Analysis of Chinese consumers behaviour and social media communication: a focus on luxury fashion brands

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the communication of luxury brands through social media, by focusing on cross-cultural aspects between the Chinese society and the Western one. The first chapter analyses the importance of culture in implementing international marketing strategies and the relevance of finding the perfect balance between standardization and adaptation. To advertise a product in a country that is different from the home market, it is essential to be deeply aware of the foreign environment, not only in social, psychological and behavioural terms but also in the choice of the best market segment. In this way, a precise and detailed analysis of the Chinese cultural context is presented, thanks to Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Finally, the chapter deals with the importance of the physical point of sale and the role of distribution. The second chapter focuses on the specific area of interest of this thesis: the luxury fashion sector and the role of social media in Chinese society. In order to understand Chinese customers and their purchase and internet habits, a questionnaire is designed to gather information about new concrete research data: 151 answers were collected in China. The final chapter focuses on a qualitative analysis of a total of 200 posts from the social media platforms Facebook and Weibo, to verify whether the 10 selected luxury fashion brands communicate in the same way to Western and Chinese consumers or not.