Marketing Research: Mercadona's Social Media Influence Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive market research analysis of Mercadona, a leading Spanish supermarket chain, focusing on the impact of social media on its marketing strategies and consumer behavior. The research employs a quantitative approach, utilizing surveys to gather data from young, urban customers in Spain, exploring their online shopping habits and brand perceptions. The report details the methodology, demographics, and results, including the company's strong social media presence and its influence on customer buying decisions. A SWOT analysis is derived from the research findings, identifying Mercadona's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The study concludes with recommendations for improving customer engagement and expanding its global reach, along with a detailed action plan for implementation. The findings highlight the crucial role of social media in shaping consumer preferences and brand awareness in the competitive retail market.

Running head: MERCADONA
MERCADONA
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to discuss the marketing issues of one of the reputed super
market chain of Spain namely Mercadona. It is a Spanish supermarket chain leading the same
country. This company was founded in 1977 as a small butcher shop in Valencia. In 1981 Juan
Roig in the position of CEO in the company which had help the company to expand its business
in international. In 1990 the CEO of this company over the series of changes within the market
of the country and developed the organisation to compete with international competitors like
Carrefour and Eroski. Now the company has more than 1600 stores in 17 communities of
Northern Portugal Spain, Melilla and Ceuta (Mercadona.es 2020). This particular company does
not spend its capital resources in marketing or advertising campaign but another process of cost-
cutting. This depends upon the word of mouth and social media platforms for promoting as well
as maintaining its brand. This is the primary research about the marketing method of Mercadona.
This paper will be analysing the methodology or methodologies used, the demographics of the
methodology, the customer profile, the reason to be selected and the results of the market
research. Towards the end, the SWOT analysis of this company derived from the results
depending upon which the recommendations for customers will be analysed. Finally an action
plan will be detailed so that the company can effectively find out the process to implements the
recommendations.
The methodology or methodologies used:
In the previous research, various process for understanding the marketing process and its
impact upon the customers has been used. In the previous research the Quantitative approach of
collecting data has been used in this research study the numerical data related to the impact of
the social media open the buying behaviour of the customer. This is related to the buying

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behaviour of food products of the customers from Mercadona supermarket and how they can
reveal various aspects of customer psychology. In this particular case Quantitative approach has
been utilised where sensitive variables are detailed in order to indicate their purchase intention as
well as understanding of the brand image. This particular approach can provide a strong
empirical evidence in this research concern. there are certain key performance indicators like the
customer satisfaction scores which river will the success of marketing process of this company
operating in the supermarket of Spain in this particular research the secondary data and primary
data have been collected. the collection of secondary data have been taken from various journal
articles, case , text books, academic publications and websites in which the information about the
company has been detailed and the company website (Duffett 2017). From these secondary
sources various authentic information about the impact of social media on the customer
preferences and purchasing behaviour can be understood in the food category of this particular
company. The studies are mainly focused upon the country as well as the places it has expanded
for capturing the overseas markets. On the other hand the primary data has been collected by
conducting a survey among the customers of Mercadona supermarket. This survey has been done
through questionnaire format and the participants were in number of 25. This is a close ended
questionnaire and the Likert scale has been used to frame the questions.
The demographics of the methodology:
Customer profile:
In this particular survey the young customers have been permitted. As the young
customers aging from 19 to 24 are frequent visitors of this supermarket therefore they can
provide a perfect feedback about the marketing strategy of this company. The demography of
customers chosen also include the residents of the cities in Spain mainly and frequently visit the

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Mercadona supermarkets. These are the urban middle class household hence possess capacity to
think quality of the products over their price. All of these participants are selected by using
random probability sampling technique that provides similar opportunities to the researchers and
avoid biasness.
Reason to be selected:
This particular technique has been used to this demography of customers because they
have proper understanding of the technique and can answer unbiasedly and intentionally. The
reason why this particular democracy has been chosen for this particular service have different
reasons (Pan, Torres and Zúñiga 2019). Firstly the young customers ranging from 19 to 24 years
are the most inclusive user of social platforms. Secondly these customers have less preference to
visit the shop physically but tend to buy materials by ordering online. This the presence and
success of the company to enhance brand in over the social media platforms and increase the rate
of online buying behaviour. Thirdly this particular demography of customers can provide a
thoughtful insight about the operation of the company which enables it to find out the strengths
and weaknesses of the marketing strategies. Finally the democracy ranging from 19 to 24 years
are more interested about purchasing food items from the supermarkets and have the capacity to
find out high quality product without thinking about the price.
The results of the market research:
As a result of this survey have been found to be inclined towards the online shopping methods
and social media presence of the company. This quantitative research has been performed in a
form of service that indicates that huge number of customers use social media platform to gain
understanding of the products and come across the brand image (Richardson, Choong and Parker

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2016). The result has been divided into two parts in which the presence of the company in the
social media platforms has been understood and secondly the customer preference to buy
materials online have been analysed this particular research has indicated that a large amount of
consumers have first show the existence of this particular company from social media presence.
It is the brand image available in social media platform which has attracted the attention of the
social media users. Demography which has been chosen in this particular research have their
own account in most of the available social media platforms and they used them for chatting and
gathering information (Assimakopoulos et al. 2017). The social media has helped his customers
to gain knowledge about the new products and their utility to get influenced and buy the products
ultimately. The social media platforms has been properly utilised by this company for providing
advertisement and detailed information about the products both existing as well as new. The
survey has referred to the fact the social media marketing has been used by this company a great
way because many of the participants in this survey have found advertisement of this particular
company frequently in the social media platforms (Keegan and Rowley 2017). Some of these
advertisements are influencing to gain more information about the products detailed by the
company. Similarly the advertisements of this company available in the social media platform
are capable to attract the customers to develop buying intention. In addition to this the result of
this questionnaire have also detail the fact that the customers are capable to choose the buying
options from the links provided advertisements in the social media platform (Macarthy 2018).
The second phase of this survey result has found out that the customers are referring to buy
online materials provided by this particular company because this has made the buying process
more easy and convenient. These are saving time and effort of the customers providing them
facility to get there orders delivered in their homes. large number of participants have pointed out

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that through social media this company has exceptionally developed its brand image as well as
trust in the mind of the customers towards the buying of food from Mercadona Supermarket
(Tuten and Solomon 2017). In addition to this the survey has also revealed the fact that the social
media information can manipulate the buying decision step by step and a perfect and real
customer data to cover the objectives of this research of marketing capability through social
media by this company. therefore it can be concluded that social media in this era of
globalisation can manipulate the customers in developing buying decision for or a particular
product from a particular company, develop brand image and increase brand awareness by
detailing information most convincingly through internet (Hollensen, Kotler and Opresnik 2017).
SWOT analysis derived from the results:
Strengths:
Firstly the company has a strong social media presence that is capable to influence the customers
to ultimately increased buying decision and depend upon information detail to this company in
the social media platforms.
Secondly the survey reveals that the company is the largest Supermarket chain as well as food
distributor in the countries which has more than 1300 stores with one fourth market share in the
food market.
Thirdly the company has a good brand equity that enables each to rank in the top 10 reputable
company in the world. This develops the brand image inclusively and enhance trust among the
customers.
Weaknesses:

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Firstly, this particular company does not have global reach (Wu 2016).
Secondly, the company has limited brand recall outside Spain.
Opportunities:
Firstly, the customers have choice for good quality product and high buying capacity.
Secondly, the company has well developed brand image in social media which can enable it to
supply orders to the overseas customers through online purchasing process.
Threats:
Firstly the company has such a of customer base that is limited into high class background. This
eliminated the company to apply to the low price scenario.
Secondly, increasing competition level in the social media an online business can hamper the
growth,
Recommendations for customers:
The Global presence of Mercadona is low where is it has its ability to spread in the developed
countries of the world like that of the UK and US and other European countries. It has captured
the attention of the customers available in the social media platforms which is a global platform
to operate with. The company must use this social media platforms to deliver their products in
other countries also. They can also start to venture the markets gradually for export their
products in the overseas markets.
Secondly the company needs to collaborate with other companies that produce Agro products
and other materials send for the retailing business. This will eliminate the presence of the middle
persons and the company will be getting scope for cost cutting.

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Thirdly the marketing management needs to analyse the review and feedback available in the
social media platforms. This will enable the company to find out the exact demand of the
customers and provide them those on that basis.
Finally the company needs to take care of the competitive advantage through online business. By
creating scope for discount and marketing for personalised products can solve this problem.
Action plan:
Factors Actions Resources Time
Increase
global
existence
 collecting data about scope to
enter market
 external environment analysis
 conducting foreign market
research
 Evaluate and select methods of
distributing products in foreign
markets.
 online and
offline
information
center
 supply
chain
Three months
Analyse
social media
review
system
 increasing number of sellers in the
social media
 judging reactions in the posts
 counting referral traffic
 examining click through rate
 Finding out reach.
 social
media
analytics
tools
 IT
employees
Two months
Providing
competitive
price
 connecting with the agro
producers
 eliminating middle persons
 providing discounts to the
customers like referral codes, bulk
purchase and many others
 advertising
agencies
 suppliers
Five months
Conclusion:
Mercadona as of this year has been one of the leading Supermarket chain in the retail sector
therefore it is important to find out its marketing strengths and weaknesses show that the

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management can find out proper opportunities and threats for solving existing problems. This
survey detailing the ability of the marketing strategies of Mercadona supermarket refer to the
building social media presence for attracting the customers and influencing them to buy products
from this company. However there are various opportunities that the company find if it focuses
upon the expansion process and providing discounts to attract the customers. By eliminating the
middle persons can help the cost reduction and more inclusive marketing.

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References:
Assimakopoulos, C., Antoniadis, I., Kayas, O.G. and Dvizac, D., 2017. Effective social media
marketing strategy: Facebook as an opportunity for universities. International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management.
Duffett, R.G., 2017. Influence of social media marketing communications on young consumers’
attitudes. Young Consumers.
Hollensen, S., Kotler, P. and Opresnik, M.O., 2017. Social media marketing: a practitioner guide.
Opresnik Management Consulting.
Keegan, B.J. and Rowley, J., 2017. Evaluation and decision making in social media
marketing. Management Decision.
Macarthy, A., 2018. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for
Business Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More!.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Pan, Y., Torres, I.M. and Zúñiga, M.A., 2019. Social media communications and marketing
strategy: A taxonomical review of potential explanatory approaches. Journal of Internet
Commerce, 18(1), pp.73-90.
Richardson, P.S., Choong, P. and Parker, M., 2016. Social media marketing strategy: Theory and
research propositions. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 10(2).
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
Wu, C.W., 2016. The performance impact of social media in the chain store industry. Journal of
Business Research, 69(11), pp.5310-5316.

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Mercadona.es, 2020. [online] Mercadona.es. Available at: <https://www.mercadona.es/>
[Accessed 19 April 2020].

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Appendices: