Social media and luxury fashion brands in China: the case of Coach

Abstract

Luxury consumption in China reached US$37 billion in 2012, making it the world's second largest luxury goods market. Many luxury fashion brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and Coach, are making huge digital marketing efforts in China to increase brand equity and sales. This paper uses Coach as an example to explore how luxury brands use social media to connect with middle-class customers in China. After briefly summarizing the development of social media platforms in China, the key components of Coach's social media marketing strategy are highlighted and analyzed. Then a discussion of Weibo users' responses to Coach's posts is presented. The lessons learned from this study will help luxury brand marketers to engage in social media with Chinese users and improve their social media strategy in China.

Analysis of consumer-brand engagement with fashion brands in social media

“…The results of the study of consumer perception-in terms of perceived exposure-about brands' SMMAs, together with the preceding studies that take a managerial view, suggest the existence of nineteen items of SMMAs that could provide a measure of the different dimensions of fashion brands' SMM activities (see Table 13). The selection of these nineteen actions also seem to confirm the findings of Phan et al (2011), Kontu andVecchi (2014), andNg (2014). These studies find that fashion brands essentially deploy the following SMMAs: brand identity and image, product and shop information, product promotion, celebrity endorsement, engaging customer's online experience, interaction with customers-e.g.…”

“…Studies in fashion retail and marketing topics as well as fashion SMM among emerging Asian markets are still limited, with the notable exception of Chinese consumer-centred studies (e.g. Mazaheri et al, 2011;Luo et al, 2013;Yang, 2013;Ng, 2014;Cheung et al, 2015;Zhou et al, 2016). One prominent Asian emerging market, largely overlooked among scholars in fashion marketing and SMM, is Indonesia.…”

“…The most relevant actions include, or aim towards, enhancing or reinforcing brand identity and image, providing product and shop information, product promotion, access to the online shopping site to funnel consumers, brand promotion through celebrity endorsement, engaging customer's online experience, fostering interaction with customers-e.g. games, contests-, offering prizes and competitions, inducing consumers to the brand's culture, and broadcasting fashion shows and live-stream experiences (Phan et al, 2011;Ng, 2014;Kontu and Vecchi, 2014;Godey et al, 2016).…”

La comunicación de las empresas de moda en TikTok: ASOS como caso de estudio

“…Testigo de la popularidad adquirida por los medios sociales, la Academia también ha manifestado un creciente interés por las redes sociales (Almansa & Fernández, 2011;Aguilar et al, 2015, Martínez-Sala et al, 2018Cristófol et al, 2018;Tur et al, 2018; Villena Alarcón, 2019), siendo el análisis de contenido la metodología más recurrente a la hora de analizar la comunicación en estas plataformas (Phan et al, 2011;Vuori, 2012;Hutter et al, 2013;Hudson & Hudson, 2013;Almansa et al, 2013;Phan & Parks, 2014;McCarthy et. al, 2014;López et al;2015;Rodríguez et al, 2017) y en especial en el sector de la moda (Kim & ko, 2010;Kim & Ko, 2012;Pihl & Sanström, 2013;Wolny & Mueller, 2013;Kontu & Vecchi 2014;Ng, 2014;Park, Ciampaglia & Ferrara, 2016;Geissinger & Laurell, 2016;Gautam & Sharma 2017;Helal, Ozuem & Lancaster, 2018;Lee, Hur & Watkins, 2018;Loureiro et al, 2018;Martínez et al, 2019;Cristófol et al, 2019, Koivisto & Mattila 2020.…”

An Investigation of the Impact of Facebook and Instagram on Consumer Buying Behaviour: The Case of Retail Fashion Consumers in Rhodes, Greece

“…The fashion industry is quickly embracing social media, with brands increasingly turning to social media to connect with their customers (Park, Ciampaglia & Ferrara, 2016;Gautam & Sharma, 2017;Nash, 2019). Fashion brands are developing their own specialised webpages which contain information about the brand and offer space for consumers to connect with the brand and interact with other consumers (Ng, 2014). Consequently, it is important for fashion brands to understand how social media is impacting consumer decisions and behaviour.…”