Investigating the Impact of Social Media Engagement and Influencer

Endorsements on Brand Loyalty of Zara in United Kingdom

Proposal

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[Date of Submission]
 Contents
Contextual Background...............................................................................................................................3

Research Aims and Objectives.....................................................................................................................3

Research Questions.....................................................................................................................................4

Literature Review........................................................................................................................................4

Brand Loyalty...........................................................................................................................................4
Brand Loyalty in Fast Fashion..................................................................................................................5
Social Media Engagement and Brand Loyalty..........................................................................................5
Influencer Endorsements and Brand Loyalty...........................................................................................6
Methodology...............................................................................................................................................7

Research Philosophy................................................................................................................................7
Research Design......................................................................................................................................7
Ethical Considerations.............................................................................................................................8
Time Frame..................................................................................................................................................9

References.................................................................................................................................................11
Contextual Background

Fashion retailers are implementing coping mechanisms in response to the effects of

globalization and digital revolution in businesses. The fast-fashion strategy is one of
these tactics, when businesses modify both their sales and manufacturing procedures
to better satisfy changing customer needs (Barnes, 2013). Zara's unique way of doing
business, which includes designing, making, distributing, and selling through their huge
network of stores, is based on what the customer demands (Zara, n.d). Fast fashion
leader Zara boasts a sizable customer base, particularly among younger consumers. It
has become an expert in the art and science of meeting customer demands in the
quickest amount of time throughout the years. With new items coming in every week to
keep people coming back, the Inditex-owned fashion business has nearly 3,000
locations across 96 countries (Jordan, 2021). Among Inditex group of brands, Zara’s
market share was the highest in 2023, accounting for more than 70% of the sales made
by the Inditex Group overall (Statista, 2024).

Zara does not use the usual methods for marketing; their marketing plan is different
from the norm because they spend less on traditional advertising. Zara does not spend
a lot of money on television advertisements or billboards to get people to know about
their brand, instead focusing on less expensive methods. The focus is on marketing
through word of mouth, experiences in stores, and the brand-building potential of social
media sites. Also, Zara uses social media to get its message out to the millions of
people who follow it. Brand Vision (2024) states that Zara actively promotes their brand
by building a community of loyal customers through live shows and two-way
communication.

This research will investigate the impact of social media engagement and influencer
endorsements on brand loyalty of Zara in United Kingdom.

Research Aims and Objectives

Social media and influencer marketing are some of the common ways for brands to
promote their products (Ahmed et al., 2024). A lot of research has been done on the
impact of social media and influencer endorsements on brand loyalty, however, this is
typically general. Specific collections of data when it comes to a fast-fashion brand,
specifically Zara in the UK, do not exist. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate
existing literature related to the impact of social media marketing and influence
endorsements on brand loyalty of Zara in UK and categorically arrange it. This will be
achieved by following the below research objectives:

1. To evaluate social media engagement strategies currently implemented by zara

in UK

2. To analyze the efficacy of social media influencer endorsements on consumer’s

behavior of Zara’s brand loyalty

3. To assess the relationship between influencer endorsement, social media

engagement and brand loyalty among consumers of Zara in UK.

Research Questions

1. How much does social media interaction with Zara's content affect customers'
opinions of the brand's loyalty?

2. What effect do influencer recommendations have on consumers' decisions to buy

and their brand loyalty when it comes to Zara in the UK?

3. What moderating factors, such as consumer preferences and demographics,

affect how effective influencer endorsements and social media interaction are at
creating brand loyalty for Zara in the UK?

Literature Review

Brand Loyalty

Long-term and regular community involvement leads to the development of trust and
dedication. Consumers' brand loyalty is enhanced by the caliber of their functional,
personal, and symbolic consumer encounters (Ozuem et al., 2017). Nisar and
Whitehead (2016) suggest that brands can cultivate a sense of brand loyalty and
behavioral attachment by generating happiness and value, which in turn develops
consumer loyalty. As social and personalized experiences are made possible by digital
methods, customer ties with a brand are strengthened (Confos & Davis, 2016),
ultimately strengthening value engagements that support loyalty. There is evidence to
suggest that businesses can grow their market share by keeping their devoted clientele.
Due to their loyalty to the business and regular purchases, these clients are also
unaffected by marketing initiatives from rival companies (Su & Chang, 2018).

Brand Loyalty in Fast Fashion

Creating brand loyalty is a problem in the fast-fashion industry, where some companies
are having a hard time keeping the loyalty of millennials. A study by Su and Chang
(2018) states that college students, who are often called "millennials," like fast fashion
labels and cheap clothing lines. Furthermore, Su and Chang (2018) say that younger
consumers prefer fast fashion because they do not have a lot of money and the fashion
industry changes styles all the time. There are, however, different results that suggest
otherwise. Fernandez (2009) states that millennials care about fashion and are willing to
spend a lot of money on items that will likely stay in style. Giovanni et al. (2015) state
that millennials are willing to spend money on luxury items because they have better
taste and higher standards for quality, even though their incomes are lower.

Social Media Engagement and Brand Loyalty

Numerous studies have sought to define customer engagement, in a variety of ways in

the realm of marketing (Tsai and Men, 2017). According to Brodie et al. (2011), the
word customer engagement refers to a psychological worldview that encompasses
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects. Customer engagement with regards
to social networking is typically quantified in terms of likes, shares, comments, following,
subscribing, publishing, and so forth. Since Facebook's News Feed algorithm uses
these data as critical performance indicators, higher interaction or activities on company
profiles boost the post's reach. According to Gao and Feng's (2016) study, social
connection, entertainment, along with knowledge seeking elements are major drivers of
customer engagement on social networking sites China. According to Lee and Lee's
(2014) research, college students use social networking sites mostly for the pleasure of
published content and for sustaining interpersonal ties with other users. A study
conducted on Australian brand pages by demonstrates that customer engagement has
a direct impact on consumer trust and loyalty (France et al., 2016). A number of studies
conceptualize the relationships between brand loyalty and customer engagement
(Jayasingh, 2019).

Research has demonstrated that customer brand engagement affects both behavioral
intentions related to brand loyalty (Dwivedi, A., 2015; Hollebeek, 2011). Customers who
participate on a cognitive, affective, and behavioral level are more likely to stick with a
company and may be less inclined to start a relationship with a different one (Helme-
Guizon and Magnoni, 2019). Similar to this, socially engaged consumers—that is, those
who have formed meaningful connections with other brand members on media provided
by the brand—may be more inclined to uphold these relationships and, as a result,
show more brand loyalty (Hollebeek, 2011).

Influencer Endorsements and Brand Loyalty

Nowadays, in the marketing strategies of fashion brands such as Zara, influencer

endorsements have become one of the most popular methods of engaging customers;
followers of influencers believe them to be reliable and easy to relate with, resulting in
influencers having the power to greatly affect people’s opinions, getting them to buy
certain products or services (Lou and Yuan, 2019). Brand attitudes and the intention to
buy are positively affected by endorsements from influencers because generally
individuals are likely to listen to their advice since they trust them, with this confidence
leading to a higher level of loyalty since customers feel attached more to those brands
which were supported by their favorite influencers on social media platforms (Yahia et
al., 2018). When an influencer seems real and their recommendation appears sincere,
there is a greater chance it will bring about stronger impact on improving loyalty towards
brands, particularly among different teenagers who purchase items from brands such as
ZARA frequently (Khamis et al., 2017).

Moreover, what makes influencer endorsements even more powerful is that the sites
where influencers usually have large followings, such as Instagram and Snapchat, allow
for interactions between users themselves with these influencers, allowing them to get
closer to them, forming communities, and ultimately having a large impact on what
brands people choose to buy from based on influencer endorsements (Veirman et al.,
2017). Consumer-brand relationships can be deepened through emotional attachment
and commitment; when followers engage with posts about specific products made by an
influencer they admire and have developed a close bond with, there is a greater chance
of them buying from that brand (Schouten et al., 2020). When people are unsure of
whether they can trust a certain brand or not, there is a very high chance that they will
turn to influencers so that they can get an idea of whether it is a reliable purchase or not
(Audrezat et al., 2020).

Methodology

Research Philosophy

A secondary research method will be used for this study. First, information from
previous studies will be gathered. Both a positivist and interpretivist research philosophy
will be used for this. By using these two together, a more complete literature review can
be done since both objective and subjective information will be gathered (Cresswell and
Cresswell, 2017). Once this systematic literature review is completed, a thematic
analysis will be done to arrange this information.

Research Design

The systematic literature review will be done by first doing a thorough search of
literature on online databases such as JSTOR, PubMed, Scopus, and others. Keywords
including “brand loyalty”, “fast fashion”, “Zara”, and “influencer endorsements” will be
searched in order to find the relevant literature. All literature will be thoroughly screened
so that only the most relevant literature is included in this literature review. A total of
approximately 25-30 literature sources will be used, all of which will be published
between 2016-2024 to make sure that information presented is not outdated.

Once this literature review is done, a thematic analysis will be carried out by first
following a data coding process where each selected literature source will be read
through multiple times, with all relevant phrases and findings highlighted. Once this
coding process is completed, all similar codes will be arranged together to create
themes. Following this, the themes will be reviewed, and once they are finalized, they
will be named (Braun and Clark, 2006). Doing this thematic analysis will provide a
coherent understanding of the impact of social media and influencer endorsements on
brand loyalty, particularly for Zara.

Ethical Considerations

Since no primary data from participants will be collected, ethical issues related to
obtaining informed consent or making sure the physical and mental well-being of
participants is not being negatively impacted in any way will not need to be taken into
account. However, other issues related to secondary research methodologies will need
to be considered and promptly addressed while carrying out this research.

Ethical issues for this research include intellectual property issues, where proper
citations and acknowledgement of original authors must be made to prevent plagiarism.
Additionally, an effort needs to be made to prevent the risk of selectively reporting
findings from literature, which could lead to biases. Also, while information will be
gathered from already publicly available studies, it must also be seen that the data
collected does not violate privacy or ethical standards.

To prevent these ethical issues, all sources used in this study will be properly cited
using the Harvard referencing system. To minimize bias, the validity and reliability of
each study will be thoroughly evaluated before including them in this study. Finally,
even though information is collected from secondary sources, any sensitive or personal
 information that comes across during the review process will not be included to maintain
confidentiality.

Time Frame
Task July Wee Wee Wee Augu Wee Wee Wee Sept Wee Wee Wee
Wee k 2 k3 k4 st k2 k3 k4 Wee k 2 k3 k4
k1 Week k1
1
Creation and
Submission
of Research
Proposal
Acceptance
of Proposal
Start of the
Review of
Literature
Examining
the literature
and having
discussions
with the
supervisor
commencem
ent of the
thematic
analysis and
discussions
with supervis
or
Submission
of Final Draft
Rectifying
any mistakes
and final
submission
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