Abstract
This chapter provides a conceptual overview of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and the rise of opinion leaders within the fashion context. This chapter discusses characteristics of fashion opinion leaders and their importance for eWOM marketing. By introducing products within a private and personal context, fashion opinion leaders’ eWOM messages have become a useful marketing channel for brands. As such, this chapter shows that social media has offered a democratisation of fashion opinion leadership from traditional gatekeepers to social media influencers, who emerge in each socio-economic group and influence the adoption, diffusion, and consumption of fashion.
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Zhou, S., McCormick, H., Blazquez, M., Barnes, L. (2019). eWOM: The Rise of the Opinion Leaders. In: Boardman, R., Blazquez, M., Henninger, C.E., Ryding, D. (eds) Social Commerce. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03617-1_11
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