CLO 3D VISUALIZATION AND INFLUENCER MARKETING IMPACT ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TRUST, ENGAGEMENT, AND PERSONALIZATION

Abstract

This study compares the effects of influencer marketing and CLO 3D-based garment visualization on consumers’ purchase intention in the fashion industry. The paper investigates trust and involvement as mechanisms by which both strategies function and estimates the two strategies on six consumer outcomes including personalization. A cross-sectional study involving 250 online fashion shoppers with a prior experience of influencer-marketing and CLO 3D and virtual try-on technology was conducted through purposive and snowball sampling methods. Hypotheses were evaluated by means of hierarchical multiple regression, parallel mediation analysis with Monte Carlo confidence intervals, and Steiger’s tests of difference of dependent correlations. Influence marketing predicted purchase intention (β = .49), as did CLO 3D visualization (β = .56) when both were introduced more than once (β = .31 and β = .43; R² = .39). Trust and engagement were partial mediators of both influences; together, they carried about 58% of influencer marketing influence and about 31% of CLO visualization influence. The connection of the CLO 3D visualization with understanding of the product, personalization, and purchase confidence was considerably stronger than that of influencer marketing with brand attachment and awareness of trends. However, there were no significant differences in the strategies’ overall connections to purchase intention. The cross-sectional self-reported non-probability design does not allow for causal conclusions and generalizability of the findings and the use of experimental and longitudinal approaches is recommended. Fashion brands need to consider both strategies as complementary, mostly by employing influencers in the discovery phase and using CLO 3D visualization in the evaluation period in order to create a better understanding about their products and purchase confidence among consumers. The incorporation of parasocial interaction theory and the Technology Acceptance Model in the study highlights that both approaches achieve the same goal - purchase intention - through different although overlapping psychological methods.