Impact of Social Networking Websites on Product Sales

This research aims to understand the impact of social networking websites on product sales from the customers perspective. It focuses on the case study of Caffé Nero and explores the changing roles of social networking sites, the impact of social networking sites on changing consumer perspective and enhancing sales, and different social media strategies that can be used for increasing sales.

RESEARCH

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................7
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.....................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The following research is carried upon to understand the impact of social networking
websites on product sales from the customers perspective. The use of social networking websites
are in trend which is leading a number of businesses to attach their marketing to these websites.
Cafe Nero is an Italian style coffee provider whose headquarter is situated in London, England. It
was discovered in 1997. When looking at current growth of company they have successfully
setup more than 1000 coffee restaurants in 11 countries. The research aims, objectives,
questionnaires, research methodologies and ethical consideration are successfully described in
the report.
Aim: “The impact of social networking websites on product sales from a consumer perspective”.
A case study of Caffé Nero.
Objectives:
 Understand the changing roles of social networking sites
 Impact of social networking sites on changing consumer perspective and enhancing sales
 Determine different social media strategies that can be used for increasing sales
Research Questions:
 What are the changing roles of social networking sites?
 What are the impacts of social networking sites on changing consumer perspective and
enhancing sales?
 What are the different social media strategies that can be used for increasing sales?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Impact of social networking sites on changing consumer perspective
According to views of (Jiang, Luoand Kulemeka, 2017), Social media has emerged as
one of the most powerful tools with changing times as it is used as a effective means of
endorsing and assisting communications among consumers, peers and organisations. With
instance to cafe Nero social media application is one of the powerful tools that can be used for
identification of specific customer behaviours and then customised their requirements according
to such changing preferences of customers. Social media is assisting in driving a behaviour that
is to be focussed on getting insights about latest trends. Cafe Nero is targetting millennial
generation as the target market. For this they can focus on existing platforms of social media

applications where they can create their own page on Facebook, Instagram. All this will assist in
adding customers with similar mindsets. social media applications has now emerged as a agent
of culture that is having a direct impact on the mind set of customers as they are willing to get
influenced by the way there is adoption of different strategies by such organisations. Social
media applications has emerged as a effective means for supporting & promotion products
amongst consumers, peers and organisations.
It is going to assist towards enhancing the sales of Nero. In the present times web based
social networking sites have become popular because of the process of visual communications
that are playing a key role in public communication and business strategy formulation. The high
quality services have to be focused on influencing the relationship of customer with brands that
are promoted using such social media platforms (Alalwan, 2018). In present times organisations
are using different virtual communities for interacting with their target markets so that level, of
interaction can be chosen according to the present information that has to be eventually
transmitted to customers. Virtual communities are assisting in finding all the information related
to products and services by the customers on public available platforms. Online social media
application have become more credible that is affecting the purchasing decision of consumers.
Social media platforms has become one of the vital marketing and promotion mediums for
organisations because there is sharing of relevant content ion such applications by establishing
connections between organisation and their target customer segment (Liu, Shinand Burns,
2019). It leads to changing customer mind sets in both positive and negative manner if the
impact is in a positive way then it is beneficial for organisations as their online ratings get better
and they are able to achieve a positive feedbacks, reviews and responses from their customers.
On other hand if the responses are negative then it may lead to a sales and growth that are
affected in a negative manner with a graph showing shortfall in the coming future time period.
With regards to Nero Caffe there has to be a use of creative approach that can lead to
enhancement of their sales and achievement of a differentiation advantages as compared to other
competitors.
Determine different social media strategies that can be used for increasing sales
According to views of Mohammed Abdullah, 2017 There is a changing trends in which
hospitality brands are participating for the purpose of enhancement of their sales where there is
approaching to all different food bloggers who can market and promote different cafe and brands

on their page. When such situations occur then it leads to bloggers with large number of
followers to get aware about the best food outlets, different varieties that are offered in such
locations. The sales process consist of various practises and assist in understand of customers in
order to establish strong relationships with their existing and future customer base. With instance
to Nero cafe, there can be enhancement of sales by using appropriate social media strategy such
as choosing right social media platform that comprises of learning preferences of their present
customer base. One of the best suitable strategy for Nero cafe is to use Facbeook as a social
media platform that is very suitable for B2C business as it provides a opportunity to publish
different advertisements. There can be focus on other similar platforms also such as Pinterest and
Facebook. There can be engagement of new customer so that new orders can be taken via such
online platforms and keeping their target customers informed about all the initiatives and new
offers.
Connecting with prospects is also another strategy that can be used when the right
platform has been selected by creating a page or a profile that is made according to name of a
business. There is use of SEO techniques in this case where there should be use of keywords to
search for individuals who are actively engaging in social media campaigns by being regularly in
touch with new post by commenting or liking of such posts (Chen, and Wei, 2020).
Another successful strategy for Nero cafe can be to build up relationships with customers and
engage in conversation with customers that can lead towards building of long lasting
relationships that is possible only by investing time to research, create and then sharing of
engaging content. There should be a specified base of customers with a influential & attractive
message with a pitch and a proper link of the website so that if there are any issues or queries
that can be timely resolved. The main aim of every social media strategy has to be focussed on
increasing the present value of their products. There has to be complete emphasis on ensuring
proper engagement of customers by establishment of a two way communication with them so
that their response can be evaluated and examined to understand whether the social media
strategies have been successful enough to serve the purpose for which it has been created (The
Impact Of Social Media On Sales, 2020 ).
Understanding the changing role in social networking sites.
According to the Moser, (2016), Organisation utilize social networking sites and social
platform in order to promote their product and services. In context of Nero cafe, developing new

strategies to gaining competitive advantages. Few years above does not utilize a social platform
to promote their product and services so unable to retaining customer for longer period of time. It
is difficult to build the networks only use as physical forms. Now days drastically changing
environment in order to utilize a various platform such as twitter, Facebook, what's app and you
tube. It includes company also developing attractive corporate web sites because it helps to
enhancing a sales and builds new networks. Nero cafe mangers provides various kind of
opportunity to its customer like to crate online profile and shares to others. It impacts on
profitability and productivity of company. Now days company provides a offers due to festival
season and sales are increasing and customer purchase product through corporate website.
Organisation invest time, energy and money to understanding their networks and collaborative
relationships it helps to improve their changes and developing successful organisational changes.
A network approach influences to employees of company in order to make change by working
through influential employees and mainly focused in networks where should be expanded or
reduces so easy to measures the effectiveness of organisation. Top level management developing
policies and strategies regarding the distribution system so Nero choose those strategy which
product is easily reached to the customers through online modes. Company choose effective way
of communication to easily promotes the product and service under utilize a integrated
marketing. There are various aspect which must be follow by company in order to enhancing
productivity of company. Social medium is platform to help in create content, distribute material,
share ideas, express opinion, use information and knowledge in order to retaining customer for
future also. In addition to this, social networking sites contain web based services where
individual develop a dynamic profiles themselves that considered as various interest, educational
background,philosophies and demographic backgrounds which are shared with other individuals.
There are various factors which also affect the social medium like access to sites in order to
creating user friendly site so easily access customers. Users easily share information through the
social medium so company accordingly segmentation targeting and positioning of brands. It is
important for company point of view in order to creating brand image in the mind of customers.
Each social medium has different functions and use in various ways like Facebook play vital role
to promotes the services in order to new product launch and write content on these. Twitter
provides a Web-based service that easily send messages to users because real time network

driven by people all over the world that allows individuals to share and discover the current
events. You tube is publicly available so current events so upload a video and provides a venues
for individuals to connect, interact with others and serve as distribution platform.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Methodology refers to a process in which information is gathered from a number of
different research instruments or techniques. Basic purpose of research methodology is to
provide an individual with reliable and valid data about the topic on which research is conducted.
Below mentioned are various factors of research methodology:
Research Philosophy: It is a belief from which the information must be collected,
analysed and used. It deals with a source, development and nature of knowledge. It consists of
two types such as Positivism and Interpretivism. They are of two types of philosophies which
generally helps in the analysis as well as collection of data. Positivism states that the data
contains good representativeness and reliability from the quantitative methods of data such as
social surveys and numerical graphs. In addition to this the Interpretivism states that it is simply
based on naturalistic approach because it include qualitative methods such as observations and
interviews.
Research approach: It refers to the detailed methods of analysis, interpretation and data
collection of various plans and procedures from the broad assumption Research approach are
usually consists of two types such as inductive approach and deductive approach to analysis the
data of particular area (Tobias and Galpin, 2020). It can be suggested that deductive approach
aims to texting an existing theory and inductive approach aims to develop a particular theory.
The research approach can easily allow a researcher to develop their personal skills by working
on Ms-excel and Ms-word which are very important nowadays.
Research strategy: A research strategy is an overall plan for conducting a research study.
Or in other words, a research study is a step-by-step plan of action which is useful in analysing
and investigating different policies. Also, it gives a clear vision to the research about the direct
which needs to be followed. A research strategy guides a researcher in planning, executing and
monitoring the study. There are some useful research strategies which is essential in the data
collection. These are case study, qualitative interviews, quantitative survey, and action oriented
research. Research strategy offers a high level of guidance to the researcher in planning,
executing and monitoring the study.

Research Choice: Two different types of research choice available to a researcher is
qualitative and quantitative research choice. Qualitative research choice includes a research in
which quantitative data, graphs along with statistical representations are used to come to a result.
On the other hand the qualitative research uses the information that cannot be marked or
numbered. When taking the following research into consideration the researcher is using
qualitative research (Wu and et. al, 2019). Qualitative research consists of data that is non-
numerical and unstructured. The major part of data that is included in this research is taken from
the observation of researcher that they have gained while taking questionnaires or interviews of
the respondents.
Data Collection: The data refers to important information that is used to carry on a
research successfully. that is used in order to carry out a research can be divided into two parts.
These are secondary and primary data collection. In the following research primary data
collection method is used. There are a number of ways to collect primary data such as through
interviews, collecting feedback, questionnaires etc. The researcher is using questionnaires which
will be filled by individuals respondents. This is a method of primary data collection in which
the researcher is collecting the first hand data. It is an effective method through which researcher
can generate genuine data. In collection of secondary data the already available through a
number of different sources. These sources may include newspapers, magazines, government
researches and various information. A number of researchers find secondary data more reliable
and authentic.
Sampling:Two major ways of sampling present are probability and non-probability
techniques. When taking the following research into consideration the researcher is using
probability sampling method. In probability sampling random sampling is used in this research.
The researcher is collecting data from 40 respondents (Liu, Shin and Burns, 2019). These
respondents are the visitors of caffe Nero. The researcher is randomly selecting 40 customers
who will provide information in order to complete the following research. It is often seen that
when sample is chosen randomly the information collected is unbiased and a true representation
of the total population.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
It is necessary to successfully consider ethics while conducting a research. Below
mentioned are various ethical considerations that were undertaken while conducting this
research:
-Psychological harm- It was necessary to take care of the fact that no psychological harm
is caused to anyone during conduction of this research. The questions were formed in such a
way which do not cause any mental stress or anxiety.
-Financial harm- It was also necessary to take care of the fact that no financial losses are
faced by anyone while conducting the following research this included the business of Cafe
Nero, their guests as well as employees. It was necessary to make sure that no assets of cafe or
their clients are harmed while collection of data.
-Social harm- The researcher also made sure that they are not harming the sentiments of
any community or society by their questions.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Jiang, H., Luo, Y. and Kulemeka, O., 2017. Strategic social media use in public relations:
Professionals’ perceived social media impact, leadership behaviors, and work-life
conflict. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 11(1), pp.18-41.
Alalwan, A.A., 2018. Investigating the impact of social media advertising features on customer
purchase intention. International Journal of Information Management, 42, pp.65-77.
Chen, X. and Wei, S., 2020. The impact of social media use for communication and social
exchange relationship on employee performance. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Liu, X., Shin, H. and Burns, A.C., 2019. Examining the impact of luxury brand's social media
marketing on customer engagement: Using big data analytics and natural language
processing. Journal of Business Research.
Wu, W. and et. al, 2019. Diffuse ceiling ventilation for buildings: a review of fundamental
theories and research methodologies. Journal of cleaner production, 211, pp.1600-1619.
Tobias, I.S. and Galpin, A.J., 2020. Moving human muscle physiology research forward: an
evaluation of fiber type-specific protein research methodologies. American Journal of
Physiology-Cell Physiology.
Moser, S.C., 2016. Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the
second decade of the 21st century: what more is there to say?. Wiley Interdisciplinary
Reviews: Climate Change, 7(3), pp.345-369.
The Impact Of Social Media On Sales, 2020 [online], Available through<
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/297990>

APPENDIX
Research Ethics Approval Form 2013
Application for Ethical Approval for a Research Project involving Human Participants
Research Ethics Approval Form)
This form should be completed by the staff member/ student who are undertaking the research in
association with a student’s supervisor. The form MUST be completed and signed at the end of
the form before any fieldwork is carried out. Reference should be made
to the University Guidance on Ethical Standards* for Research involving Human Participants.
For students copies of this form MUST be attached to the final project (if there is no form
attached the dissertation will not be marked). Students and staff must send this form to the
Chair of UBS Research Ethics Filter Committee:
1. Name of staff member:
……………………………………………………………………………
2. Name of Supervisor:
………………………………………………………………………………
3. Name and No. of Student: ………………………………………………………………..
………
4. Project Title: “HRM in Middle East”
………………………………………………………………………………………...
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Project Type:
Staff research
Post Graduate (Master’s)
Undergraduate
Course, Mode of Attendance and Year of Study (please specify)……………………
5. Summary of proposed research (including planned start and end dates)

6. Does your proposed research involve any of the following (Please circle):
Deception of participants? (i.e. do they understand the implications of
participating in a research study?)
Yes No
Inducements to participate? (i.e. are participants being offered any ‘prize’
for
agreeing to participate in the study?)
Yes No
Possible psychological stress? (i.e. will you be asking about potentially
sensitive personal issues)
Yes No
Any other special circumstances? Yes No
If you have answered “yes” to any of the above, please provide detail regarding how you will
deal with these issues?
7. Please provide details of the likely participants involved in the research (details of vulnerable
groups*. E.g. children, the elderly, people with a learning disability)
40 respondents involved within an investigation
8. Please provide details and justification for the methodology to be used in the proposed
research (please attach copy of questionnaires/interview routines:
Within an investigation qualitative research will be used for collecting information
about the services of cafe Nero. For this, questionnaire will be followed by research.
Main reason behind using questionnaire is it helps in gathering of primary and
qualitative data within less period of time. 40 respondents will be selected random basis
for answering each question of the research.
9. If you are using interviews no participant should be engaged or approached to take part in the
research without obtaining informed consent (Please attach copy of information sheet and
consent form or please use the space below to provide a justification why informed consent
does not need to be sought)
No we are using questionnaire for collecting qualitative and primary information about
the perception of consumer regarding use of social media websites.
10. Have steps been taken to ensure confidentiality of data (rationale for anonymity and
data storage etc):
Yes
No