“CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A CASE

STUDY OF E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS.”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

Masters of Business Administration

By

Faisal Khan (PGO202358939)

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

Shoolini Centre for Distance and Online Education

July 2024
 DECLARATION

I Faisal Khan (PGO202358939), hereby declare that the Research project-1 titled “CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A CASE STUDY OF E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS ”
Submitted in Semester 2nd of Master of Business Administration (Online) of Shoolini Centre for Distance
and Online Educationist a bonafide record of work done by me under the guidance of Mr. Vivek. This
report has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, or similar title of any
University.

DATE: 26-07-2024

PLACE: Solan Faisal Khan

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Through this acknowledgement I express my sincere gratitude towards all those people who helped me
in this project, which has been a learning experience.

This space wouldn’t been ought to extend my warm gratitude to wards my project guide
“CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: A CASE STUDY OF E-COMMERCE
PLATFORMS.” Mr. Vivek Efforts in coordinating with my work and Guiding in the right direction.

I escalate a heartfelt regard to our Institution Director Mr. Vivek for giving me the essential hand in
concluding this work.

It would be injustice to proceed without acknowledging those vital supports I received from my beloved
classmates and friends, without whom I would have been half done.

I also use this space to offer my sincere love to my parents and all others who were there, helping me
walk through this work.

FAISAL KHAN
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO
NO
ABSTRACT I
LIST OF TABLES Ii
LIST OF CHARTS Iii
INTRODUCTION
1 1.1 Introduction 1– 8
1.2 Industry profile 9

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2 2.1 Introduction 10
2.2 List of reviews 10 – 27
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Statement of the problem 28
3.2 Need for the study 28
3.3 Objectives of the study 29
3.4 Scope of the study 30
3.5 Limitations of the study 30
3
3.6 Research design 31
3.7 Source of data 31
3.8 Structure of questionnaire 31
3.9 Sampling technique 32
3.10 Period of study 32
3.11 Analytical tools 32

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4 4.1 Percentage analysis 33 - 57
5.1 Chi – Square distribution 58 – 61
55

5.2 Hypothesis 62
FINDINGS AND SUGGESTION
6 5.1 Findings 63 – 64
5.2 Suggestions 65 – 66
CONCLUSION
7 6.1 Conclusion 67
REFERENCES 68 – 69

APPENDIX (QUESTIONNAIRE) 70 – 76
 ABSTRACT

Analysis of customer behavior in online retail is becoming increasingly important

in today's increasingly digital marketplace. In this study, we investigate the ever-
changing world of consumer behavior within the setting of e-commerce. We
provide a detailed overview of key theoretical frameworks, empirical
investigations, and practical insights. Understanding how customers navigate the
online shopping process requires having a background in theoretical
underpinnings such as the Consumer Decision Process Model, the Theory of
Planned Behavior, and the Technology Acceptance Model. These models serve as
the backdrop for this understanding. We look at the psychological components,
social influences, and cultural aspects that play a role in online consumer
behavior, and we highlight the impact that these factors have. The development
of electronic commerce and the ways in which it has altered customer
preferences are the topics of this research. Particular attention is paid to the
convenience, accessibility, and variety offered by digital platforms. The purpose
of this study is to shed light on the role that key aspects that influence consumer
behavior in e-commerce, such as website design, trust, and pricing tactics, play
in the process of making decisions regarding online shopping. The impact that
new technologies, such as mobile ecommerce and artificial intelligence, have on
consumer behavior is investigated in this paper. Case studies that demonstrate
how businesses may effectively leverage insights into customer behavior to
optimize their strategy provide practical demonstrations of how theory can be
put into practice. Ethical considerations in studying online consumer behavior,
which include concerns about privacy and the ethics of data gathering, highlight
the significance of ethical research practices in this era of digital technology. In
addition, recent obstacles and potential future avenues for research in the field
of e-commerce customer behavior analysis are discussed, providing an outlook
that is looking ahead. This article serves as an invaluable resource for
researchers, practitioners, and enterprises that are looking to harness the
potential of consumer behavior insights in the always shifting world of e-
commerce. Stakeholders may improve their strategies, build user trust, and drive
growth in the digital marketplace if they understand and apply the ideas
presented in this paper. These principles are outlined in this document.

v
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PARTICULARS PAGE

NO NO
4.1.1 AGE OF RESPONDENCE 33
4.1.2 PREFERENCE OF ONLINE OR OFFLINE RESPONDENCE. 34

4.1.3 SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS THEIR ACTIVE USAGE 36

4.1.4 SOCIAL MEDIA WHICH MAXIMUM INFLUENCES PURCHASING 37

DECISION
4.1.5 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT INFLUENCING PURCHASING 38
DECISIONS
4.1.6 CUSTOMER PURCHASE INFLUENCED BY ADDS 39
4.1.7 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS HELPFUL FOR PURCHASING 40
DECISION
4.1.8 ONLINE RECOMMENDATION 41

4.1.9 ABOUT REGULAR UPDATES OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE 42

4.1.10 CUSTOMERS RELY ON CUSTOMERS FEEDBACK 43

4.1.11 SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES HELPING TO ENGAGE WITH FAVORITE 45

BRAND
4.1.12 SOCIAL MEDIA'S ARE HELPFUL TO KNOW NEW BRANDS 46

4.1.13 PROPER CONTENT ABOUT THE PRODUCT OF SERVICE 47

4.1.14 48
NUMBER OF TIME VISIT TO WEB OR BLOG POST
4.1.15 INSTANT RESPONSE ONLINE
49
4.1.16 CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIAS 50

4.1.17 ABOUT NEGATIVE REVIEWS 51

4.1.18 PERCEPTION OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE 52

4.1.19 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING HELPFUL FOR TODAY'S BUSINESS 53
4.1.20 BUSINESSES AND THEIR TARGET AUDIENCES 54

4.1.21 55
BUSINESSES AND CUSTOMERS ENGAGEMENT
4.1.22 PROMOTIONAL EMAILS
56
4.1.23 ACTIVE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES IN BUSINESSES
57
4.1.24 CHOICE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE FOR BRAND AWARENESS
58
4.1.25 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING VERSUS TRADITIONAL MARKETING
59

vi
 LIST OF CHARTS

CHART PARTICULARS PAGE

NO NO
4.1.1 AGE OF RESPONDENCE 33
4.1.2 PREFERENCE OF ONLINE OR OFFLINE RESPONDENCE. 34

4.1.3 SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS THEIR ACTIVE USAGE 36

4.1.4 SOCIAL MEDIA WHICH MAXIMUM INFLUENCES PURCHASING 37

DECISION
4.1.5 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT INFLUENCING PURCHASING 38
DECISIONS
4.1.6 CUSTOMER PURCHASE INFLUENCED BY ADDS 39
4.1.7 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS HELPFUL FOR PURCHASING 40
DECISION
4.1.8 ONLINE RECOMMENDATION 41

4.1.9 ABOUT REGULAR UPDATES OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE 42

4.1.10 CUSTOMERS RELY ON CUSTOMERS FEEDBACK 43

4.1.11 SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES HELPING TO ENGAGE WITH FAVORITE 45

BRAND
4.1.12 SOCIAL MEDIA'S ARE HELPFUL TO KNOW NEW BRANDS 46

4.1.13 PROPER CONTENT ABOUT THE PRODUCT OF SERVICE 47

4.1.14 48
NUMBER OF TIME VISIT TO WEB OR BLOG POST
4.1.15 49
INSTANT RESPONSE ONLINE
4.1.16 CUSTOMER REVIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIAS 50

4.1.17 ABOUT NEGATIVE REVIEWS 51

4.1.18 PERCEPTION OF PRODUCT OR SERVICE 52

4.1.19 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING HELPFUL FOR TODAY'S BUSINESS 53

4.1.20 BUSINESSES AND THEIR TARGET AUDIENCES 54

4.1.21 55
BUSINESSES AND CUSTOMERS ENGAGEMENT
4.1.22 PROMOTIONAL EMAILS
56
4.1.23 ACTIVE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES IN BUSINESSES
57
4.1.24 CHOICE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE FOR BRAND AWARENESS
58
4.1.25 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING VERSUS TRADITIONAL MARKETING
59

iii
 CHAPTER – 1
INTRODUCTION

The proliferation of the internet has brought about a sea change in the manner in which customers interact
with businesses and choose which products to buy. Ecommerce, which is an intrinsic aspect of this digital
change, has not only remodeled the landscape of retail, but it has also developed into a vital component of
the economy of the entire world. As a result of the expansion of online platforms, consumers now enjoy
shopping experiences that are characterized by an unparalleled level of convenience, variety, and
accessibility. The success of e-commerce rests squarely on the shoulders of customer behavior. It is
essential for businesses that want to thrive in this competitive ecosystem to have a solid understanding of
how customers traverse the digital marketplace, decide what to buy, and build trusting relationships with
online retailers. Consumer behavior analysis in electronic commerce has evolved as an important field in
this era of data-driven decision making, which characterizes the modern period. It provides businesses
with essential insights into the complexities of online buying, allowing them to modify their strategy,
improve rce, this conference paper will take you on a journey into the everchanging world of consumer
behavior. It investigates the psychological, sociological, and technological elements that impact online
purchasing behavior, delving into the myriad facets of consumer decision-making in the process. The goal
of this research is to identify the causes that are driving the recent rise in popularity of online shopping by
analyzing the shifting landscape of ecommerce and the effect it has on customers. In the course of this
article, we will study the methods that are used to obtain and analyze data on the behavior of customers in
online settings. We will also talk about the ethical considerations that are involved in the study of online
consumer behavior, with a focus on how important it is to protect the confidentiality of user information and
maintain their confidence. Our research will provide an all-encompassing perspective of consumer
behavior patterns in e-commerce, providing light on themes such as online shopping behavior, decision-
making processes, and customer retention tactics. We are going to investigate how new technologies,
such as mobile ECommerce, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality, are influencing
consumer behavior and the overall landscape of E-Commerce. In summary, the purpose of this research
work has been to shed light on the complexities of conducting an analysis of consumer behavior within the
everchanging environment of e-commerce. As we make our way across this digital terrain, we encourage
our readers to investigate the complex web of online shopper habits, the innovations that are reshaping
their interactions, and the repercussions of all of this for traditional companies operating in the modern day

1.2 Social Media

1.2.1 Definition of social media.

It is termed as the collection of online communication of various inputs which may be community-
based or individual, interactions, intercommunications, contents sharing, websites and many more
among different users”. Whereas various social media specialists define the term Social Media and

1
Their definitions on the various points:
An on-line medium powered by the net for social communication.
A two-way communication medium.
A medium that permits creation and exchange of information.
A medium that is supported by web technology services.
Are platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Social Gaming, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, etc

1.3. The rise of online social networking sites.

According to Wikipedia report, there are three hundred and more Social Networking Sites and 150
crore members all over the world (www.en.wikipedia.org). At the basic level social network is a web
community where people move through profiles that represent themselves to others. The important
reason for today’s people to browse these sites is because of the emergence of Social Networking
Sites major paradigms shift that has taken place among the millions of people. The Social Networking
Sites able to realize friends simply and form teams accruing to the interest, business, etc. It is very
straightforward to transfer photos, share views on culture, cinema, sports, education and day- to-day
events and happenings. Social Networking Sites is reuniting old friends and helps to continue the
broken bonds. Through Social Networking Sites knowledge grows in cultural, social and economic
aspects. The ultimate reason for the ascension of Social Networking Sites is, because of its user
friendliness. Anybody can have an account and relate with anyone. Most of the content shared in
Social Networking Sites is personal details, photos, interest etc. Social Networking Sites are still
terribly a lot of its early stage but contains many software applications which are used worldwide, when
it attains maturity stage, new applications will come into existence. Social media concentrates on
relationship with the users by way of sharing of information and interest among users. There are
numerous Social Networking Sites present across the world, ranging from Facebook, Myspace, Orkut,
and World to LinkedIn among the rapidly growing list of Social Networking Sites, Facebook is the
global leader, catering to concerning 300 million registered users around the world.

1.9.1 Benefits of social media marketing

1. Increased exposure:
Now a days the importance of Social Media Marketing have increased. Consumers and Marketers are
using the Social Networking too much. The exposure increased now a days which is showing 92%.
2. Increased Traffic:
2
With the introduction of web based marketing the users are increasing day by day. The research says
that consumers and even marketers using social networking sites too much and due to that sites the
traffic has increased day by day which is showing the research that traffic increased up to 80%.
3. Develops Loyal Fans:
Brand Loyalty is the is most important advantage of social networking sites. Taking an example if a
consumer is satisfied with any product he or she will never go to any other company to buy the
product. This creates brand loyalty.
4. Provided Marketplace insight:
Social networking sites provides information about product and is available clearly. That means its
Features, Functions, and Price etc. Consumers will get full information about product only on websites
and customers don’t have to go to anywhere. The result shows that 72% customers agreed that social
networking sites are providing marketing insights.
5. Generated Leads:
There are various different ways to lead generation. Most of the social networking sites generate
leads for product and services. For example a blog give as hub for customer’s engagement. No doubt
Face Book is also important source, so in short it is generated leads
6. Improved Search Rankings:
Most of the customers are now spending hour’s even more than watching television too. And what
curiosity they get as social networking sites are the search engines. With the help of social networking
the ranks is given to products on the basis of feedback given by the customer online.
7. Growing Business Partnerships:
As a Trading form of selling and purchasing is now replacing with Social Media in the same idea of
business is also changing. After taking many years now Bench Box wants beauty obsessed Instagram
followers to join them. 12 Now a days growing partnership are also important advantage of social
networking sites too.
8. Reduced Marketing Expenditure
: Trading method of selling the product is too costly. As business man needs salesman, office and
many more requirement. But now a day’s social networking sites are user friendly and anybody can
use the social media at any time and even businessman can do the advertisement on social media site
very cheaply.
9. Improved Sales:
In the present scenario where 4600 photos are shared, 600 websites are created every day. 1, 00,000
3
Tweets are sent. Now a days different social networking sites are created so differently as customers
can purchase the goods online at any time. No doubt now a day’s revenue has increase online as
compare to earlier days.
10 Effects of social media marketing on consumer behavior. Daily more than one lacs different
types of tweets are sent, nearly seven lakhs contents are posted on Facebook, millions of information
are searched in google, thousands of photos are sent through Instagram, and six hundred websites
are hosted. There were lot of business opportunities due to development and advancement of social
media. In the business environment, consumers become the focal point because of the powerful
presence of social media. Several studies were conducted to find out the influence of social media and
results of these studies helps the firms to maintain a good position in the market with the help of social
media.

1.13 Advantages of social media

1. Increased Brand Recognition Social Media is a new platform for promoting the brand. Social Media
helps the companies to attain new customers and also have quick access to customers. When a
particular brand is familiar and available in multiple social media sites, it increases the brand
recognition to the customers and also attract new customers. When the brand is tweeted frequently in
the social media, then the company’s brand image will get increased, thereby increasing the growth of
the company business.

2. Improved brand loyalty a research work published in US, indicated that when there is higher level of
interaction about a brand in social media, then there exists higher level of trust about the brand among
customers. It also suggest that companies can take the benefit by using social media tool to connect
with its customers. The study also suggests there should be some strategic plan for use of social
media to influence the customers. Another study indicates that fifty three out 19 of hundred in
American population are following their brands in social media and also they found to be loyal to their
brands.

3. Chances to Convert There is chance that each and every comments, post, sharing, likes in social
media will become a sale and bring customer. Every comments, post, website links, video, tweets will
make the viewers to visit the page and view the product and thereby there is a chance for conversion
4
Into sale. Though all the comments may not get a chance for conversion into sale but every good
comment about the product will get a chance for conversion into sale.

4. Conversion ratio the conversion rate of conversion of discussion in a social media into sales is high.
It is the important element as seen by business people nowadays. The brands and the reviews about
the product started to speak like individual salesman in the social media channels. Due to this effect
business people want to improve and increase their business with various people in social media than
with firms.

5. Brand Authority Continuous communication with the customers will bring a faith about the product
among the customers. People are searching and viewing the comments in the social media about
products and services, whenever they are planning to buy a product or avail a service. Every new post
about a product in social media by a user will attract many users in the social media and they follow
the page for information update. When there is more talk about a product in social media, there it
becomes more attractive brand.

6. Reduction in selling price Due to the presence of social media, the advertising cost is getting
reduced by way of advertising through twitter, face book etc… Hub spot research concludes that six
hours of spending in the net in a week by a seller for social media will bring more number of viewers to
the product in social media. In order to get more customers, sellers can spend one hour a day in the
social media which will definitely bring more customers and thereby reducing the cost on
advertisement which in turn seller can reduce the price of the goods.

5
1.13 Limitations of social media:
As we know that there are always two coins of the same coin. In the same way no doubt there are
many advantages of social media in the same way there are some limitations too. Some of them are
as follows:

1. Not enthusiastic:
Think of the situation where consumers do not seem to be completely depend on online purchasing.
Delayed shipping, improper packing, complicated cancellation process these are the important points
which consider by the consumer and he is believing not enthusiastic.

2. Issues related with security:

There are many problems are related with security. Privacy concerns have hampered the thinking of
consumers towards purchasing of online goods. Consumers is worried about transection frauds.

3. Still traditional better:

Still there are certain consumers who are thinking that as compare to online purchasing, better option
is traditional as no problem of changing, fraud, deduction of money without successful transection

. 4. Financial risk:
There is big risk of financial risk involved in online purchasing which is thinking by consumers. The

6
Level of uncertainty surrounding is also affecting online buying by the consumers
4. Lack of physical approach:
This is the important limitation of social media. As consumers are purchasing the goods only online
and consumers have no idea or not in a position to see the goods physically and in turn consumers will
not ready to buy the goods online. We have seen the various advantages and limitations of the social
media but in reality these are not full-fledged limitations we can say them as partial negative
limitations.

1.15 Consumer behavior It is the study about individual, group of individual and the method people
use to purchase and use the product or service to satisfy their wants.
The study combines various subjects which include economics, sociology, psychology and marketing.
Consumer behavior will make an attempt to find out the 21 various factors which are behind the
consumer decision making process for purchase of product.
It also studies the demographic and psychological characteristics of consumers and how consumers
are influenced by various factors such as friends, relatives, and members in the family, co-workers,
and people living in the society.
Consumer behavior, also known as client behavior, provides information concerning client and his/her
consumption patterns. An organization will still survive if it will offer client desires and demands with a
comprehensive understanding of them.
This shows the importance of studying client behavior. This requires understanding client behavior that
isn't thus easy. A group or individual in a group can make an influence on the behavior of consumer.
The group can be small or large in number. Some of the groups which will make on influence over an
individual behavior are members belong to family, workers in the organization, individuals living close
to the consumer. Other group which may affect the individual consumer behavior are workers union,
associations, trusts, community group etc..
These groups do not have regular communication with the individual customer

7
This shows the complete process that a client can possibly, whether recognizably or not, go through
after they move to buy a product. When creating a purchase decision, social media influence take part
a necessary role. When a customer decided to purchase, then he prepares a list of options for
deciding the proper product. Even though e commerce sites are offering various tools for browsing,
searching for the product, proving product specifications, it is continuous to be a difficult task for the
customer. Nearly eighty percent of users of the internet are not using the e-commerce sites because
they could not find the right product which they need. Individuals are looking for reviews,
recommendations and ranking from the existing customers and from trusted people which includes
workers in the organizations, members from family, relatives and friends. Most of the times these
trusted people may be out of reach for discussion. Social media sites provides quick access to the
friends, relatives and trusted people through web and also permits the customer to view and access to
their post and comments in an easier way. This technique helps the consumer to know about the
product information shared and posted by others in social media and also this can be viewed in offline
also. In any way the most important part of any organization is Consumer. Without consumer there is
no value any firm and business organization. It is the duty of business organization whether online or
offline to build the relationship with consumers.
8
 INDUSTRY PROFILE

Among the many industries this industry makes all the company and industry involved under one roof
for promotional activities for the backbone of the particular business that profit and many other
reasons to advertise on social media is that it is a highly cost-effective way to expand your reach. If
you play your cards right, you can get your content and offers in front of a huge audience at a very low
cost. Most social media platforms offer incredibly granular targeting capabilities, allowing you to focus
your budget on exactly the types of people that are most likely to be interested in your business. Below
are some tips and resources for getting started with paid social media marketing?
 Facebook ads
 Pinterest ads
 Instagram ads etc.;
With the internet as our prime means to promote business and capture a wider market base, using
social media to influence the audience is the quickest and the most holistic way to expand business
presence. Today, more and more businesses are considering it as a big deal and customers also
expect to be able to connect with various brands that they are interested in. Those who can do well in
social media can enjoy the benefits of it. But, there are few industries that seem to take the advantage
of social media better than other industries. For some, it is simply a natural outgrowth of an established
marketing strategy and some others has done a great job by harnessing the power of social media.

9
 CHAPTER- 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Literature review is the most important and the second step in the process of any research. First of all
literature review is to do find out and to understand the main background of the particular subject or
research which is taken by the researcher. It is a record which showing what had done in this regard in
the recent past. Thus it is the current trend in the selected subject when the review of literature made
by the researcher. He/she will become expert in his/her subject and he/she will become Master. It
shows what had already done and what type of work yet to be carried out. It shows the direction is
which the research direction must go. Research work clearly showing there should not be duplication
of work. It also indicated what type of methodology was adopted by various experts researcher. When
review of literature is done one should remember that Textbooks and encyclopedic document must not
be taken into consideration. The researcher must question from himself what kind of research he has
to do. What points must be consider while preparing on studying review of literature. From the
literature the researcher must percolate down specific problem to general problem. A various types of
research studies have been conducted on various aspects of on impact of social media marketing on
consumer buying behavior, which is relevant for this research. Some of the terms related social media,
social media marketing, and social networking sites buying behavior discussed. Some worthwhile
studies relating to the present study viewed here. The researcher has done studies the review on the
basis of National and International level Journals.

2.2 LIST OF REVIEWS

2.1. National publications:

The researcher has done literature review on various National Publications, Articles, and Journals
which are described below:

Bikhchandani et al., (1998)01 in their research describes whether or not shoppers shall purchase a
product and whether or not they suggest product to others. These are normally used as parameters for

10
Purchase intention. The study additionally reveals the result of knowledge cascades on social media
by different product attributes is unconditional with different involvement strengths by shoppers. It
concludes that the shoppers try to show totally different levels of involvement in different situations
wherever they face with brand buying and recommending to others.

45 Manju Ahuja et al., (2003)02 In their article, targeted on investigating the factors that influence the
shopping behavior and browsing behavior of consumers during online purchase specifically, the study
has been conducted about the consumers using business-to-consumer sites. The researchers also
investigated buying preferences of consumers with varied demographic profiles which may reveal
different buying approaches and consumer behaviors for a specific class of merchandise and services.
Social media is the1 most effective factors that influence buying behavior of customers.

Muhammad Shaiful et al., (2004)03 in the analysis, the researchers concentrated on finding the
relationship of Social Media and buying behavior of customer. The study involved the students of
academic institutes of Karachi. Around two hundred and sixty questionnaires were answered by the
students. The study finds that there is no strong relationship between Customer Buying behavior and
Social Media.

Ram sunder (2011)04 in their study says that shoppers‟ decisions are influenced heavily by on-line
brands. Opinion of consumers will influence one another. This type of opinion by other consumers
affects the repurchases. So, Consumers are moving to Internet to get more data for their buying
decision.

RaghuramIyengar et al., (2012)05 Investigated in Korea, how friends influence shopping through
Social Network. Their study concentrate on two important questions, the first question is “Is there any
influence by friends on purchases by consumers in social media network”, the second question is “if
there is such influence which consumers are affected“. To strengthen the analysis, sample data were
taken from social networking website World. Sample data of 208 users of World for ten weeks of
purchase and non-purchase information was collected. The researchers build a model on the decision
of buying and no buying and also with the amount spent. Markov chain Monte Carlo technique and
Bayesian approach is used to estimate the model. The results indicated that there are three different
categories of consumers with different buying behavior.

Mir et al., (2012)06 46 Thousands of web news groups and chat rooms influence the purchase

11
Decision of shoppers. The image of the brand increases when many users provide positive opinion
about the brand.

Dehghani et al., (2013)07 their study analyses the knowledge inheritance on customer’s action and
reputation of brand. Knowledge inheritance on the social media happen once a person observes
behavior of others and make a similar decision that other people have already made. The knowledge
cascade are often used for one amongst 2 effects on shoppers, Knowledge cascading causes the
brand to appear high or low in Customer Intention on purchasing and additionally may have an effect
on consumers trust on brand .The study aims at customers who have trust on brand image. These
kind of customers are influenced by decision taken by others.

TeenaBagga et al., (2013)08 the study analyses the inner and outer factors of consumer’s online
buying behavior. A structured form was used and a survey was conducted with two hundred samples.
Questionnaires were sent through the mail and also posted through online web pages and were
answered by the respondents themselves. The statistical analysis found seven major factors that
govern the consumer’s buying behavior. These seven factors were: would like for Social
Communication, website Attributes, on-line Advertising, Recreation, Convenience, privacy issues and
data Search.

Garima Gupta (2013)09 in her paper analyzed the influence of social media on product buying. The
results proved of the actual fact that social media have an effect on product buying intentions.
Particularly, there's a powerful impact of 3 factors called information about product, peer
communication and the level of product involvement on shoppers purchase intentions with respect to
social media. The author infers that, because the product is sold through on-line, it can't be examined;
perceived data shared about the product on social media and information sharing among peer teams
facilitates consumer’s analysis on the product and makes decisions accordingly.

GeetanjaliNaidu et al., (2013)10 47 in their study analyses the influence of social media in purchasing
behavior of customer in Raipur. According to the survey result 75% of Indian youth uses internet for
sharing their opinion, views and comment in numerous websites. The analysis concludes that people
use social media widely for collecting information regarding product.

Balakrishnan et al., (2014)11 this study finds the influence of social media towards brand image and
buying opinion of younger Generation. 200 questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students

12
Of universities in Malaysia. The response rate was 75 percent. 3 hypotheses and 2 propositions were
tested using multivariate analysis and mean. The result showed that the internet communications,
online communities, electronic word of mouth, and on-line publicity are successful in promoting the
brand image and buying intention of consumers through social media platforms. These findings notify
the managers to reach the younger generation customers social media is the bestselling tool. This
analysis provides information to international sellers in applying social media activities to market their
product.

AindrilaBiswas et al., (2014)12 in her paper, aims to look the influence of social media on consumer
selection behavior. Technology Acceptance Model was adopted to find the social media usage
perceptions. The employees of the Multinational companies in India are the samples for the study. A
equation modeling was used to test the eligibility of the model. The results state that users of social
media inclined to have more purchase intention than the occasional users.

Dr. SourbhiChaturvedi et al., (2014)13 in their study indicated that there may be 100 crore members
present in social media; social media sites became an important medium for firms and consumers to
meet each us for the exchange of information about products. They also suggest that the influence of
social media on customer buying behavior is tremendous. Buying behavior in social network is
influenced by gender, education, income, age etc.,

AlirezaMohammadpour et al., (2014)14 The study aims to find the impact of social media marketing on
online buying behavior of customers with respect to brand capital using path analysis 48 technique. A
sample of 160 from university of Tehran were asked to fill the questionnaire on social media marketing,
brand capital and online shopping behavior of consumers. The results indicated that social media had
significant impact on brand name. Social media marketing had significant indirect positive impact on
online shopping behavior of consumers. The results conform the role of brand marketing in
concurrence to media and online buying behavior of consumers.

Marta Zembik (2014)15 in his study explains that Social media comprises of blogs, public forums,
social media sites, that is used for communication of some information. The data provided in social
media is beneficial for organization/ firms and customers. Customers benefitted from the product
information posted by others, recommendations by other customers. Firms benefitted by the
information provided by the customers in social media about their products, getting the feedback on
their product market, information about the prospective customers, customers’ needs and demographic
13
Characteristics. This article emphasis on how social media information is essential for companies and
customers in their decision-making process.

Prof. Assoc. Dr. ElenicaPjero et al., (2015)16 the researchers conducted the study in Albania reality
sector. Their article targeted on Social Media and its capacity to effect buying behavior of customer.
The researchers discussed the growth and adaptability of Social Media networks by numerous users in
the world. The researchers made a multifaceted analysis on the impact of Social Media on consumers
and buying intentions. The samples are selected from users of Social Media in all dimensions and the
result depicts the significant behavior of consumers.

Tayyaba Noreen et al., (2015)17 the researchers conducted the study about the Social media impact
in Pakistan and Korea. This study investigates the impact of social media on the buying behavior of
consumers. This study focuses on e - word of mouth, social media publicity and social media. The
findings indicated that consumers of Korean consumers have higher intention to buy a product using
social media platforms when compared to customers in Pakistan. The results 49 proved that e - word
of mouth have a bigger impact on buying intention when compared to publicity on social networks.

NimaBarhemmati et al., (2015)18 in their study found that Social Network Marketing is becoming the
most successful model in advertising. This study aims at how Social Network Marketing influences the
shopper buying behavior among consumers who use social networking sites. The study also analyzes
the relationships between customer engagement, social media selling activities and shopper purchase
behavior. A survey was conducted among fifty students of Malaysian National University. The results
showed positive relationships between consumer engagement of social media and their buying
behaviors.

SakkthivelAM et al., (2015)19 In their analysis makes an attempt to check the influence of social media
sites over young woman consumer’s shopping behavior from Islamic faith countries. This study
employs structural equation modeling to check out the influence of young woman consumers and the
results disclosed that brand, society and reference teams exert additional influence over young woman
consumer‟s shopping behavior through social media.

2.3 International publications:

The researcher has done literature review on various International Publications, Articles, and Journals
which are described below:
14
Williams et al., (2000)20 In his study reveal that Social media marketing influences perception,
shopper selection behavior, buying-decision and attitude from pre-purchase data phase to post-
purchase behavior.

Belch and Belch et al., (2003, p120-122)21 Described in their study that at some situation during the
purchasing process, shoppers stop looking out and evaluating data before going to the next stage. At
this stage, shoppers decide whether or not they can obtain products or not. The buying decision
depends on the motivation and influence of other shoppers through reviews and recommendation.

Young Ae Kim et al., (2007)23 Explains in their study that buying choices are powerfully affected by
people who the buyer knows and believes. Several internet buyers ask for the 50 opinions before
buying a new product. Internet social communities allow chatting among trusting members, allow
customers to share their experiences by means of writing reviews and rating others‟ reviews. E-
Commerce websites have started to obtain information on the interaction between customers in their
websites, to understand and investigate social influence on purchase process, to boost CRM and
improve sales.

Achille (2008)24 This study indicates that due to reviews and recommendations posted in various
social media sites by the online buyers has increased the number of online buyers to forty percent in
the past two years. As an impact of social media, through online forty one percent of consumers
purchased books, thirty six percent consumers purchased clothes and shoes, twenty four percent
consumers purchased video games and DVDs, twenty four percent consumers purchased airline
tickets and twenty three percent consumers purchased equipment.

OTX analysis DEI Worldwide (2008)25 In their study, analysed the influence of social media on buying
behaviour of customers and a survey was conducted among US population, which shows that buyers
presently use social media as high information resource for brands, companies, or product. It
additionally concludes that social media outreach by brands and firms, particularly if a private on-line
representative will make this outreach, are often far more important on shopper behavior than
advertisements or different promotional devices. In fact, two thirds of shoppers are doubtless to pass
the knowledge they receive to others and over half are doubtless to require action on this information.
There is a significant stronger impact on shopper behavior when the social media is used as a positive
outreach to share information.

15
JiXiaofen et al., (2009)26 this paper has created a model of on-line spoken and opinion people have
influenced on consumer‟s shopping intention. The study has known that the massage impression of
on-line spoken and leader‟s comments have lot of influence on consumer‟s temperament of shopping
garments; the data of online spoken influences its receiver‟s attitude towards bran and consumer‟ s
temperament of buying clothes completely at the end.

51 Gursakal (2009)27 this study analyses the influence of media society and the amount of time that
customers spent on the net and social media. Nowadays, consumption trends have modified. The
usage of magazines, interviews and catalogs by buyers and sellers are altered by searching on e-
mails, internet sites and sharing information in social media. Because of the effective role of social
media, the time consumed on the net increases, and consumers‟ withdraw from traditional searching
methods. Social media have become an important place where opportunities are mentioned, products
are advertised and products are commented.

Miller et al., (2010)28 In his study revealed that over eleven million shoppers use 70% of social
networking to buy various product and services. The consumers provide useful data concerning the
product and share comments with different consumers over social media.

Penn Schoen and Berland Associates LLC (2010)29 in their study explains how the social media can
impact consumer electronics. The study was conducted by 1012 web interviews with U.S. general
population aged above eighteen. The results discovered that social media network has become
integrated into people„s lives. Social media helps to form shopper behavior. About 30% of social media
users made purchases supported by social media reviews and recommendations from friends and
unknown net users, nearly sixty-eight percent of respondents believe that these recommendations are
more or less closer to traditional recommendations. About, 33% believe that social media reviews and
recommendations they receive are far better than they receive through other means.

Cvijikj (2010)30 in their study examines the Influence of Face book on buying decision making
process. Consumers have confidence on opinions of different people or teams during buying
decisions. This study evaluates the power of Face book on decision making method. A model Face
book application was developed by researcher for sharing opinions with friends and making
repositories of things. The study analyses the internet survey of thirty three participants. The survey 52
contained twenty queries, divided into 3 parts. The primary cluster involved data concerning the
participant, like gender and age. The next cluster of questions involved the buyer‟s shopper behavior
16
and the last centered on the conception, thought and model Face book. The results make sure that
consumers see their friends as the most reliable supply of knowledge when compared to other things.
Results also indicates that friend„s opinion on a product plays a bigger role than whether or not they
possesses the product.

According to McKinsey Company (2010)31 in his study, Social Media has a notable influence on
customers particularly who are first time purchasers of a product. It has a greater influence on
highpriced products because the consumers want to conduct additional analysis and to get opinions
for buying the product. This indicates that Social Media has an impact on customers in their data
search stage of buying a product and as a result, customers will use Social Media to get data
concerning the product and services.

Hoyer et al., (2010)32 in his study explains that Social Media is a non-marketing factor which has a
significant influence on customer buying decision process than the other sources of marketing. Social
Media is platform where customers exchange much information with others via electronic word of
mouth, reviews and recommendations. Social Media websites helps individuals to share and
communicate each other via communities. According to the author, buyers on Social Media are ready
to pay attention to others opinion and have a trust on the peers and influenced by the peer in their
buying decision process.

Kozinets et al., (2010)33 Suggest that on-line teams make an understandable influence on the buying
behavior of the consumer and also in buying decision. For instance, the public discussion forum in the
websites of social media offers consumers to collect information about the product, which helps them
to take the decision on purchase selections.

Pookulangaran et al., (2011)34 in his article states that purchasing is always an experience and social
media permits the consumers to connect with people who are mostly strangers. 53 Cultural
characteristics impacts on consumers‟ usage of social media and a great impact on the online buying
behavior.

Haciefendioglu (2011)35 in his study brings to light that buyers are influenced by the opinion of their
friends on social media during their purchase decision. The study also states that the opinions of their
friends in social media direct the consumers to take decision for purchase a specific product or from a
specific company.

17
Mehmood Rehmanietal., (2011)36 in their analysis, investigated the various social media parameters
that greatly affected the purchasing decision of consumers. The analysis gave importance to find the
influence of social media on the consumers buying decision. The authors outlined the objectives of the
studies, so as to realize the objectives, a suitable research model is predicted and research
hypotheses were tested on the model.

Constantin ides et al., (2011)37 Analyzed and reported that Social Media differentiates Shopper‟s
behaviors. Socio-cultural, Demographic, situational and psychological factors have an effect on
shopper’s purchasing behavior. Business people can handle up more practical social media selling
activities by categorizing social media users by their age, gender, academic level, geographical
location and occupation/income level. In the same way, psychological factors like learning, motivation,
perception and personality, Socio-cultural factors like family, social status and family culture. These
variables provide benefits for business people to find and target the consumers of social media
through proper social media marketing activities.

Diffleyet al., (2011)38 In their research investigation, it is clear that, Marketers have analyzed whether
or not social media sites may be used as a good tool for selling and whether to involve buyers to
participate in marketing on social media sites. They say that firms ought to undertake a distinct
approach that attracts shoppers instead of loading their inbox. If more selling advertisements are
pushed on to the shoppers, then shoppers will get frustrated over the product. This authors talks about
developing a proper approach to use websites as advertising tool. As a conclusion the author suggests
that firms has to develop 54 good relationship with shoppers to make social media sites a better tool
for selling.

ErkanAkaret al., (2011)39 in their study revealed the thing that affects consumer‟s attitudes towards
selling through social media. For a businessman, Shopper communities act as new marketplaces for
businessmen. The analysis aims to spot the factors that have an effect on the consumer‟s attitude
towards selling a product on a social media platform.

Edison (2011)40 In his recent analysis, on users of on-line social networks in America revealed that
about 52% of United States citizens have a minimum of one or additional social network profiles. The
analysis showed that one fourth of on-line social marketing users buy their favorite brands, on these
on-line social networks sites, of which many users use Face book as brand pages. The result shows
that on-line social networks became a source of information on products for buying decision making by
18
Consumers.

Karimovet al., (2011)41 In their research suggesting that purchasing of products online may be
considered risky by customers because of the lack to make physical product analysis, lack of personal
information contact, and in some cases the dearth of secure transactions. The efforts towards
increasing the basic issue of trust in shopper behaviour can be supported with the employment of
social media channels, like Face book, YouTube, Twitter, and company blogs as they enhance the
sensation of social presence additionally, shoppers may use social media as a communication tool
which can facilitate them decide what to shop for. The recent addition to the capabilities of social
media is the addition of mobile applications to communicate with others.

Stephen Guo et al., (2011)42 this paper analyses a Chinese marketplace, Taobao, which is the
world‟s largest e-commerce site. Integrated instant electronic messaging tool makes Taobao high from
its competitors. In our study, this study specializes how a person‟s transaction are embedded in the
social media. The analyses concludes a model for purchasing a product through buyer
recommendation, if an individual wants for a product, how he will act to decide the shop. The 55 model
uses data retrieval techniques from the websites and demonstrates how social factors will help to
understand client behavior.

According to Drell (2011)43 this study analyses the internet behavior of customers of social media and
disclosed 2 main types of information shared through online. They were categorized as high
information sharers and low information sharers. In this study, out of 100 percent, High information
sharers of on-line shoppers were 20 percent and belong to the age of teens, they are dedicated to
brands, and had several of electronic equipment to share the information. On the other hand, Low
information sharers of on-line shoppers were are 80 percent, were commonly older, concentrated on
quality instead of brand.

IremErenErdogmus et al., (2012)44 the aim of this study is to identify the impact of social media on
brand trust of the customers. This study takes into account of customers following one brand on the
social media and, therefore, the information were collected through the structured form with a sample
of 338 folks and tested using various statistical tools. The study concludes that brand loyalty of
consumers is affected when the brand was found in various applications and platforms on social
media.

19
Khushbu Pandya (2012)45 this study is an effort to make awareness among Indian marketers
regarding the facility of social media which is spreading at a massive rate. The study is explorative in
nature and used last five years secondary data. The findings of the study answer one major question –
what's the state of social media on consumer behavior in India, the study provides figures, all major
facts, analysis and examples of case study.

Greenleigh, (2012)46 in his study, investigates the behavior of young agers in connection with social
media on shopping decision. Millennials are the shoppers who are in the age group between teen to
mid-30s. In step with the researcher, Millennials have the characteristics like, always connected to
social media, hyper-social, looking into other people activity, shopping and enjoying, strangers as their
friends. This study detailed that fifty-one percent of Millennials trust strangers for shopping the product,
over relatives or friends. 56 The study shows that eighty-four percent of Millennials takes the opinion
from social media communities before shopping for products.

Sharma et al., (2012)47 in their study find the advantage and disadvantage about a brand or product
present on the Social Media. The study also reveals that Social Media has an overall influence on
consumers shopping behavior.

Pietro et al., (2012)48 Explore the extend of social media, particularly Face book, influence buying
decision. They find happiness in using social media for buying decision. The study reveals about
consumer’s suggestions and recommendations on merchandise on Face book, enjoyment in finding
the information on brands and products, attitude in the usage of various tools provided by social media
for the buying decision of products. The study also infers a good relationship between the views of
consumer towards buying intention of customer and social media.

Saadia Nasir et al., (2012)49 this analysis targets on the buying behavior of women customers in
Pakistan. Study has been conducted with two hundred feminine respondents from Lahore town. The
results indicate that women consumers take into account traditional word of mouth to be more
promising information than social media for purchase choices.

Ang ella J. Kim et al., (2012)50 this study identifies the attributes of social media activities that
influence consumer purchase towards branded luxury products. The study identifies 5 apparent Social
media activities of luxury brands and they are amusement, communication, fashionable, tailor made
and word of mouth. The results indicate that there exists significant positive relation between social

20
Media and purchase intention of consumer.

Themba et al., (2013)51 Examines how the students of African University have interaction in product
related e Word of mouth and the impact of their interaction on their shopping decision. The study
reports that the communication in brand-related e Word of mouth through social networks is
comparatively low and has an absolute positive impact on buying decision.

VordemEsche et al., (2013)52 Report shows that recently, social media represent one in all the
foremost outstanding challenges for promoting managers. A recent study by the Marketing promoting
Center at Germany, that asked 146 managers to say about the foremost vital entrepreneurial
challenges over succeeding few years, finds that eighty-nine percent of the respondents name social
media.

Forbes et al., (2013)53 Made an analysis with a study of around 240 sample consumers on their
purchases in relation to the type of the product bought and its costs. The conclusion shows that the
purchase decision is influenced by the suggestion of the consumer’s on-line friends. The study reveals
that fifty-nine percent of the sample uses Face book and used public media to receive product
information from contacts or friends. These result shows that there is an influence on shopping
behavior by social media.

Lehmann et al., (2013)54 the effect of social media on customer buying behaviour was analysed in this
study. Promotion strategies were used on news websites and social media websites for respiratory
disease vaccination. The outcome of the study indicates that individuals responded a lot to the social
media news while comparing websites news. This study concludes that social media is a important tool
to influence the shopping decision of individuals.

Leerapong et al., (2013)55 Checked out the factors which influence the on-line buying decision of
consumers through the social network, notably Face book. In their study, consumers graded the
factors like risk, trust, convenience etc... That inspired or discouraged them from buying the product all
the way through Face book.

Huimin et al., (2013)56 this study analyzed the consumer buying decision method and information
flows between people in social media. This study uses the consumer buying decision method as a
source and analyzed many research articles to check its hypothesis associated with the different types
of proximity. Results and theories have proved that the publicity and information about the product in
21
Social media platforms are stricken by the various varieties of proximity plays that are making an
impact in the consumer buying decision method.

AtesBayazitHayta (2013)57 this research aims to grasp the influence of social media in today‟s life and
brings new view and to see the consequences of social media networks on shopping behaviors of
shoppers. The sample consisted of a around 600 young shoppers between the age limit of 18-24 years
who use social media marketing and have account in any of the social networks. Interview technique
was used to confirm the study. The primary data collected through structured form consists of inquiries
about demographic data of teenagers, the length and aim of teenagers to use net and social media. In
the Questionnaire, 5-point scale was applied to confirm the link between buying behaviors of
teenagers and social media. The Cronbach Alpha scale was employed to find the connection between
shopping behaviors of shoppers and social media and the result was 0.965. The result of the study
implies that social media technique produce a vital impact on buying behaviors of shoppers with
respect to age and academic qualification.

Michel Laroche et al., (2013)58 in their research say that the brand communities supported by
websites impact the client Centric model and brand trust. The study aimed to show the relationships
between client and brand, product, company and different customers. A study was conducted on four
hundred samples through survey method. The result of the study disclosed that brand communities
available on social media have a positive impact on customer-brand, customer-product, customer-
customer relationships and client- Company. The research also concludes that brand trust plays a
negotiator role in changing the consequences of relationships in brand community to brand loyalty.

Shu-Chuan Chu et al., (2013)59 In their analysis examines the social media user‟s responses for
social media advertising. Consumers who are using social media as a tool of advertising to interact
with others and with the brand. Due to numerous users in the age group 18-35, who are using social
media, the online luxury market experienced enormous growth. Brand consciousness and awareness
has an impact on user‟s view on social media advertising that affects their response towards social
media advertising and affects buying intention.

Grahl et al., (2013)60 in their study conducted an field experiment in an online site where the visibility
of the product is considered as like for the product. This study investigates the casual result of social
recommendations on searching behavior. During a four-week experiment with new customers, the
study discovers that displaying social recommendations caused increase in revenue, compared to
22
Revenue in previous method. The display of social recommendations results in 22 percent higher
probability rate of buying a product by first time consumers. Overall, results counsel that for on-line
stores social recommendations and Likes are intangible assets with vital business worth.

Ghulam Rasool Madni (2014)61 this study was conducted in Pakistan, which analyzed the influence of
social media and social networks on the shopping behavior of consumers. For the study, one thousand
consumers belong to the age between18 to 50, who are having a minimum of one account in social
media was selected as sample. A questionnaire form was distributed to collect the data. The results
concludes that the social media has a noticeable impact on the buying behavior of consumers in
Pakistan.

Hajli et al., (2014)62 in his findings says that Social media contributed new opportunities to customers
to interact in websites. Customers use on-line communities, to get the information and to communicate
with other users. The information from the survey shows social media enables the interaction of
customers, which results in increased trust and intention to shop for products. The results also
encompass the intention to shop for products.

JugalKishor et al., (2014)63 In their study analysed the aspects that effects buying attitude on Social
Networking Websites, factors that have an effect on searching attitude on social networking sites. The
study also explains the various mode of payment used for purchasing through Social Networking
Websites. This study disclosed that social networking sites have totally different industries and
customers. The study focuses on buying through Social networking Websites. The results of the study
shows that time spent on social websites that influences the disposition to yearning for things on an
extended social 60 communication. The study shows the people who often use informal
communication are tend to accept for additional offers. It‟s discovered from this study that people of
varied age teams have association with the Social Networking Websites.

ElisabetaIoanas et al., (2014)64 their article is expounded to the impact of social media on shopper‟s
behavior and is quantitative analysis in nature. A sample of one hundred and sixteen respondents was
used and various statistical tools were used with the help of SPSS to arrive at the conclusion. The data
were collected from the respondents using online web forms. From the analysis, one can see to extent
of social media influence on shopper’s behavior and also it affect consumer mind set and the
consumer’s thinking as customer can decide anything.

23
FundeYogesh et al., (2014)65 in their article state that Social media has reformed the ways of
information sharing and communication. In India, the growth of social networking and social media
websites provides businessmen a new alternative to contact customers. The researchers in this article
make an attempt to find the influence of social media on shopping decision of consumers. The article
analyzes the impact on different stages and usage pattern of shopping process. The research also
insists that the social media is mostly used for getting information about the product and quality. The
study also indicated that the reviews and opinions in social media have an effect on the buying
decision process.

Felix PratamaChianasta et al., (2014)66 the research was conducted at Indonesia to identify the
impact of social media on promotion strategies. This survey has been completed using 205 samples.
The inference of the survey shows that the influence of promotion strategies used by Lenovo through
social media was not positive. The results indicated that through social media, Lenovo has not
employed effective promotion strategies. The past studies indicate that there exists a positive influence
of social media to consumer purchasing decision with respect to other brands in Indonesia. The study
concludes that marketing managers of Lenovo have to put more efforts to draw the attention of
consumers toward their product through the social media.

WeerawitLerrthaitrakul et al., (2014)67 this study, examines the impact of e- word-of-mouth which
impacts buying decision process in the airline market. The data was collected from consumers who
purchased the tickets of Low-Cost Carriers by reading the information on product review from social
websites. The study also reveals that social media plays a considerable role in consumers buying
decision process during the purchase of tickets from Low-Cost Carriers. The study provides
information to these companies to develop effective online marketing strategy through social media to
get prospective customers.

Mehdi Abzari et al., (2014)68 the aim of this study is to analyse the influence of social media on
customers views on buying intention and brand image. Sample of around 200 customers in an Iranian
was taken to study and they were asked to fill the survey form. The conclusion of the study proved
both social media and traditional advertising have an important impact on brand image.

Qureshi et al., (2014)69 this study investigates about the Consumer experiences in hotels and
restaurants on Social media. Data is collected through questionnaire from various restaurants
managers and customers. Totally about 191 survey forms were distributed to customers and only 161
24
Of them were came. The data was analysed using social sciences software system. The results were
helpful for restaurants managers to improve service quality.

Bilal et al., (2014)70 This study examines on the role of social media networks on customer buying
decision in garment industry. Primary data were collected using self-administered structured form with
the students and faculty members of Gujrat University. Various statistical techniques were applied on
the collected data. This result indicates that there exists a significant positive impact on customer
buying decision by social media in garment industry. The study shows how important is the presence
in social networks for earning profits in the market.

D. Anthony Miles (2014)71 The study aims at analyzing and finding influence level of a website on
consumers and their decisions. This study also examines the impact of social media on client
behavior. This study employed survey method with a sample 62 of 383 college students. Statistical
methods like factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied on collected data to test
the factor structures and psychological factors of the data. Three hypotheses were framed and tested
using AMOS software and the results notes that social media have an impact on customer behavior.
The website used for the analysis is ratemyprofessor.com.

BidyanandJha et al., (2015)72 This study makes an analysis on how social media impacts on buying
intentions on adults. This study analysed the information in 3 parts. The first part consists of
exploratory study followed by factor analysis and finally with structural equation modeling. The entire
study was tested with AMOS software version 21 and SPSS version 21. The study proved that the
communication on social media has an impact on buying behavior with respect to the brand image.

Harshini C S (2015)73 this study conducts an analysis of the existing theoretical contributions on
Social Media Advertisements and buying intention of the consumers. The study highlights the fact of
Social Media Advertisements and its impact on intention to buy, previous studies investigated about
the impact of advertisements given through website towards consumer‟s shopping behavior. This
study provides a cluster of consumer‟s response towards Social Media Advertisements with reference
to customer buying Intention.

S. Bion Aldo Syarief et al., (2015)74 This study analysed the role of social media, especially Twitter, a
social networking site, in communication with friends, with respect to the buying intension for the
products of students companies at president University. A sample of 140 students of President

25
University was taken to study and was asked to fill the questionnaire. Various statistical tools like
structural equation model, factor analysis, likertsacle were applied by using SPSS package. 8
hypotheses were framed and tested. Out of eight hypotheses, 6 showed positive relation and rest
showed negative relation.

WaqarNadeem et al., (2015)75 this study was conducted on how consumers buy goods online via peer
recommendations and Face book. This study also tested whether the website 63 service quality have
an influence on shopper trust, attitudes, and loyalty intentions. A survey was conducted with Italian
teenage customers who uses Face book to buy clothes .various hypothesis was framed and these
hypotheses were tested by structural equation modeling. The result of the study indicate that online
service quality and use of Face book for on-line buying have a great impact on consumer trust.

Nick Hajli (2015)76 Indicated in his paper that Social commerce could be a new technology in e-
commerce and the application of social media allows the customers to communicate more in the net.
The author proposes a brand new model to get a better understanding of social commerce employing
a PLS-SEM methodology to check the model. Results show web applications attracts the consumer to
interact with others on the web. Customers use social media constructs that successively increase the
amount of trust and buying intention.

Alok R. Saboo et al., (2015)77 The researchers convey that, according to social identity theory,
consumers work effortlessly to increase the attractiveness of the team‟s people in the group. In the
world of music industry, the researcher proposed that consumers will involve in 3 social media
activities to boost the attractiveness of their brands. First they send sample music in social media,
secondly they follow the music artists in social media, and finally they put comments on the artists'
social media websites. With respect to brand attachment theory, the researchers argue that these
three activities on social media influence the consumer buying behavior. Statistical analysis were
performed with thirty-six music artists over seventy-three weeks and the results shows how the buying
behavior of consumer is influenced by social media activities.

Yichuan Wang et al., (2015)78 Tn their study, found that social media platforms has contributed to the
growth of recent business developments in e-commerce and also modified the buyer decision making
process. A survey was conducted with two hundred and seventeen active customers in the social
commerce sites at pre-purchase stage and post-purchase stage. The results indicate that there exists
both positive and negative opinion about the product. This affects the consumers‟ purchases. Word of
26
Mouth content in social media has an effect on 64 consumers‟ intention to shop for a product. The
Word of mouth contents thereby increasing the chance of actual shopping for products and also helps
in information sharing of product with others on social commerce sites.

NugzarTodua et al., (2015)79 this article highlights on the attitude toward social media marketing, in
Georgia. The article aims to investigate the usage of social media for small business in Georgia. The
influence of the research have unconcealed that social media are largely used by customers, however,
there is an only little impact on the consumer buying decision. The Conclusions of the study provide
more insight for higher understandings of demand of customers in Georgia and also provides the
information for implementation of the various strategy for marketing the products through social media.

27
CHAPTER - 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGHY

3.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There are a big retail stores and many different shops are there in the various cities of this south Indian
part, and nowadays many changes are taking place. Research has trying to see that now social media
marketing is changing the situation and taking place of traditional channels of marketing. Not only
young generation but old age consumers, working women, homemakers women those who are
working in various organization like Banks, Private organizations and many more industries have show
their interest in social marketing. In modern world, is the world of technology where social media
marketing is rising too rapidly? Study show that many consumers are shifting from traditional way to
modern way of purchasing the goods and services too. We have seen that social websites are rising
day by day like Flipkart, Amazon and many more. The way of thinking of consumers and many
customers are shifting i.e. changing. The perception of young as well as middle age and even old age
consumers are changing and moving. Some consumers are thinking that it has low cost that means as
compare to other ways means older way is relatively cheaper. So, social media and various
networking sites are developing day by day and consumers are attracting towards them. Many
students, housewives, working class people are changing their mind from traditional way to modern
way. It is now really true that social networking which are doing the job of marketing are mean to
changing the mind and thinking of many and various consumers. So researcher trying to find out how
social media has changing the thinking and way of many consumers who are living in that district for
that research has collected much information about that and trying to find out in part of social
networking sites or social media marketing on consumer buying behavior.

3.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY

 Social media usage influences consumer satisfaction in the stages of information

search and alternative evaluation, with satisfaction getting amplified as the
consumer moves along the process towards the final purchase decision and
post-purchase evaluation.
 Social media allows marketers to connect and engage potential customers where

28
 They are at: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and even some
of the younger platforms like TikTok. With a strong social media strategy and the
ability to create engaging content, marketers can engage their audience.

3.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To study the impact of Social media marketing on consumer buying decision process.
 To measure the change in perception of the consumers through the content and engagement
on Social Medias.
 To understand how business businesses can engage more customers to increase the brand
value.
 To measure the positive influence of products and services social media advertising.

29
3.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 The Scope of this research is ultimately to understand many features,

advantages of social media marketing.
 Understand the behavior of the consumer, factors affecting consumer behavior.
 Traditional method of marketing like Radio, Television are considered Upstarts
with questionable staying power.
 Many progressive business owners are dabbling in social media Marketing
 The long term benefit of an effective broad scope social media marketing
campaign cannot be measured in days or weeks.
 Bloggs, Twitter, Facebook fans, Dig links, Skype are various tools Adopted by
customers as well as marketers too.
 Scope is concerned with the place of the research also, for that researcher Has
taken area in respect of thane district, apart from this researcher has Taken
Ulhasnagar, Wada, Bhindi etc.

3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 The study is confined to a small region of Chennai district.
 The data collected is totally primary data given by Chennai region
respondents.There is chance for personal bias.

 Lack of accuracy can be reason for inappropriate conclusion or suggestions.

 Most the young people came for regarding social media handles as compared to
elderly people.

 Elder people lacking knowledge about Social media marketing and not able
adapt for SSM as compared to their traditional marketing experience.

 Due to shortage of time and other constraints, the study has been limited 105
Respondents only.

30
3.6 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.6.1 Descriptive research design

The study is purely descriptive research as it sought to identify the Customer

Satisfaction level based on the respondent responses. Descriptive research is involves
data in order to answer research questions concerning the current status of the study.

3.7 SOURCE OF DATA

The data are collected from the primary data and data collection is the term used to
describe a process of data collecting.

Primary Data – Questionnaire was prepared and given to 105 respondents

Secondary Data – online journals and websites & review of literature from published
articles.

3.8 STRUCTURE OF QUESTIONNAIRE

The questionnaire was framed in sequence of knowing response regarding the online vs
traditional shopping and the second part of the questionnaire is framed completely
regarding social media marketing influence and impact on their shopping decisions.

31
 3.9 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

3.9.1 convenience sampling method

Survey sampling is selecting members from a target population to be in a sample for a sample survey.
Usually the survey is some type of questionnaire (i.e. in-person, phone or internet survey).
Convenience Sampling This type of sampling can be done by simply creating a questionnaire and
distributing it to their targeted group. Through this method, researchers can easily finish collecting their
data in a matter of hours, free from worrying about whether it is an accurate representation of the
population. Convenience sampling is a type of sampling where the first available primary data source
will be used for the research without additional requirements. It is also an easy sampling method to
collect data from the people without any hurdles.

3.10 PERIOD OF STUDY

The duration of this study is from January 2022 to March 2022 which is three months of study.
3.11 SAMPLE UNIVERSE
The Sample Universe includes the people of South India region.

3.12 SAMPLE SIZE

The Sample size of the participants was of 105 people.

3.13 ANALYTICAL TOOLS

PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS – It refers to a special kind of rates, percentage are used in

making comparison between two or more series of data. A percentage is used to
determine relationship between the series.

PIE CHART - A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to
illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice is proportional to that
will represents the data as per the responses by respondents throughout the questionnaire.

32
 CHAPTER - 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS

TABLE 4.1.1 AGE OF RESPONDENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 16 – 25 90 85.7
2 25 – 30 10 26.7
3 30 – 35 4 14.2
4 Above 35 1 9.5
TOTAL 105

SOURCE: - Primary Data

(Fig: 4.1.1)

INTERPRETATION: from the above analysis 85 percentage of respondents are

from age group 16 to 25 26 percentage of respondents are from age group of 25
to 30 and 14 to 14.2 percentage of respondents are of age group 30 to 35 9
percentage of respondents are about 35.

INFERENCE: - majority 85.7 percentage of respondents are 16 to 25 in this question

33
 TABLE 4.1.2 PREFERENCE OF ONLINE/OFFLINE RESPONDENTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 ONLINE 41 39.4
2 OFFLINE 63 60.6
TOTAL 104

SOURCE:-Primary Data

INTERPRETATION:-from the above analysis 39 percentage of respondents

prefer online shopping 60 percentage of respondents prefer offline
shopping

INFERENCE:-majority 60 percentage despondence prefer offline shopping

34
 TABLE 4.1.3 SOCIAL MEDIA CHANELS THEIR ACTIVE USAGE

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 FACEBOOK 19 17.2
2 TWITTER 8 8.1
3 LINKEDIN 4 4
4 INSTAGRAM 76 78.8
5 PINTEREST 10 11.1
6 OTHER 4 18
TOTAL 102

SOURCE:-Primary Data

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis 17 percentage of respondents shows face

work as their active social media 8 percentage of people shows Twitter as their active
social media and 4% LinkedIn 78 percentage of respondents are active on Instagram
everyday 11 percentage of them are active on Pinterest

INFERENCE:- 78 percentage of people are active on Instagram everyday

35
 TABLE 4.1.4 SOCIAL MEDIA WHICH MAXIMUM INFLUENCE PURCHASINGB DECISION

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONENTS
1 FACEBOOK 10 10.2
2 TWITTER 7 7
3 LINKEDIN 1 1
4 PINTEREST 1 14
5 YOUTUBE 68 70.4
TOTAL

SOURCE:-Primary Data

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 10 percentage of people are

influenced by Facebook ads 7 percentage of people are influenced by Twitter ads
whereas one percentage of respondents are influenced by LinkedIn ads 14
percentage are from Pinterest 69 percentage are from YouTube

INFERENCE:-
Majority of 69 percentage of respondents are influenced by advertisements from Facebook and making their
purchasing decision

36
TABLE 4.1.5 SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENTS INFLUENCES PURCHASING DECISIONS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENTS
1 STRONGLY AGREE 69 20.2
2 DISAGREE 20 8.1
3 MAY BE 8 66.7
4 NONE OF THE ABOVE 5 4.2
TOTAL 102

SOURCE:-Primary Data

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 66 percentage of respondents think

maybe social media advertisements influence my purchasing decision where is
20 percentage of respondents strongly agree that social media advertisement
influence their purchase a percentage of them disagree

INFERENCE:- majority of 66 percentage of people are accepting maybe social media

advertisements are influencing their purchasing decision

37
TABLE 4.1.6 HOW MUCH CONSUMERS PURCHASE ARE INFLUENCED BY A SOCIAL
MEDIA ADVERTISEMNTS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 5-15% 42 41.2
2 25-50% 39 38.2
3 75-85% 20 16.7
4 100% 3 3.1
5 DON’T KNOW 1 2
105

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.6)

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis out of 105 to15percentage of

influence through social media a d ver t i s eme n t s are accepted by 41
percentage of pe opl e whereas 38 percentage o f people say that only 25 to 50
percentage my purchasing decisions are influence d by so c i a l me d i a
advertisements

INFERENCE: - majority 41 percentage of despondence say that only 5 to 15

percentage of my purchasing decisions are influenced by social media marketing
advertisements.
38
TABLE 4.1.7 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS HELPING ME IN PURCHASING

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENTS
1 STRONGLY AGREE 14 13.3
2 DISAGREE 36 8.6
3 NEUTRAL 44 41.9
4 AGREE 9 34.3
5 STRONGLY DISAGREE 2 2
TOTAL

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.7)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 13 percentage of people strongly

agree social media marketing is helping their purchasing decision Paris 41
percentage of respondents are neutral about this only 34 percentage of
respondents agree that social media marketing is helping their purchasing
decision.

INFERENCE:-Majority of 41.2 percentage of people are neutral about the decision of

purchasing from social media marketing because it's not so helpful according to their opinion

39
TABLE 4.1.8 HOW MUCH LIKELY WILL YOU BUY A PRODUCT RECOMMENDED ONLINE

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 VERY LIKELY 17 16.2
2 SOMEWHAT LIKELY 50 47.6
3 QUITE LIKELY 30 28.6
4 NEVER 7 6.7
5 SOMETIMES 1 1.2
TOTAL 105

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.8)

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis out of 149 percentage of people

somewhat likely will buy the product or service which are recommended online
Paris 27.5 percentage of respondents quite likely preferred to buy the product
which is recommended online 16 percentage of people very likely would buy the
product 6 percentage of people never would like to buy the product
recommended online

INFERENCE; majority 49 percentage of respondents somewhat likely will buy the

product which is recommended online
40
 TABLE 4.1.9 ABOUT REGULAR READING OF PRODUCT/SERVICES CONTENT THAT
INFLUENCE PURCHASING DECISION.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 ALWAYS 22 19.6
2 OFTEN 17 16.7
3 SOMETIMES 51 50
4 RARELY 11 9.8
5 NEVER 4 4.7
TOTAL

SOURCE: - Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.10)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 50 percentage of respondents sometimes

would watch a read the content of products and services which influence their fro
purchasing decision where is 16 percentage of people often do it 9 percentage of
people rarely I'm watching or reading the content by influencers about the product

INFERENCE:-majority of 50 percentage people sometimes read the content that influences

their purchase of a product or service

41
TABLE 4.1.10 ABOUT RELYING ON THE FEEDBACK OF THE ONLINE CUSTOMERS
BEFORE MAKING PURCHASING DECISION.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 YES 62 59
2 NO 11 10.5
3 SOMETIMES 32 30.5
TOTAL

SOURCE: - Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.11)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 58 percentage of respondents says

that they realize rely on feedback of online customers before making their
purchasing decision paras 10 percentage of people say no and 30 percentage of
respondents sometimes rely on feedback of online customers before making the
purchasing decision.

INFERENCE:- majority of 58.8 percentage of people say ask for feedbacks are helpful
for the purchasing decision.

42
 TABLE 4.1.12 SOCIAL HANDLES HELPING TO ENGAGE WITH FAVORITE BRAND

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 INSTAGRAM 67 69
2 FACEBOOK 18 18
3 YOUTUBE 54 54
4 TWITTER 3 3
5 LINKEDIN 0 0
6 PINTEREST 11 10
7 BLOG POST 10 10
TOTAL 100%

SOURCE:- Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.12)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 69 percentage of people accept

Instagram as their favorite social media for engaging with their favorite product
service online 18 percentage of respondents accept Facebook as their handle to
follow for engage with favorite product and services online respondents 54% go
with YouTube 3% go with Twitter

INFERENCE: - majority of 69 percentage of people accept Instagram

43
 TABLE 4.1.12 SOCIAL MEDIA ADS ARE HELPFUL TO KNOW NEW BRAND

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 5% 15 15,7
2 25% 30 29.4
3 45% 27 26.4
4 75 – 100% 30 28.4
TOTAL

(FIG 4.1.13)

INTERPRETATION :- from the above analysis 26 percentage of people accept 45

percentage these social media advertisements helps me to find a brand new
products services online paras 28 percentage of people accept from 75 to 100
percentage social media advertisements are helping me to find a new brand of
products and services online

INFERENCE: - majority of 28 percentage of respondents accept social media

advertisements are helping to find new brand from from 75 percentage to 100
percentage.

44
TABLE 4.1.13 CHOISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE FOR BRAND AWARENESS MORE
OFTEN

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 INSTAGRAM 71 71
2 TWITTER 0 0
3 FACEBOOK 10 17
4 YOUTUBE 52 49
TOTAL 104 100%

SOURCE:-Primary Data

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis 70 percentage of people will shoes

Instagram as a social media handle to buy a new product online Paris 17
percentage of people choose Facebook 49 percentage of people choose YouTube
another are linked in Pinterest Twitter.

INFERENCE: - Majority of 70.3 percentage of people choose Instagram as a social

media handle to choose to buy a new product.

45
TABLE 4.1.14 PROPER CONTENT ABOUT THE PRODUCT/SERVICES ATTRACTS CUSTOMERS
FOR BUYING DECISIONS.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 ALWAYS 37 34.7
2 NEVER 8 6.8
3 MOST OF THE TIMES 36 38.6
4 SOMETIMES 22 19.8
TOTAL 101 100%

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.13)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 38.6 percentage of respondence

most of the times are attracted by the proper content about the product to service
which they love to buy online 19.8 percentage of people sometimes get
influenced and 34 percentage of respondents always get influenced by the
content which is posted
INFERENCE: - majority of 38.6 percentage of people most of the times are influenced
by the proper content which is post by their favorite product service social media handle

46
 TABLE 4.1.15 ABOUT NO.OF TIMES RESPONDANTS VISIT THEIR FAVORITES
BRANDS SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENTS
1 Weekly once 16 15.7
2 Monthly once 12 12.7
3 Before making a buying decision 32 30.4
4 Whenever 41 41.2
TOTAL 102 100%

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.14)

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 41 percentage of people visit their favorite
brand social media profile whenever necessary Paris 30 percentage of people always
visit before making a buying decision and 12 percentage of people monthly ones 15
percentage of people weekly once.

INFERENCE: - majority of 41.2 percentage of people whenever necessary are visiting brands
social media profile for content for update

47
4.1.15 ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS THE PLATFORM THAT PROVIDES FOR
INSTANT RESPONSE ABOUT THE PRODUCTS/SERVICES.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Strongly agree 22 19.8
2 Agree 30 37.3
3 Disagree 30 37.3
4 Neutral 21 9.8
TOTAL 102 100%

SOURCE: - Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.15)

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis 37.3 percentage of people neutrally

accept that social media marketing platform is for instant response and also 37.3
percentage people agree it's a platform for instant response only 19.6 percentage
of people strongly agree that social media marketing platform is for the incident
response

INFERENCE: - majority of 37.3 percentage of respondents.

48
TABLE 4.1.17 ABOUT CUSTUMER REVEIWS

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 20% 20 18.6
2 50% 35 33.3
3 75% 35 38.2
4 100% 10 9.8

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis it is said that 38.2 percentage of people think 75 percentage of
these reviews by customers are helpful for buying a product online where is 33.3 percentage of people accept
only 50 percentage these reviews are helpful whereas other side 75% is only its helpful only 9.8 percentage of
people says it is 100% helpful for making a buying decision.

INFERENCE: - majority of 38.2 percentage of people think that only 75 percentage these reviews of customers
are helpful for making a buying decision.

49
TABLE 4.1.18 ABOUT NRGATIVE REVIEWS OF ORDUCTS/SERVICES.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENTS
1 Upto 15% - 35% 35 26.5
2 Upto 50% - 75% 25 46.1
3 Upto 100% 39 21.6
4 no 13 8.9

PRIMARY DATA:-

(FIG 4.1.16)

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis 46.1 percentage of people say s up to 50

to 75 percentage of negative reviews of a product or service. Dad buying decision
where is only 21.6 percentage of people say yes that 100 percentage of my buying
decision will be stopped by a negative review about a product online and the other side
26.5 percentage of people say yes.
INFERENCE: - Majority of respondents that is 46.1 percentage of people say yes up to 50 to
75 percentage of my buying decisions will be stopped because of the negative reviews of a
product or service online.

50
 TABLE 4.1.19 ABOUT PERCEPTION OF A PRODUCT/SERVICE ONLINE AFTER A
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 YES 35.3
2 NO 15.7
3 MAY BE 49

SOURCE:-Primary data

(FIG 4.1.17)

INTERPRETATION :- from the above analysis 49 percentage of of respondents say that

maybe perception of product has changed because of social media marketing as
compared to traditional marketing where is only 15.7 percentage of people say no again
35.3 percentage of people are accepting it.

INFERENCE: - Majority of 49 percentage of people think maybe perception of a product

service online will change because of social media marketing as compared to
traditional marketing.

51
TABLE 4.1.20 HOW MUCH IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING HELPFUL FOR BUSINESS.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 YES 72 71.3
2 NO 8 9.2
3 MAY BE 21 22.3

SOURCE:-Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.18)

INTERPRETATION :- from the above analysis 71.3 percentage of people say ask
that strip social media marketing is helpful for today's business which is
customer engagement where is 21 0.8 percentage respondence think maybe it
can be a reason.

INFERENCE: - Majority 71.3 percentage of people have accepted social media

marketing is helpful for today's business for huge customer engagement.

52
TABLE 4.1.21 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IS MAKING BUSINESSES EASY TO
FIND THEIR TARGET AUDIENCE.

S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

1 Strongly agree 14 15.8
2 disagree 2 2.4
3 Neutral 28 20.8
4 Agree 47 46.5
5 Strongly agree 38 14.9
TOTAL

SOURCE Primary Data

(FIG 4.1.19)

INTERPRETATION :- from the above analysis 46 percentage of people agree that

nowadays social media marketing is making business is easy to find their target
audience where is only 14 percentage of people strongly agree 20 percentage of people
are neutral about it 2 percentage of people disagree

INFERENCE: - majority of 46.5 percentage of people agree that nowadays social media
marketing is making businesses easy to find the target audience and its booming.

53
 TABLE 4.1.22 SOCIAL MEDIA AND TODAYS BUSINESSES ENGAGEMENT WITH
CUSTOMERS.
S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 95 84.2
2 NO 10 15.8
TOTAL 105 100%

SOURCE Primary Data

INTERPRETATIONS: - from the above analysis 84.2 percentage of people say saying that social
media marketing is the reason for engagement of customers with their favourite brand or product
nowadays where is 15.8 percentage of people are not accepting that social media marketing is reason
for engagement of customers.

INFERENCE: - majority of 84.5 percentage of people say as that is social media marketing is the
reason for engagement of customers with their favorite brand product nowadays. Listening.

54
TABLE 4.1.23 PROMOTIONAL E- MAILS
S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 50 37%
2 NO 20 22%
3 MAY BE 35 41%
TOTAL

INTERPRETATION:- from the above analysis 41 percentage of people think that maybe
promotional emails and daily are being reason to get enough attention to buy a product or
service online 22 percentage of respondents say no to this whereas 37 percentage of people
say that these promotional emails sent daily are been reason to get enough attention to buy the
products of service online.

INFERENCE: - majority of respondents that is 41 percentage of respondents that these

promotional emails sent daily maybe can be the reason to get enough attention to buy a
product or service online.

55
 TABLE 4.1.24:- ACTIVE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES.
S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 87 85.6
2 NO 28 14.4
TOTAL

INTERPRETATION: - from the above analysis 85.6 percentage of people say yes that
active social media promotion and everyday content sustains customers for long time
then the inactive social media profile of a product or service whereas 14.4 percentage
of people say no to it.

INFERENCE :- majority 85 percentage of respondents say ask that active social media
promotion and everyday content sustains customers for a long time now a days for
business.

56
 TABLE 4.1.25 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING VS TRADITIONAL MARKETING.
S.NO PARTICULARS NO.OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
1 YES 86 82.8
2 NO 32 17.2
TOTAL 99 100%

INTERPRATATION: - from the above analysis 82.8 percentage of people accept that social
media marketing engage more customers than traditional marketing. Whereas 17.2
percentage of people are not ready to accept that social media marketing is not engaging
more customers.

INFERENCE: - majority of 82.8 percentage of people are accepting that social media
marketing is more engaging than traditional marketing regarding business booming and
customer engagement

57
CHI-SQUARE TEST
CROSS TABULATION

The cross tabulation table is the basic technique for examining the relationship between two
categorical (nominal or ordinal) variables, possibly controlling for
additionallayeringvariables.TheCrosstabulationprocedureofferstestsofindependence and measures of
association and agreement for nominal and ordinal data.

CHI-SQUARE TEST
The chi-square test measures the discrepancy between the observed cell counts and what you would
expect if the rows and columns were unrelated. The degree of influence of the following independent
variables pertaining to the respondents with respect to the factors influencing marketing decisions and
market conditions is:

(O-E) 2
(χ 2 ) = ∑---------
E
With Degree of Freedom (D.F.) = (c-1) (r-1) where,
O = Observed frequency,
E = Expected frequency,
c = Number of columns,
r= Number of rows

58
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AGE AND PREFERENCES SHOPPING ONLINE OR OFFLINE

ONLINE OFFLINE
Marginal Row Totals
SHOPPING SHOPPING
16 – 25 39 40 79
above 35 2 23 25

OFFLINE
ONLINE SHOPPING Marginal Row Totals
SHOPPING
16 – 25 39 (31.14) [1.98] 40 (47.86) [1.29] 79
above 35 2 (9.86) [6.26] 23 (15.14) [4.08] 25
Marginal Column Totals 41 63 104 (Grand Total)

The contingency table below provides the following information: the observed cell totals, (the expected cell
totals) and [the chi-square statistic for each cell].

The chi-square statistic, p-value and statement of significance appear beneath the table. Blue means you're
dealing with dependent variables; red, independent.

You'll notice we've also calculated a chi-square statistic with the popular Yates correction. There's probably a
consensus now that the correction is over-cautious in its desire to avoid a type 1 error, but the statistic is there
if you want to use it.

The chi-square statistic is 13.6077. The p-value is .000225. Significant at p < .01.

The chi-square statistic with Yates correction is 11.9307. The p-value is .000552. Significant at p < .01.

59
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PREFERENCE OF SHOPPING ONLINE OR OFFLINE AND NUMBER

OF TIMES VISITING THE FAVOURITE BRANDS SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE FOR CONTENT

BEFORE BY MAKING A BUYING DECISION

WEEKLY ONCE MONTHLY ONCE BEFORE MAKING BUYING DECISION WHENEVER NECESSARY Row Totals
14 7 5 4 30
OFFLINE SHOPPING 2 7 26 40 75

Column Totals 16 14 31 44 105 (Grand Total)

The contingency table below provides the following information: the observed cell totals, (the expected cell
totals) and [the chi-square statistic for each cell].

The chi-square statistic, p-value and statement of significance appear beneath the table. Blue means you're
dealing with dependent variables; red, independent.

Results
BEFORE MAKING WHENEVER
WEEKLY ONCE MONTHLY ONCE Row Totals
BUYING DECISION NECESSARY
ONLINE SHOPPING 14 (4.57) [19.45] 7 (4.00) [2.25] 5 (8.86) [1.68] 4 (12.57) [5.84] 30
OFFLINE
2 (11.43) [7.78] 7 (10.00) [0.90] 26 (22.14) [0.67] 40 (31.43) [2.34] 75
SHOPPING

Column Totals 16 14 31 44 105 (Grand Total)

The chi-square statistic is 40.9084. The p-value is < 0.00001. The result is significant at p < .01.

60
ASSOCIATION BETWEEN GENDER AND PREFERENCE SHOPPING ONLINE OR OFFLINE

FEMALE MALE Marginal Row Totals

OFFLINE
47 16 63
SHOPPING
ONLINE SHOPPING 30 11 41
Marginal Column Totals 77 27 104 (Grand Total)

The contingency table below provides the following information: the observed cell totals, (the expected cell
totals) and [the chi-square statistic for each cell].

The chi-square statistic, p-value and statement of significance appear beneath the table. Blue means you're
dealing with dependent variables; red, independent.

You'll notice we've also calculated a chi-square statistic with the popular Yates correction. There's probably a
consensus now that the correction is over-cautious in its desire to avoid a type 1 error, but the statistic is there
if you want to use it.

FEMALE MALE Marginal Row Totals

OFFLINE
47 (46.64) [0] 16 (16.36) [0.01] 63
SHOPPING
ONLINE SHOPPING 30 (30.36) [0] 11 (10.64) [0.01] 41
Marginal Column Totals 77 27 104 (Grand Total)

The chi-square statistic is 0.0265. The p-value is .870654. Not significant at p < .01.

The chi-square statistic with Yates correction is 0.0044. The p-value is .947369. Not significant at p < .01.

61
HYPOTHESIS

 Association between age and preference of shopping online and offline.

Null hypothesis: there is no relationship between age and preference of shopping online or
offline
Alternative hypothesis: there is a relationship between age and preference of shopping online
or offline

The chi-square statistic is 13.6077. The p-value is .000225. Significant at p < .01.

The chi-square statistic with Yates correction is 11.9307. The p-value is .000552. Significant at p < .01.

 Association between gender and preference of shopping online or offline

Null hypothesis there is no relationship between genders add preference of shopping online or
offline.
Alternative hypothesis there is a relationship between gender and preference of shopping
online or offline

 Association between preference of shopping online or offline and number of times visiting the
favorite brands social media profile

Null hypothesis: there is a relationship between preference of shopping online or offline and
number of times visiting favorite branch social media profile.
Alternative hypothesis there is no relationship between preference of shopping online or
offline with number of times visiting their favorite brands social media profile for content.

The chi-square statistic is 0.0265. The p-value is .870654. Not significant at p < .01.

The chi-square statistic with Yates correction is 0.0044. The p-value is .947369. Not significant
at p < .01

A hypothesis is a research-based statement that aims to explain an observed trend and create a
solution that will improve the result.

Current research shows that an effective social media campaign will promote the business and its
brand along with its products and services while encouraging the and target market to engage with the
business and its brand through comments, images, videos and a range of other multimedia.

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CHAPTER 5

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 - FINDINGS

 According to the response from the Questionnaire reveals Majority 85.3% of respondents are
from age group 16-25.
 Majority 59.8% of respondents prefer offline shopping Majority 78.8% of respondents are active
on Instagram.
 Majority 70.4% of respondents purchasing decisions is influenced by YouTube.
 Majority up to 66.7% of respondents are accepting that “may be Social media marketing
advertisements influence my purchase.
 Majority 41.2% of respondents think that only 5-15% of Social media marketing advertisements
are influencing their purchasing decisions.
 Majority 41.2% of respondents are also accepting that it’s neutral about the Social media
marketing helping their Purchasing decisions.
 Majority 49% of respondents somewhat likely will buy the product which is recommended
online. Majority 50% of respondents Sometimes do watch / read their favorite product
/services content that influences their purchasing decisions.
 Majority 58.8% of respondent’s yes they are relying on feedback of online customers
before making their purchase.
 Majority 69% of respondents chose Instagram as their Social media handle that is helping them
to engage with their favorite product /services online.
 Majority 29.4% of respondents accepts 25% of Social media marketing advertisements helps
them to find a Brand new product /services online.
 Majority 71.3% of despondence shoes Instagram at handle to buy a product online.
 Majority 38.6 percentage of response have answered most of the times proper content about
the product or service attracts customers for buying decisions.

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 Majority 41.2% of response to that they received their favorite brand social media profile when
our necessary.
 Majority 37.3 percentage of respondents equally agree that social media marketing is the
platform for instant response about the product or services.
 Equally The Other 37.3 percentage of respondence are neutral about this.
 Majority 38.2 percentage of respondents comes to a conclusion that Social media marketing
advertisements are only 75% of customers are helpful for making a buying decisions.
 Majority 46.1 percentage of respondents admitted that negative reviews of a product is up to 50
to 75% will stop their buying decision.
 Majority 49 percentage of respondents may change their perception about a product or service
because of social media marketing than compared to traditional marketing.
 Majority 71.3 percentage of respondents think that social media marketing helpful for today’s
business for huge customer engagement.
 Majority of 46.5 percentage of respondents agree that social media marketing is making
businesses easy to find the target audience nowadays.
 Majority 84.2 percentage of respondents accepts as for the statement that is “Social media
marketing is the reason for engagement of customers with their favorite brand or product” .
 Majority 41 percentage of respondents think maybe the promotional email sent daily are been
reason to get enough attention to buy the product or services.
 Majority 85.6 percentage of response accepts yes for active social media promotion and
everyday content sustains customer for long time.
 Majority 82.8% of respondents game up with the large voting on social media marketing as
compared to traditional marketing.
 Majority of people opinion on social media marketing were like
 Helpful tool to purchase
 Transparent of information
 Instant reviews and response
 Making businesses easy to find the target audience
 Good and flexible platform for engaging with buyers and Consumers at the same time

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 5.2 – SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 The study overall reveals both the positive and negative aspects of consumers on based of
their experiences in social media marketing.
 Consumers experience in buying through social media marketing nowadays is positive as soul
as the negative side is because of that fraudulent involved in some of the block post or social
media marketing platforms
 Some of the customers have also complaint about social media marketing flexibility for illiterate
and elder generation people
 Social media handles have a far reach with the younger generation as compared to elder
generation so this can push to a situation for the elder people to deny buying products from
online.
 Business nowadays widely welcoming marketing methods involving social media handles for
innovative advertisements are supportive but understandable for consumers and being
transparent is more important.
 Social media marketing has a positive side and a negative side It is businesses responsibilities
to take care about the negative side for securing customers loyalty

 There are various variables like education, occupation, income, gender, age and many more
which affecting consumer behavior and social media too.
 There are different types social networking sites are there like twitter, whatsupp. You tube,
skype, and many more which affecting consumer behavior.
 There many social media marketing and social networking sites where as some of them are
very much significant while some are not significant.
 There are many uses of social media networking like sending messages, downloading,
uploading, important messages transmission and many more.
 The more use of social networking sites increases the person’s involvement in decision making
and which is very important.
 Comparison can be made between traditional mode of media and social media communication
 Traditional media is also affecting the behavior of consumer so the social media but social
media give latest updates and increase the knowledge society in general and consumers in
particular.

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 It can be recommended that social media is more affecting behavior of consumers as
comparison can be made between traditional marketing and social media marketing.

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

6.1 - CONCLUSION

Social media can be a powerful tool for any organizational can increase your visibility.
Enhance relationships, establish two-way Communication with customers, and provide a
forum for feedback, unimproved awareness and reputation of the organization. For these
reasons, social media websites have become an important platform for organizations.

Social media can be a powerful tool for any organization. It can increase your visibility,
enhance relationships, establish two-way communication with customers, provide a forum for
feedback, and improve the awareness and reputation of the organization. For these reasons,
social media websites have become an important platform for organizations.

The comparison of Social media advertising channels as whole and tradition channels
advertising as a whole results in favor of Social media advertising channels. On every aspect
of the advertising respondents agree that Social media advertising channels are better than
that of tradition media advertising. The following table gives the hypothesis and the results of
the data analysis for these hypothesis

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Social Media Think: Lab.

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APPENDIX

(QUESTIONNAIRE)

Name :

Age :

a) 16 – 25

b) 25 – 30

c) 30 – 35

d) Above 35

Gender :

a) Male

b) Female

1) Do you prefer shop to

a) ONLINE

b) OFFLINE

2) Which Social Media channels are you most active on?

a) FACEBOOK

b) TWITTER

c) LINKEDIN

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d) INSTAGRAM

e) PINTEREST

3) Which of this Social media will influence your purchasing decision ?

a) FACEBOOK

b) TWITTER

c) LINKEDIN

d) INSTAGRAM

e) PINTEREST

4) Social media advertisements influences my Purchase?

a) STRONGLY AGREE

b) DISAGREE

c) MAY BE

d) NONE OF THE ABOVE

5) How much of your purchases you think influenced by a social

media Advertisements?

a) 5 – 15 %

b) 25 – 50 %

c) 75 – 85 %

d) 100%

6) Social media marketing is helping me in my Purchasing decision.

a) Agree

b) Disagree

c) Neither Agree nor Disagree

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7) How likely are you buy a product recommended online?

a) Very likely

b) Somewhat likely

c) Quite likely

d) Very likely

8) How often do you watch or read the Product / services content that influence

your purchasing decision?

a) Daily

b) 1 – 2 times a week

c) Once a month

d) Only when needed

9) I always rely on the feedback of online customers before making

my purchasing decision.

a) YES

b) NO

10) Which social media handle helps you to engage with your favorite Product

/ Service online.

INSTAGRAM

FACEBOOK

YOUTUBE

TWITTER

LINKEDIN

PINTEREST
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BLOG POST

11) How much Social media Marketing/advertisements helps you to find a Brand

new products/services?

a) 5%

b) 25%

c) 45%

d) 75% to 100%

12) Which social media handle you choose to buy a product more

often? INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

PINTEREST

13) Proper Content about the product/service attracts customers for a

buying decisions.

a) ALWAYS

b) NEVER

c) MOST OF THE TIMES

d) SOMETIMES

14) How many times you visit your favorite Brand’s Social media profile.

a) WEEKLY ONCE

b) MONTHLY ONCE

c) BEFORE MAKING A BUYING DECISION

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d) WHENEVER NECCESSARY

15) Social media marketing is the platform for instant response about

the products/services.

a) AGREE

b) DISAGREE

c) MAY BE

d) NONE OF THE ABOVE

16) How much of these reviews of customers are helpful for making

a buying decision?

a) 20%

b) 50%

c) 75%

d) 100%

17) Negative reviews of a product / service will stop my buying decisions?

a) YES UPTO 15% - 35%

b) YES UPTO 50% - 75%

c) YES UPTO 100%

d) NO

18) Did you change your perception about a product / services because of

social media marketing than compared to Traditional marketing?

a) YES

b) NO

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19) Do you think social media marketing helpful for today’s businesses for

huge customer engagement?

a) YES

b) NO

20) Now a day’s Social media Marketing is making businesses easy to find

their target audience.

a) YES / AGREE

b) NO / DISAGREE

c) MAY BE

d) I DON’T THINK SO

21) Social Media Marketing is the reason for engagement of customers with

their favorite Brand/Product

a) YES

b) NO

22) Promotional E-mails sent daily are been reason to get enough attention to buy

the product/service

a) YES

b) NO

23) Active Social Media Promotion and every day content sustains customers

for long time

a) YES

b) NO

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24) Social Media marketing engage more customers than traditional Marketing

a) AGREE/YES

b) DISAGREE/NO

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