Bloggar som marknadsföringskanal – En kartläggning av Lindex AB

Abstract

It’s a fact that fashion companies today are searching for new ways to win consumers. Traditional marketing methods have been replaced with new marketing techniques on Internet. Fashion blogs have a high traffic and because of that they are relevant in the marketing context. Lindex has developed from being a store of underwear to be one of the largest fashion companies in Sweden with Internet sales which actively works with bloggers through it’s website. Our purpose in this study is to analyze and describe how a fashion company as Lindex is practical using blogs as a marketing method. We want to grasp how Lindex communicate with consumers through blogs and which influence/control Lindex have over the writings. At the same time, we want to study the impact/dissemination of negative and positive opinions in blog entries have been and what the effects are for a fashion company like Lindex. Through our study, we will be able to present a survey how the linkages between the Lindex website and blogs look like. The literature chapter begins with an overview of the decision-making and the various models used to create a purchasing need of the consumers. After that the new marketing way, which has emerged in recent years, is presented such as blogs, affiliate marketing, word of mouth, word of mouse and viral marketing. The chapter concludes with the marketing impact. We started our study to identify Lindex collaboration with bloggers through observations on Internet. An interview with the key person at Lindex was made to complement our own observations. We have been able to categorize our collected materials in three different types of bloggers. The categorization is the main source for our analysis and conclusions. Trough our study we have found that company in a comparison has a quite small control over marketing through blogs, while advertising through an affiliate has an ever more highly developed control and follow-up-arrangements. Despite scant control the marketing channel however led to that Lindex as a company has further exposed and reached a wider audience. Regarding the credibility of a blogger it’s mostly about the person and not as much about the blog. The relationship which being created between the blogger and the consumer we can see as valuable for Lindex since it leads to loyal reader which may give Lindex more loyal customers. We also note that not all the negative critics are bad for Lindex as bad publicity also can be good publicity. Provide that the company is serious the lack of control is not a problem because no statement, negative or positive left uncommented.