The Role Social Media Marketing Plays in Customers’ Purchase Decisions in the Context of the Fashion Industry in Saudi Arabia

Khald S Alatawy

doi:10.5539/ijbm.v17n1p117

Abstract

Globalization and rapid advancements in communication technologies have changed the way people throughout the world communicate with one another. Social media has grown in popularity as a technology that allows companies and consumers to communicate without being physically present. As a result, businesses in a variety of industries have turned to social media marketing (SMM) to boost consumer interactions, brand value and recognition, word of mouth, and sales. However, some socioeconomic and cultural characteristics in a given location have an impact on the usage of SMM. The growth of social media technology has resulted in a surge in social media users in Saudi Arabia, providing the opportunity for fashion businesses to leverage SMM to make great strides in this region. As a result, the current research project seeks to investigate how SMM (SMM) might influence customer purchase decisions in the Saudi Arabian fashion sector. In this respect, a self-administered online survey with a sample size of 106 participants was performed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to the study&rsquo;s findings, there has been an increase in the usage of social media, and clients now prefer to shop online. Fashion businesses have a lot of potential to employ SMM to boost their brand value, awareness, identity, and word of mouth.

Highlights

This research examines the history of social media marketing (SMM) in the fashion business, the gaps in the empirical literature, and the usage of social media in the Saudi Arabian fashion sector
The primary goal of the core research project was to look at how SMM influences customer purchase decisions in the Saudi Arabian fashion sector
Previous research has revealed a tendency of purchasing premium fashion products among Saudi Arabian customers, implying that fashion businesses have more opportunities in SMM

Summary

Introduction

This research examines the history of SMM in the fashion business, the gaps in the empirical literature, and the usage of social media in the Saudi Arabian fashion sector. Fashion retail businesses have embraced social media for the purpose of promoting their brands around the world, as they have increasingly recognized that social media has the ability to keep them linked to their clients, as the use and advantages of social media in marketing have grown (Kim & Ko, 2012; Koivisto & Mattila, 2018). There has been a scarcity of study on how customers’ actual purchase choices can be impacted by SMM, despite the fact that there is a large body of literature on the use of social media to influence consumer buying intentions in the fashion retail business (Jin, 2012; Jahn, Kunz & Mayer, 2012). The current study aims to fill this research vacuum by examining the influence of SMM on customers’ real purchase decisions in the Saudi Arabian fashion sector. The underlying objectives are as follows: 1) To look at the influence of ijbm.ccsenet.org

Objectives

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Discussion

Conclusion