NTU FMB Stage 1

SCEPTICISM

“When you have trust, everything is simple. If you don’t have trust, things get complicated” – Jack Ma (Kim, 2014)

A Global Trust Crisis: Has a loss in trust among Generation-Z driven the rise in community-commerce?

Helena Evison N0688998 Word count: 7424

This submission is the result of my own work. All help and advice other than that received from tutors has been acknowledged and primary and secondary sources of information have been properly attributed.

Should this statement prove untrue I recognise the right and duty of the board of examiners to recommend what action should be taken in line with the University’s regulations on assessment contained in its book Signed Print Name: Helena Evison Date: 26/01/2020

CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................02

02 1.2 Objectives.............................................................................................................................02 1.1 Aims.......................................................................................................................................

2.0 Literature Review.................................................................................................03

03 2.2 CONSUMER DISTRUST................................................................................................................04 2.3 Causes For consumer distrust............................................................................................05 2.4 community commerce........................................................................................................ 07 2.4.1 SOCIAL COMMERCE...............................................................................................................08 2.4.2 Brand citizenship..............................................................................................................09 2.5 GENERATION-Z..........................................................................................................................12 2.6 THE GAP.................................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Intro.......................................................................................................................................

4.0 DISCUSSION PART 1................................................................................................26

27 4.2 GENERATION Z: MAKE-UPS AND BREAKUPS............................................................................28 4.3 SAY ONE THING, DO ANOTHER................................................................................................29 4.4 GENERATION-Z’S JOURNEY TO TRUST.......................................................................................33 4.5 KEY INSIGHTS.........................................................................................................................36 4.1 INTRO.....................................................................................................................................

5.0 DISCUSSION PART 2..................................................................................................37

37 5.2 CASE STUDY -STARBUCKS: DO THEY GIVE A FRAP?................................................................... 39 5.3 KEY INSIGHTS..........................................................................................................................41 5.4 KILLER INSIGHTS.....................................................................................................................45 5.1 CONTRIVED OR COMPASSION..................................................................................................

6.0 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................47

48 6.2 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................... 49 6.1 RECCOMENDATIONS................................................................................................................

7.0 REFERENCES AND APPENDIX.....................................................................................51 3.0 METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................16

16 3.1 SAMPLE...................................................................................................................................16 3.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH...........................................................................................................17 3.4 ONLINE SURVEY......................................................................................................................18 3.5 FOCUS GROUP........................................................................................................................19 3.5.1 VISUAL SEMIOTIC FOCUS GROUP.............................................................................................19 3.6 CONSUMER JOURNEY DIARIES..................................................................................................21 3.7 EMAIL INTERVIEWS...................................................................................................................21 3.8 INDUSTRY INTERVIEWS.............................................................................................................22 3.9 ETHICS.....................................................................................................................................23 3.10 LIMITATIONS...........................................................................................................................36 3.1 OVERVIEW..............................................................................................................................

57 7.2 IMAGE REFERENCES.................................................................................................................65 7.3 FIGURES...................................................................................................................................71 7.4 APPENDIX 1:BLANK SURVEY AND RESPONSES...........................................................................72 7.4.1 APPENDIX 2: FOCUS GROUP.................................................................................................85 7.4.2 APPENDIX 3: VISUAL SEMIOTIC FOCUS GROUP.......................................................................94 7.4.3 APPENDIX 4: CONSUMER JOURNEY DIARIES .........................................................................101 7.4.4 APPENDIX 5: EMAIL INTERVIEWS..........................................................................................110 7.4.5 APPENDIX 6: INDUSTRY INTERVIEWS.....................................................................................127 7.4.6 APPENDIX 10: PESTle...........................................................................................................155 7.4.7 APPENDIX 11: GANTT CHART.................................................................................................157 7.4.9 APPENDIX 12 - CONSENT FORMs..............................................................................................159 7.1 BIBLIOGPHY.............................................................................................................................

1.0 Intro The subject of consumer trust towards brands has been a long-standing issue.

However, consumer trust demands further exploration, owing to the surfacing of more external factors leading to a rise in debate around the subject. Generation-Z is entering the workforce and will soon emerge as a market with a high-level of spending power. They have been consistently established as ethically conscious; causing shifts in consumer perceptions, motivations and buying behaviours (Deloitte, 2019).

These factors demand brands to consider Generation-Z’s consumption seriously, and research in this area is key.

The following report will explore the research question, “Has a loss in trust among Generation-Z driven the rise in communitycommerce?�. Several themes, which are related to the exploration, will be identified and examined against existing literature.

Subsequently, primary research will support the gaps in knowledge identified in the literature review. The findings will be critically analysed in order to formulate insights that will present future opportunities for brands pursuing the custom of Generation-Z.

1.1 Aim The aim of this investigation is to explore the impact a loss of trust has on Generation-Z and to evaluate to what extent this has driven this cohort to consume through community-commerce

1.2 Objectives To understand what has led to a loss of trust in brands.

To understand if community-commerce enables Generation-Z to trust brands.

To identify the consumer perceptions, motivations and behaviours of Generation-Z, with regards to their path to purchase.

To assess how brands are responding to this shift in consumption.

To identify future opportunities for brands to meet the demands of Generation-Z.

INTRODUCTION 1

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2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION Sean Pillot De Chenecey (2018)argues that trustis, “the number one issue facing brands on a global basis”,owing to a notable lack of it from consumers towards brands. A clear fall in consumer-spending and the emergence of a new consumer group demanding ethical consumption is contributing evidence of the aforementioned lack of trust (Foroohar, 2017; De Chenecey, 2018, p.1; Fay and Hutton, 2019).

2.2 CONSUMER Distrust Sean Pillot De Chenecey (2018) argues that trust is, “the number one issue facing brands on a global basis” owing to a notable lack of it from consumers towards brands. This identified lack of trust has been demonstrated through an evident cut in consumer-spending and the emergence of a new consumer group who demand ethical consumption (Foroohar, 2017; De Chenecey, 2018; Fay and Hutton, 2019).

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Mayer et al. proposed one of the most academically established models of trust within organisations (Mayer et al.

1995). Mayer demonstrated that trust is a consumer’s inclination to rely on the capabilities of a brand to successfully execute its specified purpose; with ability, benevolence and integrity being the primary elements that determine a consumer’s trust.This theory has been recently developed by Mal et al. (2018), who put forward that these three elements behold equal accountability in creating both trust and distrust, because they are polar opposites. Hardin (2004) opposes Mayer and Mal et al. more fundamental approach. Hardin argues that although trust can be lost for one matter, such as ethical integrity, it does not mean trust is completely misplaced. Moreover, he and others argue that trust relationships are contextual, and consumers’ reasonings depend on a multitude of factors (Doney & Cannon, 1997; Hardin, 2004; Morgan & Hunt 1994). While there is dispute in how trust levels differ, the existing literature demonstrates that a loss in trust can derive from multiple causes. A vast amount of market research theorises that the notion of consumer trust is integral to brand success. Trust plays an important role in all elements of brand equity; encouraging initial purchase intentions, consumer loyalty, peer recommendations and providing a perception of high value. (Zeithami et al., 1996; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001, Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Alemán, 2001, 2005; Lau & Lee, 1999; Sichtmann, 2007; Singh et al., 2012).

Thus a loss in consumer trust is a loss in brand equity. But what is causing this identified global trust crisis? (De Chenecey, 2018)

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2.3 Causes for Consumer DistrusT An established cause for consumer distrust is argued to be the revolution of the internet, which has led to a radical increase in access to information and data (Anderson and Rainie, 2018; Harris et al., 2014; Verstraete and Bambauer, 2017). The internet has enabled consumers to thoroughly research, prior to purchasing from a brand. Therefore consumers are encouraged to evaluate their level of trust in a brand, which is considerably influential to consumers’ purchase intentions (Harris, 2014 and Mal et al., 2018). Moreover, consumers have access to information which reveals brands ethical integrity, leading to them seeking more ethical consumption (De Chencey, 2018 and Harris et al., 2014; Mathews & Nair, 2020; Trumper, 2018). This was exemplified most notably in the Rhana Plaza Disaster 2013, which exposed numerous, established fashion brands that were utilising unethical factories.

Brands uncovered ranged from fastfashion retailers, to luxury brands; this was argued to have detrimentally impacted trust towards the fashion market across the board (Chowdhury, 2017). This illustrates Mayer’s (1995) theory, by showing how integrity plays a key role towards consumer trust.

However, the vast amount of information being generated is

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said to have led to fact distortion, popularly known as fake news. This has led to a loss in trust both information sources and brands, emphasising a possible reason why a global-trust crisis could have emerged (Castellani and Berton 2017). Nevertheless,Chen and Cheng’s (2019) recent research concluded that consumers scepticism towards information sources does not directly affect their trust towards brands. They implied trust is only lost in whoever has committed the untrustworthy act, rather than to a brand which has been inaccurately represented. Conversely, Pesonen (2018) and Visentin (2019) both agree that there is a direct negative impact on trust towards brands which are advertised on fake news sources.

Although there is clear dispute on whether consumer trust is impacted when associated with fake news, it demonstrates that the building of consumer trust is becoming increasingly complex with new obstructions emerging. This reveals the reasons behind the possible shift to community-commerce.

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2.4.1 Social commerce Liang and Turban (2011) classify socialcommerce as, “using Web 2.0 social-media technologies and infrastructure to support online interactions and user contributions to assist in the acquisition of products and services”.

2.4 Community-commerce and Trust Within this report, community-commerce is expressed as the hybridisation of two commercial elements: social-commerce and brand-citizenship (Clapperton, 2012; Hu, 2019; Sarkar and Kotler, 2018; Hawkins and Stott, 2019). Community-commerce can be defined as, “an online network of organizations and individuals that buy, sell and exchange goods and services within a collectively-defined community culture, a culture that is based on articulated, shared, more-than-economic values” (Harquail, 2012).

The two elements of social-commerce and brand-citizenship are interlinked by their palpable commonality of community and commerce, which generates a multi-way exchange between consumers and the brand.

COMMUNITY COMMERCE 7

Social-commerce includes peer-reviews, social-media as a purchase journey touchpoint and collaborative-consumption (Hamari et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014).

Social-commerce’s association with community-commerce is demonstrated by the notion that it provides both social and acquisitive value (Wang et al., 2019).

Social-commerce is driven by consumer distrust as it demonstrates how consumers are shifting their attention to online social support to aid their purchase journey(Hajli and Sims, 2015; Han and Windsor, 2011; Yahia et al 2018). Brodie et al. (2011) theorises that engagement within online communities is integral for fostering consumer trust. Michel Laroche et al. (2013) agrees, emphasising that brand communities existing on social-media improve consumer trust by enhancing customer relationships. In addition, peer-reviews are claimed to be deemed more trustworthy than traditional marketing campaigns (Bickart and Schindler 2001, Lu et al., 2013). The depth of research supporting the idea that socialcommerce can help foster consumer trust indicates that an initial lack of trust could have driven social-commerce into its very existence. Furthermore, De Chenecey (2018)highlights the value of social support, predominantly recommendations made by friends and family, which eliminate the profitable intentions that accompany brands marketing and advertising activities.

However, the upsurge in fake reviews is argued to have diminished the value and authenticity of online social support, contesting the argument that communitycommerce is entirely beneficial in gaining consumer trust (Dellarocas, 2006; Lappas et al., 2016). Research goes as far to suggest that social-commerce could be a cause for consumer distrust, exhibiting how peerreviews can function as a tool for dishonest marketing ploys by brands (Banerjee and Chua, 2019; Ott et al., 2011). For example, skincare brand, Sunday Riley were exposed and criticised for encouraging employees to leave positive comments about their products (Wischovver, 2019). Methods such as these have raised considerable uncertainty regarding the reliability of online reviews (Sisson, 2017). Overall this displays that consumers are using social-commerce to combat their lack of trust, yet others believe forms of social-commerce have only encouraged said lack of trust. Clearly this area demands for further exploration.

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an online network of organizations and individuals that buy, sell and exchange goods and services within a collectively-defined community culture, a culture that is based on articulated, shared, more-than-economic values

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2.4.2 Brand citizenship Anne Bahr Thompson (2017) defines brand-citizenship as “a way of doing business that people trust, believe in and rely on”. It is argued that brands have a responsibility to support wider societal matters (Jones, 1980).Also known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), brand-citizenship is considered a facet of community-commerce,as the purpose is for brands, “to play an active community role via linking with customers, partners and suppliers” (De Chenecey, 2018). Brand-citizenship has been driven by a lack of consumer trust, as consumers have become increasingly conscious of brands’ ethical impact (explored in chapter 2.3). Recent literature suggests that this awareness has driven consumers to shift their attention to brands that communicate ethical values; inferring that they are less likely to trust brands that do not do this (Markovic et al., 2018; Stiefenhofer, 2018). It is argued that brands have subsequently sought to profit from brand-citizenship; using it as a disingenuous marketing ploy, without actively backing up their integral and moral message (Alhouti et al., 2016).However, Goel and Ramathan (2014)and De Chenecey (2018) posit that brand-citizenship should not be an additional promotional strategy, but resolutely unified into a business’ structure. As a result, Childs et al. (2019) theorises that brand-citizenship has encouraged consumers to become more sceptical of brands in instances where their socially responsible message does not align with the brand’s original values. This viewpoint proposes that consumers are obliged to be increasingly inquisitive,and therefore brand-citizenship has led to

heightened distrust. This is amplified by clear demonstrations of brands failing in their attempts of brand-citizenship, through inadvertent communications of offensive messages (Uche, 2018). Pepsi is one of the most notable examples, launching advert which diluted the significance of the equal rights movements (Taylor, 2017). This was reported to have had a direct effect on consumers’ trust towards the brand, thus impacting purchase intentions (Marzilli, 2018).

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY PERFORMANCE INVOLVEMENT

CHARITY WORK AND DONATIONS

BEHAVIOUR OF EMPLOYEES

RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS

TRUTHFULNESS

SAFETY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES

Figure 2. Elements of Responsible Corporate Behaviour (Boulstridge and Carrigan, 2000)

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2.5 GENERATION-Z AND TRUST There is dispute on which years define Generation-Z, but for the purpose of clarity this report will define them as the cohort born between 1995-2010; dates which are supported by multiple pieces of current, academic literature (Herrando et al., 2019; Seemiller & Grace, 2016; Turner, 2015).

The defining trait of this Generation is that they do not know a time prior to the internet revolution, the first cohort to of this nature (Goncalves et al., 2019; Koulopoulos & Kelsden, 2016; Turner, 2015).

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As a result, numerous amounts of literature describe this consumer group as being constantly connected and having high expectations as they have always had instantaneous access to information, products and services (Dimock, 2019; Nichols and Wright, 2018; Singh, 2014; Thomas et al., 2018; Torocsik et al., 2014). This insinuates that their high expectations could impact their degree of trust towards brands.

According to a recent study by McKinsey & Company (2018),Generation-Z’s consumer behaviours are driven by one significant element, which they define as, “this generation’s search for truth”. This implies that Generation-Z may inherently lack trust in brands, particularly as recent literature suggests that they tend to shun labels and regard consumption as an ethical issue (Mabuni, 2017). Furthermore, the aforementioned high expectations of Generation-Z demand brands be involved in cultural movements, seeking their purchases to reflect their ethical values.

Moreover, it is suggested that they will reject brands they deem them unethical, implying a loss in trust in brands of this nature (Deloitte, 2019; Facebook, 2019; Marton et al., 2019).

However alternative research argues that their purchases do not necessarily mirror this, insinuating there is an attitude-behavioural gap (Park and Lin, 2018). This supports the notion by, Kollmus and Agyeman (2002), that behaviour is not certain to change as a result of a shift in attitude and gained resources. Generation-Z therefore may not necessarily choose to purchase from socially responsible brands, despite their access to both information and ethical products.

Overall this demonstrates that though Generation-Z may not trust brands, they may still continue to purchase from them, with alternative factors deterring them from acting on their ethical values, such as price and social desirability (Hidvégi, Anna; KelemenErdős, 2016; Johnstone and Lindh, 2018).

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GAP ANALYSIS

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2.6 THE GAP The preceding literature review has exposed the current evaluations of the recognised themes. This has also raised several opportunities to pursue further research. Although the theoretical framework has identified a loss in consumer trust overall, there is limited specific research which evaluates the extent to which Generation-Z trust brands. This will be explored further.

The extent to which Generation-Z utilise communitycommerce to forge trust in brands was not identified within the literature, therefore this is another subject for further exploration. This will bring together all of the previously discussed elements, to form a cohesive set of findings, for the purpose of producing an insightful set of recommendations for the future of brands.

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3.0

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Overview

3.2 Sample

In order to offer a fully comprehensive response to the project question it was imperative to conduct a wide range of research methods, that included both primary and secondary.

The following research design consisted of a mixed methodology to produce a set of quantitative and quantifiable results, known as a Concurrent Triangulation design, which enabled a thorough analysis and comparison of results (Greene & McClintock, 1985). This design was chosen because both methods are fundamental for gaining consumer insights in relation to the subject of trust (Harrison & Reilly, 2011).

The demographic of 18-25 years olds was chosen to be explored because a large portion of this cohort are beginning to enter the workforce, meaning they will soon obtain a high-level of spending power (Marques and Machado, 2018).

Therefore, they will be significantly influential to brand’s strategies (Wilson, 2019). Furthermore, the existing literature was consistent in describing Generation-z as ethically conscious, prompting a development in research on how this impacts their consumer behaviours and perceptions.

Both male and females were studied to gain a more accurate representation of the overall cohort. The participants were selected through various methods, predominantly, social-media networking and word of mouth recommendations.

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3.4 Online survey An online survey was assembled using Google forms, distributed via several social-media channels, directed to participants between the ages of 18-25.

The purpose of the survey, which received 122 responses, was to gain an initial understanding of the consumer behaviours and perceptions of Generation-Z and to comprehend how they are impacted by brand trust and community-commerce (Patino et al., 2019). Google forms was chosen because it is an inexpensive, efficient, mobile friendly and credible platform; furthermore sharing it to social media channels ensured the target audience was reached, as this is where their attention tends to lie (Anderson, 2019, Evans and Mathur, 2005; Marques and Machado, 2018).

3.3 Secondary research The literature review was fundamental in gaining a comprehensive understanding of consumer-trust, particularly among Generation-Z. The various sources examined, including, established books, academic journals, reports and articles ensured for a complex overview of the established themes (Ridley, 2012). Evaluating varying and opposing views reduced potential bias (Denney & Tewksbury, 2013). A literature review is an inexpensive method in understanding the knowledge and perceptions of the selected themes to support future research (Randolph, 2009).

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3.5 Focus group The second method conducted was a focus group which consisted of four participants, one male and 3 females, with the purpose being to open up a discussion, based on the responses from the initial survey to gain a deeper understanding of the issues raised and their attitudes, beliefs and feelings (Gibbs, 1997). Half were in full time work, living at home and the other half, full time university students living away from home. This offered a more diverse overview as the responses offered were not subject to one type of living circumstance (Edmunds, 1999).

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3.5.1 A visual semiotic focus group The purpose of the visual semiotic focus was group was to understand perceptions of existing brands, by comparing brands which offer similar products and services and identifying which brands they perceive the most trustworthy. The focus group consisted of three males and three females, between the ages of 18-25. A visual semiotic focus was group was beneficial in gaining an understanding of how consumers perceive and interpret established brands, particularly why they do and do not trust them (Moriarty, 2005). Presenting brand logos enabled system 1 thinking from the participants, as they were able to offer their initial connotations of the brands, providing uncontrived perceptions (Kahneman, 2011).

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3.8 Industry INTERVIEWS 3.6 consumer journey diaries Within the exploratory phase of the research design it was imperative to gain a deeper understanding of Generation-z’s consumer behaviour patterns, particularly the journey they go on to reach the point of purchase and what guides their decisions and if communitycommerce has an impact on this. Therefore, consumer journey diaries were completed by 10 participants to provide insight into this.

Participants were contacted via email and provided with a thorough explanation on how to they could participate. Participants were given a short timeframe of a week to complete the diary and had the option of completing the diary online or offline, enabling convenience and efficiency to the participant (Kendall, 2014).

3.7 Email interviews The primary purpose of the email interview was to develop ideas discussed within the focus group. Specifically, how Generation-Z tend to use reviews to inform purchases, as it was discovered as a topical issue surrounding the subject of consumer trust within the literature review. Email was chosen as an inexpensive mode of communication that allows the participant to communicate their thoughts and responses in a concise manner, that is easy to understand (Opdendakker, 2006) Furthermore it conveniently enables the participant to respond anywhere at any time via their mobile, laptop or tablet (Derks and Bakker, 2010). The participants were reached out to via an Instagram story, where 18-25 years olds were requested to respond if they were happy to answer several questions via email. A 10 Instagram users responded, five male and fifteen female. Reaching out via Instagram was advantageous as it reaches a large pool of participants which fit the age bracket, as this where is the attention of this demographic is considered to lie (Marques and Machado, 2018; Nandez and Borrego, 2013).

To support the primary methods four industry interviews were conducted. The initial industry expert interviewed was John Noble, director and founder of digital and data marketing agency, Proactive.

As someone with 20 years’ experience in marketing, informative and relevant insights, regarding the way marketing and consumption is shifting were gained The second industry interview undertaken was with the marketing director of the social-media marketing agency, Kitch media. This was for the purpose of finding out specifically the impact social-commerce is having on consumer trust and how it impacts consumer behaviours today. Conducting both of these interviews at the interviewee’s headquarters, rather than by phone or email, was advantageous in creating an honest and personable interview, as they were in familiar surroundings (Sturges & Hanrahan, 2004).

The industry interview to follow, undertaken via phone call, with Gimme Five’s brand manager. Previously, they have worked for highly established streetwear brand, Stüssy, within their commercial sales sector. The purpose of this interview was to understand why community is such an important factor towards Stüssy’s success and how it fosters trust among their consumers, this is due to the fact they are a brand renowned for targeting urban sub-cultures (Bobowics, 2019).

The final industry interview was conducted via email with a Senior Associate of Public Auditing for one of the Big Four accounting firms. Because their expertise lies in financial auditing for established companies’, useful knowledge of the consequences for brands, that do not represent true and fair financial accounts and the impact of unethical acts, such as tax avoidance, can have on a brands reputation, was provided.

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3.10 Limitations A prominent limitation throughout the process was the lack of male participants, this could have inhibited the results as it does not give an accurate representation of the cohort as a whole; however, this was over-come by conducting a semiotic focus group which consisted of a 50/50 gender ratio.

Within both focus groups the participants were known to the researcher, this was a limitation as the respondents could have potentially offered responses that intentionally benefit the results (Otten & Moskowitz, 2000). This was overcome by conducting an online survey and email interview, which reached people of a considerably more distant relation to the researcher, via sharing on social-media.

3.9 Ethics Throughout the process all participants had the option to remain anonymous, they were made aware that they could pull out at any time and their identity would be kept private and confidential. This encouraged participants to feel more open when discussing various subjects and responding to certain questions, which offered truthful discussions and aided accuracy (Singer et al., 1992).

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However, a limitation of the online survey, email interview and consumer journey diaries were, owing to their asynchronous attributes, the enabling of system 2 thinking, implying the participants responses could be calculated as they were able to consider how their responses will be perceived (Kahneman, 2011; Ratislavova, 2014). This was overcome by ensuring all respondents had the opportunity to remain anonymous, allowing them to be truthful with their responses, which would provide more accurate insights (Frost, 2014).

The main limitations of the industry interviews were limited time offered, owing to their busy regimes. This was overcome by ensuring the most relevant and appropriate questions were asked to ensure insightful responses were gained (Pearce and Moscardo, 1999).

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4.0 LET’S

DISCUSS 26

4.2 Generation-Z: breakups and makeups 4.1 Intro The existing literature identifies trust as an integral aspect in encouraging consumers to shop with brands, promoting repeat purchases and stimulating word of mouth recommendations. In addition, the research identified that consumers are facing a trust crisis. However, the extent to which Generation-Z tend to trust brands and how this impacts their buying behaviour was not clear, prompting further research.

McKinsey&Company (2018) put forward that Generation-Z may lack trust towards brands, owing to individuals drive to “search for the truth”, implying they are consumed with false information. The online survey revealed that a majority sample, of 51%, answered neutrally, when asked about their perception of trust towards brands (See Appendix 1). This implies a level of scepticism, as consumers could not definitively answer the extent to which they trust brands. Alternatively, participants in the focus group claimed they trust brands more today; one participant put forward that brands are less likely to act up as there is an increased risk of public criticism. The candidate claimed,

interactions, enabling a reciprocal conversation. Whilst this remains true, the more significant insight is illustrated by a shift in power amongst the brand and the consumer. As a result of socialcommerce, consumers believe that brands are not able to hide from their mistakes and they understand the impact they can individually have on how a brand is perceived by others.

To what extent do you tend to trust brand?

“I trust brands more now […] because if they do something wrong, everyone finds out. It all goes on social-media and everyone knows” (See Appendix 2).

Interestingly, the participants’ response indicates that there is an understanding of the implications for brands that receive public criticism, owing to the onus put on word of mouth. Furthermore, it shows that consumers today are conscious of their ability to damage a brands reputation, via social media, inferring why Generation-Z are posited to have high expectations in brands.

However, during an interview with Marketing Director for Kitch Media, Susan Zwinkels, the issue of how brands deal with criticism was raised. She put forward that, “if you can make it right, with how you deal with the issue, you can actually win customers over” (See Appendix 7). Furthermore, she highlighted that social-media is a key tool which brands use to address the criticism. This emphasises why community-commerce has risen in prominence, owing to its ability to create a relationship with the consumer, through online

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Not at all

A lot

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4.3 Say one thing, do another Within the literature review it became evident that Generation-Z have clear ethical values, which impacts their trust towards brands, as they are notably more sceptical of brands which demonstrate unethical practices. This thesis was supported within the online survey, with 66% of respondents claiming to feel a level of responsibility in helping with societal issues. Furthermore, there was a high level of awareness for brands which demonstrate social responsibility (See appendix 1). Within the existing literature it was insinuated that Generation-Z are likely to contradict their ethical values by consuming unsustainable products, a demonstration of the attitude behaviour gap (Kollmus and Agyeman, 2002). This was supported within the email interviews, whereby 60% of participants responded that they did not trust fast-fashion brands, which are renowned for being unsustainable, but declared that they still purchased from them (see appendix 5).

However, within the online survey just 9% respondents admitted that they would still purchase from brands that used unethical practices (see appendix 1). This shows a discrepancy, owing to the fact that, within the UK, fast-fashion brands such as Pretty Little Thing (PLT) are renowned for utilising unethical practices and highly popular with females that fit into the 18-25 age bracket (Wood, 2020). The reason for this inconsistency could be coincidental, implying that this particular sample happen to not purchase from brands like the aforementioned. However, it could present a level of denial from participants, perhaps they do not want to admit that their purchases do not align with their

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values. Furthermore, within the survey, price was shown as the most common motivator to purchase from a brand, a further indication that they are likely to purchase from unethical brands, due to low prices and unsustainable practices holding a strong correlation (Joy et al., 2012). One participant within the email interviews explains their solution for lowpriced, ethical consumption “I do try to limit how much fast fashion I buy as ethical values and sustainability are very important to me and recently I have started to shop in vintage and second hand shops rather than online or high-street fast fashion stores.” (See Appendix 5) Though this may be a popular solution for some articipants within both focus groups were consistent in showing an awareness of committing the attitude behaviour gap because they prioritise factors like price and quality, for example, one participant within the visual semiotic focus group put forward, “PLT, we all know is bad and other brands like that, but because you can get nice, cheap clothes on it, we don’t care” (See appendix 3).

In addition, when discussing fast-fashion brands, a participant in the initial focus group stated, “[The unsustainability of fast-fashion] doesn’t actually put you off, unless you have a personal experience with a brand where they lose your parcel, then that will stop you [trusting them]”.

(See appendix 2)

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This demonstrates that trusting a brand to execute its capabilities correctly is valued more by the consumer than a brands ethical integrity; furthermore, it shows a level of egotism, as the unethical consequences of their purchases are not prioritised. However, within the online survey, when asked to choose whether a brands ethical integrity or a brands capability was a more important factor in gaining trust for a brand, there was an almost half and half split, illustrating dispute amongst the cohort regarding what makes a brand more trust-worthy and they value more as a consumer (See appendix 1).

from participants, than the focus groups, where participants were open in admitting that they prioritise brand capabilities and lower prices over the ethical integrity of a brand. This could possibly be because the survey enables system 2 thinking, whereby the consumer has time to form a contrived response, taking into account the opinion of others, whereas within the focus group they were unaware of the questions that would be asked and the topics discussed, prompting more intuitive responses (Kahneman, 2011).

Nonetheless, both the online survey and focus groups support existing literature by demonstrating that trust for a brand can be low, regarding one aspect and high in another, which would explain why Generation-Z are likely to demonstrate the attitude behaviour gap (Hardin, 2004 Kollmus and Agyeman, 2002). Furthermore, it was identified that because of circumstances, such as lower budgets, due to being students and social pressures of not wanting to be seen online, in an outfit twice, finding an inexpensive and convenient, ethical alternatives remains a challenge. One participant highlighted their conflicting views, “If I had enough money and it was between the same item that was made ethically, then I’d go for the ethical one, but because it’s always more expensive to buy the ethical version, that’s why I don’t”. (See Appendix 3) There is an identifiable demand from Generation-Z to purchase ethical products, at a low price and at the quality they would like, demonstrating their high expectations and an opportunity to meet this need.

Overall, the online survey received responses which demonstrate more morally correct behaviours, motivations and perceptions

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4.4 Generation-Z’s journey to trust Within the literature review, multiple sources argued that social-commerce is a significant factor in helping brands foster consumer trust. The consumer journey diaries support this, as the use of social media to research brands and products arose as a common factor throughout the participants entries. For example, one participant purchased a dress because she saw her friend wearing it on Instagram, subsequently she messaged her asking where it was from, in addition to this, she put forward that she trusted the brand because they have, “a strong social-media following”. This emphasises the significant role social-media has on consumers path to purchase and as a touchpoint to forge brand trust.

Furthermore, during the interview with Susan, she proposed that consumers, “often follow brands for a long period of time, before they actually buy [from the brand]”, which she puts down to, “people are gaining trust” (See appendix 7). This provides further evidence that supports the notion, social-commerce plays a key role in consumers gaining brand trust and demonstrates their mobile first mentality during their path to purchase.

Interestingly, although the survey findings showed that consumers tend to shop online and on mobile (see appendix), the consumer diaries were consistent in reflecting the importance of a physical touchpoint to aid the participants trust in the brand they bought from. This implies that Generation-Z still value a more traditional mode of consumption. Industry expert and previous brand manager, for Stüssy, highlighted the importance within their strategy to prioritise their physical presence over their online one, in which it was stated, “With Stüssy, they only have accounts with retailers that have a physical store, so it’s obviously important for them”, this demonstrates that Stüssy,

a brand which tends to target a younger demographic, feel a physical touchpoint is important to the consumers path to purchase (See appendix 7). The advantages of a physical touchpoint was further backed up by industry expert, John Noble, who argues that physical forms of communication can be more effective than digital forms, which he puts this down to, “Human nature.

Humans like to touch and feel something” (See appendix 6). These current findings emphasise consistency within the primary research findings aforementioned, which presents consumers prioritise the capabilities of a brand and for the consumer, being able to physically interact with the brand is what verifies their trust. However, the importance of a physical touchpoint challenges the existing literature, which posits that consumers tend to shop with a mobile first mentality and are constantly connected (online). This could imply that consumers lacking trust in the proficiencies of brands, therefore they want a more physical connection. However, this finding is surprising considering ‘the death of the high-street’ is a common phrase used within information sources today to denote the closure of many physical stores, which is thought to have been driven by consumers digital mentality (Evans, 2019).

Overall these findings suggest that Generation-Z are conflicted between their desire for both a digital and a physical connection, which why their path to purchase is complex.

Throughout the primary research, the most prominent factor for consumers gaining trust in brands was word-of-mouth, and in particular, friend and family recommendations. This further supports the idea that Generation-Z still tend to forge trust in a traditional manner.

For example, within the online survey, wordof-mouth was the most commonly chosen response to the question, ‘What enables you to trust a brand the most?’. In addition, the consumer journey diaries also illustrated that recommendations from friends was a consistent factor, within the participants purchase process. For instance, one respondent stated,

“I guess the key decision maker would have been my mum, if she had said the brand was a bad make, I would have continued looking” (See appendix 4).

These findings support Chaudhuri & Holbrook (2001), who emphasise consumer trust plays a key part in driving word of mouth recommendations; resulting in new customers for brands. Similarly, during the focus group participants were also in agreement that word of mouth is the most notable factor that leads to this - one participant acknowledged,

“Having someone, like a friend or family member that has bought a product before is probably better than online reviews” (See appendix 1).

Overall, there is a clear and consistent suggesting that, despite what is suggested in existing literature, Generation-Z have not made a complete shift to the digital realm and reside in a state of limbo. Here, they desire a need for both domains to aid their decisions, causing their path to purchase to become a complex journey, reflecting why it may be harder for brands to gain consumer trust.

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4.5 Key insights

1.

Generation-Z are able to trust brands because they are aware of the power they have to potentially damage a brands reputation, via social-media, suggesting brands need to become even more consumer centric.

2.

Generation-Z are in a continual search for an alternative that meets their needs for products which are ethical, inexpensive and the quality they desire.

3. Generation-Z are stuck in a paradoxical

state, where they value both physical and digital elements to assist their path to purchase.

4. Online reviews are losing their perceived trustworthiness causing Generation-Z increase trust in their friends and family.

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to

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5.0 Contrivedor Compassion?

Within the existing literature there was evident dispute regarding how consumers perceive brand citizenship. Childs et al. (2019) put forward that consumers are notably more sceptical of brands that communicate a socially responsible message, particularly when it does not align with their original values; an example of this would be fastfashion retailer, H&M, who operate a recycling initiative. However, within the online survey 61% definitively agreed that brands demonstrating corporate social responsibility helped them trust them. One participant stated,

“Yes, because their terms resonate with me as an individual. I see myself as trustworthy so if their ethics apply with me, I see them as trustworthy also.” (See appendix 1) This supports the notion that Generation-Z demand their purchases reflect their ethical values, demonstrating why brand citizenship could be considered a logical strategy for brands to gain trust and custom from this consumer group. Though this statistic puts forward a strong argument, the more indicative finding comes from the participants who demonstrated an undetermined response, with 30% of participants reflecting this (See appendix 1).

The following response offers an interesting illustration of this indefinite viewpoint,

does a brand that demonstrates corporate social responsibility enable you to trust them more?

YES

MIXED RESPONSE

NO

“Yes,

but only when it is supported by third party support.

With the issue of sustainability and environmental action I think brands sometimes make one small change to claim that they are ‘green’ e.g. no longer using plastic packaging. They then use this as more of a marketing tool than actually trying to have a positive impact. While I support this, I trust brands more if they have a more holistic approach and adopt their societal pledge in a number of ways e.g. using sustainable materials in production as well as distribution. Brands that do this tend to attract third party publicity which helps me build trust in their brand. (See Appendix)

”

This response demonstrates extensive inquisition into the intentions of brands, reflecting Generation-Z’s acute awareness of ethical issues and their high expectations. Although this statement does not explicitly state that they do not trust brands that demonstrate CSR, there is an evident understanding of the manner in which it can be exploited, showing the depth consumers are willing to research into brands today. However, this response also shows support to brands attempting to make a greater change, acknowledging their efforts and presenting a sense of diplomacy. Furthermore, this statement proves a demand for brand citizenship, when implemented appropriately, supporting existing literature by Goel and Ramathan (2014) and De Chenecey (2018).

This inquisition from consumers, which evidently impacts consumers scepticism, was also highlighted by Susan Zwinkels, who, when posed with the consideration of whether consumers see through brands socially responsible messages, as a ploy, she responded with, “If they’re not genuine. Yeah. And if a brand starts saying that they’re amazing because they do this, this and this, they sure as hell better make sure that their airtight in other areas of that business because otherwise it’ll bite them in the ass.” (See appendix 7)

When looking at the quantity of respondents, from the online survey, who have purchased from brands which demonstrate CSR, the number did not correlate with the quantity that claimed CSR would help them trust a brand more, with 42% responding that they have done so (See appendix 1). Intriguingly, this illustrates that the efforts brands may take to forge trust, via brand citizenship, will not necessarily motivate consumers enough to make purchases with the brand, further proving that other factors, like quality and price are of a higher priority, proving that brands need offer all of these elements to win Generation-Z over.

Overall these findings suggest that for brands the importance is honesty, empathy and successful execution of their capabilities at a reasonable price. The challenge is to have all these elements coexist in one brand, without appearing contrived.

This determines the importance for brands to remain authentic and coherent throughout their brand strategy, implying that, if their message does not match their actions, consumers will notice, and they will react to it. This highlights the importance of transparency and honesty, with which Susan indicates consumers will respond better when brands admit to what they’re doing wrong, as well as right, and communicate that they are making attempts to better the world but aren’t entirely perfect. This aligns with the previous chapter, demonstrating the importance for brands to communicate and create relationships with their consumer by creating honest conversations and addressing issues that the consumer has, furthermore informing the customer that they also make mistakes would create a relatable connection.

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5.1 starbucks, Do they give a Frap?

Throughout the primary research one brand which was bought up in multiple methods was Starbucks. As one of the most globally established brands, they are evidently in the mind of the consumer. Regarding communitycommerce, they are considered to be, “built through community-based marketing” (Lee, 2009), implying they could be a manifestation of community-commerce.

However, does this make them a trust-worthy brand?

During the survey, respondents that had purchased from a brand which demonstrated brand-citizenship were asked to state the specific brand. One respondent proposed they purchased from Starbucks, “as they work closely with the refugee agency, to help the company’s support and efforts to hire 10,000 refugees by 2025.” (See appendix 1). This is supported by communications via their website, which proposes,

“Starbucks is leading a global effort over the next five years to welcome and employ 10,000 refugees whose talent, experience and resilience will enrich the communities we serve around the world” (Starbucks, 2017) Whilst this presents itself as a promising and compassionate illustration of brand citizenship, however industry expert and senior finance associate identifies, “Starbucks have been subject to public criticism.

Technically they are paying tax legally, but they have used schemes to minimise their bill”. (See appendix 9).

Last year Starbucks were reported to have paid just 2.8% in UK taxes. This is a significantly low figure considering the legislative UK corporation tax rate is set at 19%, identifying a clear illustration of tax avoidance (Marriage, 2018).

Tax avoidance demonstrates that they are prioritising reaching high-profits and retaining capital for their own benefits, rather than putting the money back into society. This contradicts their front-end communication, of helping with a societal crisis and eludes to the notion that they are adopting brand citizenship primarily to increase sales and profits, by persuading consumers that their purchases are contributing to a worthy cause.

However, the perception is dependent on the individual; for the participant in the online survey to respond with Starbucks, they clearly perceive them to be socially responsible; however a consumer who is conscious and aware of unethical practices, like tax avoidance, would be more likely to perceive them differently, which could potentially impact their purchase intentions with Starbucks. The senior finance associate explains the impact unethical acts like this can have, “Tax avoidance (which is legal) has been recently discussed publicly as a form of ‘tax shaming’. Companies with disproportionately small tax bills are being named and shamed in the press.

From my understanding this has led to protests and boycotts of brands. Loyalty to brands is likely to be affected by the publication of news stories surrounding tax evasion.” (See appendix 9).

This perspective suggests that consumers levels of trust are impacted by the aforementioned revelations, illustrated by the act of boycotts and protests. Within the visual semiotic focus group, when participants were asked to

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evaluate whether they trust Starbucks or Costa more, this matter was also raised, implying that it is common knowledge among this cohort. One participant declared, “Starbucks are complete tax avoiders, and everyone still buys their coffee”, here there is a demonstration of an awareness of the unethical acts by Starbucks, however, this participant perceives this not to impact their success. Furthermore, the participants were in agreeance that they would still purchase from Starbucks, regardless of their unethical activities. A key rationalisation for this was convenience, with one participant stating, “I'd still buy from Starbucks, like in our uni library it’s a Starbucks, so obviously I would go there”.

This perspective suggests that consumers levels of trust are impacted by the aforementioned revelations, illustrated by the act of boycotts and protests. Within the visual semiotic focus group, when participants were asked to evaluate whether they trust Starbucks or Costa more, this matter was also raised, implying that it is common knowledge among this cohort. One participant declared, “Starbucks are complete tax avoiders, and everyone still buys their coffee”, here there is a demonstration of an awareness of the unethical acts

by Starbucks, however, this participant perceives this not to impact their success. Furthermore, the participants were in agreement that they would still purchase from Starbucks, regardless of their unethical activities. A key rationalisation for this was convenience, with one participant stating, “I’d still buy from Starbucks, like in our uni library it’s a Starbucks, so obviously I would go there” (See appendix 4).

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There is an evident awareness of the unethical practices of Starbucks. However, perhaps the communication of a pledge makes their actions more tangible; providing the consumer with the perception that the brand has a greater responsibility to bring change into fruition, owing to the communicated timeframe (of five years).

Therefore, this could offer the consumer a more persuasive and trust-worthy perception. This notion is supported by the initial focus group, whereby a participant poses,

“ I think people like Zara, who I know are fast fashion, have like a two week turnover of stock. However, I know that their strategy is by 2025, they want fully organic cotton use within their ranges. So, I have in mind, they’re do something about it.�

(See appendix 2)

Clearly, the use of promising to meet a deadline, enhances the consumers level of trust.

Overall, because Starbucks are firmly established in the market, a loss in trust for one element of their business will not have detrimental damage.

However, a demonstrated awareness of the contradictions the brand makes, highlights a level of scepticism and suggests there could be a rise in this feeling if brands do not coherently demonstrate ethical values throughout their business structure. Furthermore, although this may not impact Starbucks, new brands will need to be much more cautious as they do not have the same equity and loyalty from consumers to retain their custom, without proving themselves trustworthy in all areas.

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5.2 Key insights 1.

Consumers perceive brands that offer a time-frame to fulfil their socially responsible promises as more trustworthy because because it holds them accountable.

2.

New brands must be trustworthy across all parts of their business to gain the custom of potential customers, as consumers are more inclined to reject brands that are not consistent in their communication and capabilities, particularly with respects to the ethics of a brand.

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Conclusively, the findings from the discussion have unearthed some intriguing insights, the following reflect the most interesting findings, which will be used to inform future opportunities.

1.

Generation-Z are not being met with the demand of sustainable consumption, at an affordable price, with the type of products they want to buy, meaning they are continuing to search for this demand.

2.

Generation-Z understand that they have an ability to damage a brands reputation, therefore they feel they have a level of control over brand actions and outcomes, shifting control to the consumer.

3.

Generation-Z are stuck in a paradoxical state, where they value both physical elements and digital elements of commerce, making their path to purchase complex. This is because consumers are infiltrated with brands, products and information. With the ‘death of the high-street’ this physical element is being harder to met.

4.

Generation-Z will reject false socially responsible messages from brands they do not already have a relationship with.

5.

Online social support is losing its perceived trustworthiness, causing generation-Z to primarily hold their trust in the people closest to them.

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5.3 Killer insights

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6.1 6.0 CONCLUSION

RECCOMENDATIONS When Physical met Digital

Generation-Z want to make their purchase decisions via an integrated physical and digital process, however with the decline of the high-street this need is becoming harder to meet.

This provides opportunity to offer consumers a blend of these domains. This could come in the form of a physical experience, event or store which encompasses digital and social elements.

A FAMILIAR NETWORK Generation-Z primarily trust their friends and family and their path to purchase is complex. This highlights the opportunity to provide smaller, digital networks tailored to the individual, consisting of their specific circle. Here the consumer would be able to gain valuable information and recommendations on brands and products, when and wherever they are, from people they trust, through a direct channel.

Right Product, Right Price, Right Morals Generation-Z are on a continual search for brands which meet all their needs for ethical consumption, at the right price, offering the products they demand. This provides scope for a digital space which compares the ethical qualities and prices of specific products from a range of brands.

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6.2 conclusion To conclude, by conducting extensive primary and secondary research to support the exploration, the report has provided a complex insight into the Generation-Z consumer, with regards to community-commerce and trust.

During the course of the report, research carried out explored how consumer Generation-Z’s path to purchase will impact brands in the future. In response to the research question it can be determined that although communitycommerce is not necessarily driven by a Generation-Z’s lack of trust, it is clear that as consumers they want their voice heard and community-commerce offer them the opportunity to do so.

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Nevertheless, for successful execution of Stage 2 additional research will be required in order to operationalise the aforementioned recommendations.

Further primary research methods will be necessary during the concept development process and secondary research will offer insight to understand financial limitations and how they will be overcome.

Ultimately this report has provided valuable insights to support future research and opportunities concerning the consumer journey of generation-Z.

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7.2 IMAGE REFERENCES On the on-screen and off-screen media powerful. GQ France..

Bruno Mangyoku, 2016 (online). GQ Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/45206549/SELECTION-OF-2016-EDITORIAL-WORKS (Accessed January 15 2020) Hand holding illustration Uknown, n.d. (online) Kerif app. Available at: https://theinspirationgrid.com/total-controlmixed-media-artworks-by-andrew-fairclough/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

Children’s book illustration.

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2 Faced poster Julia Hariri, nd. (online). Junique. Available at: https://www.juniqe.com/faces-4-premium-poster-portrait-3825590.html (Accessed January 2020) Total Control: Mixed-Media Artworks Andrew Fairclough, 2020 (online) Inspiration Grid. Available at: https://theinspirationgrid. com/total-control-mixed-media-artworks-by-andrew-fairclough/ (Accessed January 15 2020) Visual Science Slava Thisset, 2020 (online) Pinterest. Available at: https://theinspirationgrid.com/digital-photography-by-visual-scientist/ (Accessed January 15 2020) Fake News Lazaro Gamio/Axios, n.d. (Online) Axios Avaliable at: https://www.axios.com/fake-newsfix-suggestions-politicians-social-media-f20fa11b-5a19-4015-bc30-fdc19896ca50.html (Accessed January 15 2020)

Glitch Image Unknown, n.d. (Online) Pinterest Avaliable at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/ pin/847310117378850306/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

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Wake up Unknown, n.d. (online) Femestella. Available at: https://www.femestella.com/climate-change-amazon-fires-antinatalism/ (Accessed January 15 2020) Fridays 4 Future Petra Braun. (online) Petra Braun Illustration. Available at: https://www.petra-braun.com (Accessed January 15 2020) Lisbon, Portugal Horacio Villalobos, 2019 (online) The Gaurdian. Available at: https://www.theguardian. com/environment/gallery/2019/mar/15/best-placards-from-global-climate-strike#img-37 (Accessed January 15 2020) St Francis elevator ride Unknown, n.d. (Online) Pinterest Avaliable at: https://www.wired.com/story/generation-z-stereotypes/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

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Community Illustration Uknown, n.d. (Online) The Christian Citizen Avaliable at: https://medium.com/christian-citizen/ready-made-community-the-growth-of-christianity-in-china-410e013275aa

2 Faced poster Julia Hariri, nd. (online). Junique. Available at: https://www.juniqe.com/faces-4-premium-poster-portrait-3825590.html (Accessed January 2020)

Minimalist Lines Print øjeRum, 2017 (Online) Etsy Avaliable at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/737972780/minimalist-lines-print-ofashion (Accessed January 15 2020)

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Abstract face illustration Uknown, n.d. designsponge Available at: https://www.designsponge.com (Accessed January 15 2020) Abstract face illustration

Fragmented Collage Unknown, n.d. (online) Indie Ground. Available at: https://indieground.net/blog/weekly-inspiration-dose-073/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

Smash the patriarchy contradiction illustration Odile Bree, 2019 (online) Inspiration Grid. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/odilebree/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

Stock Photo - Crowd of People Unknown, n.d. (online) 123RF. Available at: https://www.123rf.com/photo6 _ 976241c_rowd-ofpeople.html (Accessed January 15 2020)

Illustration of ashamed woman Petra Erikkson, 2018 (online) Creative Blog. Available at: https://www.creativebloq.com/ inspiration/best-illustrators-to-hire-or-be-inspired-by (Accessed January 15 2020)

Two faced Uknown, n.d. (online) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.cl/ pin/372461831681125419/ (Accessed January 15 2020)

Illustration of multiple woman Petra Erikkson, 2018 (online) Creative Blog. Available at: http://www.fubiz.net/ en/2017/11/04/colorful-pop-illustrations-by-petra-eriksson-2/?utm_source=feedly&utmm _ edium=webfeeds (Accessed January 15 2020)

Painted Silhouettes Unknown, n.d. (online) Safebo. Available at: http://safebo.uleso.com/image.php?id=414011 January 15 2020) Abstract faces, Italy Raquel Yunta, n.d. (online) Saatchi Art Available at: https://www.saatchiart.com/print/ New-Media-abstract-faces/313351/4694608/view (Accessed January 15 2020) Needle Shapes Silence øjeRum, 2017 (Online) booooooom Avaliable at: https://www.booooooom.com (Accessed January 15 2020) Tapage Illustration Céleste Wallaert, 2019 (Online) Tapage https://www.tapage-mag.com/gaming/lesfonds-decran-de-celeste-wallaert (Accessed January 15 2020)

Drawing by Manjit Thapp Manjit Thapp, 2016 (online) Creative Blog. Available at: https://www.booooooom. com/2016/09/12/illustrator-spotlight-manjit-thapp/#more-85658 (Accessed January 15 2020) Valencia Concept Store Luis Beltran, 2019 (online )Wallpaper Available at: https://www.wallpaper.com/lifestyle/rubio-futuristic-concept-store-masques-pacio-valencia-spain#pic2_ 66909 (Accessed January 15 2020) Valencia Concept Store Luis Beltran, 2019 (online )Wallpaper Available at: https://www.wallpaper.com/lifestyle/rubio-futuristic-concept-store-masques-pacio-valencia-spain#pic2_ 66909 (Accessed January 15 2020)

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Globe line drawing Valenty, n.d. (online). Creative Market Available at: https://creativemarket.com/Valenty/1871532-Globe-of-the-Earth-One-line-drawing (Accessed January 15 2020)

Illustrated collage Petra Eriksson (online) Handsome Frank. Available at: https://www.handsomefrank.com/illustrators/petra-eriksson (Accessed January 15 2020)

Starbucks money illustration Unknown 2015(online). CNN. Available at: https://money.cnn.com/2015/07/24/investing/ starbucks-earnings-minimum-wage-dunkin/ (Accessed January 2020)

Starbucks Frappe illustration PlannedandPrettyCo. nd. (online). Etsy Available at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/604014423/starbucks-frapp-diecut-coffee-cup-iced (Accessed January 2020) There is no planet b graphic Unknown, n.d. (online) Tee Public Available at: https://www.teepublic.com/en-gb/tshirt/4674122-there-is-no-planet-b (Accessed January 15 2020)

Abstract illustration Unknown, n.d. (online) Static Skill Share. Available at: https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/ project/116b48e691e8148e7ee4a3847e3a063a/284306db (Accessed January 15 2020) Immersed woman illustration Petra Eriksson (online) Handsome Frank. Available at: https://www.handsomefrank.com/ illustrators/petra-eriksson (Accessed January 15 2020)

Golden Thread Petra Eriksson (online) Handsome Frank. Available at: https://www.handsomefrank.com/ illustrators/petra-eriksson (Accessed January 15 2020) Fridays 4 Future Petra Braun. (online) Petra Braun Illustration. Available at: https://www.petra-braun.com (Accessed January 15 2020)

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7.4 appendix

7.3 figures

7.4.1 APPENDIX 1 - Online survey blank questions and responses 1. What is your gender - Female - Male - Prefer not to say

PERCIEVED RISK

ABILITY

TRUST

BENEVOLENCE

RISK-TAKING IN RELATIONSHIP

OUTCOMES

2. Which of the following channels do you use the most to purchase fashion and lifestyle products?

- Websites - Mobile Applications - Physical Stores - Social-Media - Other 3. What is your main motivation when purchasing from a brand? (choose three)

INTEGRITY

TRUSTOR’S PROPENSITY

Figure 1.0 An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H. and Schoorman, F.D., 1995. An integrative model of organizational trust.

Academy of Management Review, 20 (3), 709-734.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY PERFORMANCE INVOLVEMENT

CHARITY WORK AND DONATIONS

BEHAVIOUR OF EMPLOYEES

RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS

TRUTHFULNESS

SAFETY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES

- Price - Quality - Bein on Trend - Being able to purchase from a physical store - Being able to purchase online - Next Day Delivery - Designer labels - A brand which demonstrates clear ethical values - A brand with a strong social media presence 4. Which social media apps do you use the most? (Choose two) - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube - Whatsapp - Snapchat - Pinterest - Other 5. Do you use social media to research brands you’ve never bought from, prior to purchasing from them? If yes, please state the social media platform you use and why, if no, please state how you research brands instead, prior to purchase.

(Space to write answer)

Figure 2.0 Elements of Responsible Corporate Behaviour

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Boulstridge, E. and Carrigan, M., 2000. Do consumers really care about corporate responsibility? Highlighting the attitude— behaviour gap. Journal of Communication Management, 4 (4), 355-368.

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6. Which of these enables you to trust a brand the most? (Please choose three) - Online reviews - Word of mouth - Media articles (Digital) - Media articles (Physical) - Social media influencers reccomendations - Online forums - Visiting the brands store, or a store where the brand is stocked - Other 7. Out of the following, which would help you trust a brand more?

- A brand executing its specified ability properly - A brand which demonstrates strong ethical values

1.

7.

2.

8.

8. To what extent do you tend to trust brands?

Not all: 1 2 3 4 5 :A lot 9. Would you still purchase from a brand that you knew still used unethical practices? (Such as, slave labour) - Yes - No - Maybe

2.

3.

9.

4.

10.

10. Do you feel a level of responsibility in helping with societal issues? (Such as sustainability, gender equality, racism, austerity) - Yes - No - Maybe 10. Are you aware of brands that demonstrate corporate social responsibility? (An example of this would be the shoe brand, Tom’s, who are known for donating a pair of shoes to a child in a third world for every shoe purchased) - Yes - No - Maybe 11. If you have ever purchased from a brand which has done the above (previous question) please state: The name of the brand, the societal issue they are helping and the reason that you felt compelled to purchase from them (Space to write) 12. Do you believe that brands actively attempting to demonstrate corporate social responsibility helps you trust them? Please justify your response.

(Space to write)

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6.

11.

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5.

Yes, I often buy from brands I've seen people on my Instagram wearing because they've tagged the brand and if it's just a normal person I usually trust that the brand is legit Yes. I search on Instagram particularly. I think it often gives honest reputations of brands as I look in their tagged photos to see if anyone is wearing/tagged the product I want to buy Sometimes I use instagram, and look at tbe brand page to see the aesthetic of the brand and the way they have styled the items. The most common way I use social media to interact with brands is when influencers or friends i follow tag the clothes they wear. When an online website has reviews on particular items I usually trust and follow their guidance (e.g. if another customer comments that the item is see through I wouldn't purchase the item, but trust their review instead).

Instagram because they let you see pictures of the clothes Instagram or Facebook Yeah I see on Instagram what models where what No - online reviews Word of mouth Yes - Instagram as it usually has good pictures of all the brands items No Instagram Instagram, I look at comments on their posts to see if there positive or not Yes, instagram Instagram No, look at reviews Reviews from customers always helpful .

Google reviews I don’t research brands Yes usually buy brands I’ve seen other people wearing if I like them No Yes, instagram No Sometimes I use Instagram by clicking on their shopping icon No I do not research I just check the site is not a scam by looking for the lock icon by the website address Twitter No, I use the brand's individual website and customer testimonials if available independently Yes. Facebook.Usually go through comments and reviews before purchasing Yes, Instagram No I use their website Instagram, good images and easy/quick to look through to see staple items No No

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Yes I would use Instagram predominantly to view their products Yes Facebook No Facebook for reviews or google Look on Instagram or find out from friends Yes, I use instagram to look up brands No Google Yes, via Instagram but also looking online No, I don’t research brands The internet or through their website I don’t research brands No- dont research before purchase Instagram, because it has all the on trend brands Yes - I use Instagram. I like to see what social media influencers have to say about the clothing/ shoes etc. And buy them there. They usually have a “swipe up” thing attached to it.

Yes. By checking out their Instagram and seeing who may have brought products from them Yes - Instagram No, I would ask my friends if they had purchased before.

Instagram, as I find it easy to use It’s not something I do religiously, but if I am searching a brand it will always be on Instagram. I look to see the vibe of the brand, how they style their clothes, who they use to promote them etc Instagram as it gives an indication as to whether the brand is well established and has a strong following. I also look at reviews online to see if previous customers are happy with their purchases.

Instagram Instagram because you can see where it is from and see it on someone Yes I use Instagram to see their posts so I can see how clothes look on models and influencers Yes Yes, I use Twitter to see if anyone has said good/ bad things about it I always buy brands I know. It’s very very rare that I would purchase a new brand I don’t really use social media, but I would do some research online prior to purchasing.

Research brands through word of mouth from friends or ask google No I don’t research any brands I just find what I like and buy it.

No - don’t really buy from new shady sites, reviews, recommendations, in store Sometimes I usually just pick clothes i like the look of without researching the brand to much. I might look at the brands instagram account.

Pinterest as it gives a range of style examples Yes, Instagram Yes I do the research on Instagram as this where the majority of the brands publish themselves No but do google I don’t research brands Yes, instagram to see what people think sometimes on Instagram I guess? but I prefer reading what they have to say about themselves for example in ‘about’ on their website Instagram- I copy all stuff from bloggers!

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No, I don’t research brands WhatsApp No, new brands are usually found either through websites carrying many brands or by seeing the brand being worn in public No, I’ll usually look at the brand’s website Instagram, quick and easy to search and you assume all brands will have a instagram Find their website or Instagram No, I don’t really research brands Facebook mainly, sometime twitter searches I use instagram to see people's comments on the brand and then online to look at their actual website.

I don’t really research brands, I just go by looking at what most people seem to be wearing out and about Yes. Instagram and Facebook No, I just see what's in stores Yes. Looking at reviews Yes - instagram No yes, instagram Yes, mostly Instagram to look at how well known the brand is/number of followers, and aesthetic style of products and marketing N/A Instagram because all brands use it for marketing Yes Yes- I use Instagram because I can see if customers have tagged them in posts to see if the products are good quality if I’ve never heard of the brand before Yes, usually just reviews online No. Word of moutwh, talking to friends, family, colleagues I don’t really research No Twitter No No NA Twitter and instagram Yes Instagram no

No I use reviews on google or ask friends in person No. Don’t trust influencers Facebook I’m always on it To see quality and reviews of previous purchase Look up on Google to see how people rate the products Yes, Facebook or Instagram i don’t really research brands but if i was i would use instagram to be able to see the clothes on models N/A No No I google the brand before hand Trust pilot No, peoples reviews.

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12.

I recently bought a tote bag from a brand which gives money to charity (can't remember the charity) I have previously bought from Tom’s. To be honest at the time I only bought from the brand because I liked the pair of shoes, however after buying them I did feel good as I knew I was also making a difference Kanken- I was attracted to the style of the brand, the quality of the product, the legacy that the brand has and recommendations from friends. All of these factors allowed me to build trust in the brand. They had a re-kanken range which were made from recycled bottles. As the price and style were not significantly different from the original backpack I was looking to purchase, I bought the rekanken instead. This range is part of their sustainability pledge.

Choose love t shirt from ASOS, they support refugees and their campaign is accessible and engaging Zara’s range of recycled clothing No N/A Clark’s, donating old pairs of shoes to charity. Good ethical company Bracelet from jack wills, donation if cost went to a maleria charity Toms Not sure I havnt N/A Doc martens vegan leather boots N/A I have not purchases from a brand knowingly.

NA I don’t think I have No No Elf - against animal testing N/a Hono - jewellery brand that donates profits or some of to helping save the sea turtles.

I don’t know if any I’ve purchased but Adidas created a recyclable shoe which was cool Have not .

Levi’s ‘waterless’ production jeans to reduce unnecessary water usage, good quality product that is still ethical Body shop I have not N/A Toms- donating shoes I have not No Not sure Dont think so Bamboo socks Pret A Manger not clothes but gives to homeless

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An independent jewellery brand abroad helped women trafficking which made me buy more products Not that I know of .

Tom’s for helping third world countries None I haven’t I havent I don’t think I have Havent yet No Toms Tom’s H&M do a thing where you donate a bag of old clothes/materials and they give you a £5 voucher! The clothes then get recycled and used to make their clothes - helping us be more environmentally friendly and giving me discount too!

N/a Not too sure N/A Not that I have been aware of.

No I got a red iPhone (product) red as they donate to help single mothers with HIV (I think that’s right, they definitely help women in need).

I like Grace Fit’s brand Tala, because the clothing is made from recycled materials and is ethically produced at a reasonable price, which is something is extremely important to me personally.

I haven’t No N/a Cotton on Toms, for the same reasons and because they were comfy N/a not sure I know that google invest a lot in to renewable energy schemes and promote positive environmental impact.

No I wouldn’t purchase based only on that but it is nice to think your purchase helps but overall price is always key I have bought from tons, and brands that help ocean clean ups, brands that use recycled fabrics, more but can’t remember eg. Help education No I dont think i have I’ve purchased products from Levi’s who aim to reduce water usage I believe N/A Tala - gym brand that only uses sustainable clothing Turtle doves N/a No I haven’t yet The body shop - against animal research - good product worked as expected, did not buy because of corporate ideology “New Balance.

Taking a strong stance against poor labour conditions. This is how I heard about them and when I visited their website the designs of their products appealed to me too. haven’t yet

The body shop - against animal research - good product worked as expected, did not buy because of corporate ideology “New Balance.

Taking a strong stance against poor labour conditions. This is how I heard about them and when I visited their website the designs of their products appealed to me too. “ No 4ocean, cleaning the Oceans, it’s a cause I support Unsure N/A Body Shop and no longer testing on animals I have purchased from a brand called ‘Ethics’ who claim to be more sustainable, do not use animal products and are produced in U.K. in good working conditions Lush. When you buy their Charity Handcream, they donate that money to third world countries. I buy this as it seems a more ethical and moral way to purchase products N/a Tala N/A No tala, sustainable and ethical clothing that is environmentally friendly, things that are all important to me n/a N/A I’m not aware if I’ve purchased from a brand that do this N/A II’ve purchased from Everlane before which give a % of their profits to organisations that fight for human rights I can’t remember anything from the top of my head!

As I am aware, I haven’t done this.

I’m unsure No Lush / vegan and cruelty free Not that I can remember No Not that I know of I haven’t!

Na I haven’t Toms M&S Toms Never cared to check No Body shop. I know things are done fairly and as environmentally friendly as possible No “Rapanui -- ethical, organic cotton clothes made in a factory using 100% renewable energy which is why I purchase from them.

Creature Candy -- they donate 10% from all sales to relevant wildlife conservation charities which is close to my heart as I am a trainee ecologist.

People Tree -- organic, ethical and fair trade cotton clothing supporting women and workers in Nepal and Bangladesh.

B_ND it’s a sustainable brand set up by Grace Beverly with fitness stuff. Super ethical (as is Wearetala which is her other company) and i bought from them because it was

Reasonably priced, ethical, and the reviews i’ve seen on insta made me sure it was a quality product I work a lot with ethical jewellery, particularly ethical gold. Ensuring it’s origins are fair and above board.

No MacDonalds- money spent on certain items goes to charitable cause.

H&Ms cash for clothes N/A Yes Starbucks, as they work closely with the refugee agency, to help the company’s support and efforts to hire 10,000 refugees by 2025.

13.

No, because I think it's often a marketing ploy I think so as they have to prove they are acting in the way the day the do in order for you to believe them Yes but only when it is supported by third party support. With the issue of sustainabilty and environmental action I think brands sometimes make one small change to claim that they are 'green' e.g. no longer using plastic packaging. They then use this as more of a marketing tool than actually trying to have a positive impact. While i support this, i trust brands more if they have a more holistic approach and adopt their societal pledge in a number of ways e.g. using sustainable materials in production as well as distribution. Brands that do this tend to attract third party publicity which helps me build trust in their brand.

Yes because it makes you feel better about the purchases you make, even if it’s something that you don’t necessarily need Yes, I trust a brand more if they state how they assist with environmental issues and animal cruelty Yeah I don’t look into it enough though Yes because it legitimises/justifies their desire to sell - provides an ethos rather than fast fashion = quick production and turnover for the sole purpose of making money Some what- in some cases it is more for publicity than to be kind Yes Yes Yes because it shows us they are giving back but why that helps us ‘trust’ them I don’t know. Needs to define the words trust??

No as there is not much publicity on it Yes as they are demonstrating good morals Yes, particularly on environmental issues Yes because it shows they care Not really , some firms make false claims about giving .

NA Yes, it shows the brand cares for others and therefore wants to give a good product to their customers Yes, shows understanding of the current worlds climate No Yes, it shows me brands know consumers care about political issues and they want to do something about it to encourage their target audience to stay shopping with them Yes, proof they stick to their word

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I do, but I would always look for proper evidence of this rather than just taking their word for it.

Yeah to an extent but I feel that sometimes they’re doing it because it’s a trend to do it.

Not necessarily a bad thing though Yes because it shows that they care about society, so would therefore be trust worthy Yes Yes, if a brand demonstrates it takes CSR seriously then it is opening itself up to more accountability, this should make it more trustworthy by default.

Yes. Yes because they are explicitly trying to make a difference Yes because if they are transparent with what they are doing I am more likely to connect with them and in turn trust them Yes as you can see good coming from purchased. Happier to spend more money on the item if I know it’s going to a good cause.

Yes No No - if anything it does the reverse; if they are to support charities etc they should not advertise/show that they do, as it adds an element of distrust to the real meaning behind why they are doing it. E.g. makes me feel as if they are doing it to show that they are, therefore don’t actually necessarily care about the charity’s work.

It makes me feel happier and more confident in them Yes because it shows that they care about society, so would therefore be trust worthy Yes Yes, if a brand demonstrates it takes CSR seriously then it is opening itself up to more accountability, this should make it more trustworthy by default.

Yes. Yes because they are explicitly trying to make a difference Yes because if they are transparent with what they are doing I am more likely to connect with them and in turn trust them Yes as you can see good coming from purchased. Happier to spend more money on the item if I know it’s going to a good cause.

Yes No No - if anything it does the reverse; if they are to support charities etc they should not advertise/show that they do, as it adds an element of distrust to the real meaning behind why they are doing it. E.g. makes me feel as if they are doing it to show that they are, therefore don’t actually necessarily care about the charity’s work.

It makes me feel happier and more confident in them Yes! Because if there where more brands which where ethical i would choose them over the non ethical ones Yes Yes although still trust issues arise as id like to see proof Yes, it makes them feel more trustworthy No, they are there to make money and advertise themselves as ethical to encourage more custom to their business.

Yes It would help trust the brand more than other brands, but I don’t think it’s the only thing that makes me trust a brand.

No, I believe that profit would always be top priority for brands - so all else is irrelevant. It would however make me feel better as a buyer Yes because it suggests they have good ethical values and therefore wouldn’t try to mug you off Yes, it shows the brand cares for others and therefore wants to give a good product to their customers

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Yes because they have more power to change things over the power a single person has.

It also makes it easier for consumers to support them and feel like they are actively taking social responsibility.

No, because they could just be doing it to get media attention Yes Yes Yes definitely, if a brand seems interested in not just making profit, but helping the world in some kind of way then it makes buying from them even more worthwhile. It puts me off buying from brands such as Primark because you think where are your social morals? Buying something from a more ‘ethical’ brand feel good I guess in a weird way, you feel like you’ve benefitted without something/somebody else’s harm.

Somewhat. Some brands truly care about making a positive impact and build their entire ethos around that whereas other brands green wash just because it’s trendy and they know consumers will buy into it. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell when a brand is actually making a positive impact or just pretending to Not sure N/A Yes - transparency would help me to trust them as I would see it.

Yes as I feel they’re trying to improve their business standards Not unless they have been set up with a purpose such as Birdsong. Take Topshop, all these ‘boss bitch’ T-shirt’s, yet are run by misogynistic idiot (Green). The Scarlett Curtis collaboration where Topshop banned her from selling her book on feminism shows Topshop don’t care they just want the profits. Which is fine, but don’t pretend to care in the first place Yes, if they are demonstrating that they are giving back and helping to improve society I am more included to trust them because they are likely to have strong ethical principles and are less likely to lie.

Yes No Yes because transparency is essential I guess so it creates more of a persona behind the brand No, sometimes they use it as a front to sell more I believe brands do have high levels of corporate social responsibility and these sometimes are ethical to promote their products and give them a good reputation rather than doing it for the reason to be ethical.

I think it shows some thought by the brand, as they do have a responsibility like all of us do.

Yes because it shows they are environmentally aware and want to help Yes because generally they would have a better customer service approach as well and if I had an issue it is more likely to be resolved Yes- you know that their turn over isn’t going straight back into fast fashion where quality is poor Yes because it shows that they care more than just corporate greed Not particularly because i question the motives behind the brands actions. I.e are they just doing it because CSR is becoming more important to customers and it helps them sell products?

Not necessarily trust them, promoting their good deeds is obviously a good idea, however I’m always skeptical as to the accuracy of these statements and how ethical a lot of brands operations and processes actually are.

Yes To an extent - as if they are weilling to put time into take some social responsibility in their brand rather than just doing what fast fashion do, it makes you trust them to extent Yes - generally feel if people are ethical in terms of environment then are ethical in other ways

Yes. It is good for big rich companies do to good in the world Yes. As they are helping the rest of the world not just thinking of themselves Yes because they’re saying how they’re helping with your money Corporate social responsibility acts by companies, doesn't increase my trust in them, many companies use these demonstrations to cover or divert attention from other practices that may be socially unacceptable in some markets.

Yes, it gives the brand a much better image than a brand who does not hold good ethical values.

Yes Maybe, it makes them more human but there needs to be proof of what they do otherwise they might be lying so it makes me want to buy from them more but doesn’t necessarily make me trust them more To an extent yes, but still hard to trust big companies Yes it shows they care about more than just profits and are seeking to address more than just their economic bottom line, looking at society and the environment helps to reinforce their brand as a trustworthy, genuine company Yes, because it shows that they are trying to become more sustainable and a better brand all around which makes them more appealing.

Yes, as certain issues are important to me. If these issues can be at the least minimised by a brand then I will support it.

Not really Partly, the could also be using it to move focus from another area of the company In a way. But you don’t find out when brands aren’t being ethical unsure No, I believe if a brand is making such an effort to show how great they are, then they are most likely just doing it for the media attention. If they really were doing it to be nice or virtuous, then they wouldn’t feel the need to tell everyone about it. If they are profiting then it isn’t really charity is it, it’s just business as usual yes as portraying a positive attitude towards current issues is more likely to gain them customers Yes, can show that they care about issues and not just money They are carrying out responsibilities No I don’t t think it helps me trust them because I think they are doing it purely for marketing purposes to look Good to consumers not because they actually care Yes Yes because I feel that they are more transparent with consumers through this which is something consumers really want at the moment Yes and no, because sometimes it can just look like a marketing ploy, it’s difficult to know when they’re doing it to help people or just to make their appearance look better To an extent yes. It is important to give back to communities and also to provide good working conditions to their employees yes, I feel less guilty Yes because profit isn’t their only motivation Yes, they are showing that they stand for something and care about a cause. It means if you have an issue with the brand they will want to help you and be honest in the way they do it Yes Yes, as they believe their stock is good and their employees are treated correctly so they feel the need to “show off” Yes I guess, Yes Na Yes Yes they are making an effort Yes

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Yes because if they have taken this responsibility seriously they are more likely to have a well determined moral compass No. Have a good product that works as billed. The rest is trivial.

Yes, as a society if it’s seen to be helping we tend to want to be a part of it Yes if they have other peoples interests and the planets interest in mind it helps build a level of trust when buying their products No Yes. Brands that are forward thinking and show corporate social responsibility show that they can be trusted because they value their ethics and can afford to give a little back to the environment or other charities. yes, climate change is real and sustainable brands show they’re brands with moral values. so they’re trust worthy I believe ethical changes need to start from the top. Individuals may want to make a difference, but feel one person’s effort won’t change anything. If big brands made the change generally people would start to follow. Mega brands have an obligation to preserve the planet, especially those brands aimed at fashion forward 18-30’s. I certainly would be feel happier shopping with a brand I know is putting things in place to ensue the supply chain is actively looking at ways to reduce waste, slave labour etc Yes because their terms resonate with me as an individual. I see myself as trustworthy so if their ethics apply with me I see them as trustworthy also.

Yes - the media tends to hold them to account and failure to follow through results in poor media coverage.

Think they are buying into the younger generation and how much we care for social issues but it doesnt make me trust them because they see it as a trend rather than wanting to do good.

Yes because they’re not just going after profits Yes, as they are conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society such as economic, social and environmental aspects.

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7.4.2 APPENDIX 2 - FOCUS GROUP Focus group transcript Moderator: Helena Evison (HE) Participants: James Barnes: JB Saskia Marsh: SM Rose Ellis: RE Beattie Pritchard: BP HE: (00:01) Okay. So i'll explain what we're doing. So basically, I'm doing, my dissertation is exploring whether a loss in that has caused generation-z, as consumers to turn to community commerce. And community commerce is basically like, shopping through social media, rates, ratings and reviews on online. And then also like collaborative consumption. So, things like Depop and Airbnb and then it's also what's known as, brand citizenship which focuses on brands that are trying to create a positive impact on society. So the reason im looking at whether consumer distrust is causing gen-z to turn to community commerce is because it shows how consumers that are preferring to sell and buy from one another and gather information about brands from their peers - rather than from big information sources, like the media and then brand citizenship means consumers are shopping from brands with a greater purpose on profit which shows their looking more deeply into what brands are doing outside of just the products they offer. If you just have a look at the consent form... So, um, I'll start the questions now. So the first question, do you trust brands?

JB: (01:06) Um, I think I'd do more now.

HE: (01:09) Why is that?

JB: (01:10) Because if they do something wrong, everyone finds out. It all goes on social media and everyone knows.

Everyone: (01:14) [In agreeance] Yeah, yeah, that's true.

SM: (01:16) I think it definitely depends on what type of brand as well.

BP: (01:18) I feel like smaller brands, sometimes they're more like trusted. Like they care more about your opinion and your satisfaction. More likely to give better service.

SM: (01:29) Yeah, I guess like a small brand. If they’re like independent they’ll want to create a positive impact on society, because they want to grow more. And like for example, word of mouth, if for a small business word of mouth is really effective for people who come, they can, their business can grow. Where someone like Topshop can probably hide a lot more. Yeah.

RE: (01:47) Cause they’ve already got such a big name they can sort of get away with more because we are already like married to that brand.

JB: (01:54) At the end of the day they’re not gonna kill Topshop, no matter what they do.

BP: (01:57) Like the owner of Topshop had like a pretty big scandal but people don’t care cause it’s Topshop it’s just like we keep shopping with them RE: (02:07) Like brands like Topshop you see as a lot more see more ethical than say Primark. But as you look at the stats of like, yeah, like I think Topshop was actually worse than Primark.

HE: (02:18) Why do you think they get away with it more than Primark then?

RE: (02:21) Price probably.

SM: (02:23) They’re higher price point people like it’s more of an aspirational brand, whereas primark is very entry. You go in there for a few basics and it’s very much that you want pick something really quickly.

RE: (02:33) and it has a bad rep already

SM: (02:35) Yeah and you know, because it’s so cheap that it’s fast fashion, it’s really bad for the environment. However, Topshop, whatever i’ve bought at Topshop it lasts longer. Um, so basically I think what makes me trust a brand is the quality of the product, because I know it will last longer than Primark, but they’re probably equally unethical. But I feel Like Topshop’s, more like unethical in terms of the CEO Phillip Green, with that whole scandal with the Arcadia group makes them unethical, I think Primark’s just from a sustainability point of view. Yeah. Cause it’s so like the materials are cheaper maybe more disposable HE: (03:13) Okay. Um, are there any other brands that you come like spring to mind? Straight away? Can be fashion, can be just like normal tech, technology or anything that just spring to mind straight away that you don’t feel that you trust and why?

BP (03:26) Um, I mean Apple’s quite like a big one in terms of being controversial. They’ve literally admitted that they steal your data and they make your all devices die in order to buy their new ones. But like, we’re all addicted. I’ll still always buy Apple, even with all the things we know. I don’t like Apple, but, like I own an iPhone and a MacBook and everything like that.

HE: (03:53) So you kind of think one thing do another?

BP: (03:55) Yeah SM: (03:55) I think it’s interesting. I haven’t got Amazon echo. Purely because of the scandals of they listen to your conversations so they can market you the best stuff. I don’t like that.

HE: (04:07) And where do you like you’re saying that you know, they do this, where do you hear this?

SM: (04:11) I guess you see it on online news articles.

Everyone : (04:13) [All in agreeance] yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

BP:(04:16) They’ve like, I think they’ve pretty much confirm it because obviously like with Siri and stuff, if you say like, Hey, Siri to your phone. It’s listening to you the whole time and can pick up you’re saying Hey Siri and like having a live photo like that’s obviously capturing before you even press the photo at all times. Like, it’s pretty evidenced that that is the case rather than, but that doesn’t really affect my buying habits, because I’m still gonna keep buying from them RE:(04:40) It’s habit isn’t it, because of fear of change.

SM: (04:47) I feel like, in terms of trust in fashion brands. There’s a lot of things we know about the brands which we don’t like, but I feel like in terms of you are always so shocked with them. It doesn’t actually put you off unless you have a personal experience with a brand where they lose your delivery from you, then that will stop you.

JB: (05:03) Unless it directly affects you as a person SM: (05:10) A bigger scandal that comes up, you probably would still shop from because you like the products.

BP: (05:15) Yeah. Like for instance Brandy Melville, I buy from all the time but I know that I don’t like them cause they don’t have a wide range of sizes, but for me they fit and I like them, so I’m gonna keep buying regardless cause like it’s, you know, it’s not impacting me individually. But that is bad because ultimately, I wouldn’t want to be doing that.

RE: (05:33) But it also hard when say like the rest of the population are doing some things. You think my, my impact is quite insignificant. It’s like so many people would just still do stuff, like shopping at Topshop. It’s hard to make a big impact on your own I guess.

HE: (05:52) and then do so like, yeah. Do you research brands prior to using them? Like do you look at reviews?

JB: (06:01) Trustpilot I would.

HE: (06:01) Ok really, why do you look at Trust Pilot?

SM: (06:02) Especially if it’s buying online, unless it’s like a well known kind of brand, but maybe moving away from clothes, often the cheapest one is for kind of company that isn’t really used that much, is ready the biggest company which use it. So, I’ll always do a bit of research to make sure to make sure it’s not a scam

HE: (06:19) Can you give back an example of why you'd use Trust Pilot and what for?

JB: (06:24) Um, you know, just to make sure I don't get scammed really. Obviously putting your credit card details in means there is a risk.

HE: (06:27) And what makes you think this could potentially happen?

JB: (06:27) Well like you know things you read on the internet that it's happened to, word of mouth, like other people that have personally told me they've been scammed HE: (06:28) So, what kind of products do you use TrustPilot for?

JB: (06:33) Erm, obscure one’s to be honest, things you randomly buy now and again SM: (06:50) I’ve recently used Etsy for presents and personalized gifts. Um, and because it’s not from like an established brand, obivouslty Etsy’s established, but the products are from individual people. And but because it’s individual and you’re paying a lot of money online, which you haven’t seen before. You want to know the quality of your products. So for example, buying a whiskey glass from my granddad, personalize with his name on it, but I want to make sure the glass isn’t cheap.

HE: (07:21) How did you go? How did you get to the point that you trusted that seller enough to purchase from them?

SM: (07:27) Because there was at least two reviews saying good quality, arrived fast and on time, with five stars.

JB: (07:27) Even they can be fake to be honest.Aware of the fake review scandal and implies – they aren’t necessarily creator of trust Everyone: (07:27) [In agreeance] Yeah, yeah.

JB: (07:27) There’s just nothing else to go on HE: (07:27) So, it was the reviews that made enabled you to trust them.

BP: (07:39) Especially I wouldn’t buy from a seller, on like Depop, that’s got like bad reviews or no reviews. You have no idea. This person could just be some random old bloke from their garage and you’re giving your address to them.

RE: (07:51) It’s word of mouth as well. Sometimes people are like, oh I’ve ordered this, that would be a great idea. And like having someone, like a friend or family member, that have done it before. That’s probably better than online reviews.

SM: (08:03) and even now, like even buying from a website which I shop on a lot, in terms of let’s say, going back to clothes, If it’s an expensive dress, I’d probably look at the reviews because if I’m spending a lot of money.

I want to kind of justify that it’s going to be okay and it’s going to feel nice. And then at the same time you can just return things nowadays so easily.

HE: (08:19) Ok, that’s fair enough, in general do you guys think about the implications of returning online items.

RE: (08:19) I can’t imagine it’s great for the environment, like with shipping back and forth.

JB: (08:19) Yeah again, it’s the old thing of it’s not directly affecting me so I’m probably still going to do it, even though I know it’s wrong HE: (08:22) Ok and then also, why do you think people leave reviews, like what do you think they gain from it?

JB: (08:25) I don’t know, because I wouldn’t RE: (08:29) People that are retired and having nothing else to do [background laughs], I genuinely do SM: (08:32) Yeah. Like I think in terms of Etsy it’s like cause if it’s a really bad experience and you wanna get back at them and give them a bad name. I don’t that many people bother when it’s good, like if you just said, oh yeah, that was great, you don’t think, Oh I better go on. Unless it was like outstanding you might think. Right.

Okay. Yeah, I’ll leave a review

JB: (08:49) Sometimes companies give you an incentive to leave a reviews, like 10% your next order or something, you know.

RE: (08:56) I guess it's also a deterrent for brands because they know that if someone has a bad experience, you're gonna review badly.

BP: (09:01) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I think that's why it's there, because then it makes the brand responsible.

Everyone: (09:07) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [Everyone in agreeance] JB: (09:09) Um, I think I'd probably review on if I had a really bad experience.

SM: (09:17) Yeah. But also I think for now, like for Etsy, because it's a small business, I think you'd benefit them a lot more if you did leave a review. Like after reading other's reviews for a product I bought it like that's helped me. So I'll probably do for other people.

BP: (09:28) Cause if you know you're buying from an individual rather than a big brand you feel like you'd want to give them back something back in a way, because you know that, that profit is more important for them.

RE: (09:41) I'd never leave a review for like Topshop, because why do they need my help, unless they did a bad job I guess maybe I'd feel like I wanna out them [Background laughs] HE: (09:42) Um, and then, and then this is like the next kind of topic. Are you interested in brands which are attempting to have a positive impact on the world? Like for example, Patagonia or Tom's, the shoe brand? Like, do you connect with them?

RE: (10:00) I would, but I don't have the money to.

Everyone: (10:02) Yeah, yeah, yeah. [Everyone in agreeance] RE: (10:05) That's me, like I would love to be able to afford things that are doing good.

SM: (10:10) Yeah. I'm definitely nowadays buying less, like thinking more before I buy clothes, like I bought jumpers from and other stories recently because I know that will last a long time rather than buying couple of hundred from top shop. Yeah, they're still good quality but it won't last as long.

Instead of buying quantity, which I used to do, because I just love buying clothes, I'm buying more sensibly.

HE: (10:34) Yeah. What's made, what do you think has particularly made you feel that you need to be doing that?

SM: (10:39) I think just researching it at university and it's just got some really like on point trends that nowadays you can't, you can't hide from it now and with the power of the internet, you find out about things so quickly and you know the impact every, every brand has. You feel more responsible.

BP: (10:59) I think that's like veganism was this massive change. Like it's quite trendy to be sustainable and have your reusable Chilly bottle with your metal straw and being good for the environment.

HE: (11:10) Do you think it’s just a phase then you think it will like go away?

BP: (11.20) I’m not sure whether it will go away, but um, for now it’s definitely like a massive thing. Like people are loving talking about sustainability, there’s always like loads of Youtubers bigging up sustainable brands, but it’s necessary. So yeah.

JB: (11:35) I don’t think i’d buy real fur. [Background laughs] That’s about the only ethical thing, i’d do. But I mean, you know, every company uses unpaid labour, child labour. Cheap labour. But I mean you’re not gonna stop buying Nike, are you? You won’t do it. I know Nike make decent sportswear and good trainers and that’s what I want. Maybe if there was a more ethical alternative that was completely on par with Nike, then I would, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

HE: (11:45) Why do you think Nike do that then?

JB: (11:54) I think it’s just common knowledge, news stories come out and that and to be honest it’s probably, unfortunately maybe, why they’re so successful, because they’re cutting big costs, you know.

HE: (11:55) Ok so bringing it back to brands with a greater purpose, that tend to give some of their profits to charity and things like that, would that make you trust them more?

SM: (12.25 ) Yes and no, l think it would make me feel better about how I'm spending my money but at the same time it does make me question if they're just doing it to make themselves look good.

RE: (12.45) Yeah, it was kind of like that Pepsi advert a few years ago, where they’re trying to make out they're really good for equal rights and stuff but everyone was just like why are they making out Kendall Jenner, who's white, is pioneering the whole thing by giving them a Pepsi or something.

BP: (13.20) Yeah, I think everyone saw through it to be honest.

HE: (13.30) Do you think that impacted Pepsi?

RE: (13.40) Probably not a lot but it did make them look stupid and I think the people that are fully passionate about those issues, they may have intentionally chosen to stop buying Pepsi, but also for Pepsi it was probably good publicity, which is a bit sad.

HE: (13.55) Ok and now we’ll just go on to an open discussion on brands and trust, does anyone have any general thoughts and things they want to talk about?

RE: (14.10) So, my sister. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, uses a new app that like compares the sustainability of different brands. We had about an hour of just like binging on it. This is why I was comparing Topshop from Primark, the companies you think are sustainable are just not.

SM: (14.46) Was that like per item or just for the brand overall?

RE: (15.04) It was the company. So like top shop out of five was like two stars. Primark was three. Um, it was like labour.

Um, and like recycling environmental issues. Like it had five different categories. Overall it was all really bad, Newlook was the same.

HE: (15.27) And did that impact like how you shop now, do you think?

RE: (15:45) Um, not really, it made me think more about it, like there’s clearly a price and costing issue, like I can’t afford to shop at the brands that were rated well but I would want to, yeah. Because it’s 50 pounds for a tee shirt sort of thing. So it needs to become more of a norm rather than only people that have the money can shop ethically.

SM: (16:16) I think that I definitely don’t trust these brands, in terms of like ethical, legal trust, yeah, but because of price, like it’s, you can’t not shop from them in a way. Yeah. But I think people like Zara, so I know are fast fashion like two weeks turnover of stock. However, I know that their strategy is in 2025 they want fully organic cotton use within their ranges. So I have in mind, they’re do something about it. It is sort of sustainable.

HE: (16:36) And what helps you believe that what they’re doing, they have good intentions?

SM: (16:53) They’ve made that statement, they kind of have to.

JB: (16:59) They don’t, they don’t have to, It’s all about profit. The only reason they have good intentions is to get more people to buy from them and make themselves look better.

SM: (17:08) No, of course they don’t but, they’re still doing that. It’s the influence of the ethical thing going on. So they’re kind of forced them to, yeah, because people want them to say that. Yeah.

BP: (17:17) I think ultimately though, what people buy is what’s popular. Like I don’t think there’s much that can influence from like ethical points of view.

SM: (17:36) So what mainly influences people is what’s popular and what’s popular at the moment is to like be more ethical and sustainable basically.

BP: (17:54) But ultimately for instance, with Nike and with all the sports brands. Yeah. I don’t, I can’t see people not buying from them until it’s not in fashion anymore because ultimately I don’t want to participate within buying from Nike, but yeah, I’m still going to buy air force ones [Background laughs] Do you know what I mean?

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SM: (18:06) But I think going back to trust, um, we’re saying James about your business that you have. Yeah. So your main way you get more customers is by word of mouth isn’t it? Yeah. So, and that is such a valuable kind of, what’s the word? I guess marketing way to attract customers.

JB: (18:34) Cause 90% of the time i’m definitely that job because I’ve been recommended and usually from one person to their friend.

SM: (18.57) My parents just had him do their carpet and I’m sure they’re gonna recommend him to everyone.

HE: (19:16) Yeah. Is that your main source of erm getting new customers?

JE: (19:29) Yeah, I don’t need to network at all SM: (19:32) So it’s really powerful that that’s how people trust is by people and say with influencers back in the day in like 2009, 2010, we’d always buy our beauty cause Zoella was recommending on the internet say it’s pretty good at that time she was a real life person, not getting much money from it. And the point was we thought she was a normal person, basically like a friend [Background laughs] recommending us something, so we trusted her.

HE: (19:52) And then how do you feel about influencers now? Do you still shop from them or do you still feel like they recommended it?

RE: (20:18) This thing about, you know, Lauren, Goodjer. Um, there was this thing that they did on BBC Three, it was an undercover documentary and she’s been promoting like skinny coffee for like two years or something. She’s never tried it. But she said that in an interview.

BP: (20:32) I can imagine, I’m sure none of them have ever tried it.

RE: (20:40) Cause they tried this set up, they called this fake product cyanod or something and it had like hydrogen cyanide, fair enough, like they didn’t realize what it is, but in the whole thing they were like, Oh would you mind promoting it if you haven’t tried and Um, and then she went, well I’ve never tried skinny coffee. So she’s been promoting this product, she never tried.

HE: (21:00) So why do you think she now wants to admit that?

RE: (21:15) it was undercover, so they filmed it to make her reveal that. So she’s attributed her two year weight loss to that and she’s never tried it. And that’s, that’s kind of undercover. Like she hasn’t admitted it.

HE: (21:32) What was this on? Is that program?

RE: (21:40) Um, it was, yeah, it’s on the BBC, but it hasn’t been, I don’t know if it’s been released yet, but it came out in like an Instagram release.

BP: (21:54) I think if they’re releasing these kinds of shows it shows that people are looking in that.

RE: (22:08) They were looking into like, um, there was also Zara Dermott does it, from Love Island and another male influencer that just basically said, Oh yeah, yeah, we’re like, you we’ll support your brand even though we haven’t tried it. And then they’ve gone on to reveal, actually, no, I’ve never tried Skinny Coffee.

BP: (22:34) There’s quite a lot of videos of Youtubers that like prank influencers. Like there was one who sent a load of influencers a piece moon, which was just a piece of gravel. They believed him.

SM: (22:57) I think it just really proves the inauthenticity of influencers nowadays. We all know they’re being paid millions of pounds per year to promote these brands and really at the end of the day, all they want is more money now. We all know as consumers that they’re being paid to do it. Do they really want the product. Back in the day, i’d buy anything going that they said they were using. It definitely used to be seen as an authentic way of promoting stuff and now I guess it’s not authentic because everyone sees through it.

BP: (23:25) Yeah, a couple of years ago it wasn’t a law to disclose that you are advertising, for instance, the same principle would be happening. So we’ve been talking about Zoe Sugg, and she’d say, I’ve been using

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this Kiehl’s eye cream when actually we don’t know, but she’s been paid to say that to say that but not they have to say that they’re being paid to say that and it’s like, well I don’t really care about the products because I know it’s just pure advertising SM: (24:05) So it’s much more micro influencers influence people more, or even just your friends. Word of mouth. It’s probably the most powerful thing.

HE: (24:20) Yeah. Um, so is this why things like, like on social media, people talking about products, you believe your friends myself. So, it’s kind of shifted to online world as well in a way. Yeah.

BP: (24:37) I think that you have a best sort of, well we saw connection, but you feel like you have a better connection with smaller influences. They speak to less people. So, you feel like it’s more offensive if they are lying and they have more to lose. The principal’s similar. Like a small business, big business. You feel like you’ve got a big say in a small pond versus if a micro influencer did or said something you didn’t agree with but like a tiny little comment by a huge one isn’t gonna be seen by everyone so it won’t affect them.

SM: (25:02) Um, I just always find people who obviously earn loads, I don’t really trust them cause it’s like when you’ve got everything possibly need.

JB: (25:20) But then at the same time, why would they take more money unless it’s a product they like.

SM: (25:32) Because it’s just easy money, because all that they have to say in the video is I love this product and move on. And that’s £500 in the bank, they understand how easy it is.

RE: (25:43) The richer you are the more expensive your life is, you have a bigger mortgage, you have a nicer car. Like yeah, they need to keep there assets there.

BP: (26:11) And they wouldn’t, they had to get there somehow. So that’s obviously how.

RE: (26:55) And also it’s like once you start earning that amount, you get used to that life and you can’t let it drop, it can, especially with like celebrities, you have such a small limelight most of the time you need to keep yourself up there. And these are the people that I saw in the undercover study today. They were like, they were motivated by that price tag that was the main appetizer.

SM: (27:41) And that’s the thing, like we’ve seen this now and we all know how it works and we all have access to know this, which makes the influencer not so effective anymore. Yes, I do genuinely remember like looking at these videos and desperately wanting the things that they promoted. I’ve definitely brought stuff from influencers.

BP: (28:01) I thought that that was just what they were using becuase they were talking about it. So I feel differently, but maybe it’s just cause I’m older, but yeah, it’s not an a legit recommendation. JB: (28:10) They are aimed at impressionable people to be honest. It’s the subliminal advertising to the people they think aren’t clever enough to pick up on it and I mean clearly it works SM: (28:22) It’s like manipulative and young people especially are still very impressionable. However influencers like Sophia and Cinzia, at university, people are always talking about them. You’d think they they’re for young people yet we know loads of people who like them and that’s maybe because they’re notthat big so maybe they’re easier to trusy. And I mean, well they are big now, but before they did seem quite relatable. They could just be your friend. Yeah.

RE: (28:56) Yeah. I would also say that it’s desperation as well. I think it’s like, especially with like these weight loss products and I think some people are just so desperate to make their lives better that they do anything. And if they see someone, Oh like Lauren’s using this like, of course I’ll give it a try. And then they spend, you know, 40 pounds a month on this.

BP: (29:31) That’s the only thing that would actually really put me off like listening to an influencer is if they’re promoting like diet products which was clearly like bad, like tummy tea or whatever it’s called. I’d probably unfollow them. HE: (29:49) Ok so say, they promote another product which you were quite interested in anyway. Would that put you off, like purchasing that product or purchasing from that brand?

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BP: (30:59) Um, yeah, I guess it depends on the person. And what they’re promoting. But like the thought that they would be happy to promote something that was that negative would definitely put me off. It depends on the product and the influencer of, but I feel like if I knew that they had been happily taking money to promote really like toxic products, what’s any better about what they’re promoting the next day, they clearly have bad intentions.

SM: (31:34) I’d be intersted to know if Alfie Deyes’ profits went down after that one pound video, cause he obviously would sell merchandise and stuff. I wonder how much trust he lost.

RE: (31:45) I think because he targets mainly young people. His main demographic anyways. It probably wouldn’t have been that bad, other people just watch him to take the piss out of him and that’s why it like went viral, but his young fans may not have agreed with that.

SM: (32:25) Well I think people who like so like do the tea promotions or a certain type of influencer, like towie people, I probably would never buy from anyway.

JB: (32:47) Yeah. I think most people wouldn’t but the majority of the people that follow them are idiots [Background laughing] HE: (33:01) And on that note, I think we can finish there. Perfect. I think that’s, that’s enough. Thanks, so much for participating everyone. I really appreciate it.

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7.4.3 APPENDIX 3 - VISUAL SEMIOTIC FOCUS GROUP NTU boots library focus group Photo semiotic focus group Moderator: Helena Evison (HE) Participants: Dom Yearby (DB) Finn Carter (FC) George Brine (GB) Annie Taylor (AT) Rose Tovell (RT) Drew Boden (DB) HE: (00:01) Hi everyone, today i'm gonna do a focus group with you, focus on your perception to brands brand trust. If you can have a read of the consent form and decide whether you would like to remain anonymous, or not and you all have the right to withdraw. I will be asking questions a prompts for topics to discuss. so first up, how would you define a trustworthy brand?

DB: (00:01) I know that patagonia make their products from line re sustainable.

FC: (00:57) Yeah. And Tom's donate a pair of shoes, um, when you buy a pair of shoes.

GB: (01:03) So I guess from that side it's, you've trusted me to do something better for humanity or like something else externally. I think part of trusting to be like if I was to order something online, I know it's coming to me or [inaudible].

RT: (01:20) Most of my brand trust comes from previous experience. I shop with the same brands over time and then it be like word of mouth and reputation.

DB: (01:34) Yeah. It's like certain coats have a reputation for, like mountain climbers and stuff, you know, they're going to be warm.

GB: (01:41) You trust the quality that you're getting.

DY: (01:44) lso experiences though, like food, if you go to a food place, we have something that's really bad and doesn't taste myself well, you're probably not probably going to be like, Oh I don't want to pay for this and stuff like that. The service as well. I guess it's all added experience.

GB: (02:00) Once you have a good experience you'll probably go back, cause you trust the brand.

RT: (02:03) Yeah. But like In Prague, especially everything we were going to do we’d look at reviews. Yeah, we wouldn’t do, we didn’t do anything if it had bad reviews. Cause you feel like you’re wasting money.

HE: (02:15) What’s more important to you? Like things, things that like about your purchases personally, or things that brands are doing. Like, um, ethical, corporate, social responsibility type things.

AT: (02:28) I think when you’re going shopping, like unless you’re just doing it because you want to feel like good about yourself, or whatever, you have usually got a need as to why you’re shopping. So in that sense it’d be like personal preference. But I think that a brand being ethical could influence you if that’s what you value.

DY: (02:51) Cause everyone saw that thing on pretty little thing that said like that there’s chemicals in the clothes which can cause cancer but not stopped anyone like shopping their.

FC: (03:03) But like most brands have to add that anyway, it’s like in the law.

DY: (03:03) But that was such an outrage on social media, but like, how much did that impact like long term and we all know fast fashion is so bad and stuff.

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GB: (03:15) There was that thing on LinkedIn it was pretty little thing doing that thing for the homeless and if you saw it they’re giving out big bags to the homeless, and it’s almost like they’re doing it just to look like their doing something good for community, but we all know that they’re so unsustainable and what the conditions people working in that are making the clothes.

RT: (03:31) But at the same time like I don’t really check LinkedIn, I didn’t see that. But then bad things that get posted all over social media. So like you see the bad things but you don’t see the good things.

AT: (03:43) As well like you do. You know what I mean? Not everyone can be ethical. So think like taking those steps.

Like for example, using a reusable water bottle and stuff like that. Still you’re still trying and I think pretty little thing in that sense, like their ethos is shit. But yeah, they’re still kind of doing good in other areas.

GB: (04:04) Yeah, they’re doing something.

DY: (04:05) it’s cause it’s popular. It’s popular to have a reusable bag.

AT: (04:10) That’s not a bad thing.

DY: (04:11) No, but like people don’t have plastic waterbottles as much now because they’re like, there’s more connotation about having plastic water bottle. Like there’s stuff in work, places that are like no plastic water bottles now, there’s such a thing and there’s such a thing against it because of ocean plastics and all that, but like PLT we all know is bad and other brands like that and, but because you can get nice, cheap clothes on it, we don’t care.

RT: (04:35) And there cheap.

GB: (04:35) Yeah, I think now it just, it’s hard to trust a brand doing something ethical because it’s like are you doing it, cause it’s a trend or because you really want to help. And are you actually trying to make a big impact. I think like all the brands like Zara say by 2025 they’re gonna have all organic cotton and it’s like you’re doing that purely because there was a trend of it and it’s still really fast fashion.

DB: (04:54) But I guess it tends what you value more.

GB: (04:56) Yeah. But like Annie said, at least they’re doing something towards it, rather than nothing.

AT: (05:01) And also like, Zara are better than plt, so you have that hierarchy.

HE: (05:11) What makes them better?

AT: (05:15) Well, I think it’s just, like to be fair Zara just seem better cause of their branding and their stores, maybe that makes me feel like I trust them, and obviously saying things like they’ll use all organic cotton or whatever by 2025 as well, to be fair maybe they’re just as bad.

FC: (05:01) Personally, when i’m shopping in store, I don’t really think about ethical.

DY: (05:09) I do. I like from past experience I’ll get a tee shirt and I’ll think will this wash well? I know some tee shirts I won’t buy it because within two washes of tumblr drying It will shrink and I won’t wear it again.

FC: (05:23) I do think about the quality of it. But like about where it’s made, I don’t.

DY: (05:29) Well yeah, where it’s money we can’t get away from that at our age we can spend on clothes. We can’t spend a lot of money on loads of clothes.

RT: (05:35) If I had enough money and it was between the same item that was made ethically, then i’d go for the ethical one, cause it’s always more expensive to buy the ethical version that’s why I don’t.

DY: (05:46) Like you’re doing that because you want to save money for you, you don’t care about giving someone a pound extra, like yeah the grand scheme of things, everyone does it. But I think it’s different for girls and boys, now today. Girls aren’t particularly brand proud but boys are.

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DB: (06:08) I think that comes from like boys can only wear t-shirts and jeans. Whereas girls have so many options. Yeah, always have less clothes.

FC: (06:22) Yeah but boys will spend like 80 pounds on a top that’s like, yeah, from a brand that’s still, not even necessarily ethical. So many expensive brands are still not necessarily ethical at a high price.

DB: (06:35) like Stone Island and stuff.

AT: (06:35) Or like, think of Canada Goose and that video that shows how badly the geese are treated FC: (06:35) I don’t think the price side really comes into it that much.

DY: (06:43) If you think about like I think like brand pride, like I don’t trust any brands really, but like where else can we go to shop? Like yeah.

GB: (06:55) Yeah. I mean there’s levels like when you sound like you still get quality in clothes, that still is a sustainable kind of trust, because you’ll probably have the clothes longer.

DB: (07:03) Also, you can say price, but like do you actually need all those clothes?

AT: (07:06) I think it’s like that kind of mentality that you can’t wear it more than once.

DY: (07:27) It’s like you feel like you should disclose that you’ve outfit repeated.

(07:34) I think it depends if it’s a normal outfit yeah, but if it’s a go out dress it’s noticaable if you post it again. But then if I saw someone do that I wouldn’t judge them. But i’d feel like i’d be judged for it.

DY: (07:52) That weird though because we’re, we’re not, we’re wearing the same thing again, which means that we like we like the brand, we like the clothes, but then we don’t want to endorse we’re wearing it multiple times online.

HE: (08:00) So next up, I’m just going to show you like two different brands and just like the decide between yourselves which you trust more and discuss why. [Displays Topshop and Primark logo’s] So first is Primark and Topshop, which do you trust more?

RT: (08:20) Topshop for quality, but Primark for price.

DY: (08:27) What do you mean by trust?

HE: (08:27) Which do you trust more to purchase from?

RT: (08:46) Topshop I trust more quality wise and obviously ethics wise, like just the general fit and quality of topshop.

DY: (08:53) Primarks more ethical now, like Primark’s changed so much since rhana plaza.

DB: (08:58) That’s only because they’ve had to.

DB: (08:58) Topshop hasn’t really at all and like if you look into it like the owner of top shops like awful, like so how much can you trust that because he’s sold like BHS for like a pound on the market on the market because, like no one other than him got anything from that.

GB: (09:25) And he’s at loads of allegations. It was like when he was going down, he was on his yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean, and all their staff were losing jobs and pensions.

DY: (09:33) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So there’s so much into it when you say trust, but like how much do you know that?

HE: (09:40) so overall, which would you trust more to purchase from?

DY: (09:41) Topshop.

RT: (09:41) Topshop. Cause I know the clothes will last much longer. And with Primark. I just think I just hate the thought of binning clothes and I know within a year...

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RT: (09:41) Topshop. Cause I know the clothes will last much longer. And with Primark. I just think I just hate the thought of binning clothes and I know within a year...

FC: (09:49) I do shop at Primark.

AT: (09:55) At Topshop you're paying like over 20 quid for a pair of leggings and their not made any better.

RT: (09:58) And you're almost paying for the brand and there not even branded.

AT: (10:04) And I also think Primark's good, like I know it depends on what they sell. But Primark offer like really good, like just generic items that Topshop would charge a lot more for.

RT: (10:12) I know Topshop don't sell kids clothes, but Primark is really good for kids clothes cause obviously as children grow so quick, if you're buying expensive items for children, then you're gonna get less for your money than if you buy from them Primark.

DY: (10:29) Also, like do you get a better experience from one or the other? Like not particularly.

GB: (10:37) Oh God. Yeah, I would always shop in Topshop rather Primark, I hate Primark with a passion just because it's always a stressful experience. I'd never have a nice day in Primark.

AT: (10:52) I think it would be quite hard to do but I think Primark would be quite successful online.

RT: (11:02) Yeah, no I agree.

AT: (11:04) They would have to have a selection of stuff that they sold online coz the amount of people that genuinely would order from them would exceed DY: (11:19) Why don't they have like social media.

AT: (11:20) There's no reason for it to need that. People know whether or not they want cheap clothes.

RT: (11:41) Also, with like their customer service I think that kind of makes them different coz you have to go to the store, it's like more traditional, which is kind of nice but also inconvenient. But also when you're spending so little you don't actually care about customer service, you get what you pay for.

AT: (11:41) And then like with boys, obvious you say that you only really wear tops and jeans, so then would it make a difference if you go to primark than topman?.

DB: (11:52) Yeah, I wouldn't, I probably wouldn't get t-shirts from Primark just because I know they come out in the wash badlike, but like this is from topman to be fair.

RT: (12:02) Also, you know those shirt shuts that boys had they were from primark and they wore them over the summer and they're like striped, like shirts and you can get matching shorts with them I think Kem wore one you just tell like you see it in primark? And you just tell everyone’s got it. And that’s not like a bad thing, but when boys only really wear certain clothes, you could just tell it’s from there.

AT: (12:29) When my boyfriend got a top from massimo duty and like the, it was like a striped top and like the Stripe pin lined up to like, it matched and when you get it from Primark it just doesn’t.

DY: (12:49) You did it, like you know when you called up Topshop to reserve an item. You’d never do that for Primark and you’d never like message Primark on Twitter like oh I’m having problems.

GB: (13:13) I guess it’s like because it’s cheap and it’s about what they have on that day. I think with Primark you go for the price, whereas Topman you usually have a specific item of theirs you want, so I guess the trust and expectation is for two different things.

RT: (13:13) And also like with Primark it’s kind of expected that it’s gonna be bad. So if something goes wrong, you’re like ah well it’s Primark, whereas Topshop you’d be fuming because you’ve paid more for it.

AT: (13:33) Then sometimes you go into Primark and you’re like that’s a bit expensive for Primark, you just expect it to be the cheapest.

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HE: (13:33) Who do you trust more?

AT: (14:06) Wasn't it Kylie Jenner that did the Pepsi advert and ended racism. She gave a police officer a can of Pepsi and then was like yeah. I think Coke though have a stronger presence. There's like the coca cola truck.

RT: (14:47) I feel like Pepsi is just the cheap version of coke.

AT: (14:48) Yeah because you know kfc they sell Pepsi and I hate it.

RT: (15:01) It really confuses me at work when people aask for Pepsi, I'm like surely everyone says Coke first.

GB: (15:07) I do think Coke is like more in the mind of the consumer majority wise.

FC: (15:13) I think that’s coz they have good branding.

GB: (15:15) Yeah, Pepsi’s a compromise of Coke.

DY: (15:16) Yeah but Pepsi’s massive in the states.

FC: (15:16) Yeah it’s the other way around.

DB: (15:21) Often with the drink Coke like it’s actually like it goes with the brand name Coca cola.

AT: (15:30) And also cause coke used to be sold in like glass bottles and stuff it has like that kind of prestige of like luxury and prestige.

GB: (15:39) Pepsi market themselves as like taste the difference to us and Coke we are still, it’s almost like comparing themselves to the bigger brand rather than by supermarkets. All their adverts are like, we’re better than the others.

AT: (15:55) I think Mcdonalds and burger king do that a lot.

RT: (15:56) Why is that your branding strategy, DB: (15:59) but you wouldn’T not buy Pepsi if you’re like thirsty and it’s the only thing there.

AT: (16:07) You can tell im dissappointed when they say they only have coke.

RT: (16:14) I would still buy Pepsi if it was on offer, like if Pepsi was a pound and Coke was 2.50 I’d still buy Pepsi coz i’m tight.

(16:20) [Displays Boots and Superdrug logo] RT: (16:35) I’ve just been bought up with Boots, so i just prefer it.

FC: (16:35) I think it’s trusting because boots obviously like they’re known for like pharmacy and all that and Superdrug it’s more of a recent thing that they’ve got pharmacy. I think. Yeah, probably. However it is overpriced.

RT: (16:59) But I think I prefer Super drug, because it’s cheaper. I was trying to buy minis at Boots and each of these little mini’s were £1.50 a bottle of so then I just went to Primark and bought bottles to decanter.

DB: (17:41) To be fair, my cousin she cause her job is looking at who pays their taxes, which companies and um, Boots have been outed that they don’t, they avoid taxes completely. So she doesn’t, purposefully shop at Boots.

AT: (18:01) Starbucks are complete tax avoiders and everyone still buys their coffee.

DY: (18:07) So many are like. But that’s with like charity donations. Like so many companies will donate to x amount of charities then you have like people question whether it’s genuine or to avoid taxes.

RT: (18:23) Ah I didn’t think about that.

(18:23) [Displays Starbucks and Costa logo]

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HE: (19:38) Does that effect which you purchase from?

GB: (19:38) No, I'd still buy from Starbucks, like in our uni library it’s a Starbucks, so obviously I would go there.

AT: (19:42) With these brands as well you're basing it on taste, so where does taste actually come into that?

RT: (19:56) I'm let's say in store, Starbucks is nicer though, like a Starbucks environment is nicer than Starbucks is like a work environment and costa's a moms meet up.

(20:06) [Displays Nike and Adidas logo's] FC: (20:21) Well it depends on the, yeah, I think I have they both do a lot of extra social responsibility. Like they do a lot of things. They're all for diversity and inclusivity.

AT: (20:50) But then Adidas did that hundred percent recycle thing.

FC: (20:52) Yeah, I think they're equal.

GB: (20:56) My preference is Adidas coz I know they do the sustainability thing, like much more than Nike does. However, both of them because of the quality, I shop with both, because I know they're good products.

DB: (21:30) In terms of trust I'd say I trust them equally for their products but I'd say I wouldn't trust Nike as much because like they've been like called up on like sweatshops and stuff, in the past and like, Adidas has done a lot for like recycled shoes and things like that and like.

DY: (21:43) It’s like weird because both of them have like that celebrities or models for ambassadors and their sports brands.

FC: (21:52) Stella McCartney does stuff with Adidas and she’s a big campaigner for sustainability.

DY: (21:52) We should be trusting in them cause their sports brands and their using celebrities to endorse, like some people who are models that aren’t necessarily using their products for their purpose.

AT: (22:22) Also I think Nikes, like a kind of motto is not everyone can be an athlete. I feel like it’s, it doesn’t make you feel that you can’t shop there because you don’t participate in a sport and there whole branding and marketing startegy is about inclusivity, which is importnat for trust and then it probably means that more people trust them because they don’t feel initimated by them.

(22:37) [Displays Apple and Samsung logo].

RT: (22:37) Apple, always AT: (22:51) I think they just do know their shit to be honest. It’s like you have to go through a genius bar and stuff to go like get stuff sorted out as just like really good customer experience.

RT: (23:01) Like it is hard to get an appointment, but if you actually in the store like they are, they do know.

GB: (23:08) They’re more accessible I think than Samsung.

RT: (23:24) Yeah, and that like their first campaign it was like, think different, yeah, yeah, it was clever.

DY: (23:39) But Apple, like Samsung, if you got Apple phone they allow you to like put all your data from your samsung phonto onto it. But you cant put your Apple data onto a Samsung, which says a lot about them as brands.

And When you send photos, when you send photos from an Android to an Apple, the quality is reduced.

DB: (24:09) and they make the battery life for the other ones worse and it’s like the headphone Jack changed.

DY: (24:21) Samsung or like Android, like they all have the same chargers, whereas Apple is so different. And making chargers deliberately break so you buy one.

GB: (24:34) But it just shows how much we must like their phones then cause we all have one.

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DB: (25:07) it’s like people in lectures only have Apple. also?

RT: (25:21) Yeah, like if someone has an Android phone it’s weird. No because of what it looks like but just mainly cause i’m like why would want that because, you know what I mean? Like I just in my head like if it’s not Apple, it’s pretty shit. To be fair, I tried to shop around like to see if there was other laptops that were cheaper that one Apple in the end I was like I don’t like, I don’t even know where to look. I don’t know enough about anything else to be able to spend that much money on it and I knew that other people have one.

AT: (26:21) To be fair they do lend themselves to our course.

RT: (26:26) And the fact that we have mac suites.

AT: (26:28) But I definitely got one because I knew everyone else would have one.

DY: (26:34) But like Apple’s thing is like ease of use whereas Samsung is about innovation, so I guess it could be about what we value more?

DB: (26:45) like a lot of people buy Apple products on like overlay some songs and stuff because like instead of it being more powerful, it’s like the easy access like the software and stuff it has on it.

AT: (27:09) Like even in Tokyo I think that the need to have that concept store because you learn how many of us went into that store, did all that fun shit. But I didn’t once think that this was a Samsung store, in my head it was just the cool random tech store.

HE: (28:09) And on that note I think we can round it up. Also just to let you know you have the right to withdraw, so just let me know.

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7.4.4 APPENDIX 4 - CONSUMER JOURNEY DIARIES

CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name: .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Age: ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender: ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it? ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What brand was it from? ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online) ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why? ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ...................................................................................................................................................................................

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CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name: Dominique Yearby

CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name:

Age:

Sophie................................................................................................................................................................................ .......

22

Age:

Gender:

22........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender:

Female What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

A black bodysuit, around £12 roughly What brand was it from?

ZARA Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online) 1) I saw it on social media 2) I saw someone wearing it, and asked where it was from 3) I saw it in store but did not get it as it wasn't in stock 4) I looked for it on the ZARA website but it wasn't in stock 5) I looked for it in another store and it was there so I got it

Female............................................................................................................................................................................... .........

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

An emerald green leopard print satin dress (for a brunch) Price-£25............................................................................................................................................................................ ...........

What brand was it from?

I saw it first......................................................................................................................................................................... ...............

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online) Saw an outfit on Instagram (on my phone) that my friend was wearing so I messaged her about it.

I then looked at the website (on my laptop) she said she had got hers from.

I browsed on the website and found something similar that I liked (the green dress) I then purchased it.

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

........................................................................................................................................................................................

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

I would say Instagram when seeing my friend wearing something similar. Also the fact that ‘I saw it first’ is very popular and has a strong social media following, makes me more likely to purchase from the brand considering it is promoted by various fashion influencers as well as ordinary Instagram users.................................................................................................................................................................................. .......

Word of Mouth - reccomendations

.

How it looked and felt when I saw it in store

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I have shopped at ZARA before

CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name:

Rose Tovell .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Age:

21 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender:

Female ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

Coat - ÂŁ46 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What brand was it from?

Missguided ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online)

Scroll through instagram - see an 'influencer' wearing a style I like ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Look on favourite brands' apps - Asos, Missguided, Zara, Topshop etc

Found a Missguided one I liked on third-party retailer, Asos ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Read the details including the size the model is wearing Purchase coat online for next day delivery ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Coat arrives - too big, go back on Asos to order a smaller size but it is out of stock

Look for similar alternatives - find the same coat on Missguided app ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Search the coat on Google to see if there are cheaper alternatives Decide to purchase the coat from Missguided for next day delivery ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

I am a loyal customer of Asos and will always browse here first when I am looking to purchase ........................................................................................................................................................................................ something, as their buying/ returns process is quick and simple. As I had already recieved the product

and just needed a smaller size, I trusted that I liked the coat. I have purchased from Missguided ........................................................................................................................................................................................

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before and know they have good customer service, building my trust with them. ...................................................................................................................................................................................

CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name:

Saskia Marsh .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Age:

22 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender:

Female ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Name:

Charlie Carter

.......................................................................................................................................................................................

Age:

21 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender:

Male ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

A pair of jeans - £15.99 in the sale. ........................................................................................................................................................................................

A wool coat - £95 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What brand was it from?

What brand was it from?

Zara ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Racing Green ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service

Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online)

Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online)

I started by finding the style I liked by seeing my friends wear them (I liked the straight ........................................................................................................................................................................................

leg with the rough ends). I then went on the search to purchase. I first went to Topshop ........................................................................................................................................................................................

because I know their jeans usually fit me well, however they didn’t and I wasn’t happy with ........................................................................................................................................................................................

their selection. Because I found this really frustrating, I then read the reviews on all jeans I ........................................................................................................................................................................................

came across to see if items were true to size. After watching Emily Canham on Youtube

The search for a coat began after Christmas when the sales began. I started by visiting ........................................................................................................................................................................................ the John Lewis website on my laptop to see what brands they had (I was looking for Hugo ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Boss and Ted Baker because my friend had a really great coat from there- plus

........................................................................................................................................................................................

they’re great brands). Unfortunately a lot of the coats had gone out of stock, and I was ........................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................

unable to visit my local store soon. Whilst away with my family in Bournemouth I went into

........................................................................................................................................................................................

Beales, where my family had shopped before, as they had a great selection. I ended up

purchase her jeans from Zara, I Decided to give them ago - I tend not to go there for jeans as their sizing is awkward, but I ended up purchasing a pair via the Zara app on iphone, as it was free delivery to store and great value for money!

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

I guess seeing an influencer who is a similar size to me find a suitable pair of jeans initiated

........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................

choosing my coat by the style and fit, as well as the brand being one my mum acknowledged as a good make.

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

........................................................................................................................................................................................

As I was very set in stone for Hugo Boss and Ted Baker, the key decision maker would I

........................................................................................................................................................................................

guess be my mum - if she had said that the brand was a bad make I would have continued

my trust in the brand. Without seeing her purchase I may have held off purchasing for a while until I had time to go into store and try on. Free delivery also reassured me I could return with ease if unsuitable.

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CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY

...................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................

looking.

...................................................................................................................................................................................

7.4.5 APPENDIX 5 - EMAIL INTERVIEWS

CONSUMER JOURNE Y DIARY Name:

Annie Taylor .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Age:

20 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Gender:

Age: Gender: Occupation: What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status

Female ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What is the last fashion or lifestyle product/service you purchased and how much was it?

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

A leather dress - ÂŁ50 ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What brand was it from?

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Zara ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Please give a brief overview, in chronological order, of how you went about choosing and purchasing this product, offering an indication of which touch-points you used to browse, compare and choose the product/service Touch-points should include online/offline stores, social media channel, websites, review pages, traditional media channels and other alternative platforms/channels which were used to inform and purchase the product/service Note: Please indicate which specific platform/website/shop you used and which device was used, if it was online) I went to my local shopping center because I needed to buy an outfit to wear on Christmas Day. I found the leather dress I liked

........................................................................................................................................................................................

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)

in Zara, tried it on in a size medium but it was too big. I then wanted to try on a small but they didnt have my size in stock.

........................................................................................................................................................................................

After that, I scanned the barcode of the dress on the Zara app on my phone to see whether they had it online instead. ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

They luckily did so I purchased the dress online on the app and it arrived the next day. ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................ ........................................................................................................................................................................................

What was the key touch-point which informed your purchased that enabled you trust the product/service and the brand itself that you purchased from and why?

Being in-store and trying the dress on was the key touchpoint that made me want to purchase ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how Which brands do you trust and why?

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

the dress. I already had an established trust with the brand because I buy from there a lot but the trust

with the product came from trying it on because I could feel whether it was good quality or not. ........................................................................................................................................................................................

Although I do think the Zara website is difficult to gauge/trust what the product will actually look like

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because the models they use stand in weird positions sometimes. Seeing it is easier for this particular shop. ........................ ...........................................................................................................................................................

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

110

Age: 22 Gender: Female

Age: 23

Occupation: Postgraduate Student

Gender: Female

What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality,

Occupation: Retail Worker- Jewellery

ethical values, social status Quality, original design

What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No

I try to only shop when I need something and can't find anything similar or that I like on Depop/ eBay. Then I consider price and convenience; so if I can find it on my local high street or on ASOS- which I have the next day free delivery service. I try not to shop at brands like Primark, Matalan or other fast fashion retailers I have heard negative 'sweatshop' stories about, but it is hard when many high-street stores are unethical. Places like Zara and H&M also have bad reputations but I do shop there and just try not to buy too much unnecessarily.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Sometimes. If I am looking for clothes online then i do read the reviews. Otherwise, I normally only read reviews for non-clothes Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why Yes. Normally for services, places to stay, holidays destinations etc. for example AirBnB, TripAdvisor, Booking.com Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify) If I shop for clothes I like to go to the shops and feel the material/try it on to see how it fits myself. In that case, I do not trust other people's review on it because there is a lot of different tastes, opinions and body types. I am more trusting with the reviews for nonclothes. However, I would still prefer to see the product in real life before trusting a brand What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Quality of a product Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how Yes, I use facebook/instagram to look at the images of items i like Which brands do you trust and why?

Anne Summers, Pink, Phase Eight...there is probably more but non-that i can remember from the top of my head. I trust these brands because the quality of the products is good most of the times and clothes from these brands lasts me a long time. Moreover, there is a lot of items that i like the look of and that suit my body shape

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No but I would tell my friends or perhaps tweet if I received really bad/good customer service.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes but only really online, to see what others have said about sizing of the products and quality before I buy.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why I use Trip Adviser for reviews of restaurants, experiences and places to stay- I like that there is often pictures so you can really understand what a place is like. To find a review of a product, like I always do for beauty products, I usually just google the name of the product and the word review, I don’t have a site I always go to.

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

I don’t trust brands straight away, so I wouldn’t find a clothing website and order something if I had ever heard of them before. I usually look on the their socials and see if they are well known and if anyone I know follows them. If I had a close friend following I would ask them if they had used the site before to get an opinion on the service and products. There are so many fast fashion sites especially these days using old reality TV stars it can be easy for them to look legitimate when they are not.

No, because normally the quality is either too low or does not much a price.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

-Been around for over 2 years and used by people I know -Presence on social media -Speaks about ethical issues and has a more ‘sustainable’ section of clothing -Can speak to them via messenger if there are any problems -If online, when you order you receive regular email updates on your purchase

Sometimes I do. Normally if I see an items that I really like

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Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes, I use it to see if they are known and what kind of clothing they do. I like to see what influencers they use to decide whether I will shop from them or not. If it is all reality TV stars this normally is a no for me as the clothing will typically be 'trendy' for two weeks then over.

If it is for cheap, everyday things then no, I tend not to bother. But for things like medication, technology, expensive make up and holidays then I always read the reviews yes!

Which brands do you trust and why?

H&M- even though they have lots of trend pieces they also have a core collection and lots of different unique pieces that will carry over through seasons. I have had some pieces from there for 3/4 years now, this I like as is good for the environment and good value for money. They also have a recycling scheme, this isn't great in someways but they are still trying.

TALA- ethical sportswear range that is great quality, environmentally friendly, uses diverse influencers and started by a positive influencer.

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan I don't trust them as they encourage the consumer to shop constantly, by changing trends as soon as they are acquired.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

I do as they are so hard to avoid though due to convenience and price-point!

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why I always read the reviews on websites like Trip Advisor and Booking.com before visiting somewhere new as I don't want to stay somewhere horrible/waste money travelling if it isn't worth it. I also always read the reviews on Amazon before buying anything.

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify) If i have heard of the brand and know friends that have bought from them, I tend to always trust them. If it is for more expensive items, I usually google and try and find out more about it. I sometimes worry they will send something different than what is advertised.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

The price (if it's really cheap, I think it may not be good quality), the quality of the product, how sustainable the brand is and what other people say about the brand.

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

Age: 21

I often watch YouTube hauls, where influencers have bought a lot of clothes from one brand and I enjoy watching it and seeing if they think the items are worth the money.

I also sometimes, if the item is expensive, type it into instagram to see if anyone has hashtagged it. For example, I bought an expensive Zara bag once and wanted to see how other people were styling it and if it looked nice in pictures.

Gender: Female

Which brands do you trust and why?

Occupation: Student on Placement Year as an English Teaching Assistant in Japan

Definitely trust - Zara, Topshop, Amazon, H&M, Apple, Nike, Adidas, Asos, Converse, Urban Outfitters (these names came to my head) because they are all well-known and well respected brands that produce good quality products at a reasonable price. I have not heard of many circumstances where people have been unhappy with their products/ services.

What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status Quality Do you write reviews for brands and products?

I would write a review for things that cost a substantial amount of money/for things like holidays, hotels because I think to know information for expensive events/things is important so people don't waste their money.

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Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan I trust some but definitely not all. The majority of cheap and solely online fashion companies are not very trustworthy in my opinion (with the exception of Asos). Often I have ordered clothes from companies like PLT and Missguided and they have broken after one wear. I also think most of the things they advertise i.e. same day delivery/really cheap clothing, goes against most things I support. All of the good things they offer go at the great expense of something else (i.e. the environment/sweat shops and slave labour).

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If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

Age: 25

I used to shop from cheap places like PLT and Boohoo all the time but have now realised they are not good brands to support and most of their clothing isn’t very nice anyway. I still occasionally shop there but very rarely.

Gender: Male Occupation: Pensions administrator What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand?

Age: 21 Gender: male Occupation: student What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality,ethical values, social status

My style is influenced by branded clothing as I know that the items I’m purchasing will be more comfortable to wear and more durable overall.

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No Do you read reviews for brands and products?

The quality and style

Yes

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/products/services?

If yes, please state which ones and why

No I haven’t ever Do you read reviews for brands and products?

No I don’t read reviews Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/products/ services? If yes, please state which ones and why I use trip advisor when I’m going to a new place Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand?

(Please justify)

I have used Trip Advisor in the past when researching hotels for holidays. I’ve done this to gain a general overview of different places and for the most part have based my decision on those reviews.

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand?

(Please justify) I’ve been aware of the brands I trust since I started wanting to take care of my own image more.

During the start of this time it was more of a learning process of what was right for me but now I immediately know where to go for my purchases.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

I usually just buy them without looking into them

The pricing of certain brands influences my decision when buying them. If I see two items that I would consider buying, the one with the higher price tag would normally be the one I go for as I assume it’s better quality and I would probably prefer the style in the first place.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

I usually just buy from brands if I think they look good

No

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

Which brands do you trust and why?

I have used social media to buy brands but have never researched them

Having been heavily involved in sport I’ve trusted the larger sporting brands such as Nike and adidas from a young age. In terms of day to day style I trust many streetwear brands including Patagonia, Ralph Lauren and Palace. I think advertising also affects my choices as a lot of money goes into this area with the campaigns of these brands.

Which brands do you trust and why?

I don’t really trust any brands as I don’t look into the companies and how they operate Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan I don’t buy from fast fashion brands because I don’t like the styles but I’ve also heard that they aren’t very good for the environment If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

No because I don’t like the styles but I’ve also heard that they aren’t very good for the environment

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan From my own experience I have learnt that it is better in the long run to just buy the quality. In the past when I have bought let’s say a pair of jeans from Topman, they haven’t lasted half the time of those bought from a larger brand such as Levi’s.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

I trust them but only for certain products which I am willing to buy but for less. For example, I wouldn’t buy a pair of jeans but I would probably buy socks or underwear as they cost less and are easily accessible on the high street.

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Age: 20 Gender: Female Occupation: Student What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status I feel that if the brand represents me as an individual then thats the main factor but as a student price is definitely a key factor when i buy clothes, i dont have a lot of money to spend on nice clothes or fancy products.

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

Not really, i usually focus on other peoples reviews if i was to buy a product but i dont leave them once i have got the product i just dont ever feel comfortable doing so.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes all the time if i purchase a product that i am unsure about, i want to know what the discussions are about products, that could be the material, the usage, if clothes fit like the website suggests it does, anything that i feel could be an area of doubt i do read reliable reviews to make sure im not wasting money.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why No i dont usually i just look at things on google about brands and then read reviews on forums Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how Not really, i use social media to view brand pages from influencers if they wear items of clothing that i like but i dont use it to look at reviews or find particular products. i do feel that using social media particularly for clothes is a good way to see different individuals model and present the clothes rather than a stick thin model on the website, doesn’t give a naturalistic feel to the product, you cant place yourself or that product in a scene whereas on social media you can envision the product better. Thats a main reason i feel that social media is good for brands and products.

Which brands do you trust and why?

Most brands that are sort of well known high end or high street, until theres something that makes me think i shouldnt purchase from them then i dont have any problem buying into the brand Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan I guess sometimes, i trust the brands if i have had a good experience from them everytime but if the order goes south then its hard for me to come back from that, for example i purchased from asos once and they lost my order and didnt refund me for a while because they were convinced i was going to get the parcel but it had been weeks and so now i personally dont shop from there.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why? /

Sometimes if im in a physical store because i can see, feel, experience the product that i might purchase, if its online i’m a little more uneasy because theres no guarantee that it might be as displayed online. I’ll ask friends who have puchased from brands before what their experience was like just so i can get a bit more information before i go ahead and purchase.

Age: 20

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Occupation: Student

- Friends who have purchased there before - If reviews are good from websites or online forums - Social media presence - if influencers purchase from them it comes across more reliable.

- If materials are good and its worth while for the price if its a bit steeper than the usual price i would pay for a particular product

What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality,ethical values, social status:

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Gender: Female

As a student I don't have a large disposable income so the main factors that motivate me to shop from a brand would be price and quality. However, I do try to limit how much fast fashion I buy as ethical values and sustainability are very important to me and recently I have started to shop in vintage and second hand shops rather than online or highstreet fast fashion stores.

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Do you write reviews for brands and products?

Not usually, I will normally verbally tell my friends and family about a product I like/dislike.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes. I always do research and read reviews on brands and products that I feel may be untrustworthy or I have never heard off.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why Yes, the only review platform I have ever used is Google Reviews because its easily accessible and I feel that the answers are genuine. Also, I have never thought of researching other platforms - I usually read the platforms that are the first to appear when Googling it.

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan I trust Topshop because they're products are usually off a high quality for a reasonable price, they provide a good level of customer service and I find the return policy to be very good. However, I don't trust brands such as Pretty Little Thing and Missguided as I feel they are very hit and miss with the quality/fit of their clothing - I feel sometimes that the price point is too high for the quality you are receiving. The inconsistency of these brands actually puts me off purchasing from them in the future.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

Although I don't trust PLT and Missguided I will purchase from them as a last resort if I cannot find the product I am looking for with the brands I do trust. This is because they are cheap, postage is quick and they have a large rang of products that are on trend so you most likely will find what you are looking for.

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify) I trust brands that my friends and family trust as I can hear their raw and honest opinion.

However, if I am thinking of purchasing from a brand neither me or my friends/family have bought from or a brand that has an extremely low price range I will do research. This is because I want to make sure I won’t be getting scammed, the quality is good and the postage won’t take months etc.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Good quality, transparency, an ethical approach, brands that operate within the UK, good trustworthy and realistic reviews.

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how Yes, I will firstly look at the brands instagram to see how many followers they have and also what kind of content they are posting. Then I will look up reviews on YouTube - this allows me to visually see the consumers response, the quality/fit of the clothing and allows the consumer to fully express their experience during the purchasing/delivery/return process.

Which brands do you trust and why?

I trust brands such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters, White Rose, Levi’s, Lush, Apple, Superdrug, Aldi and Tesco etc.

I trust these brands because they offer quality products at a reasonable price, they have a good level of customer service, I feel comfortable shopping from them online and instore, I feel that they are transparent in the way that they recognise they aren’t the most sustainable brand (not including White Rose) but they do have ethical values that they stand by and want to incorporate more sustainable elements into their business.

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Age: 22 Gender: Female Occupation: Student What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status Cost and quality of products being equal, delivery options (eg free next day delivery), and items being on trend Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Occasionally, only if they are an expensive purchase.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why Trip Advisor for hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions as most things are on there and cult beauty review section for beauty products if they are new or expensive.

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Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)

What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status

If it is a well known brand then yes, if I have never heard of it before or the website looks unprofessional I will research more by asking friends and family and looking at reviews on social media.

For me it is all about quality, price and uniqueness.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why Trip Advisor for hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions as most things are on there and cult beauty review section for beauty products if they are new or expensive.

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify) If it is a well known brand then yes, if I have never heard of it before or the website looks unprofessional I will research more by asking friends and family and looking at reviews on social media.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Safe processing of payment, good quality products, good delivery times, free returns.

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how Yes, by searching tweets mentioning the brands name on Twitter.

Which brands do you trust and why?

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No, I do not.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes, I do.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why I use trip advisor to look at reviews (especially for restaurants and hotels) Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)I I do not trust brands straight away. If it is a brand that I have never heard of, I definitely have to do some research. I would always check transparency on their homepage and their quality on social media channels.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

ASOS, Lush, PLT, Boots, John Lewis, Amazon, Sainsburys, Tesco

Transparency, quality and good customer service (eg if shopping online I would prefer a chat-box with immediate assistance if I have any questions.)

Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

Some of them, the larger ones that I have had successful purchases with, yes.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

I always check brands on social media. First of all, to get a visual impression of how they are portraying themselves to the «online world» and if parts of that could fit me and my personality.

N/A

Which brands do you trust and why?

Age: 24 Gender: Female

I trust brands that has existed for a long time, and who has adapted to focus on sustainability WHILE keeping their identity and quality. Eg Prada. I also trust brands who offer transparency on both their products (production, materials) and social media channels. Eg Acne Studios, Tom Wood, Toteme. Even though I trust these brands, I wouldn’t be 100% loyal to only shop from them directly online or in store. I could also shop for these brands in second hand stores to make a bargain.

Occupation: Student

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Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify)

Its very hard for me to trust fast-fashion brands, as it is just that; «fast-fashion». I feel it is often «too good to be true», like the 5 pound dresses from Boohoo(?). It can’t possibly be good quality for that price while also being made in a sustainable way. I would always prefer buying high-end or completely opposite - second hand. High-end because of quality and second-hand because of uniqueness.

I usually trust them once I have interacted with them or their product, rather than through specific research. I don't tend to research brands too extensively beforw exploring their products.

For instance I am more likely to trust a clothing brand if I visit the store and experience good customer service myself, than if I read their website or reviews made by other customers. Having said that I am more likely to enter a store and gain this trust if I have heard or read good reviews, but I never actively seek these out or undertake any formal research prior to interacting with the staff / products.

If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

Yes, I do sometimes, but very rarely, purchase from fast-fashion brands that I do not trust.

If I buy something from fast-fashion brands it would be products like socks for example.

Socks for me are products that I don’t need to be unique ( / second hand, previous used) or high quality on.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Quality and past experience. I am often a repeat customer for brands which I have used and been happy with in the past.

Do you use social media to research brands? – if yes, please explain how

Age: 22 Gender: FEMALE Occupation: FINANCE ASSOCIATE What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality,ethical values, social status

Yes but at a high level. For instance if I follow an instagram influencer and I like the look of a product/garment and they have tagged the brand, I will click through to the brand instagram feed for a better overall sense of the brand and the products they offer.

Which brands do you trust and why?

And other stories, adidas, nike, Do you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

Quality Do you write reviews for brands and products?

No

No If no, do you still purchase from them and why?

Price and convenience

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

Yes Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/ products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why

Age: 21

Yes- trip advisor for services such as restaurants. I like the ranking feature and the location feature. I Often use it to choose a restaurant in an area where i am not familiar.

Gender: Female

Google reviews for services such as drycleaners- more common for smaller businesses, helps me understand their customer satisfaction as a whole and therefore my likelihood to use their service.

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Occupation: Student/ Intern

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What is the one main factor which motivates you to shop from a brand? Eg. price, quality, ethical values, social status

you trust fast-fashion brands? Eg Topshop, Topman, Pretty Little Thing, IntheStyle, Do Missguided, Boohoo, BoohooMan

Mostly I will just look at a style and i’m influenced by what my friends are wearing etc but I’m not much of a trend follower. More recently I’ve been buying more timeless pieces which have a higher price tag because I want to buy items that will last in terms of durability and style - I want to basically shop more sustainably but I also know as a student I don’t have the money to switch everything right now.

100% NO. They literally can't be trusted in my opinion, companies that make the volume of clothes they do just aren't sustainable environmentally or sustainably. These brands are examples of green marketing or avoiding the fact that they are not good by using body positivity/ cultural inclusion (which is obviously great) to mask other ethical aspects that need to be addressed.

Do you write reviews for brands and products?

If no, do you still purchase from them and why

Not usually no.

...unfortunately yet, maybe it out of habit still because I've grown up buying from these brands or because it's easier as a student financially. I feel bad but from time to time I do still buy from places like Topshop but I'm trying to fade out these types of shops especially boohoo, PLT etc because they are also just bad quality most of the time.

Do you read reviews for brands and products?

On occasion but not that often. If I love the garment, I love it...if I don’t really love it then I don’t need it. Again trying to keep things sustainable and not mindlessly buying things because it’s in a sale, or is the next trend etc.

Do you use review platforms, such as Trust pilot and trip advisor, to research brands/products/services? If yes, please state which ones and why Nope! I have loads of friends who use these types of sites but I’d rather go and find out for myself or I’ll look at a company’s instagram or website (instagram is my new google when it comes to fashion!)

Do you trust brands straight away, or do you feel you have to do research on them beforehand? (Please justify) I have to research them before hand for sure. There is so much green marketing around at the moment it›s easy to be blinded by a label that says a product is sustainable when it might not be. For example H&M claiming their items are sustainable because they use organic cotton which actually uses more water than normal cotton to make.

What are the key factors that enable you to trust brands?

Whether the brand ethos meets their products, e.g. what materials they use, who makes the garments etc. Sustainability reports, Corporate responsibility. I also look at influencers they use and their values in their lifestyle etc.

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7.4.6 APPENDIX 6 - INDUSTRY INTERVIEW 1 Interviewer; Helena Evison Interviewee: John Noble Interview with director and founder of pro-active marketing, John Noble HE: (00:00) If you can just read through the consent form and let me know whether or not you consent to it JN: (00:32) Yeah that's fine, I give consent haha HE: (00:53) And then I'll just explain what my dissertation's about. So basically it's looking at community commerce, which is a mix of social commerce and brand citizenship, also known as corporate social responsibility and then it's looking at if generation-Z consumers are shifting to like that kind of mode of consumption because they're lacking trust. So then I'm here to interview you cause obviously you run a marketing company.

So if you firstly actually explain what you do and then I'll get into the questions JN: (01:39) I mean, I mean obviously I know you got you, you're doing fashion so we don't really do much but we do probably the closest sector I guess is probably the travel and leisure industry. Cruise line says this consumer, but with different clients we get involved in different levels. I kind of explained that in a minute. We, we do some work, as a marketing agency. We do some as a printer, some as a mailing house. So it's all different bits and marketing services. Yeah.

HE: (02:15) Sorry, going back to the questions. So the first question is, why did you decide to start the company? Like what did you think the need was and what's the USP JN: (02:29) originally? Okay. It comes from a growth, both growth in the dark marketing sector in the 90s. I worked in the advertising industry personally and just saw there was a gap in the market. There was too much demand. Not enough, not enough providers. So for us it was, it's a no brainer really. And that's why we set it up. And then as a USP, I guess we kind of started as a data company. Um, and what we realized is when people do something with data, they buy or do anything with it, picking up back then they would either produce direct mail, send them out, or they'd give it to a telemarketing company, would phone it. Um, and then around the year 2000 emails started to get used to really across the board. So people will get data and then it's an email comes to it. So what originally and what we thought was a USP at the time, well we're working with data and providing data, so if someone buys, for example, a mailing list, they can produce a mailing. So why don’t we produce the mailing, why we letting other people do it. So it’s really pulling everything that we do, compliments everything else. Um, and that’s, that’s essentially why we did that. But probably mean the market’s very, very different now. I mean, I mean internet and it was really in its infancy in the nineties the.com bubble came along and people started to form online shops. E-commerce was really in its earlies days, people, Amazon, who started back then as a bookshop are now a massive global company. But, but lots of them fell by the wayside. Lots of companies started up loads of investments tried to sell their products and services online and they just flopped. But, but it’s changed now. I mean, w the way, the way we all interact with, I mean in terms of direct mail, we still do a lot, we probably ship around

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probably four or 5 million letters a month, but predominantly the cruise lines they’re old people now, someone in their early twenties probably doesn’t get a letter much. 10, 20 years, well 10 years, we won’t be doing any direct mail or print, because all the people consuming it will be dead. So we’ve got a shelf life, which is why we’re doing a lot more with data now, to future-proof, if we’d of just stayed doing what we were doing, we would probably be dead, those that stand still fall by the wayside. But yeah, I mean just being an incredible shift, not only in technology, in terms of, you know, social media.

I mean Facebook’s only 10, 12 years. It’s not just in terms of like the whole marketing industry and advertising. It’s really shaken up. Um, if you go back 10 years ago, global ad spend was around 80 billion. So around the world, 80 billion pounds was spent on marketing and advertising in the world and that was spread across thousands of different companies, marketing service provide, ad agencies. Over 50% of that spend is now with four companies, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. So these four companies have appeared out of nowhere in 10 years and they’ve taken, we’ll have half of the market, which is why agecies disappeared. They just, the revenue just isn’t there. I mean there is a cost to, I mean if you do any form of digital marketing, I mean like for example search engine SEO, search engine optimization, your hit to the top of it doesn’t actually cost you anything but it does cause to get there. You’re going to invest in content. So you’ve got to spend more creative as there’s so much stuff for people to look at that you have to stand out. So, so although it might be free in theory to get to the top of Google or where there’s two ways you’ve got what we call earned SEO and you’ve got um, paid and so paid SEO is I go to Google and I say, I know honestly notebooks and I pay 20 pound a click. So I’m going to do pay 20 pound a click and they’ll serve my value prop to the Google with SEO. I want to be at the top of Google, but I’m not paying for it. I want my website to be there on merit. And that’s why you have to create content. And so a cheaper away sort of today in a way takes longer. I could offer Google 50 pounds a click for selling business cards right now.

HE: (06:52) So is that PPC. JN: (06:54) PPC, yeah pay per click and I can go straight at the top of Google if I’m prepared to pay for it. If I want to be at the top of Google, I have to earn it. That’s over a long period of time of content, creative all this other stuff eventually will migrate up through free Google.

Now, forgetting social and community commerce for S for, for, for um, for a second. Yeah.

Most people when they know what they want to buy, we’ll just go to Google. That’s what you do. I need new office chair done. But yeah, they are clear by. Um, but you can also analyze behavior where people write in, buying with, with, with such, um, such engine work. So say for example, you typed in chairs, well you might be willing to buy one. You might just wanna know more about chairs. If you then put in, black office chair in Chichester, you’re further down the buying cycle. So like click, I know that you’re far more serious .so cars for example, if I just search for ford I, might just be a car enthusiast, search for Ford focus. I might like that model. If I search for a Ford focus in black between five thousand ten thousand pounds, I’m now by by my search i’m almost telling them that I’m, I’m thinking about buying it. If i then put in Ford test drive, I’m actually looking to go and drive it and probably by one. So depending on the search terms, you can work out with somebody and that’s that. That’s how they do it. So there’s [inaudible] to compete.

It’s very difficult because there is a lot of noise [inaudible] social commerce is, is I, I had an interesting article, I have to dig it out and send it to you. What it is, it’s the marketing predictions for the next 10 years from 10 years ago. And they’ve looked at what the predictions were back then and what’s actually happening. Social commerce was one of the big things. It’s not big enough yet, but it’s only now in the last couple years It’s really

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starting to gain traction. I think it’s working out how it can be profitable in a way. Maybe just how to execute it. And then this is the trust element as well. I mean, my view on trust is it’s brands, the better brands have that trust inherent and if i’m gonna buy something from Gucci, direct, I know what service I’m going to get, I know how it’s going to be, where I can buy from another retailer and we’ll stuff turn up? That is what trust is. So much trust is placed in brands HE: (09:15) So if I go on just to the first question, yes. Um, so firstly it’s going back to trust, but um, for you, like how do you ensure that businesses can trust, um, trust you, your business in producing like quality work and things like that?

JN: (09:32) Um, I think probably one of the biggest factors certainly for services business is recommendation. If someone has someone, if I trust someone that’s used someone else because these guys are brilliant, that will build far more confidence. So word of mouth.

Um, but in, in terms of, um, sort of online marketing things or testimonials, feedback, um, certainly for consumers, things like Trustpilot. Yeah, there’s quite a few, although there’s been a little bit credibility issues around that. People are like paying for fake reviews and stuff like that. So that damages that and the trust, and I understand Trustpilot, you know, they’ve been done for that few times. Feefo, another one, what they do is they invite you to give feedback and then they’ll kind of check it. They’ll phone you up and double check it, however it’s so much more expensive trust service, but it’s more genuine, there’s no fake reviews. But yeah, I think, I think the biggest thing is, is word of mouth. And I think another area with that really comes into social commerce is things like Instagram. And you know, if someone, well known celebrities endorsing those products, a lot of people would go and buy it.

HE: (10:43) But then I think you’re getting to a point now where people, it’s coming a bit inauthentic because people just see through it and they just know that doing it to get paid. Yes. Changes as people get more aware.

JN: (10:54) I think maybe I’m know if I’m making any, see most small purchases most people don’t care. You just go and buy them online but bigger purchase, you’re going to talk to people.

HE: (11:04) Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s an investment. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s the risk isn’t it?

I guess it’s a massive risk. Yeah. Okay. Um, so that’s kind of answering both just um, when you’re producing campaigns for businesses, um, wait, let me read this question, sorry. Oh yeah. Like what, when you’re producing your businesses producing campaigns for like say the cruise lines and stuff like that, what do you, what are you thinking about? How are you making them so that the consumer will trust them, if you know what I mean?

JN: (11:42) That’s a minute ago, Iwas kind of introducing what we did and slagging off print and direct mail as a marketing medium. Direct mail still carries a much higher level of trust, if you produce a very well put together thought together. Quality brochure, you’re kind of invoking that trust in people.

HE: (12:00) Why is that do you think?

JN: (12:00) So I think it’s a human nature. Humans like to touch and feel something. And I

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think if I receive an email trying to flip me a 10,000 pound cruise doesn't fit well, if I get a really nice quality, high quality paper gloss, if the marketing communication has a quality feel about it. It says to me that the product and service has some quality about it.

HE: (12:25) So it represents the brand?

JN: (12:25) So rolls Royce for example, wouldn't send out a brand new brochure on a crappy little bit of paper it would be a nice presentation box. Or a local company that's very good at doing is Goodwood. Even just when you buy tickets, it comes in nice quality wallets in a folder, every, every interaction touch point, screams quality. They make the consumer feel important and then that consumer does, they then appreciate the brand. So, yeah, for some reason I'm a, particularly cruise line on direct mail still works to put in a trust. It might be just because it's an older segment, but they trust paper. They trust a brochure, they don't trust emails. Um, I don't, I think the interaction is just more physical. We want on our devices because swipe left swipe right, do this click, click, click, click. But when you actually picked something up it seems more believable.

HE: (13:19) Obviously I'm looking at generation-Z, what would you say enables them to trust brands?

Um, what would make generation-Z that like trust do you think?

JN: (13:34) I think that, I think that generation is much more into looking online reviews and that they take that much more into account. I’d challenge you to actually look at this and not even both as soon as a separate project for you. If you asked 50 people, be it between the age of 20 and 32 names and trust trust sites, most of them will know Trustpilot. They’ll know. They’ll know if these, these sites, if you asked most people over 50 they wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. So I think the, the, the, the younger generations are more in tune with online. They’re more attuned with with we’re looking really. You know, the number of young people aren’t here when they want to book a holiday, they’ll go on trip advisor. Most people my age don’t actually know TripAdvisor exists, wouldn’t even know to look there. So I think, I think the younger generation are more informed about it and so we’ll, we’ll potentially such other spending more time on their devices.

HE: (14:23) And do you think that they feel like they need to, like there could be a reason that they shouldn’t trust brands just like. straight away.

JN: (14:32) I think there’s a general mistrust of brands and particularly big business and big data, particular with the younger generation, they see these big corporates highly profitable.

They see the executives earning millions of pounds a year. This is just a natural miss. There’s natural natural mistrust.

HE: (14:44) What specifically could be making them feel like that?

JN: (14:50) This kind ties into your CSR stuff. I think a lot of, if you look at the proportion of people that are perhaps vegan and look at that, majority of younger people say, I mean Gretta Zumba, this girl appeared out of nowhere, global celebrity in 6 months, and much more in tune with the planet and the like. And I think we’re all the people kind of don’t give a shit cause they die anyway. But younger people are much more socially aware.

Corporate in terms of corporate [inaudible] much more informed, thinking about future without a doubt. But I mean I had a recent interaction, personal interaction with fashion.

So I ordered a tee shirt between Christmas and new year from fashionista.com, coz I was

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looking for a tee shirt to wear on New year. Um, and I bought the t-shirt delivery was like 30 or quit next day and I just thought maybe that’s just because it’s Christmas and busy.

So I just paid it cause I wanted to, but I saved 50% of the tee shirts, tee shirts like a hundred pounds. I’m still up. Then they came in and they’re coming from Germany. If I would’ve known that was, I wouldn’t have bought it. Is it right to fly a t-shirtfrom Germany, when they probably sell it in Chichester. That is not good for the planet. So that, that to me is a trust issue because the way the way fashionista present themselves, is a UK business UK website, I thought I was buying from UK company, now come Brexit when if we export, when we do prep [inaudible] I’m not going to have the same consumer protection rights if I buy from them because they’re going to be in the EU and we’re not. But at the moment, if someone rips me off, I can take them to court, you think, well, they’re not telling me they’re a German company shipping from Germany and pretending to be English British. And I’m thinking, well, you’re pretending to be something you’re not. So instantly you’ve lost my trust. Now I feel really peeved for paying 30 pounds for delivery.

HE: (17:03) You don’t want to buy from them again then?

JN: (17:04) Not really, because I feel like I’ve been conned in a way. That’s kind of of when tie that in corporate social responsibility. I don’t think that that’s ticks that box. You know? It isn’t. It isn’t right. I feel aggrieved and somewhat like my trust is broken because they put it to be something that they’re not.

HE: (18:03) Yeah. Perfect. Um, Oh yeah. So going back, sort of, you were talking about people what they search and stuff and you mentioned consumer behaviors, so what kind of research do you do here to understand consumer behaviors and to then produce successful campaigns?

JN: (18:24) Okay, well I mean when you’re looking at sort of the older generations and the typical cruise lines, you’re looking at past activity, past performance, so much whether they, you know, if they booked a a Caribbean cruise last year, they might want to go on one again. You’re looking at that by a behavior to try and anticipate where they’re going to do you get from the data and data analytics. Now one of the things which is more common, more certainly with e-commerce and social commerce and more, more Up To Date ways of doing things, you’ve got so many more analytics because you look at what people are searching for. You can, you can look and think. Typically someone in this profile, if they receive that communication or go onto that site and engage with, and you might have five different adverts. People engage differently. You can test ehich ads work best, you can start to predict what people would do. And in fact, I mean Facebook to Facebook. I actually phenomenal at that now because they’re looking at your browsing history. They’re looking where you’re interacting with. They don’t give you the data, but certainly when you place headfirst you can, you can place based upon their insights the old days we’d do it on [inaudible] for example, if we were doing some work for, let’s say we’re doing the work for yachting company and we were selling sales, I could go to yachting world magazine and pull a subscription list and I know that everyone was paying for your in world’s probably interested in your coffee. They’re already, so you look at data on behave, behavioral targeting. We do a little bit what for? We host, um, co-ops, um, customer database. So when you go into co-op and you use your loyalty card, that information comes to service. We don’t actually have services and none of them, they go to the service that, and then we can analyze behaviors. So we can look and say, well

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Helena comes into co-op, she comes in once a month who spends a five on vegetables.

What we want to do now is we want the house to come in twice a week. It might be we only want to kind of come in once a week, but we want to spend 10 pounds. So how are we going to incentivize them to come in and we can serve off offers and stuff to try and entice you to come back and spend and spend more or they’re coming more regularly or spend more money. So behavioral analytics is a, is is, is a big thing now, um, where you’re looking at how people behave, how people behave on your website. You can track and capture data. They look at it that specifically. For example, Chichester, we seem to be selling more, um, branded Italian Prosecco than we do say in Bognor. People in Bognor nearby buy the home brands cause it’s cheaper, where in Chichester they’re buying the proper brand, but we make more money out of our own brand prosecco, so how can we get the Chi people to buy more from our own brand rather than the other one. And they do a number of things. There’ll be product positioning, there’ll be how they stock product, how they display the product and also offers saying, you know, coming to come in, you know, email an offer through or texting offers, really saying use this code and you can get two bottles of Prosecco for the price of the one branded one and get people to try it. They try it, they like it. Then they start buying more co-op. So the’re influencing the way people behave and that’s a lot of the big supermarkets at Tesco.

Sainsbury’s, they’re there, they’re incredibly good at it. And they can almost to the point where you could go into Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s and go around and do shop, put it in a basket and unless it’s expert, could look at your basket and describe you to a T what you’re buying and they kind of know who you are and what you do. And so yeah, it’s done to that level, particularly retailers.

HE: (22:10) Do you think then there’s people that like think that might be an ethical in a way. Cause then it’s like controlling consumers to a certain point doing it. I mean if I take Tesco club card, they were the first to do it on mass and they still do. And then the Tesco club loves game is phenomenal. They’ve been analyzing consumer data for 15 odd years. And most people think by having a loyalty card, they just don’t realize that.

JN: (22:39) But people are more aware now. And that’s one thing. I don’t want to bore you about GDPR, cause it really is boring. But one of the things that GDPR has done is made people more aware of their rights. And it gives people more protection. You can’t analyze someone, you can’t analyze an individual person without their consent. But the only thing is they would do it in the small print. So they’ll say, if you want the discounts and the club cards you’re gonna have to let us do this. Um, but, but at least people are aware, cause people generally aren’t aware of how much, how much information is kept and processed and analyzed. And so I think, I think social commerce, it actually takes it to the next level because it’s not just based upon your buying pay. All the other stuff is based on what you’ve done in the past. It’s based on who you’re interacting with, who your friends are, who your social groups are, it’s getting far more sophisticated, particularly when it comes to politics as well. Um, and then how that information, how that information is used. So, so it’s gone from like a customer buying analytics to behavioral. And the next thing hitting and the is hitting now is artificial intelligence. Where, where that can actually look, you pave it almost almost predict how you got, how you’re going to behave with absolute pinpoint accuracy. It’s actually quite scary.

HE: (23:58) And, what is the benefit of brands learning about consumer behaviors? What do they get from that.

JN: (24:08) Ultimately it’s more profit. I mean if you can, if you can sell more stuff to people for less cost, you make more money. So it’s purely profit-driven. Um, you know, companies like, I mean another example, this is what the loyalty scheme, for Ladbrookes, the betting

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comapny Um, and on the one hand on the CSR side, they go on about how bettings bad and only over eighteens, only do it in moderation, at the same time their analysing people’s data an getting people to spend more money. So public faces CSR regarding the other hand, no, the different things like people running on a thousand pounds with a debt on their betting account and they’ll just say, Oh well we can have some more free bets. No, that’s not the answer.

HE: (24:53) So do you think CSR then is just often just a marketing ploy? Yeah. Yeah. Do you think of any examples where it’s actually genuine?

JN: (25:02) Probably number one examples gotta be the body shop. She, she passed away and she was the first one really in terms of natural products, no artificial, no animal tests. And that served them well, they grew very well. I think their prehaps struggling now because they’re now owned by Estee Lauder or someone like that who perhaps don’t have that same perception. But for lots of, I think for lots of companies, CSR is, is very much a marketing ploy. You know, airlines, airlines will have, have, um, a set of social responsibility departments and teams, you know, but they’re still putting more planes in the air, pumping out more fuel, you know, for one intention, which is profit. Ultimately it’s profit, but with the founder of Body Shop I believe it was her passion and that started with it.

That was her passion. And I think now that you starting to see more of that come through and vegan restaurants set up by people that are passionate about being a vegan for example, that’s coming back. But in smaller businesses it’s almost like the smaller businesses are starting up. I think it’s cause it’s expensive. A lot of like ethical fashion brands. It’s really expensive to produce ethical clothes so they have to sell them like for a lot of money. So not they’re not accessible to everyone. That’s a problem. I think it’s true and I think, I think that’s where the, there’s this life for small independents, but I saw a thing last week and it just, it just struck me, I’m not a vegan at all and don’t think I ever will be.

I am sort of consciously aware of the issues and KFC has launched a vegan burger. But if you were, if you were true vegan and you buy the vegan burger, you were basically supporting a company that murders thousands of chickens. But yeah, I mean, you need to buy a vegan burger from a vegan company, not a vegan burger from a chicken company.

HE: (26:55) Why are brands like KFC and Mcdonalds doin a lot more vegan and veggie stuff?

JN: (26:55) I think they genuinely are having to do it, I mean a lot of the stuff with the fires in the Amazon rain forest noise was made about burger King who, who although they claim to have a hundred percent British council, um, the, the, the, the cattle of fed on, on feed is grown in the Amazon. Indirectly burger King are supporting the destruction of the rainforest. Yeah. So really there’s kind of an online backlash kind of boycott, boycott burger king to stop this because, well, you think, and again, this comes back to trust and it’s not fashion, but so You know. If I buy a burger from burger King and it says a hundred percent British beef, but I imagine some cow sat in the field eating English grass and it’s all very peaceful. They’re basically shipping the feed, but because the animal ate all the food here, it’s 100% British beef. But their shipping, the feed and the growing the feed down in South America and cutting down the rainforest, shipping it here for the English British cow to eat it and be a hundred percent British beef, but they’re actually destroying the rainforest.

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HE: (28:11) How detrimental do you actually think that when those stories come out, actually is to a brands success?

JN: (28:17) I think more, I think it's more now because of the internet and people's ability to share information on Facebook. Generation-Z are more aware of the issues, they're more motivated to do something about it. Yeah. And do you think, um, I, I think it will. I think it will change and I'm there. There's uh, there's much more. I don't know. Um, you know, cause again, you're gonna be on this planet, statistically you're going to be on this planet longer than, I am, so if it ends in 30 years time I'll probably be dead by. Yeah, you won't be. So your, your view of the planet is very different to mine. And my dad says 75, he'll be dead next week, he doesn't really care, does he? So I think there is that and I think that it does come back to trust though because a lot of these big corporates, they are all about profit.

They're there to make a profit for their shareholders. That is why they exist otherwise. And things like quality and everything else all get sacrificed for profits. They've got to try and build your trust and earn your trust. But actually it is, it is a marketing exercise really scraped away at the surface. Actually. They're not trustworthy at all.

HE: (29:24) But obviously people are definitely still buying from these big brands. So what is the main factor? What is the main factor that keeps people going back?

JN: (29:36) Um, if you were probably, well I suppose in the conversation on my fast food it'd be price.

Yes it's, but also if they like that, that they might like the food from that brand, they'll just keep buying it. they'll still go back to this to go back to them, unless there's a better or less is a better alternative. So, um, you know, if I was a vegan and I was living in Chichester and KFC are serving vegan burger, but there's also a independent cafe that do one, I'd personally go there, but if there's only KFC and the vegan one's in Havant, I'm not gonna go all the way to Havant so I'll just go here, it's price and convenience. Yeah, there's also an expectation of everything is now. Now, now that's one thing that, I think generation-Z have.

So everything you do on your phone, everything's instant information is instant things right now. Now, now, now, now there's totally that expectation, which feeds into it. And I think, I think I say convenience, but I think there's also an element of laziness. I'm just as guility of it.

It's that, you know, 10 years ago if I wanted to a bug or drive down to Macondalds to buy a burger and now it's order on deliveroo because i can't be bothered to get out of bed.

HE: (31:04) How do you trust the brands that you want to work with you?

JN: (31:16) Um, I suppose for us it's a commercial arrangement. As long as we get paid, we don't mind.

We wouldn't, we, I suppose the ethics that weighed employers if, if, if, if it was something that was unethical, we wouldn't, we wouldn't get involved. Um, we did have, a few years ago we were asked to work with a company that make missiles systems and it's just kind of like, no, I'm not comfortable with that. If you help that company, the sell missiles and they sell the missiles to Israelies and they fire them and kill 50 Palestinian, we'd feel a level of responsibility, and also it's a security risk as well. If you're doing that work and people find that you are, then you become a target. So we've turned away on that, that basis.

Otherwise, I mean, we are a business like any other, we have to make money. So actually we'll look at it and think, you know, are they good for their their money. Um, on the other side of this is we do a lot of work with the IT tech sector. So again, they, they, uh, as a sector it is quite a vibrant sector they’re all well known brands. Everyone knows who Apple, Samsung, your software knows who Microsoft Apple and they’re like us. So they’re already sort of established sort of trusted, trusted brands. So yeah, being established is a key factor, that creates trust

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HE: (32:28) Um, Oh, and then another question is, so I was reading on your website that personalization is like a big thing. Um, and why, why is that and what are the benefits of it?

JN: (32:39) Okay. So personalization in itself, I mean, if I mentioned personalization 10 or 15 years ago, you’d receive a communication. So I have enough that doesn’t, okay. It’s nice that it’s more personal. When we talk about personalized communications now it’s not just the personalization, it’s also the segmented content. So if I know that you like going on holiday in Thailand I will serve up content that’s relevant. Um, and, and basically I think all marketers do that to some extent. In terms of social media is because they’ve got more intelligence about what you’re looking at. We used to make and serve up content more than, you know, they use techniques like remarketing. And then you seen that where you might have Googled for their shoes. I mean, literally every website you go and you’re getting adverts for those shoes. So in that what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to deliver communications that are relevant and the more relevant than something is the more likely you are going to engage with it. If, you know, marketing doesn’t know, how could your content is if the wrong contents delivered to the wrong person, that’s no good.

You’ve got to do the right content at the right time to the right person. So, so we could have personalization. Other people call it segmentation. It’s not having one message for all. So, um, in the past you’d have a strap line, you’d have one message that goes out to your whole audience. Well, you divide your audience up into different different groups.

The safety level, cruise lines is probably a good example, so you have in the cruise line pull the over 60 dealers hard who will be a certain demographic group, but then you’ll have perhaps people who are younger that there are fun cruises to go on. They want a different experience. If I did it with the old people context to the young people it’s not gonna be interesting. Or if I deliver this cruise ship that has five nightclubs to somebody that’s over 60 then they’re not convinced. So you’ve got to, you’ve got to segment your audience and then deliver relevant targeted specific committee to those groups.

HE: (34:42) Do you think that has any impact on trust?

JN: (34:46) I think it does because if the constant more relevant it does one of the problems you do get the wrong thing. I get to meet when I receive emails and I get an email I read, why are they sending me now absolutely no interest in that whatsoever. Instantly I’ve just, I’ve just turned off their brand. They haven’t engaged me. It’s just totally irrelevant. Why? Why are you sending me that makes you question, question assaulted. You talk to the right people. I mean, people moan about receiving texts and uh, emails and like actually people don’t mind if it’s relevant to them and they don’t mind. I mean if you actually get something the right, the right sort of time, your car insurance is due for renewal, in March, someone contacts you in February, like hey we can give you discount on car insurance, you’re gonna look at it, potentially say, Oh yeah, course they send you it in may. It was too late. I’ve renewed it and by the time the next year comes along, i’ve forgotten about it. So I think that’s past important.

HE: (35:58) Oh you hadn’t just last, you probably touched on this, but um, what I like some big changes that you see happening in the future with that consumer behaviour and marketing in general. It’s like some future trends and stuff like that.

JN: (36:09) Um, I think, um, social commerce will explode. I mean, it’s still in its infancy but I See it exploding and you can see these trends. You just look at the high street and just the

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number of boarded up shops, the number of massive brands that have gone: mother care, HMV, have been around for decades. If you wanted to buy baby stuff, you went to Mothercare buy a CD, you went to HMV and these companies have just been annihilated. So I mean it’s a good thing for consumers one way because there’s more convenient. Um, more, more people will buy more, more online in the high street will be much decimated to coffee shops and um, or social social experience. It’s not necessarily a good thing though cause it is, it is a race to the bottom. So what happens now, if I wanted to buy um, a new tire for my car, I would have to ring round ten years, go and find target pricing. Cheapest price. That’s good for me cause I’m paying less than my tires. But for the tire companies, their margins have just been cut. They’re all competing for the lowest price cause it’s more nationalized. It’s not just local businesses. It’s a race to the bottom. It’s a race to the bottom. So the worrying thing is lots of smaller appraiser getting squeezed out, um, because there’s less profit. So, and big companies can, can do it.

Big companies can do social advertising for small business quite hard. It’s actually quite expensive to get the expertise to do it. Um, the problem for that is one eventually end up with just five or ten global companies and we’ll all just be sitting around doing nothing.

They’ll just fall back so much cause they weren’t ready to keep up. We have, I mean, what will happen, I’m gonna say this, it’s like automation. So unless, and that’s probably another big threat. So, um, you know, if I buy online anymore, there’s no shop space. There’s no retail workers delivery drivers, cause it’s all held in a central warehouse. There are less people employed and because everyone was undercutting everyone else on price, there’s less profit to be made, which means is that profit to share out? Um, it’s a race to the bottom. It will come a point where probably 50, 60, 70% of the jobs, we don’t know. One, you can exist in 10, 20 years time. So what people in the do, that’s the, that’s, that’s the thing that they’re going to have to grow something cause it’s is worry, I mean they’re talking about four day weeks and actually I see that as happening. Um, and it’s, it’s something where, I mean my dad tells me about when they used to work six days a week and Sunday off. So we went to five days a week and everything’s okay. I can see it going to four days, maybe three days a week. So they’ll be more job sharing. How people work, perhaps work less.

HE: (38:53) How, how would that work in terms of income and wealth?

JN: (38:57) Well, wealth per capita, it won’t be good unless you’re working in one of the big five companies and doing it well, capital won’t be good. But in terms of work life balance and free time, it would be better. Um, people we work rather than working 35 hours a week, they might be working 28 hours and you can cover, you can have shops or you have shifts, it will all re-allign, it will happen. Um, but I, I th I think one of the things the internet has done, whether it’s mobile commerce, e-commerce, social commerce is it’s squeezing margins. It’s making everything cheaper. It makes everything you, you sell. I mean we do, we have it, people go, we’ve checked them, we got price from cheaper elsewhere. So you’re constantly under pressure to reduce prices or price pressure, which means you make less profit. Well, the only way you can make more profit is to get rid of people and automate it and cut jobs. That’s not good That’s the scary thing. Trends. I think well, I just think social commerce is just going to be, it’s going to be massive and the retailers would disappear, everyone we’ll be buying stuff off their phones. Click and it arrives.

HE: (40:01) Just to round off, what is the main reason for people choosing social commerce?

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JN: (40:06) Um, I th I think it’s ingrained. I mean, generation-Z and look at the kids coming through.

They’re constantly connected. Everything’s on their phones. Um, that’s, just the way they are. The idea of what going into town, parking your car off, paying for parking, walking into a shop, to then buy it and carry it or it’s click and it’s there. It’s convenience, ease of access. Um, but it’s not necessarily a good thing. I mean, certainly when it comes to fashion. I actually like to try clothes on. I really do.

HE: (40:47) I mean I remember when I worked at H and M and the first year I worked there we were like every Saturday we made like 20 grand. That was like good, 25 grand and then I worked there for three years and each year it would just become less and less like you’d notice it just like not even in three years.

JN: (41:05) it’s everywhere as well. It’s, it’s, I mean, you know, we were talking about this just before Christmas and, and how impact and there’s people who’ve said, I’ve done all my Christmas shopping, I’ve done it all online. That will be just become normal behaviour.

And then so role for 10 years, I can’t see it changing, which is, I think it’s something, it’s sad. I don’t think it’s a good thing. Sometimes progress is not a good thing. No, but I think, I think in 30 years the high street we’ll just look very different. But I think, um, the brands will have to make like experiences that make people want to go into town, but it won’t be necessarily shopping or purchasing stuff. And that of thing, I think it’s just evolution really isn’t, it would just evolve. Things will be, things will change, but it isn’t ultimately free.

It doesn’t matter what decade you look at and what channel, whatever. Every business ultimately is about profit. And if they say otherwise, they’re lying. Because if you don’t make a profit, you’re gonna go bust. You have to make a profit, business is business and unfortunately when it comes to profit CSR, the rest of it take a back seat and it is more of a PR. It is more of a PR exercise. Yeah. Um, it’s a shame, unless there’s something forces that, like world wide famines, then plague Well, I mean whatever, then it might force them to rethink a little bit.

HE: (42:26) Yeah. Cause I have seen actually, um, well it probably is still CSR, but like a lot of brands in Australia at the moment are doing like 100% profits to the fires. Yeah. And obviously that is no profit for them, but then it still does make them look good. So it’s a PR stunt, PRX size and yeah. Um, um, I’m, I’m, I’m totally shocked about is how not to jam burns down a couple of maybe a billion pounds in 24 hours and people are dying. Animals dying, hundreds of millions of animals die. I know. It’s not true as well. It’s like, yeah. Crazy.

Anyway, that was perfect. Thanks so much. Hopefully it’s cool.

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APPENDIX 7 - INDUSTRY INTERVIEW 2 Interviewer; Helena Evison Interviewee: Susan Zwinkels

HE: (00:01) Ok, so firstly if I just explain what exactly I’m doing for my dissertation. So my question is, is it, um, a loss in trust that has caused generations of consumers to shift to community commerce? Yeah. So essentially, it’s theorised that community commerce is social commerce, which I believe you guys quite well versed in I’m an um, brand citizenship. So corporate social responsibility basically. Yeah.

Um, and so reason I’ve come to you today is to find more about social commerce, like impact that’s had on brands. Um, and what kind of, what you guys do to help brands create a strategy, a social strategy and like how that helps them with consumers.

SW: (00:44) Are you looking particularly interest at like brands selling products rather than services or like, um, both to your nest?

HE: (00:52) Yeah. So just brands overall. Yeah. Um, and with social commerce if like they, if, um, if generation-Z are using that because they don’t know where to look for the right information and where to gain trust from kind of thing. So i’ll just show you the consent form and you can choose to remain anonymous, if you so wish and then if you could start by telling me a bit about Kitch.

SW: (01:16) We are a social media agency and it’s quite unique as opposed to other marketing agencies, who kind of just look after marketing strategies as a whole.

And what we do with clients is we do full service and which means we basically come to social accounts. So we post everything and monitor everything. And for us, we know that a huge part of that is customer service. Yeah. I think everyone, very much generations now expect people to respond quickly. They want to be answered there and then. Our patients is quite low. Yeah. So if people always wants to know the answers quickly and that’s part of what we do so we monitor accounts for clients from 8.30 in the morning, to 10 o’clock at night, seven days a week. Okay. So the complaint comes in Saturday, nine o’clock we pick it up. We respond to the customer and obviously it needs to be escalated accordingly internally, but it very much goes to, um, making sure that the customer feels like they’re valued and that they’re listened to. Um, alongside that we post regularly, we run advertising, um, basically to target customers and we also engage with them. Um, so we create conversations with them. Yeah. So it’s not just about responding, it’s also about how can we find customers online.

So if you are, for instance, a really nice luxury pub and there was an ivy opposite you, they’re renouned to having loads of influencers go visit them because they’re very like photogenic and it’s very good to be seen going there So we would then target the ideas customers and have a look at what they’re doing and who’s eating there type thing too. That is kind of one thing we do. Um, the other thing I’d say though is really good is using third party content. You’ll see

brands do this a lot and it’s a test we did with OB restaurants. We did two weeks of content one week where we use completely content that was produced internally. So photoshoots styled, yeah. Fake. And we did another week where we just posted content that was like regrams. Yeah. The regrams outperformed everything and it’s because people trust it. It’s an authentic experience. Like say you were a customer and you went into dinner, you posted a pretty picture about their steak. We then repost that picture and crediting you, that says thank you for coming in and your photo’s amazing. But also the other customers or potential customers that are seeing that you can go, wow, that looks really good. But also it’s a genuine customer’s experience through an iphone, rather than a really polished picture.

HE: (04:05) So Is that what you think is like the key thing for consumer trust? Like real people? Authenticity.

SW: (04:12) Absolutely. And stories play a huge part in that. So it’s actually refined. Anything, photos taken on a phone, genuinely get a better response as long as, I mean there’s still to be good quality and taken well, but if they’re take on a phone, people respond to a lot more because they’re genuine and stories given behind the scenes. If you can show people the people in the business as well. So you try very much with our, um, brands to, for instance, Youngs Pubs will do, um, meet the chefs, the people behind the team. Yeah. One of the pubs we worked on, we did a Q and A with the couple that were running the pub and that actually got bigger response than some of the big campaigns, they did, because people at the end of the day when they go to the pub, they’re the people they see. And we always say that you should reflect the kind of experience that the customer has when they come in and consume your product and service It should be reflected on night. Okay. You wouldn’t talk to, you wouldn’t be rude to a customer. Face to face. Why would you be like that online. Because actually that’s another way you’re engaging with your customers.

Okay. Using social media for brands is about creating that human connection, online. Yeah, it’s a very, it can be very, um, detached and dehumanizing, but I think people crave the connection and that’s where they go. Social media definitely. Um, there’s obviously a lot around social media and not knowing the impact it has, but from brand perspective is a really valuable resource here. Um, and it can definitely help tell your story and also um, you can kind of tell people as it is. So for, I knew that some brands, if there’s something that has gone on in the press, they can address it from there. Um, but they can also tell their story as it is. Um, and make sure, so a really good example is innocent ran a campaign, it was a bit of a joke campaign about their milk being made from conquers, but people actually believed it, but in the end they were able to address it on social media. Innocent are known as like champions of social media. They’re really

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good. And you actually saw the statement they put out about apologizing, about the story being taken wrong, but it was also used, um, as something they use in their strategy, they put advertising budget behind that as well.

HE: (06:32) So do you think they did that on purpose in the first place or not?

SW: (06:33) Uh, I don’t know. And it’s like, I think it’s Brew Dog that did the female campaign? Yeah. Yeah. They did a campaign that backfired on them and some people question whether it was a plan to backfire or not.

HE: (06:49) Yeah, that’s interesting cause I was like looking at things like the Pepsi campaign, I guess this all like they were trying to be corporate social responsibility and everything, but then that actually backfired on them, but then it’s like did they do that on purpose? Becuase it gave them some lots of publicity.

SW: (07:01) Also, um, but I said one thing with social is stuff will always go wrong, especially in a service situation. Mistakes we made, food will be sometimes wrong or service and be not as you hoped it would be. Um, but for me personally as a consumer, and I believe when I run brand accounts is that if you can make it right with how you deal with the issue, you can actually win customers over. So you’ve had examples of where someone’s complained, but because we’ve dealt with it quickly and properly, um, and sometimes even with humor, depending on the severity of the complaint. Yeah. We’ve actually then had some comment on how amazing it was and how well we dealt with it. So you could all say when someone with great customer service, even if the actual initial contact is quite negative because it’s like that reality isn’t it, about just being open and transparent.

HE: (07:49) What about with, like I’ve seen quite a lot of criticism on influences these days and I know when you do like that kind of work. So what do you think about that? Like do you think they are like, it’s kind of going away, it’s like trading that’s fading in a way cause people don’t actually trust them.

SW: (08:03) Um, I think it’s, I don’t think it’s fading, but I think there’s just become, is becoming more regulated. I don’t know you would have seen like last year the ASA put a lot more regulations and specifications that people would get fined around it. So I think people are being much more transparent for when something is gifted or whether it’s an ad. Um, but what I’d say is, it’s no different to Davina McCall being in a Pantene advert [inaudible]. So you know, they’re still, if they were going to work, if you trust an influencer, if it’s paid or not, if they’re a

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good influencer, you trust the consumer that they’re only consuming brands that they believe in. So someone like Giovanna Fletcher or Emma Willis, really great examples, they only work with brands that they genuinely believe in.

Yeah. Do they get paid? Absolutely. Yeah, of course. But they’re working on it and, uh, it’s, it’s, I think for consumers, um, they just look at influencers to understand whether the connections with the brands are genuine. Yea. Consumers much more aware these days obviously as it goes on.

HE: (09:06) How do you, cause I know you guys work if this is, how do you try to choose which ones you work with and like the ones, is it numbers or is it authenticity?

Like that attracts you more to them.

SW: (09:18) It’s a combination of things and it depends on the brief. Yeah. So for first and foremost we’ve got a good network, but that’s built up through understanding the influencers. So you look at their profile, obviously you go to following, but we’d say depending, say for like a local site, the location of the influencer is much more important. So we call them a microinfluencer, so they might only have 5,000 followers, but if they’re really well known in that area then it’s really relevant. Yeah. If you were looking at something like an eCommerce product, which is sold nationally, you might say, say it’s a baby product, you would look at mummy influencers and then you might go to some of those higher following ones. So that would be more important. Okay. But the key is for us is the quality of content, so you look at the feed and a very basic scroll down to see what quality of their imagery looks like. Ideally you want imagery that you can repost.

Okay. We’d look at the engagement. So they might have 10,000 photos, but if they’re only getting 50 likes and picture, I mean I haven’t personally any 800 photos in Instagram and I can get 50 likes. Yeah. The ratio because you get some and you have to figure out whether they’ve bought followers as well. We avoid people who look like they bought followers because it’s not a genuine audience. We’re not going to get good return. Um, and I’d say where possible is to use repeat influencers. Yeah. It’s a big thing for us. If a brand engages saying January with a new campaign, like maybe they were running a veganuary campaign and we did something with them and then in spring if they launch or summer, they launch a summern menu, we would say actually go back to that same influencer and reinvite them back. Because actually repeat visits say a lot about your brand as well. So if someone continues to work with you or was it you, and then it kind of says a lot more about your brand, especially if the consumers that might follow them on an ongoing basis.

HE: (11:05) Yeah. Um, I’ve read on it was on your website and your bit about you that you weren’t interested in social media and specifically community management. So obivous I’m look at Community Commerce, what exactly does that entail and

why is it important?

SW: (11:19) So by community management we mean how you kind of manage the community that you’re working with on social media. So a really good example is I work for a yoga studio, I manage their social media. They obviously have the community that actually physically goes into their studio, but the community that follow them online. So we’re talking about the followers. So it’s if someone tags you in a photo or if someone comments your tag, do you want to comment? Or, even if they’re having a conversation that, and you’re following them and you can see that there is some relevance to you. So they might be a student from the sight who follows them and they may post that they’d been for a run. And it may not be tagging us in but we might comment saying, well done amazing achievement, because it shows that you care and it’s a two way kind of connection and it’s creating a conversation and not just showing that you’re in it for the money.

HE: (12:09) How do you think that helps consumers trust brands?

SW: (12:14) I think you feel an element of they feel special and they feel valued if they are catching an response. Um, and I would say that it also keeps you front of mind as a brand if you, I mean a lot of people will see a brand several times before they actually choose to shop at. Yeah. And when it hugely depends on kind of the value the spend. So yeah, if you’re buying a bed, you’ll spend a lot longer looking at buying a bed than you would a bracelet, because it’s much more of an impulse buy, a small piece of jewelry or something. Okay. So we kind of really want to make sure that people see you and see your brand and also, because a lot of time on social media, it’s not just the conversations that I’ve had online. If you think about, I’m sure with your friends groups, someone might say, Oh, I really need a swimming costume and you might get an awesome brand the other day it was because of this and this and this. So then you might mention it. Okay. So and often people follow brands for a long time before they actually buy. So it might be that they are following you and they might not necessarily need something, but they’ve got a birthday or Christmas coming up, then they might go to buy it.

HE: (13:22) Why? Why is that?

SW: (13:24) People are gaining trust, getting to know brands. I think younger generations now want to know that that brand is um, responsible as well. So whether that’s how they produce their products and their ethos, people want to know a little more about company than just the products. So, erm, example, it’s called batter coast swimsuits. Their socials brilliant. It’s basically this been costumes that are repurposed from plastic and so they’d recycling material and then portion

goes charities. So, obviouly with an onus around climate and things like that. It’s really what i’d say is important, but it is very fashionable as well. Yeah, definitely.

And so people will follow brands to make sure that they’re kind of ethical and they hold the same values as what they’re looking for.

HE: (14:08) Yeah. So I’m obviously doing a lot about that and about ethical consumers as well. Like, do you think that consumers see through that?

SW: (14:21) Um, if they’re not genuine. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and if you, if a brand start saying that they’re amazing because they do this, this and this, they sure as hell, but I make that, make sure that air tight in other areas of that business because otherwise it’ll bite them in the ass, yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s what I was saying earlier about social give brands the opportunities to be honest. Yeah. We work with Young’s pubs and you know, they took the all plastic straws out the pubs.

Um, and there’s other areas of plastic that they’re working on. They’re not fully plastic free and yeah, that’s unreasonable for it to happen overnight. But they have to be very cool careful when they’re talking about the straws and stuff like that because otherwise people, you get people responding and going, well I saw this and it’s community management and saying, look it’s the language you use and the approach you take. So absolutely people follow for that reason and want to know that that’s kind of played a part.

HE: (15:17) And why do you think consumers generally have become more ethical? What caused that?

SW: (15:21) I think it’s just huge pile of generations now and also social media means that we can all see a lot more. Yep. Whether it’s fake news or genuine facts it is kind of, I don’t think everyone understands that. How to check what they’re reading so we can all read, I mean the elections or Brexit and all that kind of stuff, you can see a lot of opinions going around. And, um, we, if you could look 10 years ago, we had so much less information available to you. People don’t know where to look kind of thing. Um, and there’s a lot more comparisons, shopping lies and opinions of other people. Um, yeah, it’s just a much more, we can see a lot more and we can hear a lot more. Brands have to be transparent. And also I think is a really a genuine reason is that there’s a lot going on in the world at the moment. We’re seeing that. Um, so they’re using social media as a platform to talk about it and respond to that. Um, which I think is great. Yeah. Um, but it’s, I think it’s just the only thing with social is, kind of the new side of it is that not everything you see is that. And, but as you say, you can see brands, they can make the best of it if they’re genuine, but really, screws them over if they aren’t genuine about it or not using facts.

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HE: (16:36) So would you say that as a main reason why social commerce has become a

big thing? Because it’s like who, consumers don’t know who to talk to, where to look kind of thing. They want fact check and stuff like that and talk to other people.

SW: (16:48) I think it’s become such a big thing because it’s so, it’s in a way addictive and everyone goes to the phone, like I’ve got an app and if I go on an app or game it will tell me I shouldn’t be on there right now. And people go to their phone so instinctively now they don’t even realize it. Um, and so social commerce, the amount of screen time that people spend is insane, it’s an opportunity for brands to reach you. And that goes with influencers and things like that with influencers and the opportunity around that. Um, and also, um, kind of social comparison between our social groups aswell. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I think that’s usually a part of it. Um, also the opportunity to advertise as much bigger than ever. Facebook and Instagram are very, very clever businesses. They have set up the algorithms that work mean that Facebook, every brand can reach, someone might be following you but you won’t necessarily be a feature on their feed unless you’re targeting them.

HE: (17:51) How do you deal with that. Cause I know that I follow like a thousand people and I get to see probably the same 20 people a day. How does that work?

SW: (17:59) We have to work on the algorithm. Yeah. And a lot of what you’re doing is trying to beat the algorithm, but then yeah, you can get more engagement and [inaudible] yeah, your organic strategy and how good your content is all plays a part. There’s no clear cut formula with how the algorithms work and that is part of why Facebook and Instagram, like Facebook owns Instagram, the algorithms that they work pn both, that’s based completely, they change it. It’s always ever changing. Same with Google so that they can keep guests. And it means that brands will continue to pay for advertising, but it will definitely come up and you can target to such specific stuff. And if you look at the Cambridge Analytica stuff that’s in the news and there’s a documentary on Netflix., But you look at serious amount, how much knowledge that they can get off social media, brands can target. And obviously that’s been something that GDPR and all those elements is now people are backtracking slightly because they’re realizing how much of their information is on social media. But in terms of the algorithm, things that take place. So Facebook will recognize what’s in the photo, so humans faces normally, um, actually rank higher. Um, if you use all the features.

So brands can use polls on Facebook, like that would perform better. Video content performs better normally just this normal feed organically, um, video content, sometimes ranks higher and depending on how good the content is and wha the search is. Yeah. Hashtags on Instagram play a huge part. Your hashtags will play a part into as to whether you come up with someone’s discovery section of Instagram locations. If you basically the more features you use more you’re likely to show up cause it’s got the location you’ve got. Um, if you’re taking other accounts. Yeah. But again, if you do too much, people think

you’re farming. Again, it’s a balance and you’ve got to find out. And I think people expect hashtags now. They do see that as a spammy thing, but you still don’t want to over kill it and keep it relevant. Um, but yeah, I think it’s just a matter of, um, and then the advertising, it’s just an amazing opportunity for brands to the target audiences. Social plays a big part in that.

can say say this actually led to X amount of bookings based on average spend per head. This is how much we made from our advertising campaign. And the more statistics and results that we can give clients, the more likely they are to spend. Yeah. Hopefully they’ll continue to roll out options that show us exactly what clients are getting out of what we did.

HE: (20:12) Um, okay. And then I was just going to ask, I don’t know if you do, but do you look at like different demographics and do research and different generations have you, do you look at how consumers behavior for specific clients and how it’s changing?

HE: (23:44) And then also going back to consumer behaviors, can you think of any like key differences between the older and younger consumer?

SW: (20:32) So for every client that we work with, obviously the main thing we look at is what their actual business objectives are. And we don’t do social just for the fun of it.

There’s got to be an outcome for them. And usually it’s brand awareness, with a view to drive more sales. Um, we do monthly reports, we monitor their demographic online and we monitor whether it’s what they think is or what they wanted to be versus also the flip reverse is sometimes they think their demographic is one thing, but actually social tells us it’s something else. And obviously there’s a clear definition between different channels where different demographics lie and things like Snapchat are toyed with for the younger generation.

But actually they’re really hard for brands to manage. And you would only do that if it’s super, super relevant for your demographic. Instagram for me is the main target for most, but then Facebook is much better for advertising and that definitely works organically for kind of local base. So maybe a local hairdresser would really suit Facebook. Okay. Um, I’d also um, kind of slightly older audience on Facebook. Facebook, advertise Facebook drives majority of our clients website traffic. Okay. And website traffic is a big indicator for us that people are interested in the brand. Okay. So it’s a really useful channel still for brands. Oh absolutely. And um, there’s this, it’s much more sophisticated. It’s set up for brands to sell. It’s a lot older than Instagram. Something that we can use, there’s something called Facebook pixel. Okay. It’s basically code that you put on to their website. Um, so with Google analytics let’s you check whether social is delivering people to the website. The Facebook pixel tells you is that those people are actually converting. So we can track for any of our brands that have got the pixel on the website, we can track the whether they were originally, even if, so, say you saw this pub up on Facebook and you’re like, Oh go book that. Then you get to the booking page and you’re like, Oh, let me just turn. My friend can make that time. Yeah. So you leave the page, you give your friend a call later in the day and you’ve checked which can make the time. She can make the time. If you then directly go back to the face, the website rather than going by Facebook, Facebook pixel still tell us that you originally came there via Facebook. And so therefore your conversion. So you’re booking, which would be, we wouldn’t know the exact details of you’re booking, but we’d know average kind of spend per booking, we’d know a rough return on investment. We can then justify to our brands that spending a a thousand pounds on advertising, for example, we spend big budget on bookings and rugby world cup, we

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SW: (23:53) Yeah, I think young consumers very hard to use social channels. And I always think it’s a very social awkwardness, with a slightly older audience and say, if I always use the example of generations, like my parents. Yeah. They, they don’t talk on social media, like they don’t know the language to use on social media.

And they kind of don’t know the norms, whereas as I think that generations have grown up with it. So I’m 30 and I’ve grown up with it basically since school.

So I got Facebook when I was in sixth form . Yeah. I know how to talk to people on social media. I know the boundaries between commenting on stuff and what you can’t and can’t do. How to use the functions and what works. So I think from that perspective, if you want our competition as a brand and you know, your demographic is much older, you’ve gotta make the entry mechanism much easier because yeah, of course they’re going to find it harder. They just, it’s just a very different, and there’ll be, so if an older person writes comments or we generally find a lot of the blunter complaints from an older generation, normally slightly older, whereas someone who’s used to using social media, and has grown up with it, there’s more likely to, they make a complaint to be a reasonable one. But products from eCommerce brands that can actually sell directly through social media as well.

HE: (25:43) How does that actually work?

SW: (25:45) Depends what kind of brand you are. But a lot of brands who say, I don’t know, clothes company, you’ll see tap to shop and you can see the price right away.

HE: (25:55) Is that beneficial for brands?

SW: (25:56) It absolutely is. Yeah. Absolute convenience. There’s two things about social media is to know is that people are lazy, so the easier you make some, so if you are going to ask them to shop and they don’t have Facebook shop. If you send them to a general shopping page, they lose interest because they can’t find the product to yeah. So you’d always put specific links and this is what we see with brands a lot is they’re sending, putting links and um, but they’re putting the not the direct link of they’re talking about. So they lose the customer journey.

Things like link tree to make the link and bio more benficial, um, if a brand hits the sweet 10 K spot on Instagram. They get the swipe up in stories. Their sales goes up significantly, significantly because it’s easier for the convenience. And second thing I say is people nosy. If You can show some of the things someone and make it exciting and newsworthy or share the behind the scenes people are much nicer to be more engaged in. Okay. That’s interesting. Yeah. So if you are a brand that is doing really cool ethical stuff behind the scenes, show them how they do it so that people that are your target audience, they’re going to be people that are really kind of conscious of their ethical footprint and things like that. It’s actually showing them how you’re doing that if you’re working with a partner and give them behind the scenes, give them an exclusive, um, fashion brands do that really well with catwalk social media. It used to be the only view on the front row where you’re the first to see everything. But now the Browns can actually be the first to release stuff.

customer saying amazing. So yeah, we always advise brands to make sure the experience that they’re enjoying as a service or a product is incredible because then it will speak for itself.

HE: (27:40) Um, one last thing was just, can you describe for me just how social media has really changed the consumer journey? How they browse and stuff like that?

SW: (30:33) But equally, if you’re going to put yourself in that space, you’ve got to take the bad with the good. Yeah, definitely signed up for it. Yeah. But I mean that, I mean, father daughter’s mother, her daughters are two examples of people that have created some incredible [inaudible] jobs. Yeah, they’re amazing. But that was a example of authenticity is actually when that happened. I knew that father of daughters, he actually posed spots after a couple of days, and if he hadn’t, I think people would have been commenting on their stuff anyways.

That’s not going to stop you. They’ve got to be careful with that. So obviously that’s wasn’t, it’s an influence in our brand, but they are branding themselves.

SW: (27:50) Yeah, I’d say um, people don’t necessarily go to websites, streets, radio. I think an example is we were booking, so like a hen do the other day and my friends, they were way, if this is just a random workshop and I said, well, let’s just check Facebook. And I checked the Facebook. I could see other people who had given them reviews. I could see it was more of an authentic brand of other than a really small, someone that just had an okay website. Yeah. I go straight to social media. So people will check their restaurants, Facebook reviews are really important. Yeah, it’s very much like TripAdvisor. People will go there, for our brand and see what they’re about. And I always say it’s kind of like the unofficial website is your shopfront with Instagram as much as your Facebook, but it’s more the kind of live feed of what’s going on with your business. And obviously you should post regularly to give updates from the business to show kind of what you’re doing and new product launches and things like that. But it’s also the more you post, the more you appear in people’s feeds and the opportunity to engage with them.

HE: (28:49) Um, and then also thinking of reviews. I have read, like there’s been quite a lot of backlash, fake reviews from brands. Um, what do you think about that? And like is, does that mean are people going to stop trusting reviews, do you think?

Like Sunday Riley got caught out for it a year or two ago, I think.

SW: (29:10) Um, so yeah, I mean you’ve got to be genuine. Um, and yeah, you would get caught out. I think my way we don’t buy followers, um, we believe that a product should be right before you even start on social media. So we believe in getting the right service and encouraging your customers, a third party post says a lot more about your brand, than you going I’m amazing if you have a

HE: (29:44) Yeah. Um, so yeah, it’s a problem, but it’s just got to be managed as soon and consumers will see through it. And the same with bloggers and influencers. Like, I don’t know if you’ve seen the story about Mothers of daughters. She was in an m&s campaign. She had a jewelry partnership, she had a podcast and that was sort of just pulled away. But it also shows the impact of social media has on mental health, it contributes very much. Although what she did was terrible and is absolutely that she should step back, I think. But you know, we don’t know everything behind the scenes and I believe that that probably came from a bad case because she has been trolled as last.

HE: (31.12) I see, Yeah, ok. I think we’ve just reached 30 minutes, 100% perfect. All right. I think, yeah. Thankyou so much.

APPENDIX 8 - INDUSTRY INTERVIEW 3 Interviewer; Helena Evison (HE) Interviewee: Anonymous (IE) HE: (00:06) Hello.

IE: (00:08) Hi. How are you?

HE: (00:09) I’m good, thank you. Um, are you okay if I record this conversation? It’s just I have to document everything. Also just to let you know you have the right to withdraw this conversation from my project and obviously you can remain anonymous throughout.

IE: (00:15) Yeah. That’s fine you can document it. I would also want to stay anonymous if that’s ok.

HE: (00:22) Yes, yes of course. So obviously, I explained in our messages what i’m I’m doing for my dissertation about and from your perspective, if I can just get more of an insight on, uh, the brand Stussy and just kind of how, it works, who you market to and why, where you distribute to, I understand you mainly distribute to other retailers.

IE: (00:52) Okay. I mean, I work on other brands. I don’t work on Stussy personally myself, but I do work for brands that run under Stussy. But it used to be, uh, the beginning when I was started working for Stussi UK. Basically I, as I understood, they chose accounts by the brand portfolio. They actually had. So when I say brand portfolio, I mean the brands would sit alongside Stussy. That’s originally how they did it. In the beginning when the business started. But fast forward, fast forward now, how they do it now is it’s um, they have like exclusivity policy where basically it’s like one account, per city.

HE: (01:40) Why is that?

IE: (01:40) So they want to get, they want to keep the distribution, uh, tight and the demand high. So being that it’s hard to get and it’s not over distributed. You know, in our business we have this thing where we, we always say if you over distribute the brand, you actually devalue the brand itself. So we actually put, we have a policy where it’s one retailer per city apart from London, which has more actually, one retailer per city. And basically it is dependent on the brands that sit alongside Stussy. Most of our accounts yeah, most of them are over, a lot of them are like 15 years old.

They’ve grown with us. Our business is 25 years old. But a lot of our accounts, most of them are probably like over 15 years. We’ve got a few new accounts. But um, but it’s the case, a lot of these accounts we’ve worked with for a long, long time. Any new accounts we take on? Um, it basic, again, like I said, they’re based onw what brands they uh, stock and where they’re positioned in the city kind of store they’ve got in terms of like, um, fixtures and fittings, how the stores is actually presented. It’s not really any rocket science to be honest.

HE: (03:11) Would you say it’s like about remaining authentic to the brand?

IE: (03:18)

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Uh, you know, I, you know, a lot of the stores that have, they kind of, some street wear skate, yes.

Some of them are like premium high end stores, like a CP, Off White, Comme des Garcons or you know, there’s really high end. So I don’t think it’s really sticking to anything or like the real authentic, it’s just a case of it’s a mixture of categories and high end premium. You’ve got your street wear and then you’ve got your skate.

HE: (03:50) Yeah. And um, that kind of exclusivity. So is what is, is that important for them? Is that like are they doing that intentionally or is that just what, how it’s kind of evolved IE: (04:05) it’s always been done intentionally. I’ve worked in the company for a long time and the people that have taken over Stussy or looked after the brand, before me. They’ve always done it intentionally to keep the distribution uh, tight. So it’s not, it’s not all over the place. Like accounts that will look after the brand and won’t put the brand on sale.

IE: (04:28) Yep. And um, also regarding like e-commerce has that had an impact on kind of like the distribution and where you distribute and things and that way the consumer shops kind of thing, has that had an impact?

IE: (04:42) So there’s the Stussy e-commerce, which is done from the Netherlands, so it sells to the whole of Europe. What they’ve done is, Stussy, is in order to make sure that their business is maintained direct to the consumer. They have a shut down a lot of retail accounts selling the product online.

HE: (05:04) Okay. So that’s to remain exclusive as well?

IE: (05:08) Yeah. So It’s not seen all over the market, because there’s a lot of our retailers rely on eCommerce and it is a big part of the business. Probably 50% or more, for some of them and it’s, you know, we try not to let our retail accounts sell, uh, like too much product online. Yeah. Because because a lot of products. Ecommerce tends to be busy, very visible and it tends to, a lot of these retailers, they put products on sale, on the e-commerce and it devalues it even more. So I know that a lot of these accounts, the ones I think is the smaller ones that don’t have like spend, that don’t spend a lot on their eCommerce websites. They’ve had their eCommerce website shut down. Yeah. Just to maintain a clean balance.

HE: (06:03) Oh, okay. That’s interesting. Is that kind of a new thing that’s happening?

IE: (06:07) That’s happened in the last few years They’ve cleaned up the market, they’re trying to keep the market clean, trying to keep the brand exclusive, presented in a high end premium way.

HE: (06:19) So it’s almost going back not in a bad way, but backwards in a way. Well, traditional.

IE: (06:24) Yeah, I would guess it’s like stripping back isn’t it? Brands keeping Bricks and Mortar, the brand and controlling the eCommerce side. With Stussy, they only have accounts with retailers that have a physical store, so it’s obviously important for them. And Uh, in my eyes control the e-commerce means like making sure that retailers don’t devalue the brand by putting it on sale, compete with each other, discounts etc etc HE: (06:47) Um, and just do you think that helps keep trust with the brand? Just cause it’s more physical, it’s

more like that physical connection?

IE: (06:56) You know, what, as a consumer like myself know I, if I like a brand, I’ll shop wherever I feel like they’re the prices. Right. Or there’s a deal with discount. Yeah. Not really. I’m not really retail loyal and to be honest, for Stussy to control the eCommerce, the, the customer doesn’t really care, I don’t think. Yeah.

HE: (07:29) Do you see, I feel like they, cause they have quite a specific sort of subculture kind of aesthetic with their brand. Do they have quite loyal customers?

IE: (07:40) Um, I think they do actually. Yeah. I mean, as you know, I think it was a company long time and now I, my forties and I started, I was a teenager. A lot of the people who have grown up with us, you know, their in their forties and stillwearing Stussy, there’s a wide range, there’s a wide range of age group, there’s the, you know, the young kids are wearing it, it’s your traditional older age group is worn it through the years and you know who are buying the more like more cut and sew pieces, you’ve got the young age would go buy hoodies that you know, the crease sweats the basics and then you’ve got the old age group, who will be buying the more cute and sew, more expensive pieces has grown with the brand. You know, and I think, I don’t think any of these people really care about whether Stussy or anyone cuts back on E-commerce was, I don’t think that they, they’re not aware of it personally. For us, it’s a case of, it’s just from the brand’s perspective, just controlling the market, cleaning it up, making sure it is presented in the way that they want it to be presented. Control over it. Sure. Yeah.

HE: (08:47) Um, and then also, Oh, I was going to say what, um, do you know, like what do you think specifically like keeps the customers loyal? What brings them coming back?

IE: (08:58) I think it’s a history of Stussy.

HE: (09:00) Yep. IE: (09:01) I think it’s the, for me it’s the history of Stussy. Yeah. They have an authentic, and real brand story, And I think, I think they’ve been really good at innovating and keeping up to date in terms of like appealing to the, to the mass. Also, they’re very good at connecting the dots between, uh, the youth and culture and the music.

HE: (09:38) Okay, perfect. Um, I’m also, um, we have like the distribution and the manufacturing and things like that. Um, do they have any specific like corporate social responsibility kind of values and things that they like to communicate to the customer at all?

IE: (09:55) Actually, I haven’t heard anything. Yeah. Okay. That’s fine. I don’t know if it’s an American thing.

I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I’ve never had them, uh, personally communicate anything.

HE: (10:08) Yeah, no, that’s fine. And then just to finish off, if I could just like, um, what is kind of your role within the company you work for? Just for like purpose of explanation in my dissertation. Okay.

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IE: (10:25) I’m a brand manager for Gimme5. I used to do Stussy years back, years and years, maybe like 10 years back now I move on to other brands. But for Stussy the message is unified across the world.

HE: (10:50) Ok, that was great, thankyou so much for your time, if I email the consent forms over now, that would be great if you could sign it IE: (10:50) Not a problem Helena, it was great to talk, bye.

HE: (10:50) Bye.

APPENDIX 9 - INDUSTRY INTERVIEW 4 Interviewer; Helena Evison Interviewee: Anonymous (Via email) Your job role and why it’s important: As an auditor I am responsible for ensuring that companies are representing their accounts in a way that is true and fair. I am part of an industry which challenges the financial practice of companies and investigates the financial processes. As part of my role we also perform due diligence checks; these ensure that we believe the client are not only presenting their accounts correctly but that we would also deem them to be acting with integrity. We are responsible for verifying and reporting on the financials of the client, and also on their corporate governance. We apply professional scepticism throughout our work to determine that companies are acting ethically, and we report to the public incidences where this is not the case. It is a legal requirement for companies of a certain size to have their statutory accounts audited. Our job is an important part of building trust in a company for the stakeholders. Taking on an audit client presents a risk to my firm, as our reputation is on the line (as well as the clients) if they are acting incorrectly, unlawfully, fraudulently or unethically and we do not uncover/identify this. If a company has an audit in which no fraud irregularities are uncovered this provides a good basis for trust.

What happens when you find out that certain brands are not completing their taxes incorrectly?

First we would ascertain the reason behind the incorrect tax return; it could be a genuine misunderstanding, incompetency or fraud. Unless bound by a confidentiality agreement it is responsibility to report the error and the amount to HMRC. We would strongly advise that they report this to HMRC and warn of the financial and reputational damage that they are at risk of if they do not comply. If we were to suspect money laundering this would be reported as a financial crime with serious consequences for the client. As well as these technical aspects, a fraudulent or incorrect tax return calls into question the whole integrity of the client, and we may decide to withdraw from being their auditor, as the risk becomes too high. A fraudulent tax return is likely to only be the beginning of some questionable ethics. If we withdraw as auditor, this is public knowledge and is likely to affect the share price and therefore value of the company as well as the public perception of the brand.

increased negative publicity.

Investigations by HMRC may be made public on their conclusion.

What is often more damaging for companies is when their accounts (which have been agreed to be true and fair and signed by the auditors) are legally avoiding tax and therefore their tax bill is significantly below what would be expected given their turnover.

While tax avoidance schemes can be legal, it calls into question the ethics of the client.

Financial statements are published publicly and therefore a smaller than expected tax bill can be made public knowledge. Companies such as amazon and Starbucks have been subject to this criticism. (Technically they are paying tax legally, but have used schemes to minimise their bill).

Do you think it impacts people’s perceptions of the brands?

Without a doubt. Tax avoidance (which is legal) has been recently discussed publicly as a form of ‘tax shaming’. Companies with disproportionately small tax bills are being named and shamed in the press . From my understanding his has led to protests and boycotts of brands. Loyalty to brands is likely to be affected by the publication of news stories surrounding tax evasion. However boycotts, from my understanding, are not widespread.

Do you think this impacts consumers trust towards brands and where they choose to shop?

Yes, as a consumer myself and having an understanding of the system I tend generally not to shop at places where I am aware that the company aggressively avoid tax. However the problem is much more common than the general public are aware of. Large scale brands such as google and Facebook are unlikely to have seen a reduction in users as a result of tax avoidance alone.

How does this impact brands? See above.

From my experience, companies who receive negative press are likely to see a reduction in sales. This is irrespective of whether the reputational damage is caused by financial misconduct or otherwise.

Is it made public knowledge when brands aren’t paying their taxes correctly?

If as auditors we felt that the company was not paying tax in the way the tax legislation intends, I.e they are evading tax then we would not sign the financial accounts as representing as being true and fair. This opinion is publicly accessible and shareholders are made aware of it. Share prices are likely to fall, which would further contribute to

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7.4.7 APPENDIX 10 - PESTEL

Political – The recent rise in political fake news is reported to be a key driver of

Technological - The rapid pace that technology has evolved within the previous

distrust in institutions. For example, during the most recent UK general elections there were numerous reports of several political parties producing untruthful communications, for example, 88% of the conservatives adverts were reported as either entirely or partly inaccurate (Reform Political Advertising, 2019; Tidy and Schraer, 2019). This is said to have left the public losing trust in both politics and the media, which has subsequently driven distrust in higher corporations overall, including brands, owing to their controlling nature (Egelhofer and Lecheler, 2019).

twenty years has been incremental in driving digital connectivity, therefore, consumers now have instant access to both brands and people (Boniface et al., 2017) This provides brands with the opportunity to construct authentic relationships with their consumers, via social media. This is particularly important when targeting generation-z, as they are a cohort perceived to behold a mobile first mentality and are constantly connected, demonstrating that this is where their attention lies. (Google, 2016)

Economic – The trust economy is proposed to be, “the world’s most powerful

Legal – A key part of social commerce is the utilisation of social media influencers

economic power” (Diekhöner, 2017). It is implied that without trust, business value cannot exist (Deloitte n.d.). Global distrust in superior institutions is causing the global economy, alongside the trust economy, to shift as consumers amend who and what they place their trust in (Diekhöner, 2017; McCarthy et al., 2019) This implies that brands are having to alter their strategy to co-inside with the shifts in the economy to ensure trust is maintained.

Social – Trust is a factor which facilitates social capital (Six et al., 2015). Social

capital is an integral aspect of community commerce as it is concerns interaction and relationships, within the context of product and service consumption (Huang et al., 2017 ) The rise in community commerce implies the necessity for brands to form social capital as a new strategy to forge consumer trust.

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to endorse brands and products (Brown and Hayes, 2008). More recently the Advertising Standard Authorities (ASA) have had to introduce new regulations on this, that require influencers to disclose when they are being paid to promote a product. The reason for this is to ensure followers are not being misled into thinking that the products and services they endorse were a genuine purchase (Gurkaynak et al., 2018). It will be important for brands and influencers to guarantee transparency, in turn this will enable them to conform to the regulations and forge trusting relationships with the consumer.

Environmental – A key driver for consumer distrust is the exploitation of

unsustainable practices, particularly from fast-fashion brands (Henninger et al., 2016).

Subsequently many brands have attempted to meet the demand, from consumers, to purchase ethically by communicating socially responsible messages and demonstrating attempts to become more sustainable (Shen, 2014). As this model is becoming increasingly saturated, by brands across all categories, the original integral intention of ethical branding is becoming diluted and inauthentic (Jones et al., 2014). Therefore, brands will need ensure their socially responsible strategies are genuine and consistent across the board to prevent contradictions that could further drive distrust.

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7.4.8 APPENDIX 11 - GANTT CHART

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7.4.9 APPENDIX 12 - CONSENT FORMS

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Visual Semiotic Focus Group

Consumer Journey Diaries

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162

Email Interview

CONSENT FORM Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

x

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

x

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

x

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

x

or I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name. x

5. I agree to take part in this project.

Participant’s name Chloe Hellyer

Date 09/01/2020

Signature C.H.

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 09/01/2020

Signature

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

163

CONSENT FORM Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

✓

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

✓

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

✓

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

✓

CONSENT FORM

CONSENT FORM

CONSENT FORM

Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

x

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

x

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

X

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

x

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

X

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

or

or

or

or

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

✓

5. I agree to take part in this project.

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 18/12/19

Date 18/12/19

Signature E.M.

Harry Tyrell Student’s name Helena Evison

Signature

x

5. I agree to take part in this project.

Participant’s name

Participant’s name Ellie Moore

x

Date 11/01/2020

Signature HT

Date 11/01/2020

Signature

CONSENT FORM

CONSENT FORM Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

x

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

x

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

x

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

x

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

x

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

or

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 08/1/20

Date 18/12/19

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

165

x x

5. I agree to take part in this project.

Participant’s name Jordan Rennie

x

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified.

or

Signature JR

I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

x

x

5. I agree to take part in this project.

Participant’s name Katie Hall

Date 08/01/2020

Signature KVH

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 08/01/2020

Signature

Signature

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

Date 08/01/2020

Signature

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 08/01/2020

Signature

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

Participant’s name Mina Berntsen

Participant’s name Yuliya Kaizer Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 18/12/19

Signature Y.K.

Date 18/12/19

Signature

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

X

X

5. I agree to take part in this project.

5. I agree to take part in this project.

X

Industry Interviews Susan Zwinkels Marketing director for Kitch Media

John Noble Founder and marketing director for Proactivemarketing

CONSENT FORM Project Title: Is it a loss in trust that has caused gen-z consumers to turn to community commerce?

Please read and confirm your consent to being interviewed for this project by ticking the appropriate boxes and signing and dating this form.

1. I confirm that the purpose of the project has been explained to me and I have been given information about it in writing. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the project and these have been answered satisfactorily.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary, and that I am free to withdraw at any time without giving any reason and without any negative implications.

3. I give permission for the interview to be audio recorded, and understand that the recording will be destroyed at the end of the project.

4. I wish my data to be anonymised. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation but that I will not be identified. or I waive my right to anonymity and wish for my name to be included in this study. I understand that quotations from my interview may be used in the student’s dissertation and that I will be identified by name.

5. I agree to take part in this project.

John Noble Participant’s name

Susan Zwinkels

Date 18/12/19

Signature

Student’s name Helena Evison

Date 18/12/19

Signature

If you need any further information, please contact either: Helena Evison on helena.evison2017@my.ntu.ac.uk Or Yvonne Richardson on yvonne.richardson@ntu.ac.uk

Gimme Five Brand Manager (Anonymous)

167

Senior Associate of Public Auditing (Anonymous)