Social Media In The Fashion Industry

In the past decade, the average consumers had limited access to what’s hot in fashion with current trends taking much longer to propagate into the mainstream. The fashion industry has traditionally been exclusive to a margin of wealthy in society to enjoy and participate in. The advent of social media and its adoption within the fashion industry has given the regular consumer glimpses into latest fashion trends, and at lightning speed.

Some researchers believe social media provide a unique opportunity for brands to foster their relationships with customers. They also found that brand trust has a fully mediating role in converting the effects of enhanced relationships in brand community to brand loyalty.( Laroche, M., et al, 2012)

Facebook alone, a hallmark of social media, has over 1 billion active users, who log on at least once every 30 days. Half of these active users actually log on every day. On average, consumers devote almost one third of their time to consumption of online social media (Lang, 2010).

Social Media was thought to escalate retail sales. Alex Bolen, CEO of Oscar de la Renta, said in late 2011 that they expected Facebook to become a major channel of commerce (Mashable, 2011). Many brands and retailers like Oscar de la Renta, Tory Burch, Gap, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom and GameStop that set up Facebook shops in 2011, did not gain from them (Indvik L., 2013).

These figures are quite disappointing for the sales of a business, but it is found that social media still plays an important role for prestige brands. Social media plays a big role in organic search rankings, since Google is using social media engagement for their SEO ranking. The most important factors in SEO ranking now come from social media, with Google +1s ...

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...ntation of an individual letting them express themselves, also allowing them to broadcast out for all their friends to see.

Watkins (2013), who has managed Supre’s Facebook marketing states that Facebook marketing can drive almost double the amount of in-store footfall (37% of girls surveyed in Supre stores every six months over two years said Facebook made them go to the shop versus 21% influenced by traditional media). In terms of conversion, he claimed every Supre dollar spent on Facebook marketing had delivered $192 in return.

The fashion industry thrives on the latest trend. In the absence of social influence, the fashion industry wouldn't and couldn't exist. The strength of the fashion industry is rooted in their ability to capture an idea and then create a type of momentum around that idea which inspires individuals to follow and become part of the idea.