Effect of Social Media on Marketing in Next Plc: Strategies and Impact

Research Report
(The effect of social media on
marketing)

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................3
1. BACKGROUND (INTRODUCTION).......................................................................................4
2. PROJECT AIMS..........................................................................................................................5
Project aim..................................................................................................................................5
3. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................5
What is the need of social media marketing within retail industry?...........................................5
What are the different social media marketing strategies adopted by Next Plc to promote its
offerings?.....................................................................................................................................6
What is the impact of social media marketing over attracting potential customers and retaining
existing customers within Next Plc?...........................................................................................7
4. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................8
5. PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED.........................................................................................................9
6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................10
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................11

ABSTRACT
The main idea of conducting this research is that it helps in identifying the need of social
media marketing in the organisation so that they gain high number of customers and share in the
market in order to motivate and satisfy customers. The report also fulfil several objectives and
that are defined as to identify different types of social media marketing strategy for promoting
products and services to customers and to examine the impact of social media marketing in order
to attract existing and new customers for increasing sales and profitability.

1. BACKGROUND (INTRODUCTION)
Background of the company
Next plc is one of the British multinational home products, footwear and clothing retailer.
The headquarters of the company is located in Enderby, England. The company has 700 outlets
and of which circa 500 are in the UK and the remaining circa 200 across Asia, the Middle East
and Europe (De Oliveira and et. al., 2020). This company is considered as the largest clothing
retailer in comparison of sales in the United Kingdom. It has overtaken position of Marks &
Spencer in early 2014 and 2012. The organisation was founded by Joseph Hepworth in 1864.
The recorded revenue of Next plc is £3.28 billion as per the year 2021. On the other hand, the
recorded net income as per 2021 is £444.5 million.
General to specific
Social media marketing is one of the practices which is used by almost every type of
company in the whole world. It is being recorded that companies which are adopting various
channels of social media for promoting their business offerings are experiencing great benefit.
The benefit is increased customer base with potential as well as existing customers. Next plc UK
also adopts social media marketing to reach out their customers effectively and efficiently in
comparison of their competitors (Laksamana, 2018).
Provide facts and figures about the impact
Social media marketing is one of the forms of marketing which tops the list in UK. As
per the survey conducted in 2018, 88% people want to know and inform about the products and
services of the companies through different channels of social media (Mason, Narcum and
Mason, 2021).
Identification of problem
The major identified problem of the current investigation is that retail companies face
issue in promoting their commodities and products because social media channels have negative
as well as positive reviews regarding the products. The negative reviews become barrier for
companies while grabbing attention of the potential customers.