Investigate the Effectiveness of Social Media for Improving e-commerce Sales in UAE: A Case Study of AWOK

Running head: DISSERTATION
Investigate the Effectiveness of Social Media for Improving e-commerce Sales in UAE: A Case
Study of AWOK
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ......................... whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the............... [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to investigate the effectiveness of social media for improving e-
commerce sales for AWOK, a UAE based e-commerce website. Social media has gained a lot of
attention recently due to the varied functions and features it provides to the users across the
world. The social media platform provides huge benefits to the users in terms of communication,
sharing and supporting the views of the users. At a global platform, e-commerce sector is
considered as one of the economic sector that is receptive to wide range of ideas for mitigating
the issues encountered by the customers. The emergence of e-commerce was seen in the
seventies though the term e-commerce is fairly new to the customers. AWOK is an e-commerce
company headquartered in Dubai, UAE and the company was founded in 2013 by Ulugbek
Yuldashev. The company is an online shopping platform that mark 5 years in 2018. AWOK is
failing to establish a secured connection between the customers and them. As the customers are
unable to relate to AWOK, the impact is being highlighted in the sales of the company. AWOK
is facing potential issues in terms of the sales of the company. The research is significant
because this will help n understanding the potential issues AWOK is currently facing that is
hampering the sales of the e-commerce company. Once the issues have been identified, the
research will help in giving suitable recommendations for improving the e-commerce sales by
suing social media. The literature review chapter sheds light on the use of social media for
various corporate purposes followed by the transition from e-commerce to social media
commerce. The challenges and benefits are also discussed in respect to social media commerce
along with identifying frameworks that has been successful in proving social media as a positive
marketing strategy. the researcher has used positivism philosophy, deductive approach,
descriptive design and interview and survey research strategy. The researcher has used both

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probability and non-probability sampling technique for selecting 100 employees and 10
managers of AWOK. Primary data collection has been used that allowed the researcher to collect
data from a particular population. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that social
media helps in increasing e-commerce sales for the business organizations. The use of internet
and social media has increased over the years since it originated due to the advanced functions
the platform provides in terms of connectivity and communication. In this highly competitive
world, it is all about survival of the fittest for the business organizations. This can be achieved by
the business organizations by maximizing their sales and reaching out maximum customers. For
AWOK, it is important to increase sales for their e-commerce service by using social media
platform effectively and efficiently. The suitable recommendations for improving the issues
encountered by AWOK for improving e-commerce sales by using social media includes making
the customers feel significant and valued, establishing an emotional connection, recruiting the
right employees, providing suitable justifications and preventing online bullying and harassment.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................8
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................8
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................9
1.2 Research aim........................................................................................................................10
1.3 Research objectives.............................................................................................................10
1.4 Research questions...............................................................................................................10
1.5 Research hypothesis.............................................................................................................10
1.6 Research rationale................................................................................................................11
1.7 Structure of the dissertation.................................................................................................11
1.8 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................14
2.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
2.1 Overview of social media development internationally......................................................14
2.2 Overview of social media growth in the UAE market........................................................17
2.3 Use of social media for corporate purposes.........................................................................24
2.4 Transition from e-commerce to mobile commerce and social media commerce................26
2.5 Challenges and benefits in using social media commerce...................................................28
2.6 Identify any successful case studies for which social media has immensely helped..........31

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2.7 Identify strategies and frameworks and critically evaluate what model was chosen to prove
that social media a positive marketing strategy to improve businesses.....................................33
2.8 Summary..............................................................................................................................33
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................34
3.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................34
3.1 Research outline...................................................................................................................34
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................34
3.2.1 Explaining the use of positivism philosophy................................................................35
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................35
3.3.1 Explaining the use of deductive approach....................................................................36
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................36
3.4.1 Explaining the use of descriptive design......................................................................37
3.5 Research strategy.................................................................................................................37
3.5.1 Explaining the use of survey and interview research strategy......................................37
3.6 Sampling technique and sample size...................................................................................38
3.6.1 Explaining the use of random probability and non-probability sampling technique....38
3.7 Data collection process........................................................................................................39
3.7.1 Explaining the use of primary data collection process.................................................39
3.8 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................39
3.8.1 Explaining the use of quantitative and qualitative data analysis technique..................40

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3.9 Accessibility issues..............................................................................................................40
3.10 Ethical considerations........................................................................................................40
3.11 Summary............................................................................................................................41
Chapter 4: Data analysis................................................................................................................42
4.1 Survey analysis....................................................................................................................42
4.2 Interview transcript..............................................................................................................72
Chapter 5: Discussion....................................................................................................................82
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendation.................................................................................85
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................85
6.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................85
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................87
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................88
References......................................................................................................................................89
Appendices....................................................................................................................................98
Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................98
Interview questions................................................................................................................98
Appendix 2...............................................................................................................................101
Interview questions..............................................................................................................101

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Internet penetration by region........................................................................................15
Figure 2: Social media development internationally.....................................................................16
Figure 3: Annual growth of social media users.............................................................................18
Figure 4: Population using social media in Middle East...............................................................19
Figure 5: Facebook users in Middle East......................................................................................19
Figure 6: Use of various social media platforms...........................................................................20
Figure 7: Social media usage habits..............................................................................................22
Figure 8: Social media usage habits..............................................................................................22
Figure 9: Use of social media platforms through Arab countries..................................................23
Figure 10: Social media platforms used daily...............................................................................28
Figure 11: Biggest social media challenges business organizations face......................................30