THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL

MEDIA ON CONSUMER
BUYING BEHAVIOUR

IN SUBMISSION OF FULFILLMENT OF INTERNAL

ASSESSMENT OF SEMESTER II FOR BUSINESS
RESEARCH METHODS.

  
 INTRODUCTION
A study based on the decision process of consumers for purchases widely
influenced by social media. The emergence of social media, as related to
consumer consumption, includes the development of new channels of
communication, new ways to engage and interact, and new ways to research
products and services. With these new conveniences consumers have become
increasingly connected, demanding, and conscientious. Individuals over the
globe utilize social media to interface with others. We have seen the world
being transformed daily by these new collective technologies, which is giving a
new hope to organizations with impacts which were never considered to exist
initially.
Today, most organizations are mainly interested in incorporating social media
into the business structures of their organization, but do not have a proper
know-how of what social media is all about. The value that social media adds in
organizations is huge as an increasing number of organizations are already
endorsing and exploiting the various opportunities in social media technological
innovation.
From all around the world people have begun to utilize online networking, for
example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on to share their encounters. In
the course of the most recent decade, the World Wide Web has seen a
multiplication of client-driven web advancements, for example, web journals,
informal communities, and media sharing stages. By and large, called web-
based life, these innovations have empowered the development of client created
content, a worldwide network, and the distribution of shopper feelings.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
The advent of social media in forms similar to Twitter and Facebook are
beginning to have large implications on business practices and academic
literature alike. Over the last few years, many academic research papers have
investigated the role of social media in the business world. Twitter has been
analyzed to look at the role it plays in a variety of marketing areas to include
helping brand and promote businesses (Greer and Ferguson 2001).
As Grant (2007) mentioned, traditional distribution channels have suffered as
consumers now use online purchasing due to easier access to product/service
information. Companies use customer centric approach to create a social
network and interact with all of their target group.
By using social media, consumers can create content and offer valuable advice
to others. This new development has seen online communities and an electronic
network of individuals emerge on social platforms where members share
information globally and quickly (Molly McLure & Samer 2005).
 KEY POINTS TO UNDERSTAND

CONSUMER - Any individual who purchases products or services for his/her

personal use and not for manufacturing or resale is called a consumer. A
consumer is the one who decides whether or not to buy an item at the store or
someone who is influenced by advertisement and marketing.
They are the end-users in the distribution chain of goods and services.
CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS – Involves 5 steps
1) Problem recognition
2) Search of information
3) Evaluation of alternatives
4) Final decision
5) Post-purchase decisions
SOCIAL MEDIA - Social Media can be defined as a group of Internet-based
applications that are built on the ideological and technological foundations of
the Web and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - Social Media marketing is the process of
empowering individuals to promote their services or products through different
social media channels to attract a larger amount of people that may not have
been available via traditional way of advertising.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of social media on
buying behavior of consumers.
1. To examine buyers’ perception towards shopping online.
2. To examine factors that motivate buyers to shop through social media
platforms.
 HYPOTHESIS

NULL HYPOTHESIS: There is no significant relationship between social

media channels and buying behavior of consumers.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS: There is a significant relationship between
social media channels and buying behavior of consumers.

METHODOLOGY
 Data Type – Primary Data
 Data Collection – We sent the questionnaire using various social media
sites to people from different age groups.
 Study Type – Study based on Primary Survey
 Sample Size – 100 Respondents
 Sampling Technique – Stratified Random Sampling (Stratified random
sampling is a method of sampling that involves the division of a
population into smaller sub-groups known as strata. In stratified random
sampling, or stratification, the strata are formed based on members'
shared attributes or characteristics such as income or educational
attainment.)
 Tools Used for Analysis – Google Form for preparing the questionnaire
and Google Spreadsheet
 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
The following section presents analysis made on the data collected from the
questionnaire. The set of questions were sent to individuals who are currently
living in Kolkata, West Bengal. Total number of respondents were 100.
The questionnaire contains 16 questions.
In the upcoming sections analysis and findings are presented.

1. The pie chart below shows the gender distribution of the respondents.
From the received responses, 49(%) of the respondents were female, and
51(%) were male.

2. Four different age groups are covered by collected data.

They are:
18 - 25 years old (59%), 26 – 40 years old (27%), 41 – 60 years old
(12%), 61 years and above (2%).
3. The next two pie charts show the employment status and the occupation
mix of the respondents.
Figure 1 - Employment Status Of Respondents

Figure 2 - Occupation Mix of the Respondents

From the received responses we can see, that the data collected is diverse. It
covers people of different gender, age groups and occupation. Therefore, the
following analysis is carried out assessing the general consumer behaviour in
Kolkata.

4. The pie chart below shows the preference in terms of mode of shopping.
As we can see, 61% of the respondents prefer to shop online, whereas
39% prefer to shop by the traditional mode i.e. offline.

5. The pie chart below shows the extent to which social media conversations
influence a consumer’s product choices/buying behaviour. As seen by the
received responses 67% people are of the opinion that social
conversations do indeed influence their product choices, whereas 33%
disagree.
6. The chart below shows the frequency of the people to treat social media
as an electronic word of mouth. As seen below, 29% people have a
neutral opinion. 41% of the respondents are likely to recommend social
media websites, and 18% are highly likely to recommend.

7. Shown below is the frequency of online shopping done by people. It

shows that 54(%) of the people did online shopping on a monthly basis,
19(%) of the people did online shopping on a weekly basis, 1(%) of the
people did online shopping every day and 26(%) people did online
shopping 1 or 2 times a year.
8. The pie chart below shows how many respondents gave in to the urge of
unplanned purchase due to social media exposure. 57% respondents have
said yes and 43% respondents have said no. As we can see majority of the
respondents agree to the fact that social media exerts a significant level of
influence in their buying behaviour.

9. Frequency of social media usage is represented below. 69% of the people

use social media daily, 16% use every other day, 5% use social media
every two days and rest 10% use once a week. Majority of the people as
 seen from the pie chart, consider social media an integral part of their
everyday life.

10. Based on the ratings seen below, Youtube is considered to be the

most popular social media followed by Instagram.

11. Shown below is the average number of social media accounts that
our respondents use.
12. The chart below shows social media tools which are used most
often when buying products online. As seen from the responses received,
Instagram is the most used.

13. Social media is like a megaphone to generate information about

the brands to the customers, brands can shine and create an advantage
through this medium by generating positive information about their
products and services. 44% of the respondents believe that a brand’s
social media presence influences their purchasing decision, 18% mention
 that it seldom affects them and 38% of the respondents said that social
media does not affect their perception of the brand.

14. In the pie chart below, as we can see 69% of the respondents have
a favorable opinion and 31% have a non-favorable opinion.

15. Do people follow brands on social media?

Information about various brands, promotions, discounts and offers are
posted on social media sites. Social media and website is a very good
way to receive information about everything without great amount of
efforts, thereby, majority i.e. 53% of people tend to follow various brands
on social media.
 FINDINGS

1. The maximum number of the respondents were from the age group of 18-25
as this is the age group which spends maximum number of hours on social
media.
2. Data from survey shows that more than half of the people prefer online
shopping over offline shopping, since it saves time and is a more convenient
option.
3. The data from the survey shows that in terms of frequency of social media
usage, 69% of the people use Social Media Platforms daily. Social Media plays
a crucial role in connecting people and developing relationships which enables
us to grow in our careers and have more opportunities.
4. The data from the survey shows almost 53% of the respondents follow brands
on social media. People follow brands on social media because they want to
know about sales, new products, get the latest updates, know about the latest
trends in products etc.
5. The data from the survey shows that majority take social media as the
electronic word of mouth as many people make purchase related decisions
according to social media referrals.
6. The data from the survey suggests that almost 69% of the respondents believe
that comments or shares related with the brand on social media affected their
vision of the brand.
7. The data from the survey shows that 67% of the respondents believe that their
decision was influenced by social media. It is because many people tend to see
online reviews and comments about that particular product to choose the perfect
brand and price.
 CONCLUSION

It can be concluded from this research that consumers in Kolkata, West Bengal
are actively utilizing social media platforms as a tool in validating their
purchase decisions. Social media is taken as the electronic word of mouth by
majority of the respondents. Reviews and references by the past consumers on
social media platforms affect the decision process of potential customers.
Social media users found decision-making to be easier and enjoyed the process
more, when compared to those who used other information sources. Those who
perceived the information on social media to be of higher quality and greater
quantity were more satisfied overall. The results overall show that Social
Media has a strong impact on the consumer decision-making process. So, in
this case the null hypothesis is rejected.
 LIMITATIONS
 Data sample was quite small that shows limited generalizability of the
study conducted.
 The study was limited to a specific time period. Thus, it cannot be used to
analyze behaviour over a period of time as the timing is not guaranteed to
be representative.
 Data was collected from the members of the population who were
conveniently available and able to participate in study. This may lead to a
bias error and also may be an untrue representation of the population.

FUTURE SCOPE OF STUDY

 Firstly, sample size should be increased as it would cover more people in
the society and help create a better and accurate set of results.
 The people who participated in the survey were mainly from Kolkata, but
the study can be conducted on a broader scale by collecting data from
different parts of India to get a better picture of the impact social media is
having on consumer buying process.
 As cultures and values change from country to country, consumer’s
buying behaviour may also vary. A study involving many countries
should be conducted on this topic for more accurate and generalized
results.
 REFERENCES

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