DIssertationMarket Driven | Formulate | Research
The Selfie Phenomenon: An exploration of the Selfie amongst the female consumer and how this has affected the fashion industry. For my dissertation, I decided to focus and research into a subject that was current in society and a topical subject area that I found interesting and wanted to elaborate on. I decided to research the Selfie and the effects it has on the fashion industry, for this module I successfully received a First Class Honours. ABSTRACT Through my research, the selfie evidenced itself as an essential commodity in the fashion industry. The rising popularity of the smartphone has driven the selfie trend to surpass beyond the point of viewing and has derived a new digital consumer in the present world. Consumers, in particular, female millennials, are fixated on documenting their lives with images and are persistently seeking new information, goods and garments to photograph for their online ‘audience’. They are consumed by their online identity in order for them to project a positive opinion of themselves and this has benefitted brands as the consumer has adopted a new consumption habit whereby they are buying much more frequently than ever before. This has caused an excel in growth for many retailers and so therefore, the selfie has been evidenced as a beneficial tool that they should capitalise on. Marketing efforts should shift to incorporate selfie initiatives and a framework that would create a virtuous shopping concept for the consumer and consequently an Omni-channel approach would be generated. Through the synthesised theory obtained, Instagram established itself as a tool that worked conjointly with the selfie; because of this, building a brand identify on the platform would be a beneficial concept. The platform generates a conversational theme whereby the consumer and the business work conjointly through user-generated content and consumer interaction. This social-commerce is predicted to be even more beneficial in the future and therefore there is opportunity for growth for fashion retailers. Moreover, the selfie is forecasted to morph and adapt alongside society in the future, proving that it is a durable trend. Because of this, businesses should harness the power of social media and use the emergence of new selfie forms to generate innovative marketing regimes to improve their social standing and credibility. Conclusively, the selfie has established itself as a grounded trend in society that has been encouraged by technology and digital forms. The trend is changing female consumer perceptions and their power and therefore manipulating the way that retailers are marketing to their consumers. |