We are living in a world that is increasingly digital and undergoing dramatic changes as a result. In particular for luxury fashion, growing numbers of online customers as well as fast changing business environment, luxury retailers face the challenge of differentiating themselves by offering a better online customer experience (Chen et al. 2021). By doing so, luxury fashion retailers are increasingly deploying chatbots in their service encounters to enhance customer experience (Roy & Naidoo, 2021). Chatbots are powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Hoyer et al. 2020) and are an example of AI robot that can provide human-computer interactions on a retail website (Lee et al. 2017). Intended to enhance the online customer experience, chatbots have the potential to provide a better understanding of the product performance, enable efficient use of customer time, and help build crucial customer relationships (Rese et al. 2020; Wilson-Nash et al. 2020; Xu et al. 2022). Therefore, chatbots’ potential has been highly valued by fashion retail industry and academia (Jiang et al. 2022).

We are living in a world that is increasingly digital and undergoing dramatic changes as a result. In particular for luxury fashion, growing numbers of online customers as well as fast changing business environment, luxury retailers face the challenge of differentiating themselves by offering a better online customer experience (Chen et al. 2021). By doing so, luxury fashion retailers are increasingly deploying chatbots in their service encounters to enhance customer experience (Roy & Naidoo, 2021). Chatbots are powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Hoyer et al. 2020) and are an example of AI robot that can provide human-computer interactions on a retail website (Lee et al. 2017). Intended to enhance the online customer experience, chatbots have the potential to provide a better understanding of the product performance, enable efficient use of customer time, and help build crucial customer relationships (Rese et al. 2020; Wilson-Nash et al. 2020; Xu et al. 2022). Therefore, chatbots’ potential has been highly valued by fashion retail industry and academia (Jiang et al. 2022).

This study assesses the fashion blogging content and what type(s) of content categories attract SNS users’ attention on Chinese social networking sites via content analysis and eye-tracking methods. Fashion bloggers need to optimize their content strategies to remain outstanding in competitive online environments. Based on literature review, we generated five content codes social fashion blogging posts, and examine the effect of the posts based on fixation count, the duration, and time to first fixation. Study one categorised posts themes into the codes. Then examine and analysis the frequently used content, how these influence on audience attention through includes total fixation duration (TFD), fixation count (FC) and time to first fixation (TFF). The findings could provide guides for fashion bloggers to generate more effective and engagement content to audiences.

This paper explores how luxury brands can utilize Weibo in order to create an effective marketing strategy that appeals to millenials. China accounts for 47% of global online retail sales (eMarketer, 2016) and it is predicted that millenials (born 1980-1995) and Generation Z will make up two-fifths of luxury spending by 2025 (eMarketer, 2017). However, due to political constraints, popular western social media sites cannot be used to target this vast market of online Chinese consumers. Weibo is one of the most popular social media sites in China, with 97.2% using the site (Yu et al., 2017). In order to target them effectively brands need to gain an indepth understanding of Chinese consumers and what would appeal to them on Weibo. The majority of social media research uses quantitative methodologies on popular social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. There are limited qualitative studies exploring consumers’ feelings and attitudes towards brands’ social media activities on Weibo. Due to different cultural backgrounds Chinese consumer behavior is likely to show a different trend to Western countries. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 12 participants were conducted. Findings showed that convenience, immediacy, social standing/status and entertainment were key drivers for using Weibo. Fashion information, latest product releases and videos were the most popular type of posts. Consumers read comments and tagged their friends, emphasising the importance of e-word-of-mouth (e-wom) and the influence that it can have on purchasing behaviour. This also facilitated the creation and feeling of a brand community. Consumers were very receptive to celebrity collaborations which influenced purchasing behavior. The main criticism of luxury brand’s Weibo was that it was not updated enough and Weibo did not have an influence on trust. This study provides a clear insight into what Chinese millenials want from luxury brands’ Weibo and how it can influence their purchasing behaviors and e-wom. The findings are novel, contributing to the academic literature through the conduction of a qualitative study exploring an under-researched area. This research has practical implications for luxury brands, as they should provide regular, up-to-date content consisting of videos and celebrity collaborations. A limitation could be the limited number of participants, yet, findings provide an interesting insight into consumers’ perceptions of Weibo and how it influences their attitudes and behaviors towards luxury brands.