2 page paper (Due in 12 hours)
budsimpson
UGCPaper.docxRunning Head: USER GENERATED CONTENT 1
USER GENERATED CONTENT 3
User-generated content in the Fashion Industry
Course
School
3/5/19
Student Name
User-generated content (UGC) refers to the thoughts, opinion and comments on a product or service by a consumer on an online platform that can be publicly accessed by other consumers (Sethna, Hazari & Bergiel, 2017). UGC have a power of influence on consumers purchasing decisions. They are in form of hash tags, tweets, discussions and comments on post, images, videos, audios and blogs. A report done by Adweek indicates that 85% of the consumers thought UGC is more influential compared to the content relayed by a brand (Morrison, 2016). Almost all industries are influenced by UGC but this paper will focus on how UGC has shaped the fashion industry. The fashion industry is majorly influenced by content on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and also YouTube to a certain extent. This is because this industry is mainly based on visual appeal and sensation to its market and the mentioned online platforms provide for users of their products to see and know the quality of what is offered.
Evaluation was done using social media fashion sites that are widely used by consumers before purchasing. Such sites include a brand’s page and influential fashion icons whose taste in fashion is admired by many. The comments and discussions, number of likes and positive reactions on a post of a brand were considered. The tags on the pictures of fashion idols on the type of make-up, clothes, and shoes they were wearing also assessed to evaluate the influence on consumers. The frequencies of purchase and reviews of a product were also evaluated.
Fashion industry appeals to the visual senses and this is what attracts the consumer. The ability of a product to be identical to a consumer’s identity, style and body type is keys to this industry. A consumer’s post that appears stylish and lovely on a certain brand attracts other consumers who are elated by style and appearance to ask where the product was obtained from so that they can also make a purchase. Most of the fashion advertisements are done by models that are made to appear as an epitome of beauty and perfection which is not always the case in the real world. A user generated content by a woman’s clothing brand called Aerie which ran the #AerieReal campaign where they encouraged women to post their unedited natural pictures in the comments in their Instagram posts encouraged women to embrace their natural bodies and in turn led to a positive impact on the company. UGC also improve a brand’s sales and profits, an example is a brand called Burberry that was in a financial crisis before they launched a UGC campaign called Art of the Trench in Facebook that increased its followers and in turn their sales.
The sites that are most influential include:
https://www.ssense.com/?utm_source=polyvore.com&utm_medium=redirect
Sense offers not only garment but also beauty products and home décor. The website has over 500 brands and retailers. Shopper can create outfit ideas and share them with the community. Each month, users create 3millions outfit ideas. Ssense’s mission is to empower people to feel good about their style.
Shopstyle is a part of the Popsugar organization, an e-commerce website, which offers 12 million style-centric products. Their catalogue has not only clothes for women, but also kid’s clothes and home décor items. ShopStyle has 18 million monthly visitors from over 175 countries and drives over $1 billion in revenue per year to its retailer partners. This year they are planning to launch ShopStyle Checkout that will enable consumers to purchase products from multiple retail partners in a single seamless transaction using one log in.
REFERENCES
Kimberlee Morrison, 2016. Why Consumers Share User-Generated Content (Infographic.) Adweek.com. https://www.adweek.com/digital/why-consumers-share-user-generated-content-infographic/ . Retreived 3/4/19
Sethna, B.N., Hazari, S. and Bergiel, B. (2017) ‘Influence of user generated content in online shopping: impact of gender on purchase behaviour, trust, and intention to purchase’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.344–371.
