Analyzing Social Media's Effect on Customer Purchases: M&S Case

This research project investigates the impact of social media on customer purchases and decision-making processes, focusing on Mark and Spencer as a case study. The report begins with an overview of the research area, highlighting the importance of social media in modern marketing and the relevance of the topic. It explores the reasons for selecting this topic, emphasizing the increasing influence of social media platforms on consumer behavior. A comprehensive literature review examines the role of social media in the retail industry, the factors influencing customer purchasing decisions, and the impact of social media tools on customer behavior. The research methodology section details the qualitative research approach, descriptive research design, and ethical considerations. The report also includes a timeline of research activities, ensuring a structured approach to the investigation. The project aims to determine the significance of social media for organizations, identify factors affecting customer decisions, and assess the impact of social media on purchases, as well as explore ways for Mark and Spencer to attract its target audience.

Research Project

Table of Contents
1.1 Background of the research area...........................................................................................1
1.2 Stating the reason of selecting this topic...............................................................................2
1.3 Literature review...................................................................................................................2
Ways by which Mark and Spencer can attain target audiences..................................................4
1.4 Research methodology .........................................................................................................4
1.5 Appropriate timeline of research activities for agreed investigation ...................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

TITLE – To ascertain the impact of social media on customers' purchases and their decision
making process”. A case study on Mark and Spencer.
1.1 Background of the research area
It is an important part of research which signifies an overview of all investigation. The
main motive of this research project to represent the actual impact of social media tools on
customers' buying power and how this can influence buyers' decision making process. Along
with this, various research questions are also formulated which will answered all associated
terms of project theme (Bruhn, Schoenmueller and Schäfer, 2012). The project assignment is
based on Mark and Spencer which is a multinational retailer of clothing, home and luxury food
products. The firm was founded in 1884 and having around 1000 stores over the Europe. In
1998, Mark and Spencer became the first British retailer by making a pre-tax profit of around £1
billion. The mission statement of the business organisation is to produce inspirational quality
which is accessible to others. Whereas the vision statement of the company is be standard against
its competitors by improving the quality of offered products and services. The research
assignment states that business organisations have to use several social media channels so as to
grab better future opportunities. On the other hand, several aims and objectives will also
prepared which represents the actual requirement of this research. Certain essential tools and
techniques are being used so as to effectively carrying out this investigation as well as further
activities. In order to prepare a timeline activities, Gantt Chart is used so all tasks can be
completed on or before their time schedule.
Below describe the main research objectives: -
 To determine the importance of social media channels for an organisation.
 To identify the factors which can influence customers' decision making.
 To determine the impact of social media tools on customers' purchases. Recognise the different ways through which Mark and Spencer can attract customers.
Research questions: -
 Q1. What is significance of social media channels for Mark and Spencer?
 Q2. What are the major elements that can affect customers' decision making?
 Q3. What is the impact of social media tools on buyers' purchases?
 Q4. Justify the ways by which Mark and Spencer can attain target audiences.
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1.2 Stating the reason of selecting this topic
As herein the concept of this investigation is, “to ascertain the influence of social media
channels on customers' buying and their decisions; A case study on Mark and Spencer”. There
are different reasons behind selecting this topic as in this fast growing world individuals are
getting connected with social media applications (Castronovo and Huang, 2012). Thus, it has
become a crucial tool of marketing or advertising that is capable to attain and retain customers
from target market. Basically, social media channels, like Facebook, twitter, mySpace etc. are
the different software that assists people to get more information about trendy products and
services. Thereby, according to the researcher, its a trendy topic which is required to be
investigated systematically. In this sense, Mark and Spencer can easily acquire this knowledge in
their business process.
1.3 Literature review
Another part of research project is – literature review; it entails different opinions or
viewpoints of various authors so as to get brief knowledge about the topic. Retailing industry is
treated as one of the most growing sector which also highly contributes in growth and
advancement of a nation. Furthermore, literature review is based upon an organisational pattern
which engaged synthesis as well as summary of the research in specific conceptual categories
(Chu, 2011). It provides new interpretation of old materials and make a new one which is
beneficial for all. But sometimes it depends on the situation to analysis the sources and advise
the reader on the most pertinent researcher.
Importance of social media channels
Increasing in number of new technologies, accessing to Wi-Fi and connecting to social
media has become a necessity. Today the organisation are using these social media for their
business. According to Goodrich and De Mooij, (2014) in earlier days, organisation advertise
with the help of newspaper, pamphlets, radio, T.V. etc. but now a days they are using social
media for advertising, marketing and mainly for the growth of the organisation. As an
international clothing brand, Mark and Spencer is also expand itself on social media platform so
as to reach large group of customers in a minimum time frame. There are many social media
channels through which are used for the business purposes such as- Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn,
Instagram, Pinterest, you tube.
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An organisation can use Facebook for advertising their business as it provide a huge
platform to the organisation and it is easy for them to target their customers. Twitter helps the
business news to go viral as the people using twitter share the news and retweet the news.
LinkedIn mainly helps the organisation who are working in B2B field. It help to connect with the
business professionals in any type of industry. It also help to build strong industrial relationships
between businesses and it is the easiest method (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Instagram can benefit
mostly to the event companies as it helps in sharing photos of any events and any trade shows.
You tube helps to share videos about the business. If any business register them with Search
Engine Optimization then their videos are mostly referred first as compared to others in the
search engine.
Factors that can influence customers purchasing
Customers are those which dominates the market. There are various factors which
influence the buying behaviour of the customers like advertisement, economic condition,
personal priorities, purchasing power, social class, age, occupation, lifestyle etc. Advertisement
plays an important role in influencing the buying of a product by a customer. With the viewpoint
of Hutter and et. al., (2013) attractive advertisement leads to more purchasing of the products.
The next factors which affects mostly is the economic condition of the buyer, how much a
consumer can spend on any product. Economic products are more likely to be purchased than
costly products. Personal priorities of the customers also influence the buying of a product. It
includes likes, dislikes, morals, values, priorities. People live in societies where they belong to
some class and this class also exert a great influence because the customer buys product
according to their class, high class will prefer costly items whereas middle class will prefer
economic items. So there are many other factors which influence the buying of a customer.
Impact of social media channels tools on customers decision making
The great thing about social media is that it helps the business to connect with their
customers and help them to build emotional relationship with the customers. It helps the
customers to connect with the organisation emotionally and the customers are more likely to visit
the organisation more frequently. Social media also help the organisation to sort out the
problems of the customers quickly. It provide a platform to the customers where they can interact
and ask there problem (Ioanăs and Stoica, 2014). With the help of social media a business can
build a strong brand image in front of the customers with the help of social media channels.
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Ways by which Mark and Spencer can attain target audiences
In this over dynamic environment, it is necessary for business entities to remain
competitive. It can be done if companies have key group of numerous loyal customers to whom
they can sell their products and services. For this purpose, managers of Mark and Spencer should
use different ways to attain and retain customers' interest within organisation. Accoridng to Kim
and Ko, (2012) attractive marketing and advertisements are done so as to get buyers informed
about firm's offerings. Managers can also conduct a market research so as to analyse needs and
desires of target audiences and then manufacture products accordingly. It also helps an
organisation to sustain high competitive edge by grabbing better future opportunities in a certain
time period. Furthermore, Mark and Spencer will easily accomplish its goals and objectives in a
pervasive manner.
1.4 Research methodology
It entails that researcher is required to determine various procedures, algorithms and
schemes that can be used in research. Basically, research methodology is an effective way to
resolve all problems which can come while conducting a research. It aids them to describing,
explaining, planning and predicting phenomena by which the overall knowledge can be gained.
It aims is to give the work plan of research. Below defined several methodologies which are used
in this research project, such as-
Types of research – Generally, there are two types of researches, i.e. qualitative and quantitative.
In which, the former one is rely upon opinions and thoughts of public and aggregation or
interpretation of data or facts. Qualitative research is very much objective and provide qualitative
information to investigator thus effective information can be achieved. It is also assistive in
decisional making process cause of their practical nature. Data and information which is gathered
from qualitative research can be applied in framing questionnaire, conducting interviews or
surveys as per the interrogation.
Apart from this, another one is quantitative research which provides numerical or
statistical facts or figures. The prime motive of doing this research is to analyse the amount of
data and then compare it with past records or situations; it assists in finding an idea to do tasks in
proper manner (Pookulangara and Koesler, 2011). Along with this, it is also demonstrated that
qualitative research is linked with experimental observations.
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Thereby, in this research project the researcher has used qualitative research methodology
so as to get information about the existing topic. As it caters proper feedbacks and persuasions of
individuals; it accessible in creating proper decisions in context of the topic of the interest.
Research design – It refers with entire strategy that which selected for this segregation.
Research design is significant as its a clear statement towards the purpose of research aims and
objectives. It has been analysed that several types of research design, like descriptive and
exploratory. In which descriptive research is a fundamental description of overall research
problem or issues, such description can be abstract or concrete (Rapp and et. al., 2013). On the
other hand, exploratory research design is fully emphasis on determine the answer of all
questions. If affect the what information is collected and how to resolve them in an efficient
manner. Thereby, in accordance to the given theme of investigation, descriptive design is most
befitted as better decisions can be drawn easily.
Research approaches – It is linked with procedures which will used for entire research; it
spans that the steps from wide assumptions in order to elaborate the various of data collection.
There are two types of research approaches, inductive and deductive.
Data sampling – It consists with a method that is going to be used in selecting,
controlling and measuring a symbolic collection of data points. Probabilistic and non
probabilistic are the major methods of data sampling but research has used probabilistic method
because probabilistic researcher has taken a random sample from total population.
Ethical consideration – This area of research project entails that the whole research
should be done in an ethical manner. Researcher does not misuse of information which is gained
from respondents; he also have assemble all activities by maintaining proper privacy.
1.5 Appropriate timeline of research activities for agreed investigation
In order to attain better outcomes from a research, it is essential for investigator to
schedule all activities and tasks properly. There is described several activities with a proper time
schedule that is must to be completed effectively, such as: -
 Designing aims and objectives – Firstly, researcher needs to determine aims and
objectives of the research. This process hardly takes 5 days.
 Preparation of primary data source – afterwards, there is required to identify data sources,
i.e. primary sources so as to drawn effective decisions or conclusions.
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 Data collection – In this stage, research collects data from various sources, i.e. primary
and secondary. In which primary data provides fresh data whereas secondary data renders
that information which was already used for another research.
 Data analysis – Examination of data should be done so that each people can know about
the reliability of the theme.
 Conclusion and recommendations – at last, after doing all activities researcher make
effective conclusion as well as suggestions to those individuals who are involved in this
whole process.
Work break down structure
Gantt chart
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Critical Path
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V. and Schäfer, D.B., 2012. Are social media replacing traditional
media in terms of brand equity creation?. Management Research Review, 35(9), pp.770-
790.
Castronovo, C. and Huang, L., 2012. Social media in an alternative marketing communication
model. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), p.117.
Chu, S. C., 2011. Viral advertising in social media: Participation in Facebook groups and
responses among college-aged users. Journal of interactive advertising, 12(1), pp.30-43.
Goodrich, K. and De Mooij, M., 2014. How ‘social’are social media? A cross-cultural
comparison of online and offline purchase decision influences. Journal of Marketing
Communications, 20(1-2), pp.103-116.
Hudson, S. and Thal, K., 2013. The impact of social media on the consumer decision process:
Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1-2),
pp.156-160.
Hutter, K., Hautz, J., Dennhardt, S. and Füller, J., 2013. The impact of user interactions in social
media on brand awareness and purchase intention: the case of MINI on Facebook.
Journal of Product & Brand Management, 22(5/6), pp.342-351.
Ioanăs, E. and Stoica, I., 2014. Social media and its impact on consumers behavior. International
Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 4(2), pp.295-303.
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An
empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10),
pp.1480-1486.
Pookulangara, S. and Koesler, K., 2011. Cultural influence on consumers' usage of social
networks and its' impact on online purchase intentions. Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services, 18(4), pp.348-354.
Rapp, A. and et. al., 2013. Understanding social media effects across seller, retailer, and
consumer interactions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(5), pp.547-
566.
Solomon, M. R. and et. al., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10).
Pearson.
Wang, X., Yu, C. and Wei, Y., 2012. Social media peer communication and impacts on purchase
intentions: A consumer socialization framework. Journal of interactive marketing,
26(4), pp.198-208.
Online
Smith. [Online]. Available through : <https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-social-
media-business/>.
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