Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Purchase Decisions: A Case Study of Wesfarmers

This research project investigates the influence of social media marketing on consumer purchase decisions, focusing on the Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers. The study aims to understand how social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram impact consumer behavior and contribute to Wesfarmers' success. Through a literature review and data analysis, the project explores the relationship between social media marketing strategies and consumer buying decisions, highlighting the role of social media in shaping brand perception, product awareness, and ultimately, purchase intent. The findings provide insights into the effectiveness of social media marketing for businesses like Wesfarmers and offer recommendations for optimizing their strategies.

Central Queensland University, Australia
Melbourne Campus
Term – BUSN20019(HT2, 2017)PROFESSIONAL PROJECT
Unit Coordinator:
Lecturer:
Assessment 1: Project context and proposal
Title:
Prepared by:
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Assessment 1 Step 2 - Project Proposal
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Contents
Research title...................................................................................................................................4
Research aim:...................................................................................................................................4
Research question:...........................................................................................................................4
Research plan:................................................................................................................................10
Data collection methods............................................................................................................10
Data analysis:.............................................................................................................................10
Action plan:...............................................................................................................................12
Gantt chart:................................................................................................................................14
Reference list.................................................................................................................................15
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Research title: Impact of social media marketing in consumer purchase decision
Research aim:
The aim of this research project is to examine the impact of the social media network on the
customer buying decisions and also examining the manner in which it plays a mediating role in
purchasing behavior in the context of Wesfarmers.
Research question:
Question No.1: What is the impact of using social media marketing in consumer buying
decisions in context of Wesfarmers?
Dependent variable: Consumer purchase decision
Independent variable: Social media marketing
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Literature review
According to Hajli (2014), Social media marketing is an essential tool in the contemporary
business management. Social media marketing is a new concept which is adopted by every
business organization irrespective of its size, nature, and structure. Social media has offered the
customers new opportunities to participate in social communication on the internet. Customers
utilize social media, such as online communities, to create content and to link with other
consumers. Social media does influence customer buying decision. According to Sprout Social,
74% of customers depend on social networks to monitor buying decisions. Today consumers are
self-directed they investigate the brand, product, and services through online medium. Social
commerce is a novel stream in e-commerce, which inspires the social communication of
customers through social media. Social media offers opportunities for companies to turn out to
be more eye-catching universally (Hajli, 2014).
According to Sultana & Momen (2017), Further to the argument above, a company’s presence on
social media has a noteworthy impact on buying behavior.With the increase in social networks
like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. content creation has developed, where consumers can
share information and experiences effortlessly with other consumers. With a strong feed,
companies will characteristically be capable to fascinate more followers, which is another
important element in driving buying decisions. Seeing a great amount of followers tells
dissimilar individuals that others are attentive to the product, interested in their posts, and
pleased with their merchandises. Its simple calculation: lots of followers +Cool posts = higher
probability of buying. Wesfarmers is one of the leading companies in Australia which is listed
and recognized by the AUX board. It has various business opinions ranging from liquor,
supermarkets, convenience stores and hotels, office supplies, department stores, home
improvement, and an industrials separation with dealings in energy, chemicals, fertilizers, and
coal and safety products. The company is using social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn
to attract and influence the consumer buying decisions (Sultana & Momen, 2017).
According to Duffett (2017), Companies utilizing social media posts linking to offers, events,
images etc. influences customers purchasing decisions. Every image, blog post, comment or,
video posted by the businesses on the social networking stages gives chances to consumers to
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react, and every response leads the potential purchaser to the site visit. This helps in impacting
the buying or purchasing decisions of the consumers. According to Forbes, 78% of respondents
said that businesses' social media posts influence their buying. Online forums and communities
are miscellaneous in nature they expose customers to express their sentiments, ideas, and
viewpoints. According to Knowledge Networks, 15,100,000 customers go to social media
stations before making buying decisions. According to Mashable, 44% of locomotive customers
conduct an investigation on forums. Social media can highly influence customer procurement
decision. Effective and efficient utilization of social media can improve lead conversion
exertions by impacting customers buying choices (Duffett, 2017).
Figure: Wesfarmers uses Twitter and Instagram to do social media marketing
Source: (Wesfarmers, 2018).
According to Barker (2017), placing an advertisement on social media has turned out to be
simple to set up and yet targeting consumers have become considerably more exhaustive.
Wesfarmers is one of the famous Australian companies which are using social media marketing
to influence consumer buying decisions. Wesfarmers managing director Richard Goyder has
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come to be the latest chief executive to personally connect to twitter. Wesfarmers’ online profits
are set to pass the $1 billion spot next year as the company steps up stress on its non-retail and
retail divisions to improve their digital tactics. Wesfarmers are using social media marketing not
only to influence the consumers buying decisions but to build loyalty and purchaser engagement.
Hence, social media marketing is an essential business component (Barker, S. (2017).
Figure: Effective performances in the year 2017 due to effective social media marketing
Source: (Wesfarmers, 2017).
According to Jiménez-Zarco, et. al. (2017), Social media, as a new factor, has advanced the
purchasing behavior of the consumers wherein the purchasing attitudes are not influenced merely
by the old-style channels but spread to the online platforms. In the context of the Wesfarmers,
the wealth and adding values of the company for the year 2017 have significantly increased; this
increase in the performance is due to social media marketing. Social media marketing is an
essential business tool which helps in building a global image of the company. In addition to this,
social media marketing helps in framing new ideas and innovation strategies which helps in
accomplishing better business performances (Jiménez-Zarco, et. al., 2017).
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Figure: Share price movement due to social media marketing
Source: (Wesfarmers, 2016).
According to Singh (2017), Social media marketing helps in increasing the profits and sales of
the company as there is a direct relationship among social media marketing and sales of the
company. Social media platforms provide the consumers with all the information which is
required by them before buying the product. Social media marketing gives a better insight to the
consumer regarding the products and pushes them to buy new products which are offered by the
company. The share price of the Wesfarmers is continuously increasing due to social media
marketing. Using social media helps in attracting consumers towards the company from the
various parts of the world. One of the main problems which are associated with social media
marketing is the privacy and trust issue but these issues can be solved by taking the effective
security measures. Social media marketing is essential for the growth and success of the business
(Singh, 2017).
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From the above literature, it is clear that social media marketing influence the business decisions
taken by the consumers and it is important to incorporate social media marketing in the current
business atmosphere so that organizational goals can be accomplished effectively and efficiently.
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Research plan:
Data collection methods
A data collection method refers to an act of accumulating and using the data in an organized
manner. The data collection methods are basically of two types primary data collection methods
and secondary data collection methods. This research is developed by using secondary methods
of data collection.
Data method
Secondary data is not the fresh data or it is the data which is already used. The main source of
secondary source of data is journals, article, pdf, and websites of governing, near. The secondary
sources of data are used to make the research more authentic and realistic. In this research study,
the method chosen for gathering the information regarding the research topic is secondary data.
The data regarding the Wesfarmers is accumulated through its official website and financial data
like the share of the company, its market price, and relevant data is accumulated through the
ASX websites.
These sources cost effective as compared to the primary method of data collection. Secondary
sources of data are already studied and investigated by the other researchers so they are a better
source of data as compared to the primary sources fo data.
Data analysis:
Data analysis is used to examine the data so that clear conclusion can be drawn from this
investigation. Analyzing data in an appropriate manner is essential for making the research more
understandable and clear to the reader. The data used in this research project is analyzed by
doing ANOVA test. ANOVA test helps in knowing the exact influence of the social media
marketing on the consumers on Wesfarmers (Sohangir, et. al., 2018).
H1: Discuss the impact of using social media marketing in consumer buying decisions in the
context of Wesfarmers?
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Sum of
square
df Mean
square
F Sig.
Do you agree that social
media marketing has the
potential to affect your
behavior?
Between
group
.041 1 .041 .026 .871
Within
group
85.222 55 1.549
Total 85.263 56
Are you satisfied with the
Wesfarmers social media
marketing?
Between
group
.005 1 .005 .003 .956
Within
group
93.925 55 1.708
Total 93.930 56
Do you agree that you have
been accessing social
media sites from seeking
opinions concerning
products and services?
Between
group
.777 1 .777 .636 .429
Within
group
67.258 55 1.223
Total 68.035 56
Are you liable to gain
larger information on social
Between
group
3.369 1 3.369 2.236 .141
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media marketing in
comparison to other
channels?
Within
group
82.877 55 1.507
Total 86.246 56
Have you been referring to
the opinions of experts on
social media sites before
purchasing services and
product?
Between
group
1.337 1 1.337 1.102 .298
Within
group
66.698 55 1.213
Total 68.035 56
From the above ANOVA test shows that null hypothesis is recognized for all of the variables
which are relevant to the consumer behavior. This means that social media marketing helps the
Wesfarmers to earn more profit and sales. In addition to this, the analysis reflects that all the
consumers are using social media websites for getting opinions regarding products and services.
Further, customers are capable to gain greater information on social media marketing in contrast
to other channels. Hence, it can be said that social media marketing influence the buying or
purchasing behavior of the consumers.
Action plan:
Activities Details Initial data Completion date Time duration
(in days)
A Identification of the research
theme
April 01, 2018 April 02, 2018 2 days
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B Assembling ground
information
April 03, 2018 April 04, 2018 2 days
C Data collection April 05, 2018 April 06, 2018 4 days
D Analysis of data April 07, 2018 April 08, 2018 3 days
E Evaluation of data 09 April, 2018 10 April, 2018 2 days
F Conclusion and
recommendation of research
April 11, 2018 April 15, 2018 5 days
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Gantt chart:
APRIL
Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
A
B
C
D
E
F
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Reference list
1. Barker, S. (2017). How Social Media Is Influencing Purchase Decisions. Social Media Week.
2. Duffett, R. G. (2017). Influence of social media marketing communications on young
consumers’ attitudes. Young Consumers, 18(1), 19-39.
3. Hajli, M. N. (2014). A study of the impact of social media on consumers. International Journal
of Market Research, 56(3), 387-404.
4. Jiménez-Zarco, A. I., Rospigliosi, A., Martínez-Ruiz, M. P., & Izquierdo-Yusta, A. (2017).
Marketing 4.0: Enhancing Consumer-Brand Engagement. Socio-Economic Perspectives on
Consumer Engagement and Buying Behavior, 94.
5. Singh, D. K. (2017). Social media marketing. From The Desk of HOD, 8(1), 35.
6. Sohangir, S., Wang, D., Pomeranets, A., & Khoshgoftaar, T. M. (2018). Big Data: Deep
Learning for financial sentiment analysis. Journal of Big Data, 5(1), 3.
7. Sultana, S., & Momen, A. (2017). Determinants of the use of social networking sites: Example
of a South Asian state. Middle East Journal of Business, 12(1), 38-46.
8. Wesfarmers, (2016). Annual Report [Online] Wesfarmers, Available At:
tps://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/reports/2016-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=4
[Accessed on : 17/04/2018].
9. Wesfarmers, (2017). Annual Report [Online] Wesfarmers, Available At:
http://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/reports/j000901-ar17_interactive_final.pdf?
sfvrsn=4 [Accessed on : 17/04/2018].
10. Wesfarmers, (2018). Wesfarmers is a leading Australian Company [Online] Wesfarmers,
Available At: http://www.wesfarmers.com.au/ [Accessed on : 17/04/2018].
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