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Exclusive report: Just how influential are influencers?

Lauretta Roberts
17 June 2019

Young people don’t read printed products, influencers don’t really sell anything, no one trusts paid content… there are lots of assumptions we make when it comes to the kind of content consumers enjoy, and more importantly, the kind of content that encourages them to spend on fashion.

The trouble is those assumptions are not necessarily correct and whether they have a broad truth to them very much depends on the age of your target customer base.

With the help of leading market research agency Savanta, we surveyed more than 1,000 British consumers across the country and across all age groups and social demographics (with a roughly 50/50 gender split), to find out exactly how and why they respond to content that seeks to encourage them to buy fashion.

The results of this make up the first in a series of major studies we will be publishing this summer under the umbrella of "How Britain will Shop for Fashion In 2019 and Beyond". 

Some of the findings in the "Just How Influential Are Influencers" study as unsurprising. Printed catalogues are very popular among a more mature consumer, whereas fashion influencers are pretty much irrelevant for them (only 8% of over 55s follow fashion influencers). Young people do enjoy following fashion influencers (60% of 25-34-year-olds do so) and they also respond well to the content they post.

However, young people do still like printed magazines and newspaper supplements (29% of young millennials read fashion magazines and are, in fact, the most engaged group when it comes to printed magazines). Also, they don’t really feel that much more negatively towards content they know is paid for than that which they know to have been posted for free (despite all the angst surrounding adding a #ad to posts), and the overwhelming majority of them have bought items they have seen on social media. Of those consumers who follow fashion influencers 83% sometimes or often buy products they see in their feeds.

Moreover if people see something on a feed they like they are increasingly likely to visit a retailer’s website or store to seek it out. Of course there are some brands that have decided to opt out of social media altogether but those are special cases.

For most, social media and the use of influencers to filter content is only set to become more and more important. We hope our findings help you get your strategy right for your target audience.

Download a PDF copy of the full report here.

Our subsequent studies will follow throughout July and August:

Reuse, recycle, rental: how sustainability is driving new fashion business models

How they spend it: current behaviours and future intentions

Where they spend it: the most popular brands, shops and retail channels

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