Do Social Media Impact Consumer Buying Decisions in the Fashion Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

Impact on consumer shopping behavior ramped up despite the fluctuations in the pandemic and lockdown in the past year due to of the social media. Because the advent of social media has changed the globe and the whole way it operates, putting the society and its peoples closer together even as a means of boosting customer assets through powerful communication during this challenging period. The purpose of this study is to define the characteristics of social media marketing factors and to examine the impact of those perceived factors upon customer purchasing decisions, given the immense concern in using social media marketing among fashion brands during the period of covid-19 pandemic. This research primarily fixated on five variables in social media, such as entertainment, interactions, trendiness, customization and word of mouth effect on the consumer purchasing decisions. A deductive methodology was taken, and 100 questionnaires, via the Google online form, were circulated to gather data. For data interpretation using SPSS, descriptive and inferential statistics were used such as mean value, standard deviation and correlation and regression analysis. The study of the data shows that social media-marketing factors like entertainment, communications, trends, customizing and word of mouth influence customer buying decisions, and that these factors have a positive relation with consumer purchase decisions. These results also revealed that women and individuals aged twenty-five to thirty-four years of age are more inclined to buy fashion-related products during this pandemic situation and suggested to develop marketing tools targeted at this particular category. Further, the results of this study will help fashion companies more specifically forecast the purchasing habits of their customers and control their investments and marketing efforts in this challenging period.