Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Behavior in UK Retail Sector: A Case Study of M&S

Dissertation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1
Background..................................................................................................................................1
Research Question.......................................................................................................................2
Research Aims and Objectives....................................................................................................2
Rationale of the study.................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................3
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..............................................................................9
Research Approach......................................................................................................................9
Research Strategy.........................................................................................................................9
Methodology & Tools.................................................................................................................9
Sampling Approach.....................................................................................................................9
Validity and reliability ...............................................................................................................9
Ethical Considerations.................................................................................................................9
Research Limitation ...................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
Background
In the current era, retail sector is growing with the rapid speed due to the various factors
which is inclining the opportunities of the growth and development for the companies operating
in UK. The sector is offering the different types of the employment opportunities which is
helping the particular sector to grow and enhance the productivity in turn attaining overall
performance in positive manner has become possible. Social marketing is one of the crucial
technique that is helpful in accomplishing the organizational objective of connecting with
customers in turn greater competitiveness can be derived. There are different types of the
benefits such as h increased brand awareness, more inbound traffic, increased search engine g
ranking, higher conversion rate, better customer satisfaction, improved brand loyalty, cost-
effectiveness, etc. Social media is one of the highly taken into the consideration by firm in turn
accomplishing the goal of communicating effectively with customers can become possible to get
higher revenue and profitability. For becoming successful in the present working environment it
is important for the organization to give emphasis on developing the crucial social media
marketing in order to attract & retain customers for the longer duration can be done. There are
different form of the organizational objective which can be attained by the enterprise to get the
higher profitability & sustainability.
The current study is based on M&S which is one of the successful firm operating in the
retail sector by offering furniture, clothing, etc products in market. There are various companies
which ware operating in the retail sector and offering cut-throat competition which require firm
to possess some competitive advantage in turn impacting customer in positive manner can be b
exerted in higher effectual pattern. Present investigation will emphasize on evaluating the impact
of social media marketing on consumer behavior so that detail understanding can be derived. It
will aid having the corrective information which is highly required for being successful in the
competitive situation. It will focus on using the qualitative research for assessing impact of
social media o marketing on consumer behavior in turn obtaining theoretical information to
formulate corrective study can become possible. It will pay attention on utilizing inductive
approach and thematic analysis technique for gaining the appropriate insights about the
highlighted subject matter in turn attaining depth information can be done.
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Research Question
 What is the concept of social media marketing and its significance?
 Which are the social media marketing factors that are affecting consumer buying
behavior in UK retail sector, within M&S ?
 In what ways do these social media marketing factors influence (or impact on) consumer
buying behaviour in the UK, within M&S?
Research Aims and Objectives
Aim:
The main aim of the research is to investigate the impact of social media marketing on
consumer buying behavior within UK retail sector, using M&S as a case study.
Objectives:
 To develop an understanding of the concept of social media marketing and its
significance
 To identify the social media marketing factors affecting the consumer buying behavior in
UK retail sector, within M&S.
 To identify ways that social media marketing factors may impact on consumer buying
behaviour in the UK, within M&S
 To recommend strategies pertaining to social media marketing that can favorably
influence consumer buying behavior
Rationale of the study
The main reason behind conducting the research is to offer the depth understanding
about the impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behavior. Customers in the
current era due to the utilization of technologies has become more aware of their rights which
require firm to focus on evaluating which are the factors influences decision-making procedure.
Social marketing is one of the crucial technique that offers the competitiveness by increasing the
ability of the organization to communicate with customers so that having positively impacting
their decision-making can become possible. M&S as being international organization can get the
appropriate information about the aspects that has influence on the overall decision-making
criteria of customers so that effective application of strategies for improvement can be derived.
In addition to this, achieving the proper information to have higher positive impact on the
overall working can be derived by taking corrective actions.
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