Analysis of Social Media Impact on Consumer Choice (ASDA Case)

This report investigates the impact of social media on consumer choices, focusing on the marketing strategies of ASDA. The research includes a literature review exploring the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to increase brand awareness and customer engagement. The study utilizes a descriptive research design with an interpretivist philosophy, employing a deductive approach and both primary and secondary data sources. The methodology includes a questionnaire administered to 20 customers, incorporating open-ended and closed-ended questions. The report analyzes the relationship between research questions and hypotheses, data collection methods, and research evaluation techniques. The findings aim to identify the effectiveness of social media for organizations, evaluate customer needs, analyze the influence of social media on consumer choices, and provide recommendations for enhancing performance in the market. The research emphasizes the importance of understanding consumer behavior in the digital age and the role of social media in shaping purchasing decisions.

The impact of social
media on consumer
choice

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1....................................................................................................................................3
1.1) Overview.........................................................................................................................3
1.2) Factors contributing in research project selection...........................................................3
1.3) Literature review.............................................................................................................4
1.4) Methodology...................................................................................................................5
1.5) Gantt Chart......................................................................................................................6
CHAPTER2.....................................................................................................................................8
2.1) Relation between research question and hypothesis.......................................................8
2.2) Data collection................................................................................................................8
2.3) Research investigation..................................................................................................11
CHAPTER3...................................................................................................................................14
3.1) Research evaluation techniques....................................................................................14
3.2) Data analysis.................................................................................................................15
3.3) Recommendations.........................................................................................................21
CHAPTER4...................................................................................................................................23
4.1) Conclusion & recommendation.....................................................................................23
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 1
1.1) Overview
In present era, organizations are focusing on their marketing activities so that they will be
able to attract number of people towards their services. For this, they are using social networking
sites in order to increase the brand awareness and recognition in the market (Shirky, 2011).
Through this, companies will be able to sustain their competitive advantage as compare to their
rivals. There are some of the social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and so
on. People will be able to know about the different features of the services and products that are
offered by retail industry.
The present research project is based on ASDA which offer grocery products to their
service users. They are focusing on their marketing strategies so that they will be able to build a
strong base of consumers.
Title: To identify the impact of social media on the consumer choices.
Aim: To identify the impact of social media on the consumer choice.
Research objectives: There are some of the objectives of current research which are stated
below:
 To identify the effectiveness of the social media for the organization.
 To evaluate the customer’s needs and demands.
 To analyse that how social media can affect the consumer choice in an efficient manner.
 To provide some of the recommendations that how an organization can enhance their
performance in the market.
Research question
Q1. What is the use of social media?
Q2. What is the relationship between the social media and customer’s needs?
Q3. How social media can affect the customer’s preferences?
1.2) Factors contributing in research project selection
There are distinctive components which help in effective and suitable research study for
the desired topic. There a few criteria by which an association will get appropriate help in doing
the powerful research:

 Marketing-This helps the association in drawing in more clients by giving them goods
and services, so for this company need to think and investigate about all the required
aspects of market then according to that
 Finance- This is the best technique as this will help analyst to make decision regarding
research in exact way. It will be extremely dangerous for an analyst to complete his
exploration in required way.
 Administrations and management- They have the expert to choose or to ignore any of
the undertakings which an organization is taking a shot at, as they have the primary
obligation to care for all the services related works in a company.
 Knowledge and experience: These factors also play a vital role in order to select a
research topic. If knowledge and experience level for the particular topic is high, then it
became easy for an individual to conduct a field of study.
 Access to information: The information for this topic is available on the internet and in
different books, journals. So, it will be easy for me to analyse the impact of social media
on the consumer behaviour.
1.3) Literature review
According to the views of Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012) social media is a medium
through which companies can share the content with their customers so that they will be able to
know about the different services of the organization. There are some of the social networking
sites are like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on. On the basis of these, an enterprise can post
about their services on the different sites so that customers attention can be grabbed. Through
this, the total sales of retail industry can be increased in an efficient manner. It has been analysed
by Stelzner (2011) that social media is a tool that can boost the overall growth and economy of
the company. Through this, the two-way communication can be established between the
consumers and organization. So, in manner they will be able to know about the requirements of
their end users.
Tufekci and Wilson (2012) says that there are some types of social media such as social
networking sites, social news, media sharing sites, blogs and so on. On the basis of these, ASDA
will be able to increase their overall performance at the marketplace. Along with this, marketing
manager can conduct an online survey in order to collect the information about the consumer’s

needs and demands. Social media marketing plays their vital role in the business organization so
that success can be achieved and their overall objectives can be achieved.
It has been confronted by Heller Baird and Parasnis (2011) that social media affect the
choice and demands of the people and through this they will be able to get higher returns of their
investments. On the basis of these types of social media, an enterprise will be able to know about
the demands of their consumers and this will lead towards the success. Social media influence
the organization in positive as well as negative manner. It has been criticised by De Vries,
Gensler and Leeflang (2012) if an enterprise adopts some social media strategies then they will
be able to increase their image, attract number of people, sustain the competitive advantage and
so on. On the other hand, if any customer has bad experience with the company they will post
negative comment on their site and due to this performance might get affected.
1.4) Methodology
Title: To identify the impact of social media on the consumer choices.
Aim: To identify the impact of social media on the consumer choice.
Research objectives: There are some of the objectives of current research which are stated
below:
 To identify the effectiveness of the social media for the organization.
 To evaluate the customer’s needs and demands.
 To analyse that how social media can affect the consumer choice in an efficient manner.
 To provide some of the recommendations that how an organization can enhance their
performance in the market.
Research question
Q1. What is the use of social media?
Q2. What is the relationship between the social media and customer’s needs?
Q3. How social media can affect the customer’s preferences?
Research methodology is a process that is used to conduct the overall research in a
systematic manner. Through this, research aim and objectives can be accomplished in an
efficient manner (Snyder, 2012). Here, descriptive design has been used by the researcher so that
in depth understanding about the social media and their impact can be identified. Along with
this, interpretivism philosophy is used by them so that qualitative research can be conducted in

an efficient manner. Deductive approach is used in this current research project and information
is gathered from primary as well as secondary sources.
Sampling is a technique that is used by the researcher in order to select a sample from
overall population. Here, random sampling has been used in an efficient manner so that the
reviews of the respondents can be identified (Pierre, 2012). Furthermore, thematic analysis is
adopted by the researcher in which different themes and graphs are formed and data can be
analysed in successful manner.
Contribution: The present research is focused on impact of social media on the choices of
people. I have collected information from various sources such as primary and secondary. After
this, the project gets completed in an effective manner. Along with this, I have conducted a
survey on number of people so that information on such topic can be collected.
1.5) Gantt Chart
The action plan can be made on the basis of Gantt chart. On the basis of this, different
activities can be formed with their time in which tasks can be completed in an effective manner.
By preparing this type of plan, overall research can be conducted in an appropriate manner.

Network diagram

CHAPTER2
2.1) Relation between research question and hypothesis
The research resources are related to the data that is gathered from primary and secondary
source as through this overall research can be completed in more effective manner. Primary is
related to the surveys that is conducted at the marketplace and some of these surveys are related
to questionnaire, interview, observation and so on. (O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson, 2011) On the
other hand, secondary is related to the different opinion of the authors, book, journals, internet
and so on. The resources are more efficiently used in this study as through this overall research
questions can be resolved in more successful manner. Through this, it can be ensured that overall
project is completed in an ethical way by following the legal laws.
Here, in this current research project both primary and secondary resources are used so
that overall understanding of social media can be increased and their impact on customer’s
choice can be identified. Along with this, it is the responsibility of researcher to identify all the
potential risks that are associated with the study. Primary resources are related to the data which
is collected from surveys such as questionnaire. Along with this, information can be gathered
from books, journals, research papers, internet, articles, publications and so on.
There is relationship between the different resources and research questions as through
different sources the data for all research questions can be analysed. The overall information
about the social media and their relationship with the customer’s interest can be identified. The
researcher is responsible for all consequences that are generated from different operations and
activities. Along with this, researcher has to give the respect to all decisions that are given by
other participants so that overall research goals and objectives can be completed.
2.2) Data collection
In the current research project, questionnaire has been used by the researcher so that he
will be able to know about the impact of social media on the customer choice. There are some
open ended and close ended questions are included into the questionnaire so that different views
and opinion of people can be identified. Here, sample size is selected by the researcher is 20
customers. Sampling is an approach that is used in order to extract a small sample from large
population in order to conduct the study in more effective manner. The questionnaire is stated
below:

Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Q1. Do you use social media networking sites?
 Yes
 no
Q2. How long have you been using these sites?
 Less than 1 month
 less than 6 months
 6 months to 1 year
 More than 1 year
Q3. How much time do you spent on the social media?
 Less than 1 hour
 1 to 2 hours
 2 to 3 hours
 More than 3 hours
Q4. Do you agree that social media is the main source for getting information about the product
and services of ASDA?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
Q5. Do you think that advertisement and promotion on media is beneficial for an organisation?
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
Q6. Which of the factors influence your prejudgement about the products and services?
 Brand reputation
 Brand awareness

 Previous experience
 Information from friends and family
Q7. Does social networking media influence you to purchase different products and services of
ASDA?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
Q8. Do you search for the information about the particular goods over internet before any
purchase?
 Always
 Often
 Sometimes
 Seldom
 Rarely never
Q9. On the basis of your experience, will you recommend the services of ASDA to your friends
and family?
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
Q10. Do you agree that social media can attract more customers towards their services than
other mass media?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
Q11. Recommend some of the ways so that ASDA will be able to enhance their services and
customer’s satisfaction level can be increased.

2.3) Research investigation
The examination in this report is to done in an effective manner, to the point that the
request and issues that was developing in business get settled. Survey is one of the best way to
deal with perceive what decisively client require. The impact of online person to person
communication on obtaining conduct and essential administration technique of purchasers are all
around separated with this investigation contemplate. There are distinctive procedures which can
help in the examination consider. The customer's conduct has been considered in the
investigation. This framework is used to get the convincing result and to enhance the execution
of affiliation's operations.
A conclusive focus of the investigation technique is to appreciate mindset of buyers and
way they follow up on few changes that the firm does in its products and services. With help of
this investigation consider the student will have ability to settle on practical decision on various
parts of the business works out. The reason and the objective of picking this examination method
are-
 To achieve the effective result
 To perceive the required things that the affiliation must focus on.
 Relevance in the data
 Correct and accurate information.
Do you use social media networking sites? Frequency
Yes 16
No 4
How long have you been using these sites? Frequency
Less than 1 month 4
less than 6 months 3
6 months to 1 year 10
More than 1 year 3
How much time do you spent on the social media? Frequency
Less than 1 hour 5
1 to 2 hours 8

2 to 3 hours 4
More than 3 hours 3
Do you agree that social media is the main source for getting
information about the product and services of ASDA?
Frequency
Strongly agree 4
Agree 8
Neutral 2
Disagree 5
Strongly disagree 1
Do you think that advertisement and promotion on media is
beneficial for an organisation?
Frequency
Yes 9
No 5
Can't say 6
Which of the factors influence your prejudgement about the
products and services?
Frequency
Brand reputation 3
Brand awareness 6
Previous experience 5
Information from friends and family 6
Does social networking media influence you to purchase different
products and services of ASDA?
Frequency
Yes 13
No 5
Not sure 2