EXPRESSIONS OF PURCHASE INTENT IN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FACEBOOK RETAIL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Social media have become essential channels for retail communication, shaping how consumers express purchase intent and how brands respond to these signals. Understanding the mechanisms of communicating purchase intent is important both for linguistic research in discourse and pragmatics and for online retail practice. This study examines modes of expressing purchase intent and brand responses in English-language Facebook retail discourse, focusing on customer-brand interactions on the official page of the American retailer Macy’s, a chain of department stores known for regular large-scale promotions. The research analyzes syntactic constructions, lexical choices, and discourse markers in combination with pragmatic functions, focusing on how customers explicitly declare purchase intent, articulate their needs and desires, and demonstrate readiness to buy. Using a qualitative discourse-pragmatic approach, ten principal modes of expressing purchase intent were identified, forming a continuum from direct statements to indirect, context-dependent signals. The findings indicate that customers use statements of intent, emotional expressions, and indications of forthcoming actions, which, under the influence of social and situational factors, convey varying degrees of certainty, emotionality, and commitment. Brand responses often mirror customer tone, confirm product availability, or provide guidance, facilitating audience engagement and supporting a positive consumer experience. Factors such as brand reputation, seasonal promotions, and the nature of the customer–brand relationship influence both the expression and interpretation of purchase intent. These results enhance understanding of communication dynamics in online retail and highlight directions for further research into how sectoral specificity and platform features affect the translation of purchase intent into actual sales.