Facebook-based social media marketing and Facebook-based online purchases: evidence from the Facebook page admins of selected South Asian fashion retailers

Purpose - This study intends to explore the connection between Facebook-based social media marketing (FSMM) and Facebook-based online purchase order (FOPO) for 20 popular online fashion retail brands across three South Asian countries: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. FSMM was further divided into four components: Perceived trust (PT), Perceived informativeness (PInf), Perceived interactivity (PInt) and Perceived benefit (PB). Design/methodology/approach - The authors selected 20 popular Facebook-based online fashion brands involved in clothing and fashion accessories businesses in those three countries. Later, the authors purposively selected 114 region-based Facebook page administrators (admins) responsible for operating those brands' Facebook pages and taking Facebook-based online orders. The authors collected primary data from those admins as respondents through a structured survey instrument. The authors applied SPSS 25 for descriptive analysis and a covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) (through AMOS 25) for testing the hypothesized relations. Findings - Based on the valid responses and application of proper statistical measures, it was revealed that three FSMM components: PT, PInf and PB have significant positive relationships with FOPO, while PInt has an insignificant relationship with FOPO. Originality/value - South Asia is a growing business hub and the largest consumer market in terms of population. This study was conducted to identify the relationship between FSMM and FOPO in the three most prominent South Asian countries. As the first study was undertaken ever on customer perceptions of FSMM in a multi-country South Asian context, this paper is expected to be helpful for academics in conducting further empirical investigations on Facebook-based marketing as well as practitioners and policymakers in formulating and implementing Facebook-based marketing strategies.