Developing Social media marketing Strategy to Retain Existing Customers and Gain New Customers: A Case Study of Shamiana Cuisines of India

This research project is about to develop a strategy to retain customer and gain new customer at Shamiana Cousins of India. This research project investigates the problems regarding retain customers at Shamiana cousins of India and find a possible solution for retaining customers and gain new customers via implement a social media strategy and digital media strategy.

Professional Research Project
on
Developing Social media marketing Strategy to
Retain Existing Customers and Gain New
Customers: A Case Study of Shamiana Cuisines
of India

Abstract: Project title: Developing Marketing Strategy to Retain Existing Customers and Gain
New Customers: A Case Study of Shamiana Cuisines of India by Manish Kumar Airy. Major:
Graduate Diploma in Sales and Marketing. Academic supervisor: Beverly Taylor.
This research project is about to develop a strategy to retain customer and gain new customer
at Shamiana Cousins of India. This research project investigates the problems regarding retain
customers at Shamiana cousins of India and find a possible solution for retaining customers and
gain new customers via implement a social media strategy and digital media strategy. In this
manner, the current professional project during the graduate diploma of sales and marketing
aims to assess the role of social media marketing strategies to retain and attract customers in
the restaurant sector. The selected restaurant is famous for Indian food and this purpose; the
qualitative study has been conducted where the managers of the small restaurant have been
selected for collecting the primary data via interview method and rest of all data were collected
through secondary research. Furthermore, the outcome of the study shows that the corporation
can use appropriate strategies related to the same to generate the optimum outcome. It also
suggested that business should use social media strategies such as loyalty program, feedback
review and addition of new media to provide a continuous update for buyers. It would help in
retaining the existing customers and attract the new customers at Shamiana cousins of India.

Acknowledgement
I want to convey thanks to my professor, tutor and family member for their extreme support.
During the journey of this research, I also found valuable support from my friends and family
members, which made it possible for me to collect the data. I could not have done it without the
support and help provided by professor, tutor and other people. Thus, gratitude towards all
those who directly or indirectly supported me and made it possible for me to provide the
research on time.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background........................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Research aim and objectives.............................................................................................2
1.3 Rationale of study.............................................................................................................. 3
Chapter 2: Theoretical review......................................................................................................4
2.1 Customer retention for Shamiana Cuisines of India...........................................................4
2.2 Marketing strategies applied for customer retention...........................................................5
2.3 Role of social media marketing strategies..........................................................................6
Chapter 3: Methodology.............................................................................................................. 8
3.1 Type of study..................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Research design................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 Sampling............................................................................................................................ 9
3.4 Data collection................................................................................................................... 9
3.5 Data analysis..................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 4: Results..................................................................................................................... 11
4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Results............................................................................................................................. 11
Chapter 5: Analysis................................................................................................................ of 12
5.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations........................................................................15
6.1 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 15
6.2 Recommendations...........................................................................................................15
Chapter 7: Implementation plan.................................................................................................17
7.1 Clear goals....................................................................................................................... 17
7.2 Implementation of strategy for each goal.........................................................................17

7.3 Resources (Human and financial) and risk.......................................................................17
7.4 Timeline........................................................................................................................... 18
7.5 Discussion of the plan......................................................................................................18
8.0 References.......................................................................................................................... 19
9.0 Appendix- Questionnaire.....................................................................................................22
List of figures
Figure 1: Internal factor; SWOT analysis of the business............................................................3
List of tables
Table 1: PESTLE Analysis of the business..................................................................................3

Topic- To develop a social and digital media to retain existing customers and gain new
customers in Shamiana Cuisinesof India (Chartwell, Hamilton, New Zealand)
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
Social media marketing strategy plays a vital role to approach the mass of the population
in relatively less time (Ismail & Safrana, 2015). This demands businesses to have adequate
technological infrastructure and skilled personnel who can adequately handle the task related to
the promotion of the products and services. However, the selection of an appropriate marketing
strategy has a positive impact on customer satisfaction, which further enhances the loyalty
towards the organization. In this context, a relationship takes place between marketing
strategies and retention because it is a way to influence the existing as well as new customers
to attempt the repetitive actions in the context of buying (Kumar, 2010). Moreover, customer
retention is essential for the success and expansion of the businesses because consumers are
the king of the market who decides the success and failure by considering the quality and fast
delivery of products (Sashi, 2012). However, businesses require extensive efforts to get the
update from customers and modify the current products and services to increase their overall
satisfaction level. (Onsongo, 2016). Hence, customer satisfaction is the key to customer
retention, which is led by quantity, quality and pricing of the products and services.
Different marketing strategies such as personalized, digital, loyalty programs, physical
marketing etc. are used by companies to influence the customers which shape the appropriate
response of the buyers (Khan, 2012; Ismail & Safrana, 2015). In this context, digital and social
media marketing is the practical approach in the current competitive environment because the
current generation highly relies on the technologies and spends enormous time on social media.
Here, the marketing strategies are formulated in light of the external environment which is
created by the elements that are uncontrollable to an organization (Ibojo, 2015). In such a
complex and competitive environment, businesses focus more on integrated marketing instead
of relying on a single marketing strategy. This tends to consume enormous resources and time
of the management. In this regard, the hospitality sector is focusing on improving the ratio of
sales by using different marketing strategies where customers find it interesting to access a
particular brand and buy the specific products and services (Hill & Alexander, 2017). In the
contemporary competition, customers are the most critical pillars in companies’ activities where
the positive relationship of the business has become an essential aspect to derive the ultimate
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outcome (Hanif, Hafeez & Riaz, 2010). Owing to this, in the current competitive era, the
organizations are emphasizing on the use of digital marketing as social media to enhance the
loyalty of customers. Additionally, the companies add an option to take feedback from the
customers in both negative and positive aspects of social media marketing. Accordingly, the
organizations amend the quality of products and emphasize on the delivery of the expected
products to achieve the customer retentions.
The study was done under the guidance of Beverly Taylor by selecting the Shamiana
cousins of India and this restaurant is located in Chartwell shopping Centre in Hamilton New
Zealand. In this context, the current study is based on the Shamiana Cuisine of Indian, which
offers a variety of food products and services. The internal operation of the business is working
well, but its marketing approach is traditional, which affect the strategy of the business to attract
customers. However, the external reputation of the business is up to the mark since it offers the
quality of food, but the company is unable to extend the range of products and services due to
lack of right feedback from the customers. Owing to this, the competitive edge of the business is
poor whereby the application if current marketing strategies like social media can aid business
in improving the overall performance with the increased rate of return (refer table 1).
The internal and external factors of the business are mentioned as follows which reflects
the present situation of the business-
2

Figure 1: Internal factor; SWOT analysis of the business
Table 1: PESTLE Analysis of the business
Factors Impact
Political Changes in the political policies, Tax reforms
Economic Economic stability and moderate recession
Social Willingness to spend, outdine habit, good
education level
Technological Technological infrastructure, government
support, innovation
Legal Strict regulations related to employment,
technlolgical privacy
Environmental Increasing waste, CO2 emission
1.2 Research aim and objectives
Aim
To assess the role of the social media marketing strategy for retaining and attracting
customers. A case study on Shamiana Cuisines of India (Chartwell, Hamilton, New Zealand)
3
Strenghts
Good quality of food
Effective management structure
Weakenesses
Traditional markeitng channels
Lack of digital presence
Opporutinities
Enhancing skills of workforce to operate
digital mode of communication
Offering new products and services
Threats
High competiiton
Resistance to chnage from employees
SWOT analysis

Research questions- How to retain existing customers and gain new customers for Shamiana
Cuisines of India (Chartwell, Hamilton, NewZealand)
Objectives
 To assess the role of customer retention for Shamiana Cuisines of India
 To critically identify and evaluate different marketing strategies applied for customer
retention
 To assess the role of the social media marketing strategy for Shamiana Cuisines of India
 To provide recommendations for the selection of appropriate social media marketing
strategy for escalation of customer satisfaction
1.3 Rationale of the study
An effective marketing strategy is supportive of the management of customer
relationship, which helps to retain existing customers and gain new clients (Khan, 2012; Ismail &
Safrana, 2015). In this context, the rationale behind the selection of the current study is to
develop a marketing strategy to retain the existing customer and also create new consumers in
the context of Shamiana Cuisines of India which is essential to understand the significance of
marketing approaches. Here, it is necessary to evaluate different marketing strategies which
affect customer retention and makes an impact on the development of the business. However,
many studies have been done on the development of marketing strategies, but fewer studies
emphasize on the use of social media marketing strategy in attracting and retaining the
customers in the hospitality sector. Also, the constant issue of poor service quality,
dissatisfaction with the menu and low customer volume in the Shamiana Cuisine affect the
success of the business. Owing to this, it is essential for a corporation to find a suitable
marketing strategy whereby business can get insight from the customers and accordingly adopt
the effective approach to retain them. For this purpose, the current study is critical and has a
significant impact on the success of the restaurants like Shamina, which suffers from the issue
related to customer retention and sales turnover.
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Chapter 2: Theoretical review
2.1 Customer retention for Shamiana Cuisines of India
According to Hennig-Thurau and Hansen (2013), customer retention is an important
aspect for the growth and success of the organizations because it helps to enhance the
customer satisfaction towards the firm. In this context, Ismail and Safrana (2015) asserted that
customer retention improves the lifetime value of customers and boost the revenue of the
organizations because the consumers remain engaged with the specified firm. However, Hanif
et al. (2010) argued that customer retentions are not earned manually; therefore, it needs to
cater the consumers effectively to gain consumer satisfaction. Further, Hill and Alexander
(2017) notified that the brand value of the firm is created by the ratio of customer retentions and
satisfaction in which higher satisfaction level makes the positive impact on the brand value and
lower satisfaction reduces the rate of retentions which further affects the brand value of the
company. Moreover, Khan (2012) mentioned that customer retention is not a mere aspect for
the firms even it helps to develop customer loyalty by using the post sales services and creates
a beneficial impact on the success of the brand. Thus, it shows that customer retention required
to manage an equilibrium between company and customers because it affects the brand image.
Furthermore, it creates positive relations with the company as well as build brand loyalty.
Several studies revealed that customer retention is the inner feeling and willingness of
the clients to maintain the relations with the firm, products and services (Khan, 2012, p.106;
Sheng, & Teo, 2012; Khan, 2012). In this context, Ismail and Safrana (2015) stated that positive
inner feeling arises through the satisfaction level of customers by products or services because
it boosts the morale of the consumers to stay committed towards the firm. Further, Onsongo
(2016) examined that retention is the activity which helps to reduce the client’s defections and
further helps to attract and retain the best clients, making clients to procure in higher quantity
and supports to the profitability of the firm. However, Ibojo (2015) delineated that retention of the
best client is managed by offering a variety of services along with extra benefits, which
increases the cost burden on the companies. On the contrary, Mohsan, Nawaz, Khan, Shaukat
and Aslam (2011) mentioned that the increased cost of extra benefits for customer retentions is
covered by the profits which earned through customers loyalty and engagement. Hence, it
shows that customer retention is difficult to maintain because it demands the higher expenditure
on extra activities to retain; however, it is supportive of enhancing the overall profitability of the
firm in terms of loyalty, brand image, more top selling etc.
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2.2 Marketing strategies applied for customer retention
Few studies delineated that there are variety of marketing strategies such as digital
marketing, social media marketing, physical marketing, loyalty programs, premiums and gifts
vouchers, seasonal discounting etc. which are used for the effective marketing of the companies
to achieve competitive advantages (Kwon & Kim, 2012; Liu, Guo & Lee, 2011). In this context,
Wertime and Fenwick (2011) asserted that digital media marketing is one of the essential
techniques in the current business era because people spend excessive time over the internet
which helps to make customers updated towards the brand. However, Liu et al. (2011) argued
that digital marketing includes the variety of sources out of which social media is effective
marketing strategy because of social media the way to connect with a large number of
consumers. Additionally, it helps to take the feedback from the clients, whatever positive or
negative; accordingly, the organizations deal with issues and focused on the satisfaction of the
customers to retain. However, Charlesworth (2014) argued that the application of digital
marketing demands the huge financial and human resources because of the entire settlement of
the online structure of marketing. Apart from this, Bayne and Ross (2011) asserted that online
marketing is applicable merely for the modern customers; however, traditional consumers
remain unaware regarding the changes in products and services in case of digital marketing. In
this context, Liu and et al. (2011) found that currently the communication companies charging
on the internet at a low rate which is influencing the people to use the internet overnight wherein
especially use the social accounts. Additionally, it frequently helps the people to be aware of
new brands through advertising on social accounts and encourage to buy the products.
Therefore, it reflects that digital marketing as a social media account is an appropriate tool for
the organizations to cater the online customers. Furthermore, close monitoring is possible
through online marketing tools because customers revert about the expectations and
satisfaction regarding products in feedback through social accounts.
Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler (2010) notified that physical marketing is suitable to attract and
retain all kind of customers because it provides the written information regarding the new
products and services in the form of pamphlets, newspaper ads, hoarding and another kind of
printed ads. Nonetheless, Pauwels and Neslin (2015) revealed that physical marketing
consumes excessive time and cost in comparison to digital marketing because it requires a
marketing expert to handle all the marketing activities. On the contrary, Liu et al. (2011)
mentioned that social media marketing is more appropriate than physical marketing because
social media creates a close relationship with consumers and effectively find out the pinpoints to
encourage the customers by asserting the expectations. However, Khan (2012) identified that
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offering of seasonal discounting, gifts and loyalty programs are helpful to retain the customers
because it influences the attractiveness of the buyers towards the firm in which consumers need
extra benefits on the bulk procurement. Apart from this, Liu et al. (2011) stated that relationship
marketing is helpful to build long-term relationships with customers rather than emphasizing on
the one-time sale. Similarly, Taleghani, Gilaninia and Mousavian (2011) asserted that
relationships marketing is closely related to fostering of customers loyalty by offering excellent
products and services in the competitive market. Nonetheless, Tuten and Solomon (2017)
pointed out that productive customer relationship takes place by the social platform such as
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. rather than relationship marketing because the current era is
based on digitalization.
Kwon and Kim (2012) revealed that personalized marketing is also a practical tool or
strategy to attract and retain the customers for the brand. Additionally, customized marketing
helps to accommodate the specific customers, individuals as per the segments. On the contrary,
Halimi, Chavosh and Choshalyc (2011) revealed that personalized marketing is not appropriate
for the small organizations because it demands the huge amount of cost to contact with
customers personally. In this context, Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) mentioned that personal
relationships maintained effectively by social media rather than own marketing because to
target the specific customers' social hangover is necessary. For example, to attract business
class consumers, LinkedIn is one of the appropriate strategies to connect with particular
segment customers. Nonetheless, Kwon and Kim (2012) stated that personalized marketing
develops loyalty among specific segmented customers because they have close interactions
with the seller. Thus, it indicates that customized marketing is helpful to retain the customers,
but it is only applicable for the specific segmented customers because the inclusion of all kind of
customers incurs the huge cost for the company. Furthermore, social media is also supportive
of attracting the different segment customers because it creates more connectivity among the
customers and sellers.
2.3 Role of social media marketing strategies
According to Kwon and Kim (2012), personalized marketing creates a positive impact on the
retention of customers because clients get direct contact with the sellers through
personalization. For this purpose, the use of effective social media strategies like Facebook and
Twitter can add value by creating the unique identity of the business. On the other hand, Shen
(2014) stated that personalized customers experience enhances loyalty towards the brand
because customers personally share the information with marketers in customized marketing.
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Besides this, Liu et al. (2011) notified that post-purchase loyalty programs are possible with the
help of social media marketing strategies wherein customers are offered an opportunity to
provide feedback. This facilitates business to get the view of buyers and accordingly make
changes in the internal business environment. Further, Dagger and David (2012) delineated that
the use of social media marketing makes it easier for business to interact with the buyers on the
continuous basis and enhance their satisfaction level by giving them timely update. On the other
hand, Khan (2012) asserted that loyalty programs are one of the critical aspects for the
organizations because it assists the business to retain the buyers and serve them for the longer
period to gain the positive outcome.
Apart from this, Omar, Alam, Aziz and Nazri (2011) mentioned that social media marketing
with the blend of several convenient tools make the marketing activities easier as it consumes
relatively less cost as well as time. This saved amount and time and invested in assessing the
requirement of customers through which business create a positive brand image with an
increased rate of return. This indicates that social media marketing facilitates to promote
personalized marketing where the company develops a healthy relationship with customers and
support them to get the desired products and services. It leads to create a positive brand image,
which in turn further enhances the sales turnover of the corporation.
Leung, Law, Van Hoof and Buhalis (2013) revealed that building and maintaining brand
loyalty is possible by social media marketing because currently, the people are more engaged
with different types of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Hangouts,
Skype etc. to connect with people. For example, the firm uses online marketing strategy by
posting the ads on Facebook and social media tools. Here, the customers become able to know
about the latest information regarding product and services by the internet and remain updated
on the sites by watching the ads. Accordingly, Andzulis, Panagopoulos and Rapp (2012) stated
that social media has huge impact on the customer engagement and retention; however, it
depends on what the marketers post on the online sites which is more likely to influence the
customers. On the other hand, Brooks and Simkin (2011) identified that physical marketing has
a positive impact on the customers' loyalty because of physical marketing focuses on the
offering of quality products and services.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
The chapter of research methodology provides information regarding the application of
methods and tests for the collection and analysis of data as follows-
3.1 Type of the study
According to Saunders (2011), a qualitative study is important to use in the research
because it provides a deep understanding of the research problem. However, quantitative study
is based on the use of differential mathematical tools and test such as t-test, chi-square,
regression etc. Furthermore, quantitative study demands for the skilled investigators who can
easily apply the tools whereas qualitative study requires the use of images, discussions,
symbols etc. which helps to interpret the data. In this context, a qualitative study has been used
in the current report to analyze the effects of lack of social media marketing of Shamiana
Cuisines of India because the firm has issues with digital marketing. Furthermore, the
researcher is allowed to use their ideas regarding the use of social media strategies to retain
existing customers and generates new customers. As per the information, the quantitative study
could not be used for the current study because it requires the facts and figures for the analysis,
which is difficult to measure in the case of Shamiana Cuisines. Hence, the application of the
qualitative study is justifiable.
3.2 Research design
Kumar (2019) propounded three types of research designs are used in the research
studies such as experimental, exploratory and descriptive designs. Here, descriptive designs
are a scientific approach which includes the observing and describing the behaviour of a subject
without influencing in any way. However, experimental design investigates and identifies
something new for the detailed analysis of the study (Maxwell, 2012). The exploratory design
does not have the purpose of offering the final results and conclusions of the study; however, it
widely explores the research topic with new insights (Creswell & Poth, 2017). However,
descriptive designs provide rich data set which often brings to light new knowledge that may
have gone unnoticed. In this manner, the descriptive design has been applied in the current
study because it creates awareness regarding the use of social media strategies for the
marketing of business which helps to enhance the number of customers. Therefore, the use of
descriptive design is justifiable.
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3.3 Sampling
Saunders (2011) stated that probability and non-probability sampling techniques are
used for the research studies to take the sample from the population. In this context, random,
stratified, cluster sampling lies under the category of probability sampling and purposive,
judgmental, convenience, snowball, self-selection are the segments of non-probabilistic
sampling techniques (Lyon, Mšllering & Saunders, 2015). Here, non-probabilistic purposive
sampling has been used in the current research because the study has a clear purpose of
identifying the issue of lack of social media marketing because Shamiana Cuisines is not using
digital marketing. furthermore, the firm is dealing with the problem related to the retention of
customers. For this purpose, one respondent as manager of Shamiana Cuisines has been
selected for the sample size by purposive sampling method because only the manager can
dictate the detail information regarding the effectiveness of social media strategy that it helps to
enhance the ratio of existing as well as new customers or not. Here, other respondents like
customers are not an application to respond to the use of social media for marketing. Thus, the
use of purposive sampling is appropriate for the study.
3.4 Data collection
Primary and secondary two types of method which are used for the data collection
relevant to the study (Kothari, 2004). Primary sources include the observation, interview, survey,
questionnaire etc. Nonetheless, secondary methods are like books, journals, literature review,
case studies etc. which are already used in earlier research studies. Here, in the current study,
both types of the method have been used to collect the data which provides the adequacy to the
entire investigation. Furthermore, primary has been gathered by the interview with the manager
of Shamiana because they have enough knowledge related to contemporary social media
marketing. Apart from this, secondary data has been collected from the literature review by
referring to the authentic sources relevant to the study. In this manner, the aggregate
information of both sources is required to analyze the drawbacks of Shamiana because the
restaurant is lacking in social media. Therefore, the application of both primary and secondary
data collection methods is justifiable.
3.5 Data analysis
The current study uses the qualitative data analysis method whereby the themes have
been prepared as per the collected information. In this context, the opinion or views offered by
the participant have been analyzed and the consistency of the outcome has been compared
with the secondary data. However, the application of quantitative data analysis approach is not
10

effective since the researcher considers the interview as the appropriate method. In this regard,
in-depth analysis is demanded where the application of several themes in the line of research
aim and objectives help in constructing the valid outcome. Therefore, the thematic analysis has
been applied for the current research.
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Chapter 4: Results
4.1 Introduction
Results chapter provides the outcome of the study by considering the responses of the
participants regarding the application of digital and social media marketing. Hence, the results of
the current study are as follows-
4.2 Results
Theme 1: Overview of the business of Shamiana Cuisines of India
The manager of Shamiana Cuisine stated that the Shamiana is a hospitality sector which
is offering the food services and to the customers. Further, in the interview manager said that
Shamiana provides a variety of Indian food in various countries. Furthermore, Shamiana has a
unique Indian taste and delivering the food products reasonably reasonable price. In the
interview, the manager also said that the company is using physical marketing strategies to
make relationships with final consumers.
Theme 2: Current as well as target customers of Shamiana Cuisines
In this interview, the manager said that current customers of the company are local
people, outsiders who come for the visit in the country, tours etc. so they need for the
accommodation and requires the Indian taste food. However, in the interview manager said that
Shamiana is focusing on global customers by developing a new digital marketing strategy which
helps to expand the business in all over the world.
Theme 3: Feedback collection method of Shamiana from the customers
The manager said in the interview that currently, Shamiana Cuisine is using the offline
feedback method to collect the data from customers regarding the services offered. Besides
this, the manager said that now Shamiana is trying to develop a social media strategy to take
the useful feedback from the overall customers.
Theme 4: Importance of social media and social media channel of Shamiana
The manager said in the interview that the current competitive environment demands the
social media strategy to connect with customers because digitalization is proliferating in the
businesses. However, the manager said that currently, Shamiana is lacking in digital media or
12

social media marketing and using the natural approach to communicate with customers. But the
manager said in the interview that now Shamiana has a plan to develop a new social media
channel to grab the entire hospitality consumers.
Theme 5: Inactive social media channel of Shamiana
The manager vocalized in the interview that currently, Shamiana does have a complete
active account on social media channels because of lack of digital platform.
Theme 6: Shamiana’s monitoring process of social media channels
In the interview, the manager said that the company does not have a robust social media
platform in the current environment and not update the menus on social sites. Apart from this,
the manager said that the company is using the physical formats to connect with the customers
which are continuously in the eye of the experts as well as the manager to cover the lacking
areas.
Theme 7: Action of Shamiana to deal with online customers’ feedback
The manager uttered in the interview from the existing online customers it has been
perceived that the customers are demanding for the secure social and digital platform to be
updated about the company.
Theme 8: Criteria of Shamiana to deal with negative feedback and services going to offer
in future
In this case, the manager said that the company is unable to respond to the online
comments because Shamiana does not regularly check the reviews on social channels.
However, the manager said that by developing the new social media strategy, the company
would be able to deal with the al positive and negative feedback of the customers. On the other
hand, the manager said that the company is going to offer new food services in the restaurants
and complete information on the social sites regarding updating the menus and welcoming
services.
Chapter 5: Analysis
5.1 Introduction
This section analyses the collected data and ensures the consistency of the outcome
with the theories or secondary information-
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As per the primary data, it has been found that by targeting the customers beyond the
national boundaries supports to create a unique identity in competitors. Similarly, it can be
analysed that the firm has a significant emphasis on the expansion of business by using the
new social media strategy. However, the business lacks it use but with the base of theories and
literature review, it derives the consistent outcome which reflects that social media marketing
can help business in increasing the population across the nations (Omar, Alam, Aziz and Nazri,
2011). Apart from this, as per the result of the interview, it was found that manual feedback
procedure create issue for the business to understand the insight of buyers. Though, Shamiana
updates the quality and do changes in the menu as per the expectations of consumers which
indicates that business consider it important to get the feedback of buyers. This outcome are
consists with the study of Bayne & Ross (2011) who mentioned that the feedback is the most
appropriate method to know about the quality of the products and services. However, literature
also entails that physical feedback tendency needs the extra time to manage the data, which
again leads to entire processing delays (Liu et al. (2011).
In the line of results, literature identified that social media helps to connect with a large
number of customers by online tracking (Andzulis et al., 2012). Although, Shamiana Cuisine
also found the need to update their marketing strategy where the application of internet
marketing or social media marketing strategy facilitate to derive the valid outcome. Similarly,
secondary sources also revealed that social media is the fastest channel to connect with
existing as well as new customers which further lead the sales of the business (Leung, Law,
Van Hoof and Buhalis, 2013; Andzulis, Panagopoulos and Rapp, 2012; Khan, 2012). It reflects
that primary and secondary outcome is consistent where the application of online mode of
communication is important in order to determine the growth and success of the business. On
the other hand, the primary data revealed that company is lacking the strong presence over the
Facebook account on which the changes can take place and by which most of the global
customers defeating to search about Shamiana Cuisines. It may affect the brand imae of the
business since the majority of the buyers use this mode of communication in order to find the
best cuisine and rate the same on the basis of their experience. Likewise, the literature
explained that unmanaged social accounts create a negative image in front of the customers
(Bayne & Ross, 2011). It shows that the consistent outcome where it has been found that lack
of social media marketing affect the growth of the business to a great extent.
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The result section shows that there is no need to check social channels due to a lack of
presence on the internet. Similarly, Charlesworth (2014) secondary sources revealed that lack
of social media channels does not demand the regular review of the sites because of already
availability of few responses on the websites. However, inability of the business to access the
effective online marketing is the key strength to cater the requirement of customers and satisfy
them in an effective manner (Halimi, Chavosh and Choshalyc, 2011; Pauwels and Neslin,
2015). Likewise, theory of Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) also presented that appropriate review of
social media account help in building good relationship with the business.
The literature of Leung et al. (2013) asserted that Facebook and Twitter are one of the
favourite social media channels to broaden the information about the company which further
helps to build inter-relationships with existing as well as new trendy consumers. It is because
social media allows the take the corrective actions for the issues which are being faced by the
customers. However, result section has shown that the Shamiana has taken action to
implement a new social media channel to connect with the customers and manage all online
stuff. This indicates the consistent outcome where the application of effective mode of
communication facilitates to derive the valid outcome. However, the outcome of primary
research reflected that business face issue in tackling the negative feedback since the
traditional marketing approach do not let them know the issues of buyers on the time. The
outcome of the result is consistent with the secondary research wherein Charlesworth (2014)
notified that offering of pop-up of seasonal discounts and deals on the sites and attractive foods
items of Indian taste supports to enhance the number of customers.
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations
6.1 Conclusion
Based on the analysis, it has been concluded that the first objective ‘The role of customer
retention for Shamiana Cuisines of India’ has been successfully achieved because
customers are the significant part of the business without them business is nothing and cannot
run in the future. Furthermore, customer retention supports to create loyalty towards the
company and enhance the sales volume. However, the company faces an issue in term of lack
of digital presence, which may affect its competitive edge in the marketplace. This harms overall
growth. It is because currently, the company uses a manual system to get the feedback of
customers and update their services. However, due to the time-consuming procedure,
customers face difficulties in offering feedback.
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On the other hand, it has been summarized that the second objective ‘Different
marketing strategies have been achieved effectively. Organizations use diversified marketing
strategies to retain customers and generate new customers. Apart from this, it has also been
concluding that the company is lacking at the digital platform and fulfilling the gap between
customers and Shamiana Cuisines, an active social media strategy has been developed to
communicate with current and potential customers. Owing to this, it can be said that current
marketing strategies may affect the overall growth of the business to a great extent since the
competition in the market is continuously increasing. Although the current marketing strategies
are helping the company to retain the buyers, it does not help in attracting more buyers and
updating the existing products and services as per their expectations.
The third objective of the role of the social media marketing strategy for Shamiana
has been achieved and it can be concluded that social media marketing strategies can be
beneficial for Shamiana cuisine to obtain the competitive edge by offering the lucrative options
for customers to provide the quick feedback. It can also help them to get their table booked on
based on the online presence. Furthermore, social media is found as an attractive approach for
the hospitality sectors because, in the current era, customers are keener towards social media
to be aware of new insights related to anything.
6.2 Recommendations
As per the above discussion, it is found that Shamiana cuisine is unable to attract the
customers, which affects its profitability and increase the contingency of business failure. For
this purpose, it is suggested that the restaurant should use the number of social media channels
such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to attract the customers. By using these channels, the
restaurant can grab the attention of the large mass of customers.
 The restaurant should continuously update the marketing strategy to gain a continuous
association of the public because it is significant to deliver good experience to the
customers. It can be done with the help of social media marketing where marketing
expert of the firm can continuously monitor the website or advertisement in the weekly
interval.
 The firm should offer the discounts and vouchers to the regular commenter, which
increase the attractiveness of social marketing and help to increase the followers on that
platform. It can again be done with the help of designing the winning marketing strategy
over social media, which would attract more customers. For this purpose, special
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discount for birthday can be offered, which neither affect the profitability nor hamper the
satisfaction of buyers.
 The restaurant should also focus on the feedback of customers and address with the
prompt response. It will help to increase the loyalty of customers by delivering the
competent services. Moreover, the firm should update the menu according to customers'
feedback and also consider to improve the quality of dishes for enhancing the
satisfaction of buyers. In this context, survey or review of customers over the social
media can be tracked. In this regard, customers who recently visited the restaurant can
be asked to click on the link sent to their mobile phone and provide the feedback.
Therefore, these recommendations will help the Shamiana cuisine to determine the active
presence on the social media platform, which consequently increases the profitability.
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Chapter 7: Implementation plan
7.1 Clear goals
 To increase the volume of the customer by 30% within three months of developing social
media strategies (Measured through an additional number of customers in three months)
 To increase the retention rate of customers by 40% within six months (Measures through
the repeat purchase of customers)
 To develop the social media marketing channel over Facebook, Twitter, YouTube within
20 days (Measured through the operational efficiency of 20 days)
 To reduce the customer complaints by 50% within two months (Measured through the
positive feedback of customers in 2 months)
 To improve the menu of a restaurant for retaining and attracting the buyers
7.2 Implementation of strategy for each goal
The Shamiana cuisine can contact with the third-party home delivery services for
increasing the customers' volume. For this purpose, the firm should tie-ups with different third
home delivery services. Similarly, the restaurant will create the loyalty program such as by
publishing the buying of local and fresh ingredients for the making the food dishes. It will help to
gain customers loyalty by offering healthy and fresh dishes. Further, the restaurant should
focus on reducing consumers' complaints. For this purpose, Shamiana cuisine should regularly
consider their negative feedback and will offer the dishes and services accordingly. Apart from
this, the restaurant should focus on delivering effective services to gain a positive response. For
this purpose, the Shamiana cuisine will offer the treat to the customers on special events such
as birthday and anniversaries. It will also help to reduce complaints by increasing their
satisfaction. Moreover, the restaurant should increase the presence on the social media
platform to regularly communicate with potential customers. For this purpose, the firm will
appoint the skilled personnel to give the proper response to customers' queries and comments.
Therefore, these strategies will support the Shamiana cuisine to attract potential and existing
consumers.
7.3 Resources (Human and financial) and risk
To achieve the objectives mentioned above, the restaurant will require several resources for
effective implementation of marketing strategy. In this context, the firm will require 2000 $ for the
development of technical infrastructure to implement the social media marketing strategy.
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Further, competent human resources will also be needed for continuous monitoring of social
media marketing activities. However, hiring of semi-skilled or unskilled human resources will be
the main risk for plan because they will be unable to provide an effective response to the
customers, which can affect the brand image.
7.4 Timeline
Activities/week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1
2
13 14 15
Framing the
objectives
Market research
Planning for social
media marketing
strategy
Setting the budget
Arranging the
resources
Technological
development
Implement the
marketing strategy
Review and
modification
Final execution
7.5 Discussion of the plan
The marketing plan will take the time of 15 weeks for effective completion. In this regard, firstly
objectives will be set, then market research will be processed, which will require the time of 3
weeks. After completing the market research, the marketing strategy will be planned and the
budget will also be set. It will need the three weeks for effective planning and budgeting. At the
next stage, the resources will be arranged and technological infrastructure will be developed
which will also require the three weeks. After arranging resources and technological
development, the marketing plan will be implemented in three weeks. The program will be
reviewed and modified in one week, then the final execution will be done.
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9.0 Appendix- Questionnaire
Thanks for agreeing me to be interviewed
1. Could you please tell me about the business?
2. Who you think are our current customers and who are we trying to target/attract as
customers?
3. How you collect feedback of customers about the quality of service provided them?
4. What is the role of social media for promoting your business?
5. Name of the social media channel and the channels which you use for managing
communications and connecting with customers?
6. Do you have any inactive social media channel that you not use? Why?
7. Do you monitor (check) the social media channels that the business has? If no –why
not? If yes - how often do you check them?
8. Can you tell me the general feedback that you received from the customers?
9. Have you taken any actions as the result of online customer feedback? If yes- what
have you done?
10. How do you deal with any negative feedback from customers?
11.Tell me some of the services and facilities which you are going to provide to the
customers’ in coming future, as the result online feedback?
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