 164) proved “the

effectiveness of luxury brands’ SNS on both customer relationships and purchase intention.

Every property found in a luxury brands’ SNS positively influenced customer relationships and

purchase intention, [and] customers’ trust was strengthened via interaction with other users as

well as the brand on social media sites”

One of the cited examples of a luxury brand that turned around its fortunes via social media is

Burberry Inc. Burberry has a very significant presence on social media, with 18 million followers

on Facebook and 7.8million followers on Twitter actually placing it ahead of more well-known

high street brands such as New Look and Topman. Hanke (2015) notes that Burberry’s posts

have very high production values in order to emphasize on its aspirational nature as part of the

customer’s interaction experience; this can be seen in the high degree of interactivity the brand

experiences from customers, with some posts getting 50,000 likes on Facebook and 500 re-

tweets on Twitter, thus far outpacing rivals.

Phan et al (2011) found that Burberry used a major offensive in marketing efforts on social

media – such as catwalk shows being broadcast on YouTube, or connecting with younger

customers on Twitter – to successfully turn around its image from a brand for English hooligans

to a trendsetter. Its investment in social media was also found to increase profits by almost 40%

in the year immediately after the SNS initiatives were implemented.

Abrams (2013, p.19) states that Burberry is “now as much a media-content company as it is a

design company because it’s all part of the overall customer experience”. When Burberry

needed to bring customers together on the common thread of its trench coat’s iconicity, it created

the ‘Art of the Trench-coat’ campaign which revolved entirely on social media users uploading

photos of themselves in the aforementioned coats. This way, Burberry enhanced the customer

experience after the purchase had taken place without the customer needing to initiate contact.

19

Finally, social media has even changed the way celebrity endorsements are used in the luxury

fashion business. Burberry is one of the most consistent users of celebrity social media presence;

historically, the brand has been associated with upper-class British lifestyle but its recent high-

profile collaborations on social media reflect a shift that sees the brand recognizing who the

influencers are that can market its brand on social media; for example, Romeo Beckham and

Cara Delevingne, reflect a new breed of celebrity whose popularity is a function of their online

image, who still fit in with the “Englishness” of the brand (Hope, 2016).

3.5 Literature review summary

Upon the completion of the literature review, the first thing that may be noted is that the 5 central

concepts of the Diffusion of Innovation theory are highly applicable to the explanation of why

social media use has proliferated in the past few years to a point where the use of this channel for

marketing fashion brands is a necessity rather than an option to consider. However, the fact that a

medium reaches a wide number of people does not imply anything for how meaningful/ effective

it is for a brand’s customer experience. We have seen already that both high- and low-end

fashion brands have started using social media extensively for marketing /CRM over the past few

years; so, while the environment is highly amenable, not much research exists on what tangible

impact this has on their customer’s experience. The current study will aim to rectify this gap.

20

4.0 Methodology This section will outline the research methodology that will underpin the primary research that is

to be undertaken for this study. Primary research, as defined by Purdue University (2001) is any

research that is original, for which the data is being collected first-hand, as opposed to secondary

research where the information is taken from established sources and no original data collection

takes place. From the secondary research that was conducted from the literature review, it has

already been made clear that primary data is required to answer the research questions posed.

4.1 Research Paradigm

There is a multitude of methodologies or techniques available to researchers for gathering

primary data, including but not limited to case studies, experiments, focus groups, interviews,

surveys, et al. The selection of the proper methodology depends on a multitude of factors,

including the scope and breadth of the research questions/objectives, what kind of data is being

collected, how many research subjects are required and what their level of familiarity with the

subject is, etc. In order to select the relevant methodology for this study, some pertinent options

will now be analysed and weighed.

Experimentation has a long and proven history when it comes to scientific studies such as those

in the physical and social sciences. However, it has little applicability to the current study

because of the open nature of the social media, which is the focus of the research. In Focus

groups, researcher skill is much more important in getting participants to contribute relevant

viewpoints, with a much higher risk of failure if there is a lack thereof (Schwab, 2016). Focus

groups also do not allow a “deep-dive” analysis into root causes or motivations unlike

interviews, which along with the failure risk means they are not suitable for this research study.

Precedent has been set in the use of surveys to study the impact of technology administration; for

example, Massey (2009) successfully used surveys of students to study the impact of online

forums – arguably the predecessors of social media – upon the learning experience. However,

surveys are not so appropriate for the collection of pure qualitative data (Wilson, 2006).

This leads to the in-depth interview, where the researcher is able to probe into a participant’s

responses and uncover more in-depth knowledge about experiential, behavioural and attitudinal

qualitative data (Malhotra, 2012). According to Montoya (2016, pg. 811), “Interviews provide

researchers with rich and detailed qualitative data for understanding participants’ experiences,

21

how they describe those experiences, and the meaning they make of those experiences. Using it,

the researcher is likely to elicit rich, focused, meaningful data that captures, to the extent

possible, the experiences of participants and can help a researcher obtain the kind of robust and

detailed interview data necessary to address research questions.”. Given the pertinence of such

experiential data to this study, interviews were the logical choice of research methodology.

4.2 Research Approach: Qualitative Interviews

In order to ensure that the interview is effective at capturing the data required for the research

study, it may be pertinent to apply a framework and follow best-practices for the interview and

question design. For the former, Montoya’s (2016) Interview Protocol Refinement (IPR)

framework provides guidance on how to use interviews to elicit meaningful responses using a

four-step process:

1. Ensure Interview Questions align with Research Questions: Seidman (2013, p. 9) notes

that: “The purpose of in-depth interviewing is not to get answers to questions… At the

root of in-depth interviewing is an interest in understanding the lived experiences of

other people and the meaning they make of that experience.” Focusing on the research

questions helps to create interview questions that inform the administrator of the

participant’s experiences whilst cutting out unnecessary questions. For example, it is

common to start of a questionnaire with demographic questions, however if we refer back

to our research question it has nothing to do with how old customers are, their gender etc.

As such, it was decided to only include questions about the participant’s customer

experience and social media experience

2. Constructing an Inquiry-based conversation: Montoya (2016) states that in order to be

effective, an interview needs to follow the social rules of a normal conversation. These

may be etiquette related such as not interrupting the participants, which allows them to an

uninterrupted flow of dialogue on their experience; including a transition when changing

from one research objective or area to the next for example, when switching from high-

end fashion to low, it should be preceded by “I would now like to ask you about low-end

fashion brand such as ASOS…”.

3. Ask a variety of questions: while precedent has already been set about keeping the

questions pertinent to the research, Seidman (2013) notes that it is preferable to include a

22

variety of different types of questions. Firstly, this keeps the participant interested and

engaged in the interview process rather than having it appear monotonous to them;

secondly, different types of data/information may require differing types of questions to

elicit an appropriate response. Table 4.1 provides an overview of the different types:

Question type Type explanation Sample from questionnaire

Introductory Questions that are relatively

neutral eliciting general and

nonintrusive information

and that are not threatening

Have you ever used social

media to follow fashion

brands before?

Transition Questions that that link the

introductory questions to

the key questions to be

asked

If so, which social media

website do you use?

Key Questions that are most

related to the research

questions and purpose of

the study

How did ASOS social

media presence affect your

experience as their

customer?

Closing Questions that are easy to

answer and provide

opportunity for closure

Is there anything else about

your customer experience

with these two fashion

brands in social media

marketing that we have not

yet had a chance to

discuss?

Table 4.1: Types of interview question (Montoya, 2016).

4. Pilot the interview protocol: Most experts in the field of research (Malhotra, 2012;

Wilson, 2006) are in consensus that interview questions need to be tested out on a pilot

23

basis before they are released on a wider basis. This allows the researcher to spot any

areas/words of ambiguity which are causing the participants to respond in an

inappropriate way to a question, and to ensure that the logical flow of the interview

structure that the researcher envisioned in their mind actually translates into real life with

actual participants. Once the questions have been tested and suitably refined, they were

ready for wider deployment and the study was commenced.

4.3 Question Selection

Based upon the classification methodology from section 4.2, the following questions were

developed –

Introductory

“Have you used social media to follow fashion brands before?”

Used to set the theme for the interview, and filter out unsuitable participants

Transition

“If so, which site did you use”

To establish which sites were used, and transition into questions related to use of said sites

Key

“How can you get engaged into it? What brought you into those social media channels?”

Decipher which of the DOI factors explain social media engagement

“What do you think about the social media marketing strategy? Is it positive or negative?

Please give me at least one reason for each view”

To aid with high-level categorization of their overall perspective of Social media marketing

“How do you think about comments on social media, including both positive and negative

ones.”

To investigate whether observability and community factors played a part

“How did ASOS social media presence affect your experience as their customers?”

To investigate impact on experience as customer of ASOS (if applicable)

24

“How did Burberry social media presence affect your experience as their customers?”

To investigate impact on experience as customer of Burberry (if applicable)

“How would you describe the differences of your customer experiences between high-end and

low-end fashion brands like Burberry and ASOS?”

Answer the research question which investigates difference in social media impact for the

between the two types of fashion brand (if applicable)

“How would you describe the differences of your expectations between two companies?”

Probing question; further to the above

“What value was added due to Burberry’s social media from your customer experiences?”

To ascertain impact of social media marketing, and tie it in to DOI concepts

What values was added due to ASOS’s social media from your customer experiences?

To ascertain impact of social media marketing, and tie it in to DOI concepts

Closing

“Is there anything about your customer experience with these two fashion brands in social

media marketing that we have not yet had a chance to discuss?”

Closing question, to touch upon any further relevant information

4.4 Data Collection Methods

4.4.1 Sampling

The first question that arises when addressing the practicalities of an interview methodology is

the sampling strategy. A sample is the group of people who will be chosen to represent the

population – in this case, people who have been exposed to the social media of high- and low-

end fashion brands – as the collection of data from the entire population of millions of people is

highly impractical from a time and cost perspective (Wilson, 2006).

There are two general types of sampling which are probability sampling and non-probability

sampling. According to Visser et al (2000, p.230) “Nonprobability sampling refers to selection

25

procedures in which elements are not randomly selected from the population or some elements

have unknown probabilities of being selected. Probability sampling refers to selection

procedures in which elements are randomly selected from the sampling frame and each element

has a known, nonzero chance of being selected. This does not require that all elements have an

equal probability, however, it does require that the selection of each element must be

independent of the selection of every other element.” Probability sampling affords two important

advantages. First, researchers can be confident that a selected sample is representative of the

larger population from which it was drawn only when a probability sampling. method has been

used. When elements have been selected through other procedures or when portions of the

population had no chance of being included in the sample, there is no way to know whether the

sample is representative of the population. Generalizations beyond the specific elements in the

sample are therefore only warranted when probability sampling methods have been used. The

second advantage of probability sampling is that it permits researchers to precisely estimate the

amount of variance present in a given data set that is due to sampling error. That is, researchers

can calculate the degree to which random differences between the sample and the sampling

frame are likely to have diminished the precision of the obtained estimates (Visser et al, 2000).

While every effort will be made to ensure that the study will be as representative and free of bias

as possible, it is unfortunately not practical to collect a completely random sample of data. Given

the cost and time required to gather either a completely random sample or a census, it is simply

not a practicality for an academic research project, even at this level of study.

There is some element of convenience that is inescapable in light of the study’s remit of

capturing data from customers of ASOS and Burberry who have had exposure to the brand’s

social media channels: these will likely be young, urban, connected users; therefore, there is a

practical justification for using student or social media populations that are easily accessible to

the researcher. As such, the study ultimately decided to use random sampling.

4.4.2 Other Practicalities

Another practical consideration is the length and time of the interview, as these may have an

impact on the willingness and engagement of the participants. Most current literature opines that

to start off, an interview should have approximately 10-15 questions, of which at least 10 should

be of the “Key” and “Transition” types as mentioned in section 4.2 (Montoya, 2016). After this,

26

any additional probing questions are asked during the course of the interview when it is

necessary to find out more information. Altogether, Wilson (2006) suggests allocating no more

than a maximum of one hour for each interview, with 30 minutes being the ideal timescale. For

the present study, the interview design ultimately encompassed 12 questions, representing the

middle point between ideal minimum and maximum suggested in literature, with 1 each of the

opening and closing questions and the rest split between key and transition. In total, the

interview completion time was approximately 30 minutes each, including the contingency time

for extra proving questions if needed.

4.4.3 Participant Description

The study was carried out in Sheffield, United Kingdom and Glasgow, United Kingdom on a

cohort of young people that represented both sexes and a variety of different backgrounds. As

noted in section 4.3, this represented a form of random sampling called convenience sampling

where a subset of the population. Young people were specifically chosen because according to

the literature in Section 3.3, they are the principal target of social media marketing in general,

and ASOS and Burberry in particular. As such, they would also be likelier to have experience as

customers of fashion brands who have been exposed to social media marketing efforts. Initially,

2 interviews were conducted as a pilot in line with the best practices outlined by Montoya

(2016); these revealed some ambiguity in how certain questions were perceived. After rectifying

the questions, the interviews were re-run and in total, 15 usable interviews were conducted on a

group of participants whose cross section represented students and professionals in two major

cities of the United Kingdom.

4.5 Data Transcription and Analysis

As opposed to methods such as surveys which are essentially ‘pre-coded’ and can be easily

analysed using visual or numerical means such as charts and percentages, interviews require

some degree of preparation and ‘coding’ in order to be analysed.

Hoyos and Barnes (2012) state that the analysis of primary research that was gathered using

unstructured interviews is a 4 step process of narrowing data down using a reverse hierarchy.

This can be seen in Fig. 4.1

27

Fig 5.1: Analysing interview data, (Hoyos and Barnes, 2012)

The initial step, seen in the bottom of the pyramidal hierarchy, is the open coding. The goal of

this step is to make a large amount of data manageable. This can be achieved through “memos”,

which Hesse-Bieber (2010, p.9) defines as “a way of Summarizing where you are standing

during your analysis, and potential interpretations you may have about your data.” Running this

stage of the process on the interview responses for this study found that firstly, the responses in

general spoke about an impact that social media has had upon the respondent’s experiences.

Secondly, there were certain recurring themes about the use of social media by brands which

attracted users - for example, getting to know what was in style or providing fashion inspiration.

Once the initial memo’s have been constructed, the next stage is to focus the coding and

conceptualise the categories which might define or act as dimensions for the data (Hoyos and

Barnes, 2012). The Grounded analysis concept, as described by Hesse-Bieber (2010), advocates

going back to the research question to determine what the rationale should be for the analytics;

then reading or thinking about the information contained within the interviews to develop the

categories, and then use these as the dimensions in a matrix for easier analysis. From this

process, it was deduced that the responses categorized the aforementioned impact of social media

on customer experience as either positive, negative or indifferent, and from the research

28

question, it may be inferred that contexts within which these apply is either that of a low-end

fashion brand or a high-end fashion brand. As such, the following categorisation matrix was

assigned to each response:

Subject Impact [of SNS] on ASOS

CEx [i.e. low-end]

Impact [of SNS] on

Burberry CEx [i.e. high-end]

Person A Negative Indifferent

The number of negative, indifferent and positive impacts can subsequently be quantified.

The next stage is thematic coding, which is defined and directly reinforces the theoretical

concepts that were examined during the literature review. The process attempts to find

relationships and explanations within the data and to assign this to a relevant hypothesis from the

literature. For this, we will examine the correlation of positive impact to the presence of the 5

concepts postulated by Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory within the responses, or the

correlation of negative impact to the lack thereof. For example:

DOE Concept Instances of occurrence in

cases with positive impact

Instances missing in cases

with negative impact

Compatibility 9/15 5/15

After cross-tabulation of these scores with those of the previous section, we can arrive at a total

score for each response, which can then be averaged for the total number of responses. This

average aggregation will then indicate not only the degree of the impact that social media

marketing has on the customer experience of fashion brands, but also the degree to which this

conforms – or can be explained by – the theoretical model of Diffusion of innovation.

4.6 Ethical Issues

The interview methodology’s in-depth nature arises from the interviewer’s intention to discover

details of the respondents’ experiences that would be impossible in a more structured or public

29

means such as a survey. Allmark et al (2009) found that this in-depth nature can lead to a number

of ethical concerns. In this section, these concerns will be outlined and addressed.

Privacy and confidentiality

Some studies do require sensitive demographic information (such as age, gender, sexual

orientation, ethnicity) for valid purposes of comparison between groups. However, the researcher

must take pains to ensure they are not collecting more information than necessary, as any

personally identifiable information when tied in with such data has the potential for serious

harm. There is also a risk particular to interviews that even with no personally identifiable

information, the participants - while not discernible to the general public - may be identifiable to

their peers in the field through their responses (Richards and Schwartz, 2002). Often times there

is a temptation to collect this information just for categorization purposes when there is lack of a

better alternative; this has been avoided in the current study as it was deduced that there was

nothing to be gained towards the research objective by collecting demographic information

Furthermore, Allmark et al (2009, pg. 5) state that: “Interviews can delve into areas

unanticipated at the outset. Due to this, there is a danger of voyeurism and the temptation to

focus on the most sensational elements of a study and to pick sensational phenomena to

investigate deeper into during the course of the interview”. In order to avoid this, the interview

analysis process as described in section 5.2 was designed not just with the approved research

questions in mind so as to chose relevant rather than sensational themes, but also to give equal

weightage to all categories in the measurement rather than isolate and focus on the most

“sensationalist” ones.

Informed Consent

The type of question to include in interview research, and how to avoid privacy issues has been

discussed at length in literature (Montoya, 2016 etc.); however, due to the nature of the

interviews, sometimes despite the best designed questionnaire, the interview might still proceed

into potentially harmful or sensitive territory due to unscripted probing questions. In order to

avoid this, unscripted questions should always be caveated with a solicitation of informed

consent, for example “is it ok if we talk more about that”. This approach was followed in the

current study where necessary, although probing questions were not required extensively.

30

Further to the issue of informed consent, it is necessary for the respondents to e aware of what

they are participating in, and how their data will be used. Most practitioners suggest (Richards

and Schwartz, 2002) an obligatory disclaimer at the start of each interview, to disclose this exact

information, written where necessary. However, since the interviews for the current study were

conducted face-to-face, the disclaimer was issued verbally.

Over-involvement

This is a frequently-cited issue that comes up within both the confines of the question design and

the interview administration itself (Wilson, 2006), where the researcher influences or biases the

outcome of the interview, either through ambiguities in how the questions are worded, or by

“helping” the respondent with guidance on how to answer a question that inadvertently

influences the respondent’s answers.

Of these, the former is relatively easy to overcome by following best practices when designing

the interview questions, such as not using leading language and always defaulting to a passive

tone (Wilson, 2006). However, the boundaries between what may be considered guidance and

bias-exertion in the verbal interchange with the respondent are much more difficult to classify

and therefore, overcome (Richards and Schwartz, 2002). For example, there may arise a scenario

where the researcher wants to obtain good quality material for the research; in doing so they

employ knowledge of motivations that they gained in the secondary research in order to draw out

responses from the participant but bias the respondent in doing so. Furthermore, it may be

possible the researcher may have another motivation, such as to show that a hypothesis they

proposed was correct; as such, she finds herself drawn into fulfilling that requirement more and

move away from being a researcher conducting an in-depth interview. There is no consensus in

the literature about the best practice to overcome this, so the approach followed was to exercise

due discretion.

31

5.0 Analysis of Findings This section will outline the process leading up to the findings, and the findings themselves of

the primary research that was conducted. For the 17 participants that were contacted, 2 responses

were unusable. The rest of the responses were coded using the Hoyos and Barnes (2012) matrix,

to develop the initial categorisation. The results of the 17 different interviews can be seen in

Table 5.1. The “notes” column represents the initial summarisation, upon which each response

was coded into a 3-level identifier for both research question elements i.e. high-end and low-end

fashion brands: “positive” was where the participant indicated that social media marketing had a

positive impact upon their experience as a customer of either ASOS or Burberry (as applicable);

“indifferent” was an instance where social media marketing had negligible impact in either

direction; “negative” was where social media had a negative impact on that participant’s

customer experience.

Subject (Participant)

Impact of Social Media Marketing on CEx of

low-end fashion brand (ASOS)

Impact of Social Media Marketing on CEx of

high-end fashion brand (Burberry)

Notes

P1

Positive

ASOS uses SNS to

communicate product

launches and sales

Customer Quote: “I

often see advertising

pictures released by

ASOS in my Instagram,

the beautiful pictures

and collections make

me want to click on the

link of official website

and buy some”

Positive

Burberry is

informational

Customer Quote:

“Burberry is skilled in

attracting consumers by

utilizing celebrity

effects, which can

create more potential

buying inclinations”

Reduces distance

between brand and

customer

P2

Positive

ASOS SNS conforms to

youthful image

Customer Quote:

“ASOS’ social media

channel looks young

and energetic, whose

bold colors attract

young people,”

Indifferent

Burberry needs to

integrate SNS strategy

to communicate there

brand persona better

Customer Quote: “It

barely affects me. I

think expressions of

high-end brands on

social media must be

equal to their product


youthful image;

Burberry needs to




32

values”

P3

Positive

Customer comments

inform them of product

quality and reviews

Customer Quote: “I will

focus more on the

comments. If many

comments about the

products are good, there

is a great opportunity I

will take the product”

Positive

Burberry provides style

and fashion advice

Customer Quote: “The

Burberry social media

can let me know more

about what type of

products are popular

with fashion blogger[s]

and some celebrities

Focuses on customer

comments for items of

Low-end brands; uses

high-end brands SNS

for celebrity style tips

and fashion advice

P4

Positive

Customers can

contribute their pictures

Customer Quote: “the

homepage on ASOS

social media channels

encourage everyone to

keep real and be

yourself”

Positive

Celebrities promoting

what British style is

Customer Quote:

“Burberry hired a lot of

celebrities to represent

their brand or products,

I think it is the celebrity

effect. I’m a huge fan of

Cara Delavigne”

ASOS - customer

contribution; Burberry -

celebrity fashion and

British style

P5 Unusable Response / /

P6

Positive

ASOS - photos on SNS

create a visual impact

Customer Quote: “Photo

push may leave a visual

impression on people.

While the basic

information, the size

and the color of the

goods may be found

from the tweet and the

comments”

Indifferent

Star endorsement has

little effect

Customer Quote:

“on the platform or the

internet, I am able to

fully understand or find

the goods I want; the

star effect has little

influence”

SNS have a 'push'

effect;

P7

Positive

ASOS - easy to stay to

trend following their

Instagram, and a lot of

diversity in their models


instgram of ASOS will

send a lot of photos

everyday to recommend

the new products

popular in season; You

Positive

Burberry - mention of

celebrity endorsement

and charitable efforts is

a plus


often see on the social

media that Burberry

takes part in or sponsors

the public benefit

activities in the name of




diversity in their

models; Burberry -

mention of celebrity

endorsement and

charitable efforts is a

plus

33

will find the products fit

for you no matter where

you are from, how is

your skin color”

the brand, which has

increased my favorable

impression to the

brand.”

P8

Positive

ASOS - youthful

messaging, increases

chances of purchase

Customer Quote: “its

vitality has attracted me,

for its design has always

taken [the] lead in the

trend”

Positive

Burberry - helps to stay

on trend


social media makes me

understand the brand

trend more quickly,

more conveniently, and

more widely”

ASOS - youthful


chances of purchase;


on trend

P9

Positive

ASOS uses inputs from

real-life fashion

bloggers to make it

relevant

Customer Quote: “They

are good at finding out

the fashion insiders and

make-up bloggers in life

and make them

participate in its brand”

Positive

Burberry SNS provides

product knowledge

Customer Quote:

“Burberry, through

social media, it conveys

the brand concepts and

the design inspiration to

the public”

SNS allows for

customer interaction

with brands

P10

Indifferent

ASOS communicates

their ethical stance via

SNS but overloads with

updates

Customer Quote: “I feel

that they will push more

than 10 information

each day.

Positive

Burberry seems good at

generating content and

discussion

Customer Quote: “: I

have to say that

Burberry is good at

making topics to get the

attention of the public.

The topics and

discussion on social

media encourage the

public to upload their

photos actively and

share the purchased

products”

SNS necessary for

competition

P11 Unusable response / /

P12

Positive

ASOS' social media

make it easy to

communicate with the

brand as with a friend

Negative

While Burberry is a

leader in SNS use it is

impersonal

While Burberry is a


impersonal; ASOS'

social media make it

easy to communicate

34


contents published on

social media of ASOS

are close to the life. And

the way it

communicates with

customers is like that

between friends”

Customer Quote:

“promotion activities on

social media of

Burberry is not so wide

as that of ASOS. And

there is little discount

for Burberry”

with the brand as with a

friend

P13

Positive

ASOS has a fashionable

and “fit” feel.

Customer Quote: “they

are fit, fashionable and

popular, just like the

feeling they give me on

social network.”

Negative

Burberry has Too much

promotion, equitable to

spam


have followed the

Burberry on Facebook,

but I seldom browsed it

later, for they often sent

me a lot of promotions

photos of the stars that I

am not interested in.”

No impact from

comments

P14

Positive

ASOS - friendly


personnel taking charge

of those accounts are

kind and friendly, just

like your friends”

Positive

Burberry - Celebrity

style


follow Burberry for the

spokesman. I have to

say that the effect of

stars is great”

Sharing experiences

with friends is key

P15

Positive

ASOS - youthful and

diverse

Customer Quote:

“ASOS models are a

group of different

complexions, figures

and temperaments.

Their display conveys

one message: as long as

you like it, you will be

able to wear it. ASOS

fits people of all

complexions and

figures.”

Positive

Burberry – SNS

showcases how it cares

about community


often follow Burberry’s

social media platform or

website and see stars in

endorsement in the


website engaged in

some public welfare

activities”

Online comments

important to decision-

making

35

P16

Indifferent

ASOS overloads with

every item they seem to

have in inventory

Customer Quote:

“ASOS seems to use

their social media as a

promo channel, literally

posting every single

item in their catalogue.

It’s a one-size-fits all

approach and can

frankly be a bit tiring”

Positive

Showcases the user in

the best of fashion

Customer Quote:

“Burberry treat you like

a celebrity yourself

when you buy one of

their high-end pieces,

and make you feel

special.”

Social media branding

is aspirational

P17

Positive

ASOS embodies youth

culture

Customer Quote:

“ASOS’s Instagram is

great…they had this

campaign where you

could tag them while

wearing their clothes to

a night out and they

would feature you.”

Positive

Burberry is British chic

Customer Quote: “I like

to think of Burberry as

Brit-chic, so they have a

consistent theme.”

SNS pushes out latest

trends and makes use of

user content

Table 5.1

At a high-level, tallying up the scores clearly illustrates that the use of social media marketing by

fashion brands has an impact on the customer experiences of the study participants: out of 30

instances (15 interviews with an impact instance each for high-end and low-end brands), there

were only 4 where SNS marketing had an “indifferent” impact. Furthermore, of the remaining

instances, 24 i.e. 80% of the impact was classed as being “positive”. Therefore, we may see that

proponents of using social media marketing such as Kerpen (2012) and Hope (2016) were indeed

correct in their advocacy of the medium.

In terms of the difference in SNS marketing impact between high-end and low-end brands, it

may be observed that while not sizeable, low-end fashion as represented by ASOS does have a

small lead in the number of responses that were positive; as 13 instances were positive. Burberry

had 11 instances which were positive and 2 which were negative.

36

Aside from the numerical advantage, it may be observed that the participants attributed a wide

variety of motivational factors to ASOS, which contributed towards its positive impact rating; for

example, at least two participants commended ASOS social media for pictures showcasing a

diversity of models, representing different ethnicities and statures, something which contributed

to their positive impression of the brand. Numerous other participants also noted that in

communications with the brand [representatives] using the Comments or @mention features of

social media like Instagram or Twitter, the brand appeared approachable and friendly. Before

social media, this two-way communication was either not possible, or took place in closed

confines as a one-to-one exchange that could not be seen by others – an important factor when a

significant proportion of the respondents stated that the comments on social media and the

brand’s response played an important role in influencing their custom of the brand.

Another recurring theme was that ASOS social media marketing made the participants perceive

the firm as youthful and trendy, which is an image that Vizard (2013) noted was crucial to the

brands success. One participant also cited how the ASOS channels’ use of social influencers had

an impact on their perception of the brand as relevant or current, which is a factor that

Mackenzie (2013) has credited for ASOS recent proliferation of the key 18-25 demographic.

The one attribute that was cited as a negative impact on the customer experience was that ASOS

overloaded their social media followers with too many posts, with one of the participants stating

that “instead of curating, ASOS seemed to post about almost every item in their inventory”.

However, whether the interaction can be classified as positive or negative, what becomes clear

from the research is that ASOS’s oft-cited use of social media marketing (as per the literature

review) is in fact having a tangible impact on its customer’s experiences.

In contrast to ASOS, the participants’ description of the impact of Burberry was more uniform;

there were only two recurring themes mentioned across all the participants. The first of these was

Burberry’s “Classic Britishness”, with at least a few of the participants mentioning that

Burberry’s social media channels embodied what the classic British style concept meant to them,

this was an expected concept according to Hanke (2015), and the participant’s repeated mention

of this factor means that Burberry’s social media has been successful at communicating the

brand’s key messaging across to consumers.

37

However, the most oft-cited factor for Burberry by far was the brand’s use of celebrity style

icons, which was mentioned in almost 50% of the instances where Burberry’s SNS marketing

had a “positive” impact. Sources including Hope (2016) stated that this was a pivotal focus for

Burberry’s social media channels, and it has certainly been noticed by their audience. The

participants stated that they used the Burberry social media channels to derive inspiration about

what celebrities such as Cara Delevigne were wearing, and using it as guide to make their own

fashion choices.

Conversely, some of the participants mentioned that the celebrity endorsements did not have

much effect on them, and they just used the social media channels for product knowledge. On the

whole, Burberry’s SNS marketing implementation appears to have been less successful than

ASOS, with 5 out of the 15 participants being categorized as having an “indifferent” or

“negative” perception of its impact on their customer experience. Additionally, it may be noted

that at least for the participants of this study, they used Burberry’s social media for inspiration or

knowledge, rather than interacting with the brand or sharing/discussing the content socially, as

opposed to ASOS and other low-end brands where they indicated they took part in such

activities. While this may be indicative of the high cost of entry for Burberry customers and a

reticence of the participants to interact with a brand or representatives they perceive as

expensive, perhaps this is a function of the SNS marketing of high-end fashion in general.

Now that the conceptualisation is complete, it is possible to proceed to the next stage of the

Hoyos and Barnes (2012) hierarchical analysis model, which is the tying of the analysis back to

the theoretical concept. To this end, the following matrix cross-tabulates each of the component

concepts of Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory with either the presence of that concept to

the cases of manifestation of the innovation (in this case, a positive impact upon the customer

experience by social media marketing) or a lack of the concept in instances where the innovation

has not manifested (where social media marketing had no/bad impact on customer experience):

DOI Concept Lack of concept in negative/indifferent cases

Instance of concept in Positive cases

Compatibility 3/ 7 20/ 23

Complexity 0/ 7 9/ 23

38

Trialability 4/ 7 16/ 23

Observability 0/ 7 16/ 23

Relative Advantage 1/ 7 12/ 23

Table 5.2

Compatibility is one of the two most pertinent DOI concepts in the case of social media

marketing’s impact on customer experience for fashion brands. Compatibility manifests as how

social media addresses the needs of the participants; time and again, participants mentioned that

they read comments about the fashion brand’s products on social media to see how their

contemporaries felt about it, with pone commenter stating: “It is good to be able to discuss style

with other people who are passionate and knowledgeable about it.”. The customers also shared it

with their friends to gauge their opinion and bond over common interests (Excerpt: “I will

transmit my favorite blog articles or Tweet. Sometimes, I will copy the related linkage and send

to my friends for discussing. Sometimes, I will comment on the content bars. Most of the time, I

am sharing and discussing the feeling on a product with other reviewers.” ), and they used the

innovation’s features to communicate with the brand and its representatives, as noted by one

user: “I expect to keep [using] ASOS media for all types of interactions, from finding what real

people are wearing to solving a customer service issue.” Compatibility therefore features as a

defining concept in over 80% of the cases where social media had a net “positive” impact. Its

lack was also featured in a not-inconsiderable 3 out of 7 cases.

Complexity, was perhaps one of the more difficult DOI concepts to categorize. Complexity

manifests in how easy the innovation is to pick up whether it involves effort to master, which

some sources such as Kerpen (2012) have cited as one of the principal reasons for the

proliferation of social media. Most of the participants of the study mentioned that social media

marketing made it easy to find out what fashion trends were, particularly so for the high-end

brands such as Burberry. Not one single participant who evinced a negative or indifferent

customer experience impact cited complexity as a factor in that perception. However, this may

be a function of the ease of use of social media and its current ubiquity; and as such the lack of

the concept in cases of indifferent/negative impact may actually be an indicator of the

innovation’s success in this regard.

Trialability was the second of the most pertinent concepts for social media marketing in the

context of fashion brands. It manifests as the cost of adopting social media as a fashion brand’s

39

customer, and how compatible the innovation is with the participant’s existing platforms and

infrastructures. Over 66% of the participants noted that they already made use of the social

media platforms that ASOS and Burberry used, and as such the “cost” of adopting the innovation

was negligible. What was interesting to note was trialability also being the most significant

factor that was lacking in negative or indifferent cases; for example, it was noted that neither of

the analysed brands had a presence on Weibo, which is perhaps the largest social network for

speakers of the Mandarin language. These users do not want to (or cannot) migrate to a different

social network, so the lack of trialability for ASOS/Burberry social media channels in this regard

is having a negative impact on the users. Furthermore, in the specific case of Burberry,

participating in some of their social media campaigns requires purchase of a Burberry product

which can be a barrier to entry given the high cost of these products. As one user noted: “It is the

citizen's right to comment on social media, so there will certainly be positive and negative

aspects. The positive one means the approval on the brand, and means people's devotion and

emotion to the brand, which affects directly the buyers' decision. For the negative one that is not

vicious, it also hopes the brand to grow”

Another significant factor was observability, which manifests itself as the visibility of social

media’s impacts upon the customer experience; the presence of which was tied to a positive

customer experience impact in over 66% of cases. Participants noted that customer comments on

the quality of a brand’s products or the friendliness of their customer service were visible for all

to see in Facebook comments or Twitter mentions, which made meant that they could take both

faults and exceptionalism into account when making a purchase decision. Furthermore, it was

easy for them to make a statement with their fashion choices and actually have their voice be

heard, thanks to the multimedia nature of SNS.

The final concept in the DOI theory is relative advantage, which manifests in how much better

social media is for the customer experience when compared to its predecessor technologies or

alternatives. Once again, the visibility of social media played a crucial part in participants

perceptions, with one noting that negative comments were visible for all to see, unlike exchanges

over e-mail or on the phone. Other participants noted that as opposed to having to seek out style

advice or celebrity fashion influences in magazines or at stores etc., social media made it easy by

“pushing” out these updates to the user, thereby making it much more convenient and timely

than previous technologies, as in the case of one user who noted: “There are so many types of

40

information bit it’s easy to get updates by smart phone apps or [following] official accounts.”

and another who said: “since [the time] there are social media channels, it is more convenient

for me to follow the fashion”

Final analysis therefore shows that the use of social media marketing by fashion brands has a

significant impact on the customer experience of low end fashion brands like ASOS, and to a

slightly lower extent on high-end fashion brands like Burberry. The specifics of this impact is

also in conformance to Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory, although the impact of the

component concepts ins not uniform.

41

6.0 Conclusion and Limitations

The results of the research can be taken as proof that social media market does have a tangible

impact upon the customer experience of both high-end and low-end fashion brands. Moreover, in

80% of the instances, the respondents of the research cited a positive impact.

While the impact applies to both high-end and low-end fashion brands, it manifests itself in

different ways for the two brands. For the high-end brand Burberry, respondents were near-

unanimous in stating that what they expected the most - i.e. what drove them to visit and

subscribe to the brands’ social media channels - were trends on designer fashion (sometimes

referred to as haute couture) and celebrity designer tips. The latter especially reflects that

Burberry’s social media endeavours are reaching and engaging prospective customers, as it was

mentioned as one of Burberry’s currently pivotal strategies in the literature (Hope, 2016). There

were comparatively few instances where the respondents cited they used social media to interact

with the brand for reasons such as customer service, although this might be a function of the

participant’s demographic and socioeconomic status.

The impact on the low-end brand’s customers was both wider and more prolific; as befits the

frequent mentions of ASOS’s social-media savviness in literature by the likes of Vizard (2013),

ASOS social media was observed to be critical to how it engaged customers and enhanced their

experience. Participants used the brand’s social media channels to get inspiration of what was

trending in the youth market, and to get discounts for their purchases, and to follow up with

customer services for queries and concerns; this reflects a complete integration of social media

into the full marketing cycle. It was also observed that the participants engaged with ASOS using

social media as they would with a friend or peer, which reflects the phenomenon cited in

literature (Kerpen, 2012) of social media opening a 2-way channel of conversation between the

customer and the brand the likes of which was not possible before.

The research also found that social media’s increasing impact on the customer experience of

fashion brands is illustrative of Rogers Diffusion of Innovation framework, although it does not

conform to every sub-concept. The most crucial factor in its adoption was found to be social

media’s compatibility with participant customer’s needs and values, which was a factor in over

75% of cases. For example, ASOS’ implementation of social media was cited as being reflective

of values that were important to participants, such as diversity and youthfulness, while

42

Burberry’s social media was cited as meeting their information needs for knowledge of what was

trending in high fashion.

Trialability was also cited as a very important factor in explaining the impact of social media’s

adoption for marketing purposes, albeit trialability here was not a factorial of cost as is usually

expected, but of the participant’s “investment” into using the technology; with social media

being so easily available across different platforms, it was easy for the participants to quickly and

conveniently ‘trial’ it for their fashion information and purchasing needs. Conversely, a lack of

compatibility with platforms that some participants were already invested in – such as Wiebo –

was found to be a crucial demotivating factor when the participants deemed social media to have

a negative or indifferent impact in the context of the two brands studied.

While observability and relative advantage factors were not cited as frequently as the above two,

it was found they still held significance. In particular, participants found that they could share

content with their friends or interact with others through the social media platforms, which gave

their views a visibility it was previously lacking. Social media was also cited as a more effective

medium for making the participants’ voice be heard by the brand when compared to previous

technologies.

While the concept of complexity was mentioned only a few times, this may be deceptive.

Complexity is a factor that only arises when the innovation actually features a high level of the

same; for a technology that is stated to be as simple as social media (Kumar et al, 2010), perhaps

the lack of mention for complexity is as true an indication of its impact as possible.

In closing, while this research has illustrated that social-media marketing can be used to a

positive effect on the customer experience of both low-end and high-end fashion brands, it may

be pertinent to note that the participant cohort was fairly homogenous from a demographic and

socioeconomic standpoint. For an innovation that is as wide-reaching as social media, further

studies may make use of a far larger and more representative global sample to prove for certain

that this hypothesis applies across geographies and age groups.

43

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48

Appendix Appendix 1 – Interview Transcripts

Participant No. 1

P represented Participant

R represented Researcher

R：Have you used social media to follow fashion brands before?

P： I use social medias to focus on fashion brands frequently at ordinary times, such as

instagram, YouTube, Facebook and so on. Instagram is most frequently used among those

medias for me.

R: Could you tell me how often do you use those social medias?

P： Of course! I browse these webpages every day, especially my favorite instagram and

YouTube.

R：How can you get engaged into it? What brought you into those social media channels?

P：When I find my favorite brands have published a new blog or page pushing, I would like to

thumbs up for the pictures and videos I like, and sometimes I will make a screenshot or save

them. I think the most attractive things for me are the brand advertising and dress collocation.

R: What do you think about the social media marketing strategy? Is it positive or negative?

Please give me at least one reason for each view

P: I think both advantages and disadvantages exist, but I am more likely to accept it as a positive

strategy personally. First, the social media makes the distance between the brand and the public

nearer, and provides better interaction with customers and potential customers. Transponding

the information with just one click achieves high efficient spreading, it gives customers a better

platform to know the latest information, which is a good way of publicity. In regard to negative

impacts, sometimes negative comments on social media will make customers question the

products quality of the brand and thus influence the brand images.

R: How do you think about comments on social media, including both positive and negative

ones.

P：These comments will affect my views of such brand, of course, it also depends on how much

attention I paid on that brand, several negative evaluations will not change my view of it if I

liked it very much.

R：How did ASOS social media presence affect your experience as their customers?

P：I often see advertising pictures released by ASOS in my instagram, the beautiful pictures and

costume collocations make me want to click on the link of official website and buy some. It’s

49

preponderant for fashionable FMCG（fast moving consumer goods）brands like ASOS which

can provide a lower price for students.

R：How did Burberry social media presence affect your experience as their customers?

P：As for Burberry, I will not impulsively purchase their products like ASOS, because the price

is expensive. But I do think it has good quality and a high cost-performance. If I really want it I

will wait for the discount season to buy some.

R：How would you describe the differences of your customer experiences between high-

end and low-end fashion brands like Burberry and ASOS?

P：The sales modes of these two brands are different, Burberry has both entity stores and online

sales, while ASOS only provides online sales, which makes it different about customer

experience. Entity store sales can give you a more friendly service , while online sales can

provide customers with more diversified products. Exclusive discount or changing and refunding

service usually accompanied with online sales, it is also more convenient than entity store sales.

R: Can you tell me something about your expectations for these two companies?

P: For ASOS, I hope they can also have their own entity stores in the future, so that customers

can actually experience the products in person. For Burberry, I hope that their products can be

younger rather than just rigidly adhering to the classic styles.

R；How would you describe the differences of your expectations between two companies?

P：I think the social media marketing strategy of Burberry is slightly better than that of ASOS.

Since brands with more powerful strength will naturally draw more attention from consumers.

As for students consumers, I hope Burberry can offer a more affordable price, while ASOS can

provide more perfect services.

R: What value was added due to Burberry’s social media from your customer experiences?

P: Burberry is skilled in attracting consumers by utilizing celebrity effects, which can create

more potential buying inclinations.

R: What values was added due to ASOS’s social media from your customer experiences?

P: ASOS now releases information more often, which makes it difficult for missing their new

products and discounts.

R；Is there anything about your customer experience with these two fashion brands in

social media marketing that we have not yet had a chance to discuss?

P: I hope ASOS can provide delicate products with higher quality, especially the shoes. I hope

that the quality of products can be guaranteed while maintaining a reasonable price at the same

time. I expect that Burberry can cooperate with more younger brands in the future.

50

Participant No. 2



R: Have you used social media to follow fashion brands before?

P: I used to follow microblog accounts and WeChat official accounts of some brands but I then

unfollowed such accounts because they posted too boring contents (they mostly posted very

formal new notices, activity notices, lately brand launches, or something else in the style of news

release and felt that they were urging me to buy but I was reluctant to buy).

R: Can you tell me how often you use such social media?

P: I check my microblog almost every day and check my WeChat official account push

approximately every three or four days.

R: How can you get engaged into it? What brought you into those social media channels?

P: I use WeChat when I do want to get fragmented information but cannot get such information

by microblog. I use microblog because I can get the contents I am interested in, in a very targeted

way and in time, and it spares readers from extracting the focus of expression briefed by all due

to its word limit (it is not as clear as it was previously).



P: Like ads which take different methods concerning characteristic of different media to make a

fortune from consumers, it is just a method.

It is positive for it can complete quick and highly accurate information release in a targeted way

and attract some potential customers by forwarding indeed.

Meanwhile, it is negative because on one hand, it may cheat and fake products may arise in such

social media platforms by mixing with those real and mislead consumers; on the other hand, it is

infinitely boosting and fostering unrestrained consumerism and making it easier to buy some

unnecessary products.

R: How to treat those messages and comments in social media? Including those positive

and negative?

P: It depends upon whether they are related to my own interests. However, I generally do not

give a reply to those messages and comments because I feel that it is less efficient and I may not

be probably able to convince others. Nevertheless, I may feel bad after all if seeing negative

comments╮(￣▽￣”)╭

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Asked about my view about “comment”, the Internet that is convenient and quick enables all to

speak on a platform out of sudden, which is rather unfair in some sense in fact. The comments of

“an unaesthetic person at loose ends” and “a person of high aesthetic accomplishment” seem to

equal each other to others.

R: How did ASOS social media presence affect your experience as their customers?

P: I think shopping impulse may affect me a bit more clearly. After all, ASOS is featured in good

and cheap products, more approximate to living standards of students.

R: How did Burberry social media presence affect your experience as their customers?

P: It barely affects me. I think expressions of high-end brands on social media must be equal to

their product values.

R: How would you describe the differences of your customer experiences between high-end

and low-end fashion brands like Burberry and ASOS?

P: Speaking of high-end brands, I may think about appropriateness more because of the price and

care about whether design models, materials, profiles, shapes, etc. deserve the price. As for low-

end brands, I may take more liberty. Even though products I have bought are not appropriate any

more, I do not care so much. I just buy what I want.


P: Concerning Burberry, I wish that it can maintain its quality while keeping its specific style

and preventing any dramatic change when its design director is changed. In this aspect, I take a

double standard. Though I am not focused in this aspect very much, I regard brands as one of

means of self-expression of others. If someone is dressed in a way that reveals clear trace of

combination, I may feel that this person is positioning himself/herself by brands.

Concerning ASOS, I wish that it can keep this affordable price and may not necessarily keep its

style or something else.

R: How would you describe the differences of your expectations between two companies?

P: Concerning Burberry, our consumers are harsher. For instance, we expect much better

workmanship and more unique and selective design fabrics in high-end brands than low-end

ones. Concerning the so-called fast moving consumer fashion brand, ASOS for instance, being

cheap is the highest return to consumers in fact.


P: Burberry’s social media page looks very gorgeous but has very unique British style, whose

pleasant pictures and products in display inspire very great curiosity of consumers to go deeper.


P: ASOS’ social media channel looks young and energetic, whose bold colors attract young

people, particularly our students, very much. Besides, its push often has discount codes.

52

R: Is there anything about your customer experience with these two fashion brands in


P: I expect to see that high-end brands can make more interactions with public on social media

and enable people to more easily understand and accept brand value and significance, which is a

win-win situation.

Participant No. 3




P： Yes, such as Weibo Facebook and Instagram.


P： I use it every day.


P：It covers a huge range and it updates frequently.



P: I think it is positive. The social media spreads very fast and it faces a large group. People can

get the information very soon and convenient.


ones?

P：The comments from the social media sometimes will be exaggerated and distorted hence

cause some bad effect on someone. And transmission of the misinformation will be spread

quickly and known by more people and becomes a severe issue.

The social media needs more positive comments than negative comments because the former can

make me have warm hearted and touching feeling.


P：I will focus more on the comments. If many comments about the products is good so there is

a great opportunity I will take the product.


53

P：About Burberry social media, I will more focus on the discount or celebrity endorsement.



P：Service attitude. I think the high-end fashion brand will tend to introduce more about the

products for you to know than the low-end fashion brand.


P: The quality of the products in ASOS can have some improvement.

If Burberry can have more discount activity that will be good.

R；How would you describe the differences of your expectations between two companies?

P：My expectations of ASOS are on the quality of the products but the expectation of Burberry

is more on the price.


P: The Burberry social media can let me know more about what type of products are popular by

fashion blogger and some celebrities and have more potential to buy or collect.


P: The ASOS social media always help to solve your problems and share much fashion

information.

R；Is there anything about your customer experience with these two fashion brands in


P: There is a problem that the size of the Euro number not always fits the Asian.

Participant No. 4




P：Yes, I have. Such as Instagram, Blog and Face book.


P：I use them twice a week.

54


P：There are so many types of information and it’s easy to get update by smart phone apps or

official accounts. I think the most attracting part is the promotion online.



P: I think it is good for customers and it is an easy way for those fashion brands to shows

fabulous products as well. It’s absolutely positive because you will find what you want with

reasonable price.


ones?

P：Everyone has the right to judge or leave a comment . I don’t think it is exactly positive or

negative because some of the comments were negative, even malicious; some will give them

advice in positive way.


P：Of course is the online discount! Besides that, from the homepage on social media channels

ASOS encourage everyone to keep real and be yourself. I like it.


P：Burberry hired a lot of celebrities to represented their brand or products, I think it is the

celebrity effect. I’m a huge fan of Cara Delavigne so I will follow those products appeared on

her advertising.



P：Normally I shopped ASOS online because it is the only way to purchase since they haven’t

got any store. It’s convenient but sometimes I still need to see the real product to decide whether

I will buy it or not. For Burberry I usually visit their store in London because they have excellent

in store service.


P: I love ASOS, I wish they can improve their product quality and remain the reasonable price.

For the customer service, I hope they can improve the respond speed for their online consulting.

Burberry needs more interacts with consumers, not just posting beautiful pictures.


P: Because of the power of social media we can get more closer to these high-end brands, it is a

good chance to known their brand and British fashion design culture.

55


P: The most important thing is you can catch the latest fashion style in a second when you

browsing their posts.

Participant No. 6




P: Yes, I have used Microblog, WeChat, and Facebook.


P: Frequently, more than once a day.


P: The seller of the goods will send the advertisements to my mailbox after I bought the goods.

And I will follow on the social media channels of those brands after checking the mail.

R: What impact does marketing or promotional activity through social media have on you

in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands

P: It is an era of big data. People use the internet frequently. Through the social media channels,

I am able to understand the goods by staying at home, which increasing my shopping desire and

optimizing the shopping method.


ones.

P: All the positive or negative comments will have a different influence on the goods. For those

who never contact with the goods, the positive or negative comments of others will become the

criteria of judging the good or bad of the goods.


P: Photo push may leave a visual impression on people. While the basic information, the size and

the color of the goods may be found from the tweet and the comments. For me, the exclusive

discount may stir up my shopping desire, while the star effect has little influence.


56

P: The new products, good discount, or other special offers pushed regularly by social media

channels may keep the exposure rate of the brand, which has impressed me a lot and has kept my

shopping interest.



P: Online sales: I will preview the goods online, and then buy them in the physical stores. For the

high-end products, there is little difference between the online products and the products in the

physical stores. While for the low-end products, the online ones will look better.

Store sales: The decoration of the physical stores of the high-end brands is dignified, and the

shopping environment is comfortable, focusing on the privacy of the customers. While for the

low-end stores, it is common, and it is crowded and noisy.

Service attitude: The service level of the high-end brands is higher than that of the low-end

brands.

Changing or refunding: There is no the service at present, so it cannot comment on it.


P: I hope that the price of the high-end brands will be lower, and the quality of the low-end

brands will be better.

R: "How has social media marketing affected or is affecting your experience as a customer

of fashion brands?"

P: The marketing advertising of the social media is in real time with high updating frequency,

which making people understand all aspects of the goods conveniently and clearly even staying

at home.


P: To a certain extent, it saves my time of shopping in the stores. And on the platform or the

internet, I am able to fully understand or find the goods I want, which has satisfied my shopping

demands.


P: The price on ASOS is cheaper, and there are more varieties of the goods. From the social

media channels or the internet, I am able to scan all the varieties, which is more convenient than

going to the physical stores.



P: I hope there will be more discount for Burberry. And the quality of ASOS will be better.

Participant No. 8

57




P: Yes, I have follow some fashion brands endorsed by celebrities: Chanel and Armani endorsed

by Hu Ge.


P: I use Microblog everyday!


P: I am used to follow my favorite fashion brands by fashion magazines. And since there are

social media channels, it is more convenient for me to follow the fashion. For some of my

favorite brands are beautiful in whether the spokesman or the advertising videos, such as

Channel, Burberry, and CD....In addition, my time to shop is limited for the busy work. The

social media channels provide me with more information for more fashion brands, which make

the shopping be simple, convenient and enriched for me.

R: "What impact does marketing or promotional activity through social media have on you

in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands".

P: The marketing and the promotion activities of the social media of fashion retail industry have

helped me a lot. First, it enables me to see the information of the new products timely and

accurately. Second, it helps me to find the necessary goods rapidly. Third, it makes me know the

favorable price, which is convenient for buying.


ones.

P: It is the citizen's right to comment on social media, so there will certainly be positive and

negative aspects. The positive one means the approval on the brand, and means people's devotion

and emotion to the brand, which affects directly the buyers' decision. And it makes the brand

brilliant at the same time. For the negative one that is not vicious, it also hopes the brand to

grow, which has promoted the development and made the brand brilliant.


P: Although the ASOS is not a high-end brand, its vitality has attracted me, for its design has

always taken lead in the trend. The showing on the web pages of social media make me to

choose ASOS firstly in buying clothes. The comments on the goods on the web pages make me

understand more about ASOS.


58

P: The web page of the social media makes me understand the brand trend more quickly, more

conveniently, and more widely, which has shorten my shopping time.



P: I am used to buy the products of Burberry in exclusive stores, in where I will receive noble

service and be able to try out many goods, try on all styles of clothes. While there will not be

more discounts in the price. However, there is no the service when shopping online, but the price

will be favorable.

For ASOS, I feel it is same for shopping online and shopping in the stores, for the price is

cheaper. I will buy where the price is cheaper in need.

For the returning, currently, both Burberry and ASOS are convenient online and in stores.


P: For the two brands, I hope there will be more fashionable design, more diversified sales

models, more considerate service, and of course, more favorable price.


of fashion brands?"

P: The marketing of the social media make me able to shop more conveniently. And the

marketing and advertising on social media make me understand the release of the new products

more quickly. And I can also find some my favorite clothes that are out of season, and I will get

a favorable price.

The marketing of the social media will always go with my shopping demands in my future life,

and I will always follow it.


P: I am able to know the new products and the trend of Burberry in fastest time and I will prefer

its spokesman through the social media channels or the website.


P: The social media channel or website of ASOS makes me understand the dressing and favor of

young people. It does not fall behind the trend although it is not a high-end brand.



P: I hope there will be more fashionable design and more favorable price for Burberry to make

more young people pay attention to it and buy it. I hope that the design concept of ASOS will go

on to take lead in the era, with the products keeping up with the trend and the styles being fit to

the stature of both westerners and Asians.

59

Participant No. 9




P: Of course. I often use Twitter, Microblog and Instagram.


P: It depends. Sometimes, I use many times in a day but sometimes I use once in many days.

R：How can you get engaged into it?

P: I will transmit my favorite blog articles or Tweet. Sometimes, I will copy the related linkage

and send to my friends for discussing. Sometimes, I will comment on the content bars. Most of

the time, I am sharing and discussing the feeling on a product with other reviewers.

R：What brought you into those social media channels?

P: To follow my favorite brands and stars. Especially that what I follow on my Instagram

account are all the fashion brands and famous e-commerce websites.



P: First of all, the marketing on social media has a great influence on me, which not only

provides a platform for customers on free choice, but promotes the image and affinity of the

brand by the interaction on the message and comments of the brands and the consumers. And

then it is time saving, especially for the office workers.


ones.

P: I think both the positive and the negative comments are with reference value. For example,

when you are choosing a product online, the pictures provided by the seller will not answer your

doubt on the products, which reflecting the importance of the comments. Both the positive and

the negative comments help you to understand the property and function of the product. You

may avoid some of the trouble on listening to others' opinions. And then it is the responses of the

seller to the comments of the brand, which will also affect my favorable impression on the brand.


P: The promotion of ASOS is favorable. They are good at finding out the fashion insiders and

make-up bloggers in life and make them participate in its own brand. Those fashion insiders will

60

publish their own dressing experience through the social media website to share with others,

which will not only increase their own attention but also have a good advertising on the products.

Usually, I will also intimate the dressing styles of them to increase my dress sense.


P: As a substantial luxurious brand, Burberry will certainly hire lots of celebrities for

endorsement. Most of what they publish in the website of social website are some carefully shot

photos, which are not only the latest products online, but contain the design concepts and the

latest trend of the brand. For me, I can learn a lot of new knowledge from it.


P: For ASOS, I hope that they can join into Chinese social media channels widely. The websites

of ins and facebook are limited in access in China. Many people may have no chance to

understand and know the brand, which is a loss for ASOS, I think. For Burberry, I hope that they

can push out a subline brand aiming at and catering to the purchasing power of young people.


of fashion brands?"

P: It has affected the information sources for me. Ten years ago, I understood the fashion trend

by the advertisements in fashion magazines and newspapers. While I am able to obtain the high-

quality fashion information once I open some websites, and I get it for free.


P: For Burberry, through social media, it conveys the brand concepts and the design inspiration

to the public. What they discuss online are not only about the products, but the production

process and the experience of the designers. You are able to acquire the knowledge and open up

the eyes in the time of buying the favorite products.


P: I think the brand concept of ASOS is "the fashion you are affordable". For me, the maximum

value of ASOS is to buy the newest fashion goods with a cheaper price.

Participant No. 10




P: Occasionally. Sometimes I will use Microblog to kill time.

61


P: Maybe once in two or three weeks.

R：How can you get engaged into it?

P: Generally, I just scan it. And sometimes I will like. I seldom transmit or comment.


P: It maybe the popular network live telecast. I think it is interesting. Your favorite stars or

brands are no longer photos. The live telecast makes people see their different aspect.



P: The London Fashion Week a few months ago had well used the social media channels for

advertising. All brands broadcast lively their own show fields on the background vie with each

other. I have also seen many famous dressers and designers dressing up the models carefully. I

think it is amazing, for sometimes, it is impossible for me to contact with the brands in such a

close distance. It will make me pay more attention to the new product, and I may place the order

and buy them immediately.


ones.

P: To tell the truth, I care little about the comments on the social media, and I seldom read them.

Both the positive and the negative comments are others' opinions. They are none of my business.

And those comments will not change my opinions on a brand or a product.


P: I think that the updating of social media of ASOS is timely and quickly. I feel that they will

push more than 10 information each day. I recognize their professional ethics, and as a regular

customer of ASOS, that push is important reference for me.


P: I have to say that Burberry is good at making topics to get the attention of the public. The

topics and discussion on social media encourage the public to upload their photos actively and

share the purchased products. The transmission of official account will also encourage more

people in participation. For me, every photo issued by Burberry is delectable. It is happy just

enjoying the photos even I will not buy the product frequently.


P: The changing and refunding of ASOS annoys me a lot for the procedure is cumbersome and

the mailing expense shall be borne by myself. I hope this can be improved. For Burberry, I think

it shall put the main part on the Asian market. It shall push more products fit to the style and the

stature of the Asians, and hire more Asian stars for endorsement. I think this will be better.

62


of fashion brands?"

P: Nothing except for providing me with the latest information. There are few brands I often

consume, and they are the fixed ones.

R: Do you think Burberry and ASOS’s social media is valuable from your customer

experiences?

P: Of course it is valuable. There is competition for both the high-end and the low-end fashion

brands in the fashion industry. I think the presence of the social media also reflects the intense

competition of the industry. Of course it is a good competition, which stimulates the fashion

brands to issue better products and to provide better services, and this is the value of consumers.

Participant No. 12




P: Yes, I often use Instagram and Microblog.


P: It depends. I often browse them when I am idle while I browse it once a week when I am

busy.


P: Usually I will read every push or blog carefully for there are few accounts that I am following.

Many brands will send you mails about promotion after your purchasing. Generally, I follow the

social channels of those brands by the linkages in the mails.


in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands.

P: Well, they do not affect me a lot. I will not purchase the so called latest fashionable product

just for a push or a advertisement.


ones.

P: I follow those brands on social medias for not only the demand of shopping, but more for that

my profession is related to the fashion. Information on social medias is an assistance for my

63

learning. Besides, the comments and messages are important parts. I will read both the positive

and negative comments. I find it is interesting to read the comments.


P: ASOS will publish advertisement both on social media and hot websites, which makes it easy

for people to follow it. Usually the advertisement marketing will be with discount codes or

coupons to attract consumers.


P: The advertising of the products and promotion activities on social medias of Burberry is not so

wide as that of ASOS. And there is little discount for Burberry.



P: For me, the products of Burberry are often used as the award for myself or as the gifts for the

elders, so I will choose them carefully and compare the price, and I have a greater expectation on

the products and the service. While ASOS is just for daily consumption. For the cheaper price,

usually, I concern little about the price or the service.

R："How has social media marketing affected or is affecting your experience as a

customer of fashion brands?"

P: I think social media is a platform that can inspect the trustworthiness of a brand. By observing

the response of the brand to the feedback of users, we can see the attitude of the enterprise or the

brand to the customers.


P: As far as I know, Burberry is the first brand to establish the account in facebook in all

luxurious brands. This reflects the leading consciousness of Burberry to digitization. Besides, the

online personalized customization and the thoughtful express service of Burberry has made the

distance between the brand and the customers be closer.


P: The contents published on social media of ASOS are close to the life. And the way it

communicates with customers is like that between friends. Compared with Burberry, ASOS may

bring a pleasant shopping experience to me.

Participant No. 13



64


P: I use it occasionally.


P: I browse them every week.


P: Generally, I just scan the photos on social media channels.


P: It is just for discount.

R："What impact does marketing or promotional activity through social media have on

you in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands"。

P: To tell the truth, I will be fed up with lots of such pushing blogs and advertisements. It is just

like that numerous advertisement mails will be sent to your mailbox after you have bought the

product of some brand just for once. I will directly enter into the official website of the brand or

the e-commerce website that is the agency of the brand to search for the proper merchants if I

really want to buy the products.


ones.

P: I do not care about the comments on social media, for they will not change my loyalty to a

brand.

R：How did ASOS social media presence affect your experience as their customer?

P: I buy goods of ASOS for they are diversified, and fit for the public's beauty appreciation and

stature. And they are cheaper, fit, fashionable and popular, just like the feeling they give me on

social network.


P: I have followed the Burberry on facebook, but I seldom browsed it later, for they often sent

me a lot of promotions photos of the stars that I am not interested in. However, it will not affect

my affection on their products.



P: I think there is no difference. For me, the procedures are the same, and there is only the price

is different.

65


P: I hope the two companies will be able to deliver on the day in the aspect of logistics.



P: Looking for help. For example, when you are doubt about some good, you can rely on the

online consultation on them for solutions.

R: What value was added due to Burberry and ASOS’s social media from your customer

experiences?

P: As I have mentioned, it is a useful tool to help me solve my doubts.

Participant No. 14




P: I use it occasionally.


P: I browse them every week.


P: Generally, I just scan the photos on social media channels.


P: It is just for discount.

R："What impact does marketing or promotional activity through social media have on

you in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands"。

P: To tell the truth, I will be fed up with lots of such pushing blogs and advertisements. It is just

like that numerous advertisement mails will be sent to your mailbox after you have bought the

product of some brand just for once. I will directly enter into the official website of the brand or

the e-commerce website that is the agency of the brand to search for the proper merchants if I

really want to buy the products.


ones.

66

P: I do not care about the comments on social media, for they will not change my loyalty to a

brand.

R：How did ASOS social media presence affect your experience as their customer?

P: I buy goods of ASOS for they are diversified, and fit for the public's beauty appreciation and

stature. And they are cheaper, fit, fashionable and popular, just like the feeling they give me on

social network.


P: I have followed the Burberry on facebook, but I seldom browsed it later, for they often sent

me a lot of promotions photos of the stars that I am not interested in. However, it will not affect

my affection on their products.



P: I think there is no difference. For me, the procedures are the same, and there is only the price

is different.


P: I hope the two companies will be able to deliver on the day in the aspect of logistics.



P: Looking for help. For example, when you are doubt about some good, you can rely on the

online consultation on them for solutions.

R: What value was added due to Burberry and ASOS’s social media from your customer

experiences?

P: As I have mentioned, it is a useful tool to help me solve my doubts.

67

Participant No.15




P: Yes, I often follow, browse and comment in the microblog.

R: Could you tell me how often do you use those social media?

P: I check those social media every a couple of days and everyday when I am busy and idle

respectively at work.


P: I can quickly know the information of fashion brands which I am concerned with and see

pictures of my favorite models and my shopping is enabled to be more colorful.

R: "What impact does marketing or promotional activity through social media have on you

in terms of fashion retailing i.e. when you are researching or buying fashion brands"

P: Fashion retailing, social media marketing and promotional activity do affect me. I may search

for patterns of my favorite brands but the search does not decide. I may comprehensively take

quality and price into account to decide whether a product is appropriate.


ones.

P: As soon as I follow messages on social media, I am bound to notice those comments,

including both positive and negative ones. The positive comments enable me to have more

confidence about brands I am concerned with while negative comments remind me of cautioning

and preventing the same problems in shopping. In a word, both positive and negative comments

help me in shopping.


P: ASOS’ social media webpage unfolds affinity and a civilian style and contains intrinsic

nobility, which is favored by more young people to buy its products.


P: Burberry’s nobility is very fully revealed on its social media webpage. Stars’ endorsements

and good comments confirm my loyalty to this brand. I will continue to be a loyal customer of

Burberry.

68



P: Burberry and ASOS are high- and low-end brands respectively. Shopping at Burberry’s

outlets makes me enjoy high-end services and satisfying and fit products. Online shopping makes

me make full selection and get favorable price. ASOS online shopping makes me select more

conveniently, quickly and widely but its after-sales services and speed of return and exchange of

products is not that satisfactory.


P: Burberry has to keep its original style while keeping pace with fashion in design, launch both

models fitting middle-aged and elderly people and designs attractive to young people, and show

favorable price to expand its market.

ASOS has to keep its original cutting-edge fashion design, manage services, particularly after-

sales services, and cooperate with express companies in return and exchange of products to

enable consumers to not only select more products but also receive products and packages from

more trustworthy express companies in time and successfully complete return and exchange of

products.

R: How has social media marketing affected or is affecting your experience as a customer

of fashion brands?

P: Yes. The form of social media marketing enables me to more quickly and conveniently get

new information of new products and earlier get favorable price to offer reference and help for

my shopping. I will always follow.


P: I often follow Burberry’s social media platform or website and see stars in endorsement in the

social media platform or website engaged in some public welfare activities and promote the

Burberry team, making me more trust this brand and more appreciate this brand. Besides,

Burberry’s social media platform or website enables me to follow Burberry more conveniently in

time.


P: I follow ASOS on its social media platform or webpage. ASOSde1 models are a group of

different complexions, figures and temperaments. Their display conveys one message: as long as

you like it, you will be able to wear it. ASOS fits people of all complexions and figures.



P: Burberry keeps tradition, follows fashion and attracts the young people.

ASOS has more diversified design. It is advised to design some models preferred by middle-aged

and elderly people to expand its market and enhance its after-sales services.

69

Participant No. 16




P: Yes, I follow some fashion houses on Instagram and Pinterest


P: The social media apps, I use them almost every single day

R: What keeps you engaged with the fashion brand’s social media channels?

P: It lets me follow what the newest and hottest fashion trends are. They post photos and videos

of their newest designer collections and I guess it makes me feel like I am part of the action.


in terms of fashion retailing?

P: Quite a lot, the celebrity fashion styles and runway trends influence my own style. It gives me

something to look up to and aspire for.


ones.

P: It is good to be able to discuss style with other people who are passionate and knowledgeable

about it. Sometimes I can also get retweets or mentions from famous brands and personalities,

which is cool.


P: ASOS looks at the styles worn by celebrities like Drake, and shows us how to emulate it using

affordable pieces, and I like that. But that’s about it to be honest.


P: I love Burberry’s Instagram, it showcases what I would call best of British, very classic styles

and it shows you how to pair iconic items like their scarf with other pieces of fashion.



P: ASOS fashion is very disposable, they expect you to keep buying new things. Burberry treat

you like a celebrity yourself when you buy one of their high-end pieces, and make you feel

special.

70

R: Can you tell me something about your expectations for these two companies social

media?

P: ASOS seems to use their social media as a promo channel, literally posting every single item

in their catalogue. It’s a one-size-fits all approach and can frankly be a bit tiring. Burberry is very

tasteful and restrained in its approach, as I would expect them to be.


of fashion brands?"

P: It is good because it lets you be a part of the brands story, like Burberry lets you upload

pictures of you wearing their clothes and might feature them. Other brands I know even feature

style advice from followers.

R: What value was added due by Burberry’s social media to your customer experiences?

P: It let me see how I can use their clothes to create a look, and inspired me to aspire to better

styles.


P: It was good to be able to see some styles, but I don’t follow them that much.



P: no.

Participant No. 17




P: Yes, I have.

R: Can you tell me which social networks and how often you use them?

P: Mostly Snapchat and Instagram, which I use several times a day.

R：What engages you to the social media channels from a fashion perspective?

P: It is easy to have the latest style and tips sent direct to your feed, you don’t have to go looking

for them. Like, I might just be thinking what to wear to a party and all of a sudden I am inspired

from my feed

71

R：What impact does marketing and promotional activity through social media have on

you in terms of fashion retailing?

P: Like, I might just be thinking what to wear to a party or event and all of a sudden I am

inspired from my feed. Also, you can be part of fashion culture now by showcasing your styles

on social networks


ones.

P: I don’t care much for them, except I know when I company or give kudos to the brand reps

[representatives] online, they usually respond straight away which is much better than when you

e-mail or phone them.


P: Oh ASOS’s Instagram is great…they had this campaign where you could tag them while

wearing their clothes to a night out and they would feature you. I actually got retweeted by them!

R: Any other ways you can think ASOS made an impact?

P: Its pretty much youth fashion personified; if I ever have to look up what’s trendy I can always

check out their Instagram or Snap


P: I like to think of Burberry as Brit-chic, so they have a consistent theme. You know what to

expect and if that’s your thing you know you will find inspiration there

R: Have you experienced this yourself?

P: Not that often, but I do see them mentioned in featured posts and I like how chic the posts are



P: Low-end brands tend to have a friendlier feel, like a mate of yours was running the comments

and content on the page. High end brands tend to show off, like this what you should be like if

you can afford it. Aspirational is the word, I guess.

R: Can you tell me something about your expectations for these two companies

specifically?

P: I expect to keep use ASOS media for all types of interactions, from finding what real people

are wearing to solving a customer service issue. Burberry, I guess would keep giving us

inspiration from the catwalks and red carpet, like they do.

R：How has social media marketing affected your experience as a customer of fashion

brands?

72

P: It has a big impact, it has given me inspiration what to wear, given me confidence about my

style

Appendix 2 – Tables

1. Question-type decision table

Question type Type explanation Sample from questionnaire

Introductory Questions that are relatively

neutral eliciting general and

nonintrusive information

and that are not threatening

Have you ever used social

media to follow fashion

brands before?

Transition Questions that that link the

introductory questions to

the key questions to be

asked

If so, which social media

website do you use?

Key Questions that are most

related to the research

questions and purpose of

the study

How did ASOS social

media presence affect your

experience as their

customer?

Closing Questions that are easy to

answer and provide

opportunity for closure

Is there anything else about

your customer experience

with these two fashion

brands in social media

marketing that we have not

yet had a chance to

discuss?

2. Response categorisation matrix

Subject (Participant)

Impact of Social

Media Marketing on

CEx of low-end

Impact of Social

Media Marketing on

CEx of high-end

Notes

73

fashion brand (ASOS) fashion brand

(Burberry)

P1

Positive

ASOS uses SNS to

communicate product

launches and sales


often see advertising

pictures released by

ASOS in my Instagram,

the beautiful pictures

and collections make

me want to click on the

link of official website

and buy some”

Positive

Burberry is

informational

Customer Quote:

“Burberry is skilled in

attracting consumers by

utilizing celebrity

effects, which can

create more potential

buying inclinations”

Reduces distance

between brand and

customer

P2

Positive


youthful image

Customer Quote:

“ASOS’ social media

channel looks young

and energetic, whose

bold colors attract

young people,”

Indifferent

Burberry needs to




Customer Quote: “It

barely affects me. I

think expressions of

high-end brands on

social media must be

equal to their product

values”


youthful image;

Burberry needs to




P3

Positive

Customer comments

inform them of product

quality and reviews

Customer Quote: “I will

focus more on the

comments. If many

comments about the

products are good, there

is a great opportunity I

will take the product”

Positive

Burberry provides style

and fashion advice


Burberry social media

can let me know more

about what type of

products are popular

with fashion blogger[s]

and some celebrities

Focuses on customer

comments for items of

Low-end brands; uses

high-end brands SNS

for celebrity style tips

and fashion advice

P4

Positive

Customers can

contribute their pictures


homepage on ASOS

social media channels

encourage everyone to

keep real and be

yourself”

Positive

Celebrities promoting

what British style is

Customer Quote:

“Burberry hired a lot of

celebrities to represent

their brand or products,

I think it is the celebrity

effect. I’m a huge fan of

ASOS - customer

contribution; Burberry -

celebrity fashion and

British style

74

Cara Delavigne”

P5 Unusable Response / /

P6

Positive

ASOS - photos on SNS

create a visual impact

Customer Quote: “Photo

push may leave a visual

impression on people.

While the basic

information, the size

and the color of the

goods may be found

from the tweet and the

comments”

Indifferent

Star endorsement has

little effect

Customer Quote:

“on the platform or the

internet, I am able to

fully understand or find

the goods I want; the

star effect has little

influence”

SNS have a 'push'

effect;

P7

Positive




diversity in their models


instgram of ASOS will

send a lot of photos

everyday to recommend

the new products

popular in season; You

will find the products fit

for you no matter where

you are from, how is

your skin color”

Positive

Burberry - mention of

celebrity endorsement

and charitable efforts is

a plus


often see on the social

media that Burberry

takes part in or sponsors

the public benefit

activities in the name of

the brand, which has

increased my favorable

impression to the

brand.”




diversity in their

models; Burberry -

mention of celebrity

endorsement and

charitable efforts is a

plus

P8

Positive

ASOS - youthful


chances of purchase

Customer Quote: “its

vitality has attracted me,

for its design has always

taken [the] lead in the

trend”

Positive


on trend


social media makes me

understand the brand

trend more quickly,

more conveniently, and

more widely”

ASOS - youthful


chances of purchase;


on trend

P9

Positive

ASOS uses inputs from

real-life fashion

bloggers to make it

relevant

Customer Quote: “They

are good at finding out

the fashion insiders and

Positive

Burberry SNS provides

product knowledge

Customer Quote:

“Burberry, through

social media, it conveys

the brand concepts and

SNS allows for

customer interaction

with brands

75

make-up bloggers in life

and make them

participate in its brand”

the design inspiration to

the public”

P10

Indifferent

ASOS communicates

their ethical stance via

SNS but overloads with

updates

Customer Quote: “I feel

that they will push more

than 10 information

each day.

Positive

Burberry seems good at

generating content and

discussion

Customer Quote: “: I

have to say that

Burberry is good at

making topics to get the

attention of the public.

The topics and

discussion on social

media encourage the

public to upload their

photos actively and

share the purchased

products”

SNS necessary for

competition

P11 Unusable response / /

P12

Positive

ASOS' social media

make it easy to

communicate with the

brand as with a friend


contents published on

social media of ASOS

are close to the life. And

the way it

communicates with

customers is like that

between friends”

Negative

While Burberry is a


impersonal

Customer Quote:

“promotion activities on

social media of

Burberry is not so wide

as that of ASOS. And

there is little discount

for Burberry”

While Burberry is a


impersonal; ASOS'

social media make it

easy to communicate

with the brand as with a

friend

P13

Positive

ASOS has a fashionable

and “fit” feel.

Customer Quote: “they

are fit, fashionable and

popular, just like the

feeling they give me on

social network.”

Negative

Burberry has Too much

promotion, equitable to

spam


have followed the

Burberry on Facebook,

but I seldom browsed it

later, for they often sent

me a lot of promotions

photos of the stars that I

am not interested in.”

No impact from

comments

76

P14

Positive

ASOS - friendly


personnel taking charge

of those accounts are

kind and friendly, just

like your friends”

Positive

Burberry - Celebrity

style


follow Burberry for the

spokesman. I have to

say that the effect of

stars is great”

Sharing experiences

with friends is key

P15

Positive

ASOS - youthful and

diverse

Customer Quote:

“ASOS models are a

group of different

complexions, figures

and temperaments.

Their display conveys

one message: as long as

you like it, you will be

able to wear it. ASOS

fits people of all

complexions and

figures.”

Positive

Burberry – SNS

showcases how it cares

about community


often follow Burberry’s


website and see stars in

endorsement in the


website engaged in

some public welfare

activities”

Online comments

important to decision-

making

P16

Indifferent

ASOS overloads with

every item they seem to

have in inventory

Customer Quote:

“ASOS seems to use

their social media as a

promo channel, literally

posting every single

item in their catalogue.

It’s a one-size-fits all

approach and can

frankly be a bit tiring”

Positive

Showcases the user in

the best of fashion

Customer Quote:

“Burberry treat you like

a celebrity yourself

when you buy one of

their high-end pieces,

and make you feel

special.”

Social media branding

is aspirational

P17

Positive

ASOS embodies youth

culture

Customer Quote:

“ASOS’s Instagram is

great…they had this

campaign where you

could tag them while

Positive

Burberry is British chic

Customer Quote: “I like

to think of Burberry as

SNS pushes out latest

trends and makes use of

user content

77

wearing their clothes to

a night out and they

would feature you.”

Brit-chic, so they have a

consistent theme.”

3. Theory conceptualisation matrix

DOI Concept Lack of concept in

negative/indifferent cases

Instance of concept in

Positive cases

Compatibility 3/ 7 20/ 23

Complexity 0/ 7 9/ 23

Trialability 4/ 7 16/ 23

Observability 0/ 7 16/ 23

Relative Advantage 1/ 7 12/ 23

78

Appendix 3 – Ethical Approval Letter

79

Appendix 4 – Access to Dissertation form

80

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Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end ...dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/dissertations/2016-17/External/Shang_S.pdf · Customer Experience in Response to High-end and Low-end