Popularization of Social Media Fashion Shops During COVID-19: Generation Z Entrepreneurs on Instagram

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

During COVID-19, home-based businesses have become popular, and more Generation Z (Gen-Z) has set up online Instagram businesses. This research investigates the factors motivating Gen-Z to set up their online business on Instagram and how they examine the pandemic condition and manage it via marketing promotion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on Zoom with successful Gen-Z part-time Instagram fashion shop owners and analyzed with theme-based qualitative analysis. Results showed that participants were achievement-oriented, risk-taking, unafraid of failing, emphasizing progress, and targeting future opportunities. In addition to the positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their online business, they used Instagram to engage with their community because they understood their followers’ wants and were good at using various Instagram features to develop long-lasting and loyal connections. They also focused on the future, were active self-learners and entrepreneurs, and created value from their surroundings. Despite literature on business on Instagram, how Gen-Z influences society, how COVID-19 changes people’s lives, and how social media impacts people’s decision-making, there has been a research gap connecting all these aspects for what spurred Gen-Z to set up a business on Instagram and their actions during COVID-19.