Social Media Influencer Marketing as a Purchase Driver Among Adult Women Consumers of Independent Fashion Brands in India: A Practitioner-Research Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/8x1mmd08Keywords:
influencer marketing, adult women consumers, fashion purchase intention, independent fashion brands, India, source credibility, brand authenticityAbstract
This study examines how social media influencer marketing shapes purchase decisions among adult women consumers aged 25–65 in India, a demographic substantially underrepresented in the existing influencer marketing literature. Drawing on a survey of 218 customers of an independent women's contemporary fashion brand operating across direct-to-consumer online channels and exhibition-based retail, it asks which influencer attributes adult women themselves treat as important when deciding whether to buy. Respondents rated influencer credibility and content authenticity as the most important influences on their purchase decisions. The volume of likes and comments, the engagement metric practitioners most often track, ranked lowest and was widely described as a way of checking whether an account is genuine rather than a reason to buy. Two further patterns stood out: the consistency of an influencer's aesthetic and values over time mattered to many respondents, and alignment between an influencer's values and the brand appeared more salient for women in the 35–54 group, while the oldest respondents leaned on offline and personal channels. The findings offer a corrective to the Gen Z bias in influencer marketing research and provide grounded recommendations for independent fashion brands navigating India's fragmented digital commerce landscape.
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