Saudi Consumer Perceptions of International Luxury Fashion Brands’ Social Media Marketing Activities: An Abstract

Abstract

For luxury fashion brands, building brand awareness and image is paramount (Atwal and Williams 2017; Heine 2012). The increased use of social media marketing (SMM) among luxury fashion brands has led to the interest in analysing the effectiveness of SMM activities (Godey et al. 2016; Kim and Ko 2012). Saudi Arabia symbolises a robust potential market for international luxury fashion brands as a lucrative market (Chalhoub-Group 2017). Saudi females in particular are renowned for their high disposable incomes, use of social media to find about latest trends, and are eager to purchase luxury fashion brands (Redvers 2016). Due to limit of literature in understanding how Saudi female consumers perceive and respond to luxury fashion brands’ SMM activities in conservative society, the present study serves as groundwork to explore the subject matter in Saudi Arabia. Based on semi-structured interviews with Saudi female luxury fashion consumers, who follow luxury fashion brands on social media, the study helps to address gaps in prior social media branding literature. Specifically, the study indicates perceived luxury fashion brands’ SMM activities are composed of four factors, and they are labelled as trendiness, social role and image, irritation and value corruption. Consumers behaviourally expressed a negative response to the content when it is not appropriate to Saudi society by skipping the content, avoid purchasing from the brand, stop following the brand on social media, or sharing negative WOM. This exploratory study contributes a fundamental knowledge that makes explicit how SMM activities impact upon important branding goals of generating favourable consumers’ behavioural response. From managerial standpoint, SMM strategies ought to consider content that is trendy and stimulating social role and image to generate positive consumers’ responses. The findings also mean that luxury fashion brands should ensure that social media content is appropriate to Saudi society and consumers’ values to avoid negative consumers’ response.