The Influence of Social Media on the Intention of Purchasing Fashionable Clothes: A Study in Colombo District

Due to the popularity of social media, businesses use this platform to promote their products and services among consumers, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. The fashion industry is one such industry that has effectively embraced social media in its marketing strategy. This research primarily focuses on the impact of social media factors on the intention to purchase fashionable clothes and the customer’s perception of these factors. A conceptual model was developed based on the literature, and four factors of social media; the efficiency of the social media site/ ease of use, level of trust the consumers have on the social media site, reviews/ratings obtained in social media, and the frequency of interaction in social media were selected as the factors that affect the purchase intention of consumers. Using a structured questionnaire of 308 respondents, consumer perception towards these selected factors was measured. Using mean value and standard deviation, customer perception of social media factors was analyzed. Multiple regression analysis was employed to empirically test the hypotheses of the study. The findings reveal that, out of the four independent variables studied, the efficiency of the social media site or the ease of using the site, the trust in the social media site, and the frequency of interaction in social media have significant positive impacts on the consumers’ intention to fashionable clothing. Additionally, the analysis results do not provide sufficient support for the hypothesis that reviews/ratings in social media are related to purchase intentions.