EXPRESS: How Do Fast Fashion Copycats Affect the Popularity of Premium Brands? Evidence from Social Media
| Autor: | Zijun (June) Shi, Xiao Liu, Dokyun Lee, Kannan Srinivasan |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Marketing Research. :002224372311644 |
| ISSN: | 1547-7193 0022-2437 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/00222437231164403 |
| Popis: | The erosion of high-end fashion brands by fast fashion copycats (e.g., Zara, H&M) has stirred controversies and unceasing legal attempts to copyright fashion designs. Despite the purported negative impact of copycats, the effect of fashion copycats on high-end brands remains empirically unclear. Research on this topic has been impeded by the absence of a modeling framework to quantify fashion and by the lack of consumer-level data on fashion choices. We collect data on the posting behaviors of consumers on a fashion-specific social media platform and develop a dynamic structural model with deep learning image analytics to characterize consumers’ choices of brands and styles. Results suggest that fast fashion copycats can both harm high-end brands (a cannibalization effect) and help high-end brands (a market expansion effect). We also identify both static and dynamic mechanisms that contribute to the market expansion effect: The affordability of mixing copycats with high-end brands boosts the number of high-end items featured in posts by financially-constrained consumers (a static mechanism). Also, good styles from copycats enable users to build their popularity on social media over time, which may increase the user’s valuation of high-end brands and reduce the user’s future costs via sponsorship opportunities (dynamic mechanisms). Our results could inform policymakers about the potential consequences of prohibiting fashion copycats. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|