Influence of Advertisement on Purchasing Power - A Case Study on The Body Shop

This research proposal aims to investigate the impact of advertisement and promotional activities on consumer purchasing power, focusing on The Body Shop. By analyzing consumer behavior and advertising strategies, the study seeks to provide valuable insights for marketers.

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Research proposal
To determine the influence of advertisement and promotional activities on the
purchasing power of customers. A case study on Mark and Spencer.
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the research.............................................................................................................3
Research Aim...................................................................................................................................4
Research Objectives.........................................................................................................................4
Research questions...........................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Research methodology.....................................................................................................................7
Expected outcomes, significance or rationale of the research.........................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
A consumer is a person who always uses and buys products. They play an important role in the
economic system of a nation as well as keep moving the production cycle of the company.
Consumers demand different products based on their preferences or taste: consciousness of good
influences consumers purchase of that good. Taste and preferences of people get changed
overtime but advertisements also play a critical role in affecting customers’ needs and choices.
In this modern era, advertising is all about publicity of products or services at the mass level
(Solomon, et. al., 2014). An effective advertisement and promotion include generating awareness
among people towards the benefits and uses of a specific product or service. By doing this, firms
will be able to satisfy the needs of its target audiences and in turns increasing sales or profit
margins. Advertisement or promotional can be done through different media channels such as –
television, radio, newspapers, websites, magazines and billboards. Nowadays, companies also
tend to acquire online advertisements or promotional via social media sites with an aim to reach
a large group of target audiences. Basically, advertisement fulfils the three main objectives of a
company, such as – to guarantee consumers a great deal of service, raising sales of the firm and
finally ensuring the economic and social welfare of society.
Henceforth, the prime goal of this research is to find out the impact of advertisements on
consumer buying behaviour. As stated above that effective advertisements hinder to develop an
intrinsic quality of cosmetic products. For this entire discussion, certain aims and objectives will
be developed in order to assess the advertising through attitudinal buying behaviour consumer
and analyze the influence of advertising through buying behaviour consumer.
Background of the research
The advertisement had been a major area of concern since centuries, but after the 20th century,
the subject was not important as it seems now. The reason behind this, economist were indulged
in creating the perfect theory for a competitive market. According to this theory, by having
overall information about market marketers can fix customers' preferences for their commodities
that are homogenous in nature. After digitalization, advertising then becomes the vital area for
research, economists were started to study various fundamentals or principles of marketing
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(Malik and Gupta, 2014). In this market, they believed that advertising helps to provide in-depth
information about customers’ wants or expectations as well as also alter one’s demands for
another.
This research project is based upon The Body Shop which is a British multinational retailer of
cosmetics, skincare and perfume company; the organisation was founded in 1976. Presently, The
Body Shop is having a wide range, i.e. 1000 products which are sold in over owned and
franchised store located in 70 countries approximately. Furthermore, the overall revenue of the
company is US$ 1.4 billion; in order to maintain its success, the brand is focusing on doing
attractive advertisements or promotions so as to attain and retain customers for a long run. In this
modern era, several changes are rapidly occurring in the cosmetic industry thus by doing
effective advertisements the business organisations can easily attract people for the long run.
Research Aim - To determine the influence of advertisement and promotional activities on the
purchasing power of customers. A case study on The Body Shop.
Research Objectives - The study was guided by the following specific objectives
 To study the impact of advertisement or promotion on increasing the firm's sales and
profitability.
 To determine the factors which affect consumers’ purchasing power.
 To identify the role of advertisements and promotional in generating consumer
awareness.
Research questions – The study was guided by the following research questions
 What is the impact of advertisements or promotional on increasing sales and profitability
of Mark and Spencer?
 What are the factors which may affect consumers’ purchasing power?
 What is the role of advertisements and promotion on generating awareness among
customers?
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Literature review
The second chapter of the research project is literature review which entails a critical analysis
and integration of required information or data from various sources. It fulfils the gap between
literature and increases possibilities for future research. In addition to this, a literature review is a
theoretical framework for the given research problem or topic. Following is given literature
review in order to address above stated research questions, such as –
Impact of advertisements or promotional on increasing sales and profitability of The Body
shop.
According to Sen, (2014) due to globalisation, business organisations tend to acquire new and
innovative technologies in order to reach a wide range of target audiences. In this relation, they
are also focusing on making attractive advertisements and promotional channels that directly
affect firms' revenues or profitability. Advertisement and promotion are the key factors of a
business organisation as they strengthen the marketing strategy of the company. Many
multinational business organisations organise advertisement and promotional campaigns in order
to build up strong brand recognition and taking measures to ensure long-term success. As a
multinational retailer of cosmetic products and services, The Body Shop is also focusing on
making attractive advertisements; it helps the organisation to attain and retain customers at the
marketplace. Basically, advertisements help the company to let people know about the brand and
its new offerings. It increases willingness among people as they buy new products and services
provided by the company. In addition to this, advertisements are also responsible for improving
brand reputation as it directly influences the profit margins of the company. So that while
purchasing products and services of the company buyers feels safe and secure.
With the viewpoint of Jung, et. al., (2016) advertising and promotion enable provide strong
interaction with target audiences which assist marketers to recognize their needs and wants
inefficient manner. Here, it would be better to say that advertisements are full of information
about upcoming products, prices, quality, features and so on because businesses spend more and
more on the same. It stimulates demands of goods by continuously reminding potential
customers about the availability of products at the marketplace. Advertisements generate a large
market segment for business organisations which aids them to obtain a high competitive edge. In
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this modern era, The Body Shop uses several online advertisements on social media sites, i.e.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube with an aim to attain and retain a wide range of
client base. Still, most of the people spend time watching television, so that advertisements on
TV are beneficial for people who are unable to access the internet. It assists people to get know
about new products and innovations over the society. All these attributes contribute in attaining
customers towards The Body Shop which helps in increasing sales and profitability of the
company as well as also improvise global market presence in a certain time period.
Factors that may affect consumers’ purchasing power.
Below is given certain factors that may affect the purchasing power of customers, such as –
Cultural factors – These elements exert an in-depth or board influence on individuals' behaviour
which encompasses with the role of cultural, social class, values, and beliefs etc. of buyers. Each
cultural contains some sort of subcultural or a group of folks by having some shared value
systems that are based upon common life experience of people. Here, subcultural involves
religions, racial groups, geographic regions and nationalities.
Social factors – According to … consumers’ behaviour is also influenced by various social
factors, i.e. smaller groups, families, social role and status. An individual’s social class
represents that what he or she do with money. Consumption ability or choice signifies a person's
position in the social environment. Social classes vary in costumes, language patterns and many
other activities and preferences (Drossos, et. al., 2014). Thus, a high-class person always wishes
to qualitative and value-added products; they do not worry about its price and all. Beside this, a
middle-class person looks for affordable products which can satisfy their basic needs or wants.
Personal factors –Customers’ decisions are also influenced by certain personality traits, such as –
age, occupation, lifecycle stage, economic situation, personality, and lifestyle and so on. It has
been overviewed that people change their needs and wants as per the changes in their lifestyles.
For example – the income level of the person influence him or her to purchase commodities.
Psychological factors – Motivation, attitude and perception are the main psychological factors
that affect buying behaviour of a person. In which, motivation is a driving force among people
that implies them to make purchasing decisions. On the other hand, perception is a process that
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enables customers to select, interpret and organise information by making sense over the world.
Attitude or behaviour of a person also responsible for purchasing a specific thing or product.
Role of advertisement and promotions to generate consumer awareness
The prime role of advertisements or promotional campaigns is to generate awareness among
people towards the products or services of the company. Awareness towards a specific product
can be created by highlighting its unique feature or quality as how the new products will be able
to satisfy customers' needs or wants in a best possible manner. Due to fierce market competition,
generating awareness is not only enough keeping that thought in mind is essential for achieving a
high competitive edge. By seeing or watching various advertisements customers' will able to
know about a new brand as it highly influences their purchasing decision in a direct and indirect
manner (Hasan, 2016). Furthermore, advertisements and promotional campaigns establish strong
communication and link between marketers with their customers. It’s an active attempt to hinder
individuals to action. Advertisements are a crucial part of the promotional mix of the company
which highly influence sales revenues of the company. Together with the brand or products,
price, distribution channel and personal selling; it emphasis on accomplishing marketing
objectives of the company in an effective manner. In addition to this, the prime role of
advertisement is to attain and retain customers' for these companies always trying to provide
brief information about its new offerings which contribute to generating awareness among them.
Research methodology
The chapter signifies the description of study area and technique which will employ in the data
collection process. Research methodologies include sampling processes and criteria to choose
specific study area. It also covers up the tools of data collection, data processing, assessing and
interpretation.
Research design – The study has employed two main types of research designs, such as –
qualitative and quantitative. In which qualitative research design is the method that provides in-
depth or brief information towards the given area of consideration; it is a type of exploratory
research that emphasis on observing human behaviour or attitude. On the other hand, quantitative
research design enables to provide statistical or logical information that is based upon numerical
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data or information (ur Rehman, et. al., 2014). In order to maximise the quality of data,
amalgamation of both qualitative and quantitative research has opted because it assists the
investigator to become more comprehensive due to statistical analysis together with observation,
graphical interpretation and questionnaire.
Sources of data – There are two types of sources of data collection, such as – primary data
sources and secondary data sources. Primary methods of data collection are – questionnaire,
interviews, observation and focus groups etc. which supports researcher to obtain fresh and one
hand information as well as also helpful in future studies. Apart from this, secondary data
sources consist of already gathered information by other authors and hence it is stored in
newspapers, articles, books, journals, websites and research reports. Basically, secondary data is
used on the subject matter to determine what they say about the impact of advertising on the
buying behaviour of customers. For completion of this research, primary data collection
methods are being used which helps the investigator to obtain necessary data and information in
a certain time period.
Data collection methods – after analysing the sources of data collection it is essential for the
researcher to choose an appropriate method for data collection. For completion of this study, the
researcher has selected primary data collection methods thus to obtain fresh information which
helps him to reach a better conclusion. Primary data collection methods, i.e. questionnaire; it
brings the piece of information elicited from participants. In this procedure, the researcher
formulates certain questions and hand over them to customers thus to gather required
information. Here, the main aim of these questions is to eliciting relevant information which
signifies the impact of advertising on the purchasing behaviour of customers. Furthermore,
questionnaires were administered to respondents with the assurance of confidentiality,
anonymity and convenience.
Sample and sampling techniques – A sample size has been chosen for grabbing relevant
information or data. There are two types of sampling techniques are taken into account for this
report, such as – purposive sampling and random sampling. In which purposive sampling is
acquired to gather information from key persons, such as – managers, marketing executives etc.
besides this random sampling is acquired to choose participants between regular customers of
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The Body Shop. It provides equal chances to the researcher to study the response of all samples
as well as reduces biases in the sampling process (Stephen, 2016). Furthermore, a sample size of
80 respondents in total is chosen as it is enough to represent the viewpoint of the entire
population.
Limitations of the study – The researcher has faced several constraints while completion of this
study in which time and cost are two important constraints. Sufficient time was required to
complete this research as per the academic Alamance of the university because a short time
period was provided to complete this entire research. Apart from this, the researcher wasn't
having appropriate money which it can spend on the completion of all activities and tasks. To
identify these issues researcher had to manage the time consumed in data collection process by
using questionnaire. It leads he cannot obtain more information from respondents in the required
manner. Furthermore, to resolve the financial constraint the researcher had to hire different
people for collection and interpret information separately.
Expected outcomes, significance or rationale of the research
The present research is conducted to determine the impact of an advertisement or promotional
channels on consumer buying behaviour. Thus, it is expected that the study will define the
reasons or factors that may affect the purchasing power of customers thus marketers can
understanding it positively as well as consider the same while introducing any product or service.
In addition to this, findings of the research paper enable the researcher to make necessary
modifications in marketing and advertising strategy of The Body Shop which assists the
company to accomplish its goals and objectives in the required manner.
Along with this, the research is beneficial for an organisation who deals in the manufacturing
sector by telling them that effective advertisements or promotions can help them to attain a wide
range of client base. It signifies that while developing a marketing plan, marketers must focus on
identifying certain factors that may affect consumer buying behaviour in a direct and indirect
manner.
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References
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