MASSTIGE MEETS MEDIA: EXPLORING THE POWER OF SOCIAL PLATFORMS IN DRIVING FASHION PURCHASES

Abstract

With the emergence of the Social Media Marketing (SMM), brand-consumer relationship has been changed to be more interactive, co-creative, and socially accepted, especially in the fashion business where symbolic value and aspirational consumption is of utmost importance. This paper explores how SMM affects the Purchase Intention (PI) of women who are consuming masstige fashion in Assam, India, and the mediating effect of Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE). The study is based on the use of a causal design and gathers data based on the 400 women with the age of 18-35 years in a structured questionnaire according to the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework. Measures of constructs of SMM, CBBE, and PI were based on established scales and analysed by means of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that, as SMM has a direct positive impact on PI, the impact is largely mediated by CBBE which increases brand awareness, trust, and loyalty. The model accounts 32% of variance in CBBE and 45% in PI, which stresses the core position of brand equity in converting social media engagement into purchase readiness. It applies the digital consumer behaviour theory to a culturally different non-metropolitan setting and shows management needs of the fashion brands to focus on equity-building social media approaches.