Digital Marketing and Social Media

This document discusses customer engagement strategy for online brands, with a focus on Zara. It includes a literature review on customer strategy of engagement, dimensions of digital customer engagement strategy, evaluation of Zara's digital marketing strategy, and recommendations to enhance customer engagement and loyalty.

DIGITAL MARKETING AND
SOCIAL MEDIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Zara online brand.........................................................................................................................2
Literature review..........................................................................................................................3
Digital customer engagement strategy.........................................................................................4
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
1

INTRODUCTION
The file discusses about customer engagement strategy followed by online brands. Zara is a
Spanish retailer in apparel industry. The company is specializing in fashion and the products
include clothing, accessories, shoes and beauty perfumes. It was founded in 1975 and is
considered as the world’s largest apparel retailer. The study contains a literature review relating
to customer strategy of engagement for online brands, various dimensions of digital customer
engagement strategy, evaluation of Zara digital marketing strategy and recommendations to
enhance customer engagement and loyalty.
Zara online brand
Zara is a Spanish apparel brand founded in 1975 and has around 6500 stores in 88 countries
worldwide. Zara specialisation is in fast fashion which means the trend going on in retail is
quickly brought over to the customers. Zara having presence in strategic locations also launched
own online website in which a number of clothing accessories including women’s wear, men’s
wear, kids wear and jumpsuits, iconic blazers, bags, t-shirts, outwear, polos all are sold at
affordable price range. The company has every product specification specially made as per the
targeted segment and relevant visuals as per the product (Chan and et.al.,2014). This is done in a
way to attract customer attention with a simple payment method introduced. Zara also gives
offers and discounts on first purchases made and also as per season. Zara has specifically
categorized the product categories through which customer does not face a problem in finding
the relevant section. Zara also makes use of digital marketing methods to clear off online traffic
and minimise search for the customer by taking customer to the relevant page. With increase in
online shopping Zara has extended its online brand in many countries and has made a segment
which buys online. Feedback can also be given in section made specially for it as this has made
the brand a success. The customer feedback is replied in quick time and the grievances are tried
to be solved as quickly as possible with also acceptance of suggestions.
2

Literature review
According to Gamboa and Gonçalves (2014), it is necessary for online brands to create trust in
their customers as they are not one to one during online selling. This means to create value for
the customers, the article they have chosen after reading the specifications on the website has to
meet the expectations once the customer receives the product. As and when customer orders a
product online, the delivery system has to be apt such that the customer receives the product
timely and at the right place. As said by Chan and et.al.(2014), the customer has to be treated as
the centre of the business in which the business has to put itself in client’s shoes and assess the
demand of the client, thus promote the products such that they click with the customer. The
customer should feel the vibes of business understanding their needs by taking customer
feedback through online forum and implementing measures to achieve satisfaction of customer.
As emphasised by Chen and et.al.(2020), an online community can be built up by
business in which direct communication can be done with customers. Customers can be also
updated about issues which people care about socially. This can provide a more humane touch to
the business. Issues like sustainability always help connect with customers. Social media
websites have seen customer engagement on several issues of concern by brands leading them.
The companies can have a blog post on their website in which the new upcoming
launches of the business can be posted and the links of the blog post can be sent online through
mails. If the product description to be launched is given effectively with quality content then it
can rouse interest of the customers towards it and can save the additional marketing and
advertising expenses to be done on the product.
As said by Gamboa and Gonçalves (2014), when a company has to do promotion of a new
product, it can send messages on social websites that the company is hosting a webinar in which
the customers can join and gain knowledge about the product as and when they get free time.
People like this forum as they can interact at the platform, get to see relevant presentations about
the product and also ask their queries in the query session separately provided at the webinar.
3

This is also more engaging than other promotional activities in which the presenter’s creativity
can work for the company.
Digital customer engagement strategy
The dimensions of customer engagement can be described as below:
a) Affective engagement: It is the summation of endurance levels of emotions experienced by
consumer and is represented by emotional measures of enthusiasm and joy. This can be a season
time when customer is in a bent of mind to make purchase and is in look for seasonal sales and
discounts on festive occasions which can motivate customers for buying.
b) Behavioural engagement: They are the manifestations towards an object of engagement
which is beyond purchase and is the result of motivational drivers. It is also the efforts and time
spent by customers on a brand. It can be a brand which customer thinks carries a status symbol
or one of high ambiance. The customer may be attracted towards it and may not be having the
purchasing power currently to buy the product but will try to accumulate savings to buy in
future. This results in a behavioural attachment with the product or brand (Castro and Fernandes,
2018).
c) Cognitive engagement: It is enduring the active mental state which a consumer experiences.
It may be the ambiance which attracts customer towards the product. The customer may be
thinking of the brand to be useful for oneself in the future years to come and can be influenced to
buy the same.
Zara marketing strategy
Speaking of the customer engagement strategy, Zara doesn’t try to be a fashion innovator but
follows the method of fast fashion. Unlike retailers who spend huge on research and
development to become a trend setter, Zara does the work of following trends which are
currently in fashion and this clicks with the young age group segment of Zara (Chen and
et.al.,2020).
Zara gives emphasis on customer feedback. They incorporate what the customer gives
feedback of an article, the message gets reported to headquarters and communication is done to
the in-house designers who then incorporate the feedback for future work. The in-house
4

designers are experts in their field and see to it that customer gets the quality one is looking for.
Zara thus commands a brand loyalty as of date.
Zara spends minimal on advertising unlike other retail outlets. Zara believes in customer
satisfaction rather than push advertising approach. It spends a minimal of 0.3% of sales revenue
on advertising, while other retailers spend approximately 3.5% of the sales revenue. Zara
believes in giving quality and best of service providence to the customers. They believe in
providing value to the customers rather than focusing on promotion of products. Company
believes that customers would themselves help the company thrive if their needs are taken care
of and will spread word about company thus adding through referrals. Also, less of marketing
promotes curiosity about the brand (Zhang and et.al.,2017).
The money saved in promotion and advertising is spent by Zara in location and ambience
of the store. Zara has a presence of around 6500 stores in about 88 countries. The stores are
based at high-street retail areas in major metro cities. Zara places its stores near higher-end
fashion retail services. The showrooms have been built spacious, airy and have an ambience
which can influence customers. The retail chain has been now focusing more on online sales
rather than increase in stores. This will help save operational costs and engage the segment
which purchases online products.
Zara has focused on 4Es of customer engagement namely experience, exchange,
evangelism and every place strategy for customer rather than the 4 Ps of marketing. The
customer experience can be evaluated by the fact that more than 17 million customer enquiries
were answered in 2016. Product used to be the king earlier but with Zara’s strategy customer
replaced the king. Zara believes that customer’s experience at the outlet is what customer
remembers more than the product. Trending products along with best sales and after-sales
service do the trick for Zara (Zhang and et.al.,2017).
Speaking of exchange, the company goes for value offering to the customers. It does not
believe in the old tradition of product piling and then selling the inventory at cheap prices. The
company uses the fast fashion method holding less inventory and delivering those goods which
are in current trend. The company focuses on delivering value and this has set the strategy apart
for the company. The brand experience has been made meaningful and evangelical as the
company does not do much in marketing and promotion. It actually uses the pull strategy in
which customers come driven by ambience, location and quality offered rather than huge
5

promotions. Zara is the leading retailer in number of stores and they are strategically located
where customers can find convenience to come. It is the place set in metropolis where people
would like to go shopping. It is the place created by ambience that every customer would like to
visit. Zara has invested significantly in this arena where customers can find accessories of all
types and need not search in other stores. Apart from it, the company has also created its
presence online where people can get the specifications of the product along with the
visualization and using techniques of digital marketing to wade away the online traffic and take
the customer straight to the product being searched for. It has an efficient delivery system which
works on set time schedule. The customer can thus choose to shop at own convenience (Helal,
2019).
The ecommerce strategy used by Zara works on an automated marketing platform for sending
relevant notifications and e-mails to shoppers which considers everything from order status
update to inventory stock notifications. Throughout the customer journey, brand realises the need
of personal marketing in form of mails and messages. Company also uses digital technology to
trace customers’ actions while trying out a new product for instance a coat. The person trying out
coat is captured in the digital frame and sent options of the coat tried in the same price range by
e-mail to the customer also giving option of online purchase.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It can be concluded that policy of company Zara is a highly thought and proven one. The change
which can be seen here is that customer has been made the centre of business rather than product.
The strategy works basically on human relations than product specifications. If a customer is
satisfied by the value given by the company, then marketing efforts of the company themselves
get reduced. Customer acts then as the brand ambassador for the company using word of mouth
and referrals which keep increasing the customer base. It says a lot that if one markets only till
requirement but gives best service and quality one can win the game in retail. Also, the factor of
strategic location has worked out well for the company.
The recommendations which can be given for Zara’s customer engagement strategy can
be that it can extend its online engagement with customers on social websites and form a
6

community to discuss causes relevant to the public. Public also want to voice their opinion on
certain issues relevant to social life. Secondly, company can make its image as an
environmentally sustainable with sponsoring plantation programmes, sponsoring meetings of
corporates to cut down on carbon emission and support government’s efforts to align with the
environment. This will not only help company do its social acts but also create an image of a
corporate which is concerned for the society. People have always supported these causes. They
would like to be associated with a company who putts social interest up front.
7

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Chan, T.K. and et.al.,2014. Antecedents and consequences of customer engagement in online
brand communities. Journal of Marketing Analytics. 2(2). pp.81-97.
Gamboa, A.M. and Gonçalves, H.M., 2014. Customer loyalty through social networks: Lessons
from Zara on Facebook. Business horizons. 57(6). pp.709-717.
Chen, X. and et.al.,2020. Perceived sustainability and customer engagement in the online
shopping environment: The rational and emotional perspectives. Sustainability. 12(7).
p.2674.
Zhang, M and et.al.,2017. Understanding relationships among customer experience, engagement,
and word-of-mouth intention on online brand communities. Internet Research.
Helal, G., 2019. Social media, online brand communities, and customer engagement in the
fashion industry. In Leveraging Computer-Mediated Marketing Environments (pp. 143-
172). IGI Global.
Martínez-López, F.J. and et.al.,2017. Consumer engagement in an online brand
community. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. 23. pp.24-37.
Castro, A. and Fernandes, T., 2018, June. Customer Engagement in Social Network Brand
Communities: Drivers and Impact on Brand Loyalty. In Academy of Marketing Science
World Marketing Congress (pp. 947-956). Springer, Cham.
Viardot, E. and Nylund, P.A., 2017. Conquering the Digital Customer: How Zara Is Confronting
the Digital Innovation Revolution. In Socio-Economic Perspectives on Consumer
Engagement and Buying Behavior (pp. 334-354). IGI Global.
8

Online
Author surname, First letter of name., 2020 [Online]. Available through: <online-website-link>
9