Social Network Services (SNS) have become a vital means of shopping, significantly influencing consumers’ purchases of fashion products. The aim of this study was to identify bandwagon consumption among fashion consumers and to analyze the effects of bandwagon consumption on negative emotions, purchase discontinuation, and switching intention. A survey questionnaire was developed, and data were obtained from 285 female consumers in Korea aged in their 20s and 30s who had experienced guilt, regret, or disappointment after purchasing fashion products using SNS during the previous six months. The survey results indicated four different types of bandwagon consumption: intentional, impulsive, unintentional, and planned. The presence of negative emotions such as guilt, disappointment, and regret were affected by different types of bandwagon consumption. Intentional bandwagon consumption only affected guilt, while unintentional bandwagon consumption affected both guilt and disappointment. Impulsive bandwagon consumption affected guilt and regret; however, planned bandwagon consumption only affected regret. Furthermore, negative emotions affected purchase discontinuation and switching intention. Planned bandwagon consumption had an effect on both purchase discontinuation and switching intention, while both impulsive and unintentional bandwagon consumption influenced switching intention only. Intentional bandwagon consumption had no effect on either purchase discontinuation or switching intention. The results of this study indicate that SNS consumers’ bandwagon consumption causes different negative emotions, purchase discontinuation, and switching intention.

This research investigates luxury consumption preferences for different types of luxury goods (quiet vs loud) and shopping environments (online vs offline), as a function of individual motivation (bandwagon vs snob) and self-construal (independent vs interdependent), using a quantitative approach (online survey). Bandwagon-motivated consumers, as well as those with higher levels of interdependent self-construals show significant preferences for conspicuously branded luxury goods. Conversely, snobmotivated consumers show significant preferences for inconspicuously branded luxury goods. Finally, consumers displaying preferences for conspicuously branded luxury goods engage in both webrooming and showrooming behaviours, highlighting the complementary nature of online and in-store shopping. Results are discussed in the light of luxury consumption in the 21st century.