IMAT5120 Research: Social Media Marketing Influence on Tesco Consumers

This research report investigates the impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behavior, focusing on Tesco in the UK. The report explores the background of social media's influence, highlighting how it enhances customer awareness and shapes purchasing decisions. It addresses the problem of inadequate customer outreach and its effects on profitability and competitive advantage. A literature review supports the study, citing the work of Lim et al. (2017) and Hudson & Thal (2013), among others, to emphasize the importance of transparency, communication, and customer engagement. The report outlines aims and objectives to identify and assess the impact of social media marketing strategies and suggest improvements. The research methodology uses a positivism philosophy and descriptive research design, employing both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, including surveys and interviews. The report also addresses professional, legal, and ethical issues, as well as potential risks and challenges. A Gantt chart provides a detailed research management plan, outlining timelines for data collection, analysis, and report completion. The findings aim to provide insights into how Tesco can optimize its social media marketing efforts to enhance customer engagement and drive sales.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Research background.................................................................................................................3
Problem statement......................................................................................................................4
Literature review........................................................................................................................4
Aims and objectives...................................................................................................................6
Research rationale......................................................................................................................6
Research methodology...............................................................................................................6
Professional, legal and ethical issues.........................................................................................9
Risks problems of the proposed research.................................................................................10
Research management plan......................................................................................................11

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Impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behaviour: A case study of
Tesco, UK
Introduction
The research project is prepared to discuss about the use of social media marketing by
the organisation Tesco in UK for influencing the buying behaviours of consumers and ensure
creating awareness among them too. The research project will also highlight the importance
of managing marketing tactics with the use of social media platforms and at the same time,
facilitate greater awareness among people, thereby, make sure to encourage customers and
make them buy the products and services from the company within the retail sector1.
Research background
The background of research demonstrates how the social media marketing has helped
in generating more awareness among the clients, thus leading to becoming potential buyers.
The enhanced outreach of social media marketing has also favoured the company’s ability to
interact with clients socially over the internet and at the same time, influence the perceptions
of customers and make their purchasing decisions and buying patterns influenced too2.
Moreover, with the effective use of social media marketing, it can also create a positive effect
1 Balakrishnan, Bamini KPD, Mohd Irwan Dahnil, and Wong Jiunn Yi. "The impact of social media
marketing medium toward purchase intention and brand loyalty among generation Y." Procedia-
Social and Behavioral Sciences 148 (2014): 177-185.
2 Hajli, M. Nick. "A study of the impact of social media on consumers." International Journal of
Market Research 56.3 (2014): 387-404.

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on the awareness among customers, thereby, allow for encouraging higher level of
commitment, dedication and greater involvement of customers with the respective brand3.
Problem statement
The statement of problem is actually the lack of awareness and poor outreach to the
customers in different market segment, which can cause the organisation to acquire
inadequate level of profit and also failing to attain competitive advantage in business. Thus,
the problem statement is related to the various problems that are experienced by the company
due to lack of awareness and poor outreach to different market segments4.
Literature review
According to Lim et al. (2017), the social media marketing has increased the
awareness among clients and influence their purchasing decision. As it has been found that
the transparency of data and information forming the content of products and services and the
accessibility to those have influenced the decision making process and also made certain
prospects so that customers become loyal to the company with the huge numbers of
customers with different needs and preferences5. Thus, it is certain the companies have
adopted this marketing tactic to reach out to wider group of audience as most of them
3 Kumar, Ashish, et al. "From social to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on
customer behavior." Journal of Marketing 80.1 (2016): 7-25.
4 Ioanăs, Elisabeta, and Ivona Stoica. "Social media and its impact on consumers behavior."
International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories 4.2 (2014): 295-303.
5 Stephen, Andrew T. "The role of digital and social media marketing in consumer behavior." Current
Opinion in Psychology 10 (2016): 17-21.

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nowadays, remain online on the social networks, which has also helped in better accessibility
to the products and services, thereby, made them search for information about those much
conveniently and make purchase decisions too6.
As stated by Hudson & Thal (2013), the need for better communication also
represents the fact that the social media marketing approaches have raised the potential of
business entities to interact with the customers much more freely and understand about their
needs and preferences too. The customers could present their feedbacks and responses on the
social media platforms and these could be monitored by the businesses so as to make
necessary changes and improvements, thereby, ensure that the needs of customers are
fulfilled and their demands and expectations are met as well. Thus, it could be clearly
understood that the social media marketing has created good communication between the
business and its customers and also helped in influencing their purchase decisions, for the
purpose of generating more revenue and to attain competitive advantage in business as well7.
The transparency of information and better speed of information has enabled creation of
value and benefits, thereby, encouraged customers to try out the products and services made
available.
Aims and objectives
 To identify the impact of social media marketing on the buying behaviours and
purchasing decisions made by the customers of Tesco, UK
6 Lim, Xin Jean, et al. "The impact of social media influencers on purchase intention and the
mediation effect of customer attitude." Asian Journal of Business Research 7.2 (2017): 19-36.
7 Hudson, Simon, and Karen Thal. "The impact of social media on the consumer decision process:
Implications for tourism marketing." Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 30.1-2 (2013): 156-160.

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 To evaluate various measures that are used by companies to communicate with the
customers and extend outreach to promote greater brand awareness
 Toe assess the probable effects of implementing the social media marketing as part of
the marketing approach to create awareness among the customers
 To recommend necessary measures and approaches that could promote the business
online with the use of social media platforms and also influence their buying
behaviours
Research rationale
The rationale of the research demonstrates how the business organisation should make
sure to prioritise on the needs of customers and that could be possible with the help of
managing proper communication with them. This would be possible with the help of use of
social networks, which could enable the organisation, i.e., Tesco to interact with the
customers in large numbers and much more easily, furthermore, deal with multiple clients
quite easily and influence the purchasing decisions made by them during purchases8.
Research methodology
The research methodology is an integral chapter of doing a research project where the
research design, philosophy and information about data collection, sampling technique and
analysis of data and information are to be demonstrated for easing down the ability of the
researcher to conduct the research perfectly.
8 Rishika, Rishika, et al. "The effect of customers' social media participation on customer visit
frequency and profitability: an empirical investigation." Information systems research 24.1 (2013):
108-127.

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The positivism research philosophy would be the most suitable philosophy of the
research because of the effectiveness in improving the scope of observation and also about
how it could be effective for carrying out the descriptive research study. Another major
important thing about the researcher choosing the positivism research philosophy is that it
could allow for the validation of existing ideas, theories and concepts, thereby, allow for
filling the research gaps and also create scopes for conducting the research on similar kind of
research subject in the future with much ease and efficiency9.
There are three different kinds of research designs including the exploratory,
explanatory and descriptive research designs. While the exploratory research design is more
associated with the defining of initial research and presenting those in the form of theoretical
data and information, the existing theories, ideas and concepts are also assessed while on the
other hand, the explanatory research design could help in determining the cause and effect of
research effectively10. The descriptive research design could allow for proper collection of
data and information, furthermore, emphasize on the what and how rather than the why
concepts11. This is quite certain and predictable, though it could allow for researching the
9 Godey, Bruno, et al. "Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity
and consumer behavior." Journal of business research 69.12 (2016): 5833-5841.
10 Hewson, Claire, and David W. Stewart. "Internet research methods." Wiley StatsRef: Statistics
reference online (2014): 1-6.
11 Goh, Khim-Yong, Cheng-Suang Heng, and Zhijie Lin. "Social media brand community and
consumer behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content."
Information Systems Research 24.1 (2013): 88-107.

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subject in a more detailed manner and ensure that the two variables, i.e., the impact of social
media marketing and influence on consumer behaviours are linked together properly too.
The sampling technique allows for selection of samples and make sure to collect right
data and information that are required to conduct the research appropriately. While the
random probability sampling technique could help in selecting random samples and then
distribute survey questionnaires to them for the collection of data and information, the non-
probability convenient sampling method should help the researcher to acquire the responses
of managers of the organisation based on the interview sessions held involving them
according to their convenient time schedule. The sample size has been chosen as 50
customers and 5 managers of the organisation12.
The collection of both quantitative and qualitative data is required because it is a
primary research. The quantitative data has been gathered with the responses of customers
who were provided with the survey questionnaires consisting of questions, which were
responded without any bias whereas the qualitative data and information were the responses
of managers who were engaged in interview session based on their suitable time. The
secondary data and information have been collected from the assessment of various
secondary sources including the journals, articles, newspapers, documents and websites
containing information about the research topic regarding the impact of social media
marketing on influencing the consumers’ behaviours.
12 Vaismoradi, Mojtaba, Hannele Turunen, and Terese Bondas. "Content analysis and thematic
analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study." Nursing & health sciences 15.3
(2013): 398-405.

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The analysis of the data and information could be done with the use of SPSS tool,
which should represent the data and information in the form of graphs, tables and charts for
easily understandable by the researcher13.
Professional, legal and ethical issues
There were certain professional as well as ethical issues including the lack of
availability of managers and respondents, due to which, there might be need to visit different
places and this could be quite time as well as effort consuming. Moreover, the ethics have
been maintained by making sure that none of the respondents are forced to take part in the
research and they were also informed about the use of research for academic purposes only
and not to draw any kinds of commercial benefits14. The research materials and resources
sometimes could fall in wrong hands and might get unauthorised access, which also might
result in loss of valuable data and information and hinder the confidentiality too, also
considered as a major professional and ethical issues too.
Risks problems of the proposed research
The risks emerge when there are limitations or constraints caused due to lack of
sufficient amount of time and budgetary resources. Due to some language and cultural barrier
also, the individuals might be unable to understand the questions presented in the
13 Palinkas, Lawrence A., et al. "Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in
mixed method implementation research." Administration and policy in mental health and mental
health services research 42.5 (2015): 533-544.
14 Palinkas, Lawrence A., et al. "Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in
mixed method implementation research." Administration and policy in mental health and mental
health services research 42.5 (2015): 533-544.

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questionnaire. In spite of the fact that the research project has been accomplished within the
due date and time and with the availability of resources that have been allocated, some
additional time and money could have been more significant for conducting the research on
the similar topic in a detailed manner as well15.
Research management plan
Gantt chart
Main activities/ stages Month
Jan
Month
March
Month
April
Month
May
Month
June
Month
Aug
15 Brinkmann, Svend, and Steinar Kvale. Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research
interviewing. Vol. 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2015.

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Selection of topic 
Collecting data from
secondary sources
 
Constructing the research
layout

Literature review   
Development of research Plan  
Selection of Appropriate
Research Techniques
 
Primary data collection  
Analysis & Interpretation of
Data which are collected
 
Conclusion 
Development of Draft 
Final Work submission 

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References
Balakrishnan, Bamini KPD, Mohd Irwan Dahnil, and Wong Jiunn Yi. "The impact of social
media marketing medium toward purchase intention and brand loyalty among generation Y."
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 148 (2014): 177-185.
Brinkmann, Svend, and Steinar Kvale. Interviews: Learning the craft of qualitative research
interviewing. Vol. 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2015.
Godey, Bruno, et al. "Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand
equity and consumer behavior." Journal of business research 69.12 (2016): 5833-5841.
Goh, Khim-Yong, Cheng-Suang Heng, and Zhijie Lin. "Social media brand community and
consumer behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content."
Information Systems Research 24.1 (2013): 88-107.
Hajli, M. Nick. "A study of the impact of social media on consumers." International Journal
of Market Research 56.3 (2014): 387-404.
Hewson, Claire, and David W. Stewart. "Internet research methods." Wiley StatsRef:
Statistics reference online (2014): 1-6.
Hudson, Simon, and Karen Thal. "The impact of social media on the consumer decision
process: Implications for tourism marketing." Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 30.1-2
(2013): 156-160.
Ioanăs, Elisabeta, and Ivona Stoica. "Social media and its impact on consumers behavior."
International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories 4.2 (2014): 295-303.
Kumar, Ashish, et al. "From social to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social
media on customer behavior." Journal of Marketing 80.1 (2016): 7-25.