Impact of Social Media Advertising on Consumer Perception: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer

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Executive Summary
Social media advertising is a process in which organisation undertakes the use of different social
media platforms like Facebook, Instagram Twitter, etc to promote their product service or brand
to consumers. In today’s business world social media advertising is playing a crucial role as it
allows a business organization to conduct cost-effective marketing and reach a maximum number
of consumers without geographical restrictions. Present research analyses that with help of
making use of different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Marks and
Spencer can reach to a maximum number of consumers and can enhance their profitability at
greater scale.
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Table of Contents 1
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................5
Part 1: Analysis of the business environment ................................................................................8
An overview of the organisation / Business context at Marks and Spencer .........................8
Analysis of the external environment (PESTLE) .................................................................9
Analysis of the internal environment (SWOT analysis).......................................................11
Part 2: Critical analysis of the identified business problem ..........................................................12
Conclusion and Recommendations ...............................................................................................20
Part 3: Reflection on Academic and Professional competency skills ...........................................23
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................26
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INTRODUCTION
Social media advertising is defined as the process of promoting products on
social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. This is an important topic for
research because it helps determine the digital marketing influence on consumer
behaviour, which is a new phenomenon. Digital marketing has been adopted since 1990
by businesses across industries, specifically the retail sector, to influence consumer
behaviour and attain higher profitability (Bly, 2018). It is important for businesses
specifically in the retail industry to adopt digital marketing practices such as social media
advertising to attract consumers and remain competitive in the industry. This is one of
the most effective forms of technology that allow organizations to reach to a maximum
level of consumers in comparatively less cost than traditional marketing. These are
being adopted by the marketing department of an organisation in order to influence
maximum number of customers. This investigation is centred on the concept of social
media marketing. This research highlights the usage and effectiveness of social media
marketing for the profit of the company. This research will explore the social media
effectiveness. The current literature available on the topic of social media advertising
primarily focuses on the key metrics such as increase in profitability and more
associated with social media advertising (Colicev and et. al., 2018). How social media
advertising can be implemented by small businesses and multinational corporations to
attain profitability is also focus of present literature.
However, there is still no research conducted on the impact caused by social
media advertising and marketing on consumers and their behaviour in context of
specific industry. This introduces a specific research gap in present investigation as it is
important to determine how social media advertising affects consumers as these are
primary end-users of company services and products. These answers can help
businesses adopt suitable social media practices according to their industry to influence
consumer positively and gain competitive advantage. For instance, John Lewis is
undertaking use of social media to attract customers from different locations to increase
sales. It is an important to research this topic because it helps businesses further
advance their digital marketing practices. This research focuses on the retail industry,
specifically on Marks and Spencer, which is a company based in United Kingdom.
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Marks and Spencer are one of the largest retailers in United Kingdom and has
many outlets across the world. This company was formed in the year 1884 Marks and
Spencer have a huge history in United Kingdom retail industry and is considered a
quality retailer with renowned public image around the world (ABOUT US, 2022). In
context of the present investigation, the research focuses on understanding how social
media, marketing and advertising can help Marks and Spencer influence consumers to
buy products and services and their impact on consumers. This is an important area to
be covered in research as it helps the company understand the ways their social media
image and tools are helping them attract competitors and rise above competitors. In
addition to this, it has been underlined that main rivals of company is John Lewis, Tesco
and more. In the constantly changing retail industry.
Social media marketing is significant in bringing a high volume of consumers to
the retail industry. Social media advertising spend by retail brands in the UK stood at
US$332 million by end of 2015, accounting for 20.1% of total social media advertising.
During 2011-2015, social media advertising in this industry has increased at a CAGR of
36.7%. The change influencing the retail industry is the shift of consumers from physical
retail stores to digital retailing, as consumers are becoming more aware of digital
options, which can be used to purchase their retail products (Kostelijk and Alsem, 2020)
. It has been analysed that now a days younger generation are more inclined towards
social media which offer significant opportunity to organisation to influence their buying
behaviour. Another important area which will be a part of this investigation is the relation
of COVID-19 and social media marketing. One of the most important aspects of social
media marketing in the retail industry in the recent years is that social media marketing
has seen rise in popularity after the impact of COVID-19 as more consumers are shifting
towards digital retail than ever. As they are more concerned towards safe and secure
purchase. In the current environment, social media marketing has become an important
asset of retail businesses to attract consumers. Businesses who have failed to adopt
digital marketing strategies such as social media advertising have been unable to
survive the COVID-19 crisis. For example, Lush (Lush is quitting social media. The start
of a trend?. 2022.)
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The current retail industry in the United Kingdom is crowded with various digital
retail brands such as Amazon, who have been able to attract large number of
consumers from traditional retailers such as Marks and Spencer. The main reason
behind this is to attract customers from various locations around the globe. Primary
method of improving digital sales is to utilize social media advertising (Hastings and
Domegan, 2017). This showcases the importance of this research topic as social media
advertising is crucial for remaining competitive in the current retail industry. In addition to
this, social media marketing is also essential for businesses in the retail industry, as it
helps them survive from continuously changing external environment and make way for
a more digitized future.
Another reason for completing this research is personal interest in social media
marketing and digital advertising. The completion of this research will offer knowledge
related to social media advertising in context of the retail industry, which will help
improve marketing practices to enhance consumer retention. Social media marketing is
not only essential for attracting consumers but also supports improvement in consumer
loyalty (Deiss and Henneberry, 2020). This knowledge will support personal and
professional development because of the interest around social media, advertising, and
marketing. I want to make my career as a digital marketer. The objectives of this
investigation are to understand the meaning of social media advertising and assess the
impact of social media advertising on consumer perception. It has been underlined that
perception involves both recognizing environmental stimuli and actions in response to
these stimuli. means . In addition to this, another objective of this investigation is to
evaluate the relation between social media advertising on consumer buying behaviour.
To determine the impact of this platform of overall profitability of the company. These
objectives will help attain the research aim as they cover the concept of social media
marketing while focusing on the retail industry and its impact on consumer behaviour.
This investigation includes an environmental analysis by utilizing appropriate
tools to understand the internal as well as external environment of Marks and Spencer.
This analysis is used to understand the main problems impacting Marks and Spencer in
context of social media advertising. The problems identified in the environmental
analysis section are further critically evaluated. This involves completing a relevant
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