Purpose - The technology evolution compels retail networks to introduce unique business models to retain customers and to gain a competitive advantage. Customer reviews available through social media need to be taken into account by retail networks to design a model with unique service operations and marketing approaches that will improve loyalty by adding value to customers. Furthermore, the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer spending behaviour is very weak and needs further investigation. Hence the purpose of this paper is to understand how retail network leverage the potential of social media reviews along with unique service operations to satisfy customers. The study analyses the nexus of: a brand, promotional offers, service operations; and their interaction through social media reviews on customer satisfaction levels. Design/methodology/approach - The authors develop a conceptual model for the social media era. The authors combine the idea of loyalty-and value-based models of Chatterjee (2013). The authors employed a survey questionnaire method to elicit opinions of retail customer satisfaction based on social media reviews, service operations and marketing efforts. The authors derive measures of the model from existing literature and expert opinion. Findings - Social media reviews dramatically impact upon customer satisfaction. Similarly the empirical analysis identifies the significant and positive role played by service operations in customer satisfaction levels. Interestingly the authors did not find unequivocal support for brand satisfaction impacting on customer satisfaction. However, when promotions interact well with service operations, the level of customer satisfaction is significantly affected. Similarly the authors did not observe a positive outcome when there is an interaction between promotion and social media reviews. After reading the reviews, some potential buyers make a visit to store before making final decisions and surprisingly, promotional effects do not change their mind set. Practical implications - Research findings confirm the importance of social media reviews, marketing and interaction between promotion and service operations enabling retail networks to build loyalty and value-based models. Based on customer behaviour, the study suggests a need to consider operational efficiencies when promoting sales; through careful planning, customer satisfaction and profitability levels can be increased. This sends a strong message to the retail network to defend their position within a very competitive business market. Originality/value - The empirical evidence based on customer experience would be helpful for companies in integrating their operations and marketing efforts enabling them to convert different segment of customers such as "free riders (higher satisfaction and low profitability)" and " vulnerable customers (low satisfaction and higher profitability)" into " star customers (higher satisfaction and high profitability)". Through a considered approach: combining social media reviews, marketing and operations, businesses will be better-placed to survive in the ultra-competitive social media-influenced era.

Purpose – Over the past few years online fashion communities have proliferated becoming an increasingly powerful forum for user-generated content, and consequently, the fashion industry has shown great interest in such communities. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse brand advocacy behaviour within luxury brand accessory forums: to analyse the role these communities play in influencing purchase intention; assessing their contribution to fashion brand love. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a netnographic approach to the phenomenon of online luxury accessory communities. The research reports observational data including blog texts and audience comments for four popular forums: The Purse Forum, The Fashion Spot, The Bag Forum (TBF) and Shoe Forum (SF). Although the forums are open to all and are designed to be internationally relevant; the observations were conducted from a base in the UK. Findings – Findings indicate that informants display some unifying characteristics clustered around engagement, involvement, self-concept and self-connection, brand love and hedonic values. Informants however, display some discernible differences as they “rally” to two distinctive totems: first, active luxury brand advocates and second, passive brand advocates. Although subtle, these differences suggest significant possibilities for fashion brand owners. Research limitations/implications – Further research could include the measurement of brand advocacy to distinguish more clearly between high and low levels of advocacy and the resulting consumer behaviour intentions. One sub-group that would be interesting to explore is that of brand evangelists and their relationship with fashion brands: what are the reasons for treating brands as religious artefacts and can this extreme level of advocacy be developed by marketing? The study focused on observing online posts by self-selected brand advocates. A worthwhile comparison could be made with fashion communities where brand marketers are active participants and how this influences the discourse and actions of brand advocates. Practical implications – The findings indicate that all forum members are incredibly attached to their brands, but will still consider purchasing several brands as their “evoked set”. Additionally, even when demonstrating involvement, they can operate as passive observers in the online community. Originality/value – Social media, especially online forums, play an important role in contemporary luxury fashion branding. This study addresses the role these forums play in supporting brand love and the contribution they make to luxury brand advocacy. Membership and influence dynamics are reported; which have resonance to both practitioners and researchers.

Purpose – Over the past few years online fashion communities have proliferated becoming an increasingly powerful forum for user-generated content, and consequently, the fashion industry has shown great interest in such communities. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse brand advocacy behaviour within luxury brand accessory forums: to analyse the role these communities play in influencing purchase intention; assessing their contribution to fashion brand love. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a netnographic approach to the phenomenon of online luxury accessory communities. The research reports observational data including blog texts and audience comments for four popular forums: The Purse Forum, The Fashion Spot, The Bag Forum (TBF) and Shoe Forum (SF). Although the forums are open to all and are designed to be internationally relevant; the observations were conducted from a base in the UK. Findings – Findings indicate that informants display some unifying characteristics clustered around engagement, involvement, self-concept and self-connection, brand love and hedonic values. Informants however, display some discernible differences as they “rally” to two distinctive totems: first, active luxury brand advocates and second, passive brand advocates. Although subtle, these differences suggest significant possibilities for fashion brand owners. Research limitations/implications – Further research could include the measurement of brand advocacy to distinguish more clearly between high and low levels of advocacy and the resulting consumer behaviour intentions. One sub-group that would be interesting to explore is that of brand evangelists and their relationship with fashion brands: what are the reasons for treating brands as religious artefacts and can this extreme level of advocacy be developed by marketing? The study focused on observing online posts by self-selected brand advocates. A worthwhile comparison could be made with fashion communities where brand marketers are active participants and how this influences the discourse and actions of brand advocates. Practical implications – The findings indicate that all forum members are incredibly attached to their brands, but will still consider purchasing several brands as their “evoked set”. Additionally, even when demonstrating involvement, they can operate as passive observers in the online community. Originality/value – Social media, especially online forums, play an important role in contemporary luxury fashion branding. This study addresses the role these forums play in supporting brand love and the contribution they make to luxury brand advocacy. Membership and influence dynamics are reported; which have resonance to both practitioners and researchers.

The study aims to identify online behaviours of luxury brand advocates referring to differentiation between active and passive loyalists. A netnographic approach was used to observe groups of luxury handbag advocates. Key findings include an identification of engagement manifested in positive word of mouth and enthusiastic brand recommendation. Advocates routinely share their love of particular brands, openly expressing joy and sharing heightened levels of self-esteem. Engaged passive loyalists tend to share less with peers, but instead celebrate their purchases more personally. INTRODUCTION Online brand advocates have become a major influence in luxury handbag purchase decisions. They engage and form activities in online blogs and forums to exchange opinions, feelings and recommending brands/products they cherish. There are large numbers of luxury handbag fans who almost religiously access blogs and forums or join online brand communities where they ‘lurk’ hungry for more information on the brands/products they are interested in. 91% of people buy on the recommendation of brand advocates (Keller, 2005). Bughin et al. (2010) also found that word-of-mouth (WOM) from brand advocates influences 20-50% of purchase decisions particularly when buying luxury products. Brand advocates take a more active role in consumption and seek hedonistic and experiential aspects of consumption (brand/product experiences) which they can share with other consumers (Simmons, 2008, Gambetti and Graffigna, 2010). Although much attention has been dedicated to brand advocacy research (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; McAlexander et al., 2002, 2003; Muniz and Schau, 2005; Kim et al., 2008; Jang et al., 2008; Di Maria and Finotto, 2008) investigations into online brand advocates in specific categories are less abundant. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The objective of this study is to discover and identify key online advocacy behaviours of luxury handbags advocates via text conversations and pictures posted by active advocates and thereby recognise differences between active brand advocates and passive brand loyalists. This study aims to add to those insights of online advocacy behaviours addressed by Di Maria and Finotto (2008), Kim et al. (2008), and Jang et al. (2008). LITERARURE REVIEW Brand advocacy is an extreme form of loyalty (Christopher et al., 1991; Peck et al., 1999). A brand advocate has been defined as “someone who actively recommends you to others and does your marketing for you” (Peck et al., 1999:45). Schultz (2000) defined brand advocates as committed customers with emotional bonds displaying a high level of engagement. Two categories of brand advocates can be observed; either employed by brand owners or those who independently become advocates. Self-appointed advocates are actively supporting the brand from a genuine love for the brand. They express their advocacy behaviour through WOM and by openly recommending the brand to others. This significant behaviour differentiates them from passive loyalists who also cherish their brands, but do not display their devotion in public. The literature suggests that brand advocates initially develop their

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of the true nature of contemporary SME marketing activities. While acknowledging operational constraints, the paper aims to hypothesize that, if effective marketing planning was employed, this would improve the long‐term growth of small to medium‐sized enterprises. The paper seeks to assess the implications current practices may have on the long‐term survival of enterprises and to identify significant SME marketing development and training needs.Design/methodology/approachA marketing audit approach yielded data from the collation of 125 completed online questionnaires within the East of England region. Statistical analysis using SPSS was applied to produce an in‐depth quantitative analysis of these data. In addition, qualitative data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews of some 20 owner‐managers. These responses were further inductively analysed and interpreted.FindingsData analysis demonstrated a significant disparity between their perceived marketing effectiveness compared with their actual practices recorded at interview. Significantly, they failed to understand why campaigns did not yield results, as they routinely did not employ appropriate controls and procedures. SMEs believed that they were fully cognisant of the effectiveness of their marketing activity, through further exploration; evidence revealed that they failed to employ sufficient review procedures, and in the extreme cases these procedures were non‐existent. A direct correlation was also witnessed between company size and the application of effective marketing planning. Larger enterprises demonstrated a greater awareness of strategic marketing competence.Originality/valueTheir ability to understand their marketplace and to become truly competitive relies on SMEs developing a deeper understanding of their current marketing decision‐making processes through the systematic adoption of more robust strategic procedures. In summary, there is an observable difference between marketing activities conducted by SMEs and best practice defined in academic theory.

In Pakistan, women entrepreneurs do not enjoy the same opportunities as men due to a number of deep-rooted discriminatory socio-cultural values and traditions. Furthermore, these restrictions can be observed within the support mechanisms that exist to assist such fledgling businesswomen. The economic potential of female entrepreneurs is not being realised as they suffer from a lack of access to capital, land, business premises, information technology, training and agency assistance. Inherent attitudes of a patriarchal society, that men are superior to women and that women are best suited to be homemakers, create formidable challenges. Women also receive little encouragement from some male family members, resulting in limited spatial mobility and a dearth of social capital. The research suggests that in order to foster development, multi-agency cooperation is required. The media, educational policy makers and government agencies could combine to provide women with improved access to business development services and facilitate local, regional and national networks. This would help integration of women entrepreneurs into the mainstream economy