The impact of social networking websites on product sales from a consumer perspective: A case study of Caffé Nero in the Borough of Ealing

This research plan aims to identify the impact of social networking websites on product sales from a consumer perspective, using Caffé Nero as a case study. It explores the importance of social networking, the impact of different social networking websites on product sales, and effective ways for Caffé Nero to overcome negative impacts. The research methodology includes the use of questionnaires to collect primary data. The ethical considerations ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and honesty of the research.

Research Plan - Nero
Cafe

Table of Contents
TITLE .............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Research Aim..............................................................................................................................1
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................1
Research Questions.....................................................................................................................1
Literature Synopsis..........................................................................................................................1
Literature 1: Author Name, Literature Title, Date...........................................................................2
Importance of social networking in increment of the product sales...........................................2
Literature 2: Author Name, Literature Title, Date...........................................................................3
Impact of different social networking websites on increment or decrement of product sales. . .3
Literature 3: Author Name, Literature Title, Date...........................................................................4
Effective ways by which Café Nero can overcome negative impact of social networking
websites. .....................................................................................................................................4
Research Methodology and Rationale.............................................................................................5
Ethical Considerations.....................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8

TITLE
The impact of social networking websites on product sales from a consumer perspective:
A case study of Caffé Nero in the Borough of Ealing.
Introduction
Social networking websites introduces as an online platform that concede users to
develop a public image and interact with many other users on the website (Hajli and Sims,
2015). For this research plan Caffé Nero is given organisations. It is a European style coffee
house that was founded in 1987 by Gerry Ford. Main rationale behind doing this research plan is
identifying impact of social networking websites on product sales of company. It is an interesting
topic that an helps entrepreneurs by providing accurate information regarding the significance of
social networking websites on sales and growth of company.
Research Aim
Main aim of this research is to identify the impact of social networking websites on
product sales from a consumer perspective: A case study of Café Nero in the Borough of Ealing.
Research Objectives
 To ascertain the importance of social networking in increment of the product sales by
10% within 1 year of time period.
 To analyze the impact of 4 social networking websites on increment or decrement of
product sales in percentage within 1 year of time period.
 To determine 4 effective ways by which Café Nero can overcome negative impact of
social networking websites.
Research Questions
 What are the importance of social networking in increment of the product sales.
 What are the impact of different social networking websites on increment or decrement
of product sales.
 What are the effective ways by which Café Nero can overcome negative impact of social
networking websites.
Literature Synopsis
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Literature 1: Author Name, Literature Title, Date
Importance of social networking in increment of the product sales
According to the Savannah Marie, Ways to Increase Online Sales through Social Media,
2013, there are different number of ways through which Caffé Nero can easily increase sales of
their products. It includes, use of same hashtag, flash sale, offer coupons, pin a contest on
pinterest, promote free shipping, generate leads through Giveaways, go mobile, post pictures and
so on. These are more effective and essential ways that helps an organisations to increase sales of
their products. As it will also support an enterprise by boosting its brand awareness, increasing
traffic of customers etc.
On the other hand Keran Smith, Importance of Social Media in Business, 2019,
According to 2019 social media statistics, currently there are around 3.2 billion users in all over
the globe. That is approximately 42% of our total present population. There are different
importance and significance for social networking which are determined as under:
Leverage social advertising: Advertisement of social media is faster way for attracting
large number of customers towards a specific product. It not take more cost of an organisation as
compare to traditional advertising such as radio advertising, print media and so on. It will also
support Caffé Nero to maximise customer base and increase sale of their all products.
Boost brand awareness: It is another main important of social networking for Caffé Nero
in increment of its product sales. Social media helps an enterprise to find their audience, use
visuals, create conversations, measure efforts and build authority. These will assist company
increase their brand awareness (Kim and Kim, 2018). As it will support them to maximise their
sales ratio of product.
Increase conversation rate: It is another significance of social media networking for
business to communicate each information about their products or services to the customers. As
it is beneficial for the growth and success of Caffé Nero in marketplace as well as in customer's
mind.
Therefore, these are main importance of social networking websites which assist Caffé
Nero by increasing its sales and also improving its brand image in customer's mind and in the
marketplace. Product advertisement on social media will be more beneficial and essential for an
enterprise in development of its success and growth. It will further helps company to gain
competitive advantages within given time period (Alsubagh, 2015).
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Literature 2: Author Name, Literature Title, Date
Impact of different social networking websites on increment or decrement of product sales.
According to the opinion stated by Leila Abdoulaye, Effective Social Media Marketing
Sites For Restaurants, 2014, Social networking is the best and effective way for a business to
promote their operations and functions. Social media networking has direct influence over the
sales of an organisation. In today's modern environment, individual's are very much based on
using social networking for the purpose of implementing good relationship with other and
businesses in fulfilling their desires at market place. Businesses are now a day's also concern
over using social networking facilities for the purpose of enhancing their sales and revenue via
the creating awareness about the offerings of the firm. In the context of restaurant business, the
budget is low and organisations are using networking facilities rather than hiring professionals
for developing their sales within the global market. There are multiple digital networkings that
are implemented by the businesses to enhancing their sales and revenue, in which some are
associated as below:
Yelp: It is the most popular online networking site, which allows restaurants or its management
to develop and manage their venue through which selling of products are easy. The best part of
this application is that, if an organisation is having a good profile than in the searching of
individual the restaurant appears at the very first. This has positive and negative influence over
the sales of the firm, Therefore, restaurants are using Yelp networking for effectively creating
awareness regarding the firm or its offerings as it is the best way to making people aware about
the facilities offered by the restaurants (Lindsey-Mullikin and Borin, 2017). On the other side, it
is also having a negative impact as people are giving their reviews on the sites and a bad reviews
affects the overall performance of the firm adversely.
Facebook: It is the modern and widely applied approach, thus it is one of the most essential
networking which is effective for the restaurants in promoting their facilities. Facebook is great
to publicize a restaurant or helps an individual or business to be stay in touch with followers. The
management has great control over the content and can customize it to meet the requirements of
buyers. Facebook, is a best way which is mainly used by the restaurant businesses in promoting
their facilities among the wider market area, thus Facebook is the most applied tool of social
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media as individual's are using Facebook in their daily life. This is also has negative influence
over the sales of the firm, thus bad selection of promotion adversely affects the sales and growth
of firm at wider level.
Literature 3: Author Name, Literature Title, Date
Effective ways by which Café Nero can overcome negative impact of social networking
websites.
According to the, Lativate Canada, Negative Effects of Social Media on Business, 2019,
there are different negative impact of social media on sales of company' products. Social media
create a cohesive brand image that can be difficult, bad publicity, qualified person is required,
not Easy to Erase Mistakes, problematic to measure Social media ROI, large investments of both
money and efforts and so on. These are major impacts of social media on sales of Café Nero. In
order to overcome negative effects of social media, there are different ways which will be
explained as under:
Bad publicity: Social networks can offer very interesting ad for organisation. Sometimes
ad on social media create bad publicity for an organisation. In order to overcome this impact,
Café Nero must provide best service and Manage complaints of their customers. Thus, it is a best
solution for overcoming negative impact of social media on product sales of an enterprise.
Qualified personnel is required: It is another issue of social media faced by an
organisation while promoting their products and services through online. For this, company
require qualified person which lead in more investment. For overcoming this impact, company
must focus to invest accurate amount of capital (Kucukemiroglu and Kara, 2015).
Therefore these are more effective ways for reducing negative impact of social media.
User take a break from social media as well as limit the number of apps is also consider
beneficial way for an individual to overcome negative effects of social media on their life.
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Research Methodology and Rationale
Methodological approach: For collecting accurate information regarding the impact of
social networking websites on product sales of company, there are different types of
methodological approach. It includes observation, interview and questionnaire: Observation: It is an effective approach or technique which is applied mostly in
qualitative study. It involves covert or overt observation of person and group behaviour in
a particular situation (Flick, 2015). Interview: It is a face-to face interpersonal communication or interaction in which a
researcher is asked questions to the respondents. This method is used when there is
requirement to gather in-depth data on respondent's thoughts, feelings, experiences and
opinion.
 Questionnaire: It is an effective and useful instrument of data collection that consist
different questions for the intent of collecting accurate data from the respondents. In this
method, certain questions will be prepare to analysis response of respondents about the
current investigation.
According to the current investigation questionnaire will be used by researcher. In this
part of methodological approach, participants can take these questionnaires at a convenient
period of time and think regarding the answers at their own pace. This method also helps
researcher by providing valid as well as reliable information about the study (Gioia, Corley and
Hamilton, 2013). Main reason behind not selecting observation method as there is more chances
of missing out on the full picture due to the poor interaction with sample subjects. Apart from
this, reaching out to all participants to conduct interviews is a time-consuming process that leads
to a maximum amount of capital of conducting a survey.
Data collection: Primary and secondary are introduces effective methods of data
collection. Questionnaire is useful instrument that is used by researcher by gathering primary
data or information about the current study. Books, articles, magazines are consider other sources
which will be apply for gathering secondary data regarding the study. Primary method of data
collection is important and essential for researcher. It is essential to individuals conducting
investigation because it is significant to have fresh and unused data about the topic (Kaur, 2016).
For collecting accurate data about the impact of social media websites, primary method of data
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collection i.e. questionnaire is more valuable. It is beneficial for investigator by providing valid
and actual data about the effectiveness of social media websites.
Sampling: Probability and non-probability are introduce two important types of sampling
method. For current investigation, probability sampling will be applied by researcher. As this
method helps researcher to conduct questionnaire and select sample size on random basis. By
using this method 15 participants will be recruited (Green, Camilli and Elmore, 2012). Data or
information about the current investigation will be collected in Piccadilly Circus.
Limitation of methodological approach: There are certain limitations faced by
researcher while collecting of accurate information through questionnaire. Informed consents,
forgetting to ask a question, improper behaviour of respondents etc. These are major issues that
have direct impact on researcher while completion of research activities in effective manner
(Peak and et. al., 2017).
Limitations of the research Literature Synopsis and Methodology: Sample size, lack of
available or reliable information, lack of prior research studies on the topic, self-reported data,
measured used to collect the data etc. are consider possible methodological limitations (Kumar,
2019). There are also some limitations faced by researcher such as access, fluency in a language,
longitudinal effects, cultural and other type of bias. All these are major limitations which have
negative and direct effect on investigator while completing each tasks of study in systematic
manner.
Ethical Considerations
It is consider main part of investigation which helps researcher to do research in ethical
manner. There are some important principles of ethical consideration which will be determined
as below:
 Participants of study should not be harm in any kind.
 Researcher must focus as dignity of research participants should be prioritised.
 An investigator must emphases as privacy of participants in research has to be ensured.
 Adequate confidentiality level of research information must be ensured.
 Anonymity participants in the investigation has to be ensured.
 Any deception as well as exaggeration regarding research aims and objectives must be
avoided.
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 Affiliations in any forms, funding sources as well as any possible misunderstanding of
interests have to be declared.
 Any kind of communication within investigation should be completed with full honesty
as well as transparency also.
 Any misleading data, as well as representation of primary information findings in a
biased way should be avoided.
In order to deal with above mentioned issues or risks, different ways have been suggested to the
respondents which will be determined as below:
 Voluntary participation of participants in the investigation is significant. Moreover,
respondents have rights to withdraw from the research at any phase if they wish to do so
(Mackenzie, Tan,Hoverman and Baldwin, 2012).
 Adherence to Data Protection Act (2018) will also support researcher to maintain privacy
of the data of respondents.
 Respondents in the research must participate according to the informed consent. The
value of informed consent concern investigators by giving accurate information and
assurances about the topic.
 Researcher must provide accurate information about the research aims and objectives to
the participants in study.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hajli, N. and Sims, J., 2015. Social commerce: The transfer of power from sellers to
buyers. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 94. pp.350-358.
Kim, N. and Kim, W., 2018. Do your social media lead you to make social deal purchases?
Consumer-generated social referrals for sales via social commerce. International
Journal of Information Management. 39. pp.38-48.
Alsubagh, H., 2015. The impact of social networks on consumers' behaviors. International
Journal of Business and Social Science. 6(1).
Lindsey-Mullikin, J. and Borin, N., 2017. Why strategy is key for successful social media
sales. Business Horizons. 60(4). pp.473-482.
Kucukemiroglu, S. and Kara, A., 2015. Online word-of-mouth communication on social
networking sites: An empirical study of Facebook users. International journal of
commerce and management. 25(1). pp.2-20.
Kaur, S., 2016. Social media marketing. Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research
(AJMR), 5(4), pp.6-12.
Peak, D. F. and et. al 2017. System and method for distributing insurance social media related
information. U.S. Patent 9,672,492.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G. and Hamilton, A. L., 2013. Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive
research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational research methods. 16(1).
pp.15-31.
Green, J. L., Camilli, G. and Elmore, P. B. eds., 2012. Handbook of complementary methods in
education research. Routledge.
Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage Publications
Limited.
Mackenzie, J., Tan, P. L., Hoverman, S. and Baldwin, C., 2012. The value and limitations of
participatory action research methodology. Journal of hydrology. 474. pp.11-21.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.
Online
Savannah Marie. 2013. Ways to Increase Online Sales through Social Media. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.cision.com/us/2013/12/10-smart-ways-increase-online-sales-
social-media/>.
Keran Smith. 2019. Importance of Social Media in Business. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-social-media-business/>.
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Lativate Canada. 2019. Negative Effects of Social Media on Business. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-social-media-business/>.
Leila Abdoulaye. 2014. Effective Social Media Marketing Sites For Restaurants. [Online].
Available through:<https://medium.com/inbound-marketing-clinic-at-nyu/5-effective-
social-media-marketing-sites-for-restaurants-be8450f2ac22>.
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