From data to decisions: the role of digital marketing analytics in fashion e-commerce performance

Purpose The integration of big data and digital marketing analytics plays a crucial role in optimizing online retail performance in the fashion industry. Its adoption and effectiveness are influenced by technological, organizational, and environmental factors. We empirically examine the role of data, technology, basic resources, technical skills, managerial skills and data-driven culture in shaping digital marketing analytics and its subsequent effect on online retail performance, along with the moderating role of digital leadership and firm size. Design/methodology/approach We collected data from 541 online fashion retailers from Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing, China, using a structured questionnaire, and tested the hypotheses using structural equation modeling with partial least squares regression. Findings Technology, basic resources, technical skills, managerial skills and data-driven culture significantly enhance digital marketing analytics, whereas data does not exhibit a statistically significant effect. Digital marketing analytics positively affects online retail performance and mediates the effects of technology, basic resources, technical skills, managerial skills and data-driven culture. Digital leadership and firm size moderate the relationship between digital marketing analytics and online fashion retailers. Practical implications Grounded in dynamic capabilities theory, this study provides empirical evidence that expands the discourse on digital strategy in online fashion retail. The findings offer valuable insights for academics and practitioners, highlighting the necessity for firms to develop robust digital marketing analytics capabilities and leadership-driven strategies to sustain competitiveness in an increasingly data-driven retail environment. Originality/value This study develops a new framework that integrates big data dynamic capability with analytics and firm performance. Our framework is empirically sound and provides insights into the direct and indirect effects of big data analytics-enabled dynamic capabilities on firm performance. We emphasize how firms leverage adaptive processes to respond to external changes, which offers new insights for the literature on big data analytics capabilities and firm performance. Unlike previous studies, we add firm size and digital leadership as moderating variables.