The effects of beauty blogger's recommendations on consumer's online cosmetic purchase intentions
Abstract
Purpose – Vlogging has become part of a consumer’s decision-making process when
shopping cosmetic online; however, the understanding of blog recommendation’s effect
on consumer purchase decision is still vague. The purpose of this study is to examine
whether the vlog subscriber’s trusting belief in the vlogger is significant in relation to the
perceived usefulness of the vlogger’s recommendations; and how the vlog subscriber’s
perceptions influence his/her attitude and purchasing behavior online.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on various theories, a model was proposed in
this study. A survey involving 320 vlog subscribers as participants was analyzed in the
study.
Findings – The results indicated that perceived usefulness of vloggers’ recommendations
and trust had significant influential effect on vlog users’ attitude towards and intention to
shop cosmetic online.
Originality/value – The findings suggest vloggers’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) to
be a promising marketing strategy for increasing sales. The marketers should provide free
trial products and services to the beauty vloggers who, as valued opinion leaders, will
influence and prompt others to shop online through a trusting effect.
Keywords - Blogging, Recommendations, Online shopping, Trust, Reputation, Electronic
commerce, Blogs, Consumer behavior.