INTRODUCTION:

Luxury retailing is undergoing huge transformation from past 3 to 4 years due to huge penetration of social media marketing and campaigns along with IoT’s and related technology pertaining to electronic retailing. In fact, customer shopping behavior has changed significantly due to multiple Apps serving different functionality. Moreover, social commerce is the term associated with this study and perhaps this is constituting used by everyone across the globe. In fact, it is found through various market agency reports the one among them is Accenture Research, Social Commerce, 2021 report talks about it.

Social commerce is gaining traction in luxury, fashion, lifestyle and consumer-oriented industry. In recent times, retail companies are facing new challenges and development in omnichannel retailing in providing better services and more importantly personalization is trending in retailing.

Unlike physical store or offline format, social commerce is a practice which is in the experimentation stage in India unlike developed nation in luxury goods or services (4)

Against this background, this paper has two objectives: Firstly, it provides evidence of the existing understanding of social commerce and curated shopping using extant literature. Secondly, it discusses a few aspects in retail space which constitute sustainability. This paper addresses the benefits derived from social commerce and various factors which constitute the curated shopping in social commerce which is a new paradigm in retail industry

RESEARCH QUESTION:

What factors will affect the luxury consumers in curated shopping in social commerce space?

Social commerce is a new phenomenon adopted by retailers who are in the race to continue their journey to resonate with the customer base. In fact, the curated shopping is a new way for shifting the purchase process in social commerce which has various benefits for both retailers and consumers. In this line, the following objectives were derived

• To identify the variables in curated shopping

• To elicit the factors required in social commerce

• To open new vista for further research.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Before embarking into the literature of the study concerned, it is important to know that luxury especially in fashion luxury category; most of aspects are derived from western economy to other countries (4) particularly in India as a developing economy, there is desire for luxury products namely fashion, life style accessory, fragrances and many more has gained traction in business with increased value. Moreover, it makes sense to argue that consumers within western nation are exposed to fashion luxury than their counterparts. As per the study from (11) indicate that revenue in luxury leather goods segment accounts to US$73.96 billion in 2022. The market is projected to grow at 4.36-percent (2022-2027). Likewise, research indicate that global luxury products mentioned earlier has huge opportunities for Luxury businesses as Unicorn are becoming trends in the global business arena.

This study presents the nitty gritty of social commerce along with the consumer buying patterns especially luxury consumer patterns which totally depends on emotional parameter focusing on hedonic behaviour i.e., pleasure and fun in consumption pattern (10) and this is reflected in social media which is related to this study. Furthermore, social commerce is relatively new phenomenon when it comes to luxury segment but then, looking at the practices in Indian context there are many aspects of social commerce with curated shopping which is presented in below literatures.

(13) indicates in their study about the consumer engagement in online curation deals with the integration of social media and e-commerce based on product choice especially for fashion brands. Here, consumers actively participate in co-creating the brand and present them to others eventually, a novel cobranding is in market. Authors in this study have used behavioural data collected from two communities from Polyvore.com and employed clustering technique to demonstrate the curated consumers involved in assembling different brands and came out with implicit brand associations. The implications of this study help the brand managers to understand better way of analysing brand images which was co-created by consumers. Further, it highlights that consumers are actively curate the combination of fashion brands on social media. Moreover, the consumer curation reveals the implicit brand categorization and online fashion displays differ in popularity.

(2) indicates the changing nature of services using Artificial Intelligence which is dominant. Eventually, customers are expected to resolve issues themselves before asking for executives and most important thing is that they themselves become the cocreators of value. In fact, AI powered interactions can fail leading to customers dissatisfaction. Here, exploratory study was adopted and conducted in-depth interview with 27 customers in AI powered chatbots in service settings. In this study, the 5 antecedents found were authenticity issues, affective issues, functionality, cognitive and integration issues. of failed interaction between customers and chatbots. Moreover, the findings provides a better understanding of value co-destruction in AI powered service settings and provides conceptualization of link between customer resource loss, attributes of resource loss and customer coping strategies.

(12) indicate the role of interactivity and service quality toward dimensions of customer engagement in e-commerce applications. This study discusses about the 717 mobile ecommerce application users in Indonesia in which quantitative approach was used by employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling to test the conceptual framework. The findings present the interactivity positively associated with customer engagement behaviour and service quality moderates the relationships between interactivity on augmenting and mobilizing. Moreover, the study supplement the value co-creation in multi stakeholder settings.

(9) is about the social media influencers in which the study identified the unique consumer motivations namely on Instagram are consumerism, creative inspiration, authenticity and envy had a varying effect on trust and purchase frequency. Here, the trust associated with social media influencers post pertaining to brands and frequency of purchasing Social media influencers recommended brands are seen. Besides, materialism had a significant individual difference that was related to four variables which has impact on purchase behaviour.

The recent marketing trends as discussed by (3) indicate that there is rise of influencers as an extension of word of mouth campaigns. In fact, organization are realizing the power of social influencers that drive consumer purchase decision. In fact, various study has shown that influencer marketing has great influence on changing consumer buying pattern. Moving further, attitude towards influences and perceived behaviour were found to favour among consumers whereas the influence of peers had no effect. Here, specific type of influencers across product category is seen. It depends on the content posted which is shared by influencers. Besides, consumers are affected by increase in preference of brand, brand awareness, subject expertise.

The study by (1) is about the research in which source credibility model was incorporated and conducted experiments with sample of 165 in which they came out with two levels of extroversion i.e., high and low extroversion. Here, participants self reported about the extroversion levels which is used to offset to create a personality match with Influencer extroversion congruence. Results of the study indicate that visual presentation of Influencers’s extroversion increases the perceived credibility of the Influencer and further purchase intentions.

(8) indicates the digitalization of luxury brands in Apparel Industry which is often a new norm in luxury retailing which is called as Phygitilisation where in luxury consumers prefer to access the various information pertaining to brands. It is seen in present businesses that phygital shopping experiences is accepted by present day consumers with status seeking and fashion opinion leadership . This research comprised of two study in which study 1 employed a design thinking approach and study was done based on online survey in which structural equation model testing was executed. The results of the study indicate that status seeking and fashion opinion leadership are positively associated towards phygital shopping experiences. In this line, self fighting is seen as an generative mechanism for interactions intentions, which facilitates fashion opinion leadership and partially status-seeking. Finally, hedonic experiences mentioned here in the study are critical to luxury consumers when it comes to phygital experience however, status seeking is also important to maintain exclusivity in luxury brands.

(6) indicate that social media marketing is required to reinforce customer and brand relationship. This study employed Stimulus organism response framework to develop a model to inspect the social media marketing activities which affect the dimensions of customer relationship quality i.e., satisfaction, trust and commitment and brand loyalty. In this context, study identified the intervention effect between social media marketing activities and brand loyalty in brands which pertain to Instagram. It employed structural equation modelling and obtained a sample of 290 users in Palestine who are telecom users. The findings of the study indicate that social media marketing activities positively affect the dimensions of customer relationship quality and social media marketing activities are a stronger predictor of commitment than satisfaction and trust. The finding was that social media marketing activities had a positive effect on brand loyalty. Further, the study revelate the fact that dimensions of customer relationship quality act as mediators between social media marketing activities and brand loyalty.

The study is not directly associated with the title though it is applicable to luxury industry. Nevertheless, On the same line, (5) which examined the robustness of relationship between social media marketing activities (SMMA) and brand loyalty (BL) in which six contextual factors classified into three categories: methodological, economic, and social variables. Here, quantitative meta analysis was executed to test the hypothesis and 11 effect size from articles were published between 201o and 2019 with final sample of 3525. Eventually, there was positive correlation between social media marketing activities and Brand loyalty at cumulative level of 0.49. Besides, the key is that moderating effects was seen in the study constituting of variables; sample type and survey, social index and globalization level as well as economic variables. However, the globalization level , connectivity and Human development index have no significant moderating effects on the SMMA–BL link

METHODOLOGY:

This study is interpretive in nature which is primarily focused on luxury consumers which may help in strategy formulation. Based on the objectives of the study, the responses were collected from 20 people in India using snowball technique. The duration of the interview was approximately 15mins and participants were aged between 25-60 years. In fact, it was very difficult to get connected to all participants in which 9 people were in direct contact whereas remaining 11 was contacted through email and given lot of time for them to respond due to their busy schedule but able to get their perspective. In fact, confidentiality and anonymity of participant was maintained.

In fact, all participants were given a consent form prior to the study and explained the purpose of study. The key objective of the study was to address the research question as the study is more of interpretive in nature.

DISCUSSION(S):

As mentioned earlier, the study is exploratory and interpretive in nature. Respondents were informed about the study and contacted few participants due to time limitation and difficult to access luxury consumers. Narratives were selected randomly from the participants and listed as specified in the Findings.

This study represent the pattern identified through the people especially hedonism among participant and factors namely luxury consumption, societal pressures and brand relationships and belongingness. In fact, through various study it is found that there is a interconnection of factors like social media influence, brand personality and luxury consumption in social commerce space.

Presented below are the narratives indicating the various perspectives of respondents. Here, random selection of participants are presented below due to time limitation and difficult to get luxury consumers. Nevertheless, few aspects were able to derive through their narratives.

A. Luxury consumption with success factor:

This study indicate that how participants link their consumption habits to status and need belonging to a particular social class though the researcher is not gone in totality the reason is that in social media, luxury consumption in fashion category is still in nascent stage in Indian context.

How do you project yourself on social media?

Respondent 1, 25-30:

People want to be around successful people. Probably, they relate the way you carry your looks. Another important point is that in social media, if you don’t post anything fashion luxury items, it means you can’t afford it.

Respondent 2, 30-35:

I believe that when I wear luxury outfit, you have to understand that how people look at me, the likes and shares on social media Instagram or Facebook or any social media.

I am very particular about where I belong to and the classy look which indicate a status symbol for me.

Furthermore, the commonality observed was that people would like to be associated with affluent and reinforce the interlink between success and luxury consumption

B. Societal Pressure:

This study indicate that societal pressure is a significant variable which is associated with consumption patterns pertaining to luxury consumers in India.

Respondent 3, 50 and above :

The society we live in is the combination of many beliefs among people but the fact here is that social media is omnipresent. People judge you by the way you wear or dress up. This puts a more pressure more people face. People look at you how you wear as per the society because is the belief they have.

Respondent 4, 46-50: Social media is omnipresent, I usually follow fashion bloggers. I will get idea about what I can wear

Respondent 5: 20-25: For me, I understand about social media with various luxury brand display and get ideas about new trends in fashion and like to wear what I see others wearing. I just want to be real

As shown in this study, this societal pressure influences their taste for luxury, which is linked to celebrity lifestyle and the need to be like them. By and large, these influences are linked to the society and its expectation on women.

Societal pressure is applicable to all the respondents as they all mentioned that the society impacts their lifestyle, taste and approach towards luxury.

C. Consumer–brand relationship and hedonism:

This factor is quite interesting because luxury brands usually deal with emotions. In this line, participants mentioned the fact that emotional connect or attachment with luxury fashion brands which goes very well. During the study, it is understood that people used the terms categorically like passionate or superb or fantastic to show the connection with brand.

Respondent 6, 50 and Above:

I have purchased watch from years ago. Its durable and paid affordable but now it is costing more but still I used that watch. For me its means attachment to the brand. I think it met my expectation.

Likewise, consumers form relationship with the luxury brands. The very purpose of consumption is through connection i.e., consumer with brand relationship . Respondnets show this relationship to be positive with their favorite brands.

By and large, linking human attributes to brands was evident among all participants in such a way that demonstrates the bond existing between them and their favourite luxury fashion brands.

D.Cultural connection:

Similarly, participants narratives shown that many brands are associated with culture . Here, in the study it clearly indicate that legacy of top notch fashion brands is seen among the consumers. It is all about the tradition linked to culture. In fact, participants expressed their views on multiple products they consumed.

Managerial Implication:

This line of study contributes to the literature extending to luxury consumers in social commerce space. The results of the study presents the factors which affect the curated shopping in social media and luxury brands should be able to develop the brands in accordance to their customers on social media with multiple aspects can come in the way in future settings due to technological advancement. The study clearly presents the curated shopping is already incorporated by luxury companies but still in nascent stage. But then, how they will be able to maintain the distinctiveness is a challenge. One interesting thing found through various literature is that consumers believe in the legacy for many years and in this study, it is found that there were consumers felt that there is always a brand-consumer relationship. Gen Z too have the same opinion about brand relationship.

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Received on 31.10.2022 Modified on 13.12.2022

Asian Journal of Management. 2023;14(1):76-80.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2023.00013