This study aims to examine how the marketing characteristics of Wanghong (Chinese internet influencers) influence Chinese consumer attitudes and purchase intentions toward fashion products. Specifically, it investigates how the factors of expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness play a critical role in shaping consumer behavior in the digital marketing landscape. The study employed a survey-based quantitative approach, collecting data from 272 Chinese consumers engaging regularly with Wanghong marketing content. A structured questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale was developed, incorporating validated measurement items from previous studies. The collected data were then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The findings indicate that while expertise negatively influences consumer attitudes, trustworthiness and attractiveness have a positive impact. Furthermore, trustworthiness and attractiveness were found to significantly enhance purchase intention, while expertise was found to have no significant effect. Additionally, the findings showed that consumer attitudes toward Wanghong-mediated marketing play a mediating role in the relationship between Wanghong characteristics and purchase intention, with the results suggesting that consumers perceive highly knowledgeable Wanghong as distant or overly commercial, reducing their willingness to engage. In contrast, Wanghong who exhibit trustworthiness and personal appeal are more effective in driving consumer interest and purchases. These findings provide valuable insights for fashion brands aiming to optimize influencer marketing strategies in China, emphasizing the importance of relationship-driven and authenticity-focused marketing.

Nowadays, many innovative marketers can leverage the augmented reality (AR) technology to create special experiences, offer more interactive advertising, as well as provide new ways to online shopping, especially for mobile marketing. The beauty industry occupies a large proportion in the fashion market and has become its essential part. For the fashion and beauty industry, consumers are willing to have the same level of experience online as when they are shopping offline. Accordingly, many brands develop mobile applications with AR capabilities that provide mobile AR services offering special experience. This new approach to mobile shopping eliminates the risk of shopping when consumers choose products, while indirectly changing consumer purchase behavior and lifestyles. However, relevant evidence about the AR service provided by mobile applications in the fashion and beauty industry remains to be scarce. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study seeks to explore the impact of the mobile AR technology on the consumer perception of the beauty brands and the changes in consumer’s behavior. In terms of the methodology, a semi-structured interview approach is employed. The results of the present study demonstrate that the effect of using the mobile AR technology varies according to the differences in consumers’ cognition and attention to beauty products. The playfulness provided by the mobile AR technology is a key factor for consumers to better understand and experience the brand, and consumer ROI is an important factor for consumers to purchase using the mobile AR service. At the same time, the degree to which the AR technology is mature affects consumer experience of the product. Surprisingly, our results suggest that the use of the AR technology has a certain educational effect on consumers, especially on those who are not good at make-up or have a low level of understanding of beauty products.