Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Branding

A Netnography on Consumer Engagement in Virtual Brand Communities

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Abstract

Over 40 million people worldwide are estimated to participate in some form of virtual brand community (Sicillia & Palazon, 2008). The online environment provides numerous venues for consumers to have a safe space to share their opinions and ideas and find solutions to problems, as well as opportunities for retailers to take advantage of interactive and personalized marketing. Express, a US specialty apparel retailer, has implemented a virtual community using asynchronous discussions on product review pages to generate increased sales, positive word-of-mouth, increased information sharing, and richer marketing research data. Such virtual environments help the retailer to engage customers in conversations; however, research has not yet examined the patterns of customer-generated knowledge for online apparel retailers.

Keywords: Virtual-Brand-Community, engagement, co-creation, Netnography

How to Cite:

Park, B., Hur, S. & Stoel, L. D., (2013) “A Netnography on Consumer Engagement in Virtual Brand Communities”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 70(1).