CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

Transcription

1

2 CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 FINDINGS Objective 1: To identify the general opinion of users about social network sites with a 1. It is observed apart from Facebook, and 49.8 percent of respondents have account in Google plus, 45.4 percent of the respondents have account in LinkedIn, 15.5 percent of respondents have account in Hi percent respondents have account in Myspace and only 7.2 percent of respondents have access to Bebo network. 2. With regard to most used SNS, majority of the respondents use Facebook network (88.8%), followed by Linkedin (6%). Apart from Facebook and Linkedin only very few respondents are regularly using other networks such as Myspace, Google plus, bebo and Hi5. 3. As far as source of access is concerned, the desktop computer is a main source to access SNS (56.9 %), followed by Laptop (52%) and smart phone (30.9%).Only few respondents access their SNS account through Tablet (5.6%) and ipad (5.7%) percent of the respondents are checking their SNS account many times a day, whereas 31.1 percent of the respondents are checking their SNS account once a day. Only 9.8 percent of the respondents are checking their account once a week.

3 5. It is found that 38.8 percent of the respondents averagely spend minutes a day for checking their SNS account, whereas17.5 percent of the respondents spend more than an hour a day. 6. For privacy problem, 24.6 percent of the respondents always feel about privacy problem of SNS. However, 11.9 percent of the respondents rarely worry about privacy problem of SNS. 7. As far as continuing to stay on SNS for next 2 years is concerned, majority of the respondents accept to stay (76.9%),whereas only few (3.8%) respondents said that they move away from SNS in next 2 years and the remaining people do not answer. 8. It is found that most of the respondents spend less than Rs per year towards the purchase of products on SNS. However, only very few respondents (5.7%) are spending Rs for purchasing. 9. It is identified that 52.2% of the respondents purchase products through Facebook for less than 13 months, because it is gaining momentum recently. However, only 4.7 percent of the respondents have the purchasing experience of less than 3 years. 10. While investigating the reasons for using SNS, most of the respondents communicate with their friends (72.7%), and 63.2 percent of the respondents use SNS for sharing their personal updates. It is interesting to note that 31.1 percent of the respondents use SNS for searching information about products or services. 11. Regarding the problems faced by respondents in using SNS, majority of them feel about internet fraud (71%), which is followed by leaking of private information. The main purpose of SNS is anyone can make network with anybody, but few members

4 misuse this advantage. Cyber bullying is another threat faced by the respondents along with affecting communications skills (26.7%), creating psychological disorder (24.1%) leading to Narcissism (16.6%) and making anti-social behavior (15.4%). 12. While considering the product purchased, it is identified that 48.6 percent of the respondents purchase pendrive, whereas 44.5 percent of the respondents purchase T- Shirt through SNS, which is followed by the shirts (41.3%), and mobile phone (33.5%).It is observed that only 9.8 percent of the respondents purchase laptop and wrist watches. The latter are costly products and hence, people may notpurchase them through web. 13. With regard to source of information, majority of the respondents get their product or service information through advertisements on SNS (75.3%), and some people get information through electronic word-of-mouth (34.7), and also from the page (33%). 14. It is identified that most of the respondents (51.1%) like cash on delivery mode of payment and few others like (35.7%) online banking, debit card (32.7%) and credit card (30.5%). 15. It is found that 91.6 percent of the respondents have positive opinion towards social networking sites and only 8.4 percent of the respondents do not have positive opinion towards SNS. Therefore, it is concluded that majority of the respondents have positive opinion towards SNS. 16. It is identified that most of the respondents have positive behavioural response towards advertisements on SNS. Further, they feel that advertisements are

5 informative and entertaining. However, they show moderate response towards irritating aspect of advertisements. 17. Regarding ewom, most of the respondents show positive opinion towards argument quality of ewom. They also give fair importance to the source credibility. In addition to this, they feel positively about ewom information as useful and tend to adopt the information. 18. As far as brand attitude is concerned, most of the respondents have awareness about the brand given in Facebook and a considerable percentage of respondents have positive image about the brand shown in Facebook advertisement and ewom. 19. Majority of the respondents feel excited when they see an advertisement or ewom on Facebook and 50 percent of the respondents feel esteem if they use the products shown in advertisement or ewom, and hence they intend to do impulse buying. 20. With regard to shopping, major part of the respondents perceived shopping is easy to use and it is useful for them. However, while perceived enjoyment and perceived security are concerned, respondents show neutral opinion.they do not feel enjoyment during shopping and also they do not give importance for security aspect of shopping. 21. It is identified that most of the respondents have positive postpurchase behavior. 22. Though not all respondents are loyal to social media, more than 60 percent are ready to go along with social media forever. 23. While considering ewom intentions after purchase, more than three fourth of the respondents have positively reacted, and intend to spread positive aspects about social networking sites, particularly Facebook to others through ewom.

6 Objective 2: To analyze the impact of socio-economic characteristics of the respondents on study variables like advertisement attitude, ewom, branding, impulse buying intention, shopping attitude, post purchase behavior, ewom intention and social media loyalty. 24. It is found that the respondents significantly differ with respect to their gender towards ewom and brand attitude but not towards advertisement attitude, impulse buying intention, shopping attitude, post purchase behavior, social media loyalty and ewom intention. It is interesting to note that, for both ewom and brand attitude, female respondents have an edge over male respondents. 25. While investigating the respondents opinion towards Facebook advertisement based on the socio-economic characteristics, it is found that the respondents differ significantly with respect to their age, occupation and education, but do not differ with respect to their income level towards Facebook advertisement. It is found that youngsters, students and respondents with school level education show significantly favorable reaction towards Facebook advertisement compared to their counterparts in the respective categories. 26. It is found that education alone has significant influence on ewom, whereas other socio-economic characteristics are found to have insignificant result. Respondents who have school level education and undergraduation give more importance to ewom compared to others. 27. It is identified that the respondents differ significantly with respect to their age, education, occupation and income towards their brand attitude. That is, youngsters have better brand attitude. Further, respondents with school level education and undergraduation also have positive attitude towards brand. Regarding occupation,

7 students, jobseekers and Government employees give importance to brand. Finally, the respondents with less than Rs monthly family income have brand conscious compared to other categories. 28. Regarding impulse buying intention, education and occupation have significant outcome. That is, respondents with school level education and undergraduation are giving importance to impulse buying attitude compared to others. In addition to this, Government employees, businessman and students are also showing comparatively favorable reaction towards impulse buying of products in Facebook. 29. For shopping attitude, the result of this study shows that the respondents differ significantly with respect to age, education and occupation, but not with respect to their income level. It is interesting to note that higher the age group lesser the shopping attitude. Further, respondents with school level and undergraduation level education show interest towards shopping through Facebook. The study also shows that students, Government employees and private employees are showing interest in shopping attitude compared to other categories. 30. It is identified that the respondents do not differ significantly with respect to age, education, occupation and income towards post purchase behavior. On seeing the mean value, respondents have favorable attitude towards post purchase behavior. 31. While considering social media loyalty, respondents differ significantly with respect to age, education and occupation but not with respect to income. Regarding age, youngsters are more loyal to social media compared to others. Further, respondents who have professional qualification tend to have low loyalty level compared to

8 undergraduates. Moreover, students, businessman and government employees are loyal to social media compared to professionals. 32. As far as ewom intention is concerned, respondents differ significantly with respect to age, education and occupation but not with respect to income. It is identified that respondents who are below 25 years of age have more ewom intention after purchasing the product through Facebook. Similar to social media loyalty, respondents who have professional qualifications are resistant to ewom intention compared to school level and undergraduation. In addition, businessman, students, government employees and job seekers have favorable ewom intention compared to professionals, after purchasing products through Facebook. Objective 3: To find out the influence of various factors on study variables like advertisement attitude, ewom, branding, impulse buying intention, shopping attitude, post purchase behavior, ewom intention and social media loyalty. 33. Respondents do not differ significantly with respect to their attitude towards advertisement based on various aspects of SNS like checking of SNS accounts, duration of time spent, longevity of purchase, amount spent and privacy problem. Generally, their attitude towards advertisement is positive. 34. By considering the ewom, respondents do not differ significantly with respect to checking of SNS account, duration of time spent and privacy problem. However, they differ significantly with respect to longevity of purchase and amount spent for purchase. Respondents who purchase for longer period of time through SNS and the respondents who spend more amount per year for purchase tend to have positive ewom compared to others.

9 35. It is identified that the respondents do not differ significantly with respect tochecking of SNS accounts, duration of time spent, longevity of purchase, amount spent and privacy problem towards brand attitude. But they differ with respect to frequency of checking personal SNS account. The brand attitude of respondents who check for once in a day is significantly higher than other categories of respondents. 36. Regarding impulse buying intention, respondents do not differ significantly with respect to various aspects of SNS like checking SNS account, duration of time spend, longevity of purchase, amount spend and privacy problem towards impulse buying. 37. It is found that the respondents do not differ significantly with respect to various aspects of SNS towards shopping attitude. Rather, they show positive response towards shopping attitude. 38. While investigating postpurchase behavior, respondents do not differ significantly with respect to checking of SNS account, duration of time spent, longevity of purchase, amount spent for purchase and privacy problem. However, they differ significantly with respect to amount spend for purchase. That is, the respondents who spend more amount per year for purchasing through SNS are showing positive post purchase behavior compared to less spending persons. 39. Considering social media loyalty, respondents do not differ significantly with respect to the checking of SNS account, duration of time spent and privacy problem. However, they differ significantly with respect to longevity of purchase and amount spent for purchase. Respondents who purchase for longer period of times are loyal towards social media compared to the respondents who purchase products for less than two years. In addition to this, respondents who spend more amount per year for

10 purchasing through SNS tend to be more loyal towards social medial compared to low spenders. 40. As far as the ewom intention after purchase is concerned, respondents do not differ significantly with respect to various aspects of SNS. However, they show moderate response over ewom intention after purchase. Objective 4:To develop a model that represents the shopping process through online social network sites. 41. Trust on advertisement significantly influences brand image, excitement in impulse buying intention and perceived enjoyment of shopping attitude. 42. Information in advertisement significantly influences brand image. 43. Entertainment aspect of advertisement significantly influences excitement in impulse buying intention, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of shopping attitude. 44. Argument quality of ewom strongly influences excitement in impulse buying intention and perceived ease of use on shopping attitude. 45. Source credibility of ewom significantly influences brand image. 46. Information usefulness of ewom significantly influences perceived ease of use on shopping attitude. 47. Information adoption of ewom significantly influences brand image. 48. Brand image significantly influences excitement in impulse buying intention, perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment of shopping attitude. 49. Excitement in impulse buying intention significantly influences perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment of shopping attitude.

11 50. Esteem in impulse buying intention significantly influences perceived usefulness of shopping attitude. 5.2 SUGGESTIONS 1. As more than 50 percent of the respondents check their favourite SNS for less than 30 minutes per day, companies should device their advertisements and ewom in such a way that they should influence or impress the audience within 30 minutes. 2. The opportunity for growth is more in SNS especially for marketing of goods and services, because more than three fourth of the respondents are willing to stay back in their respective media in future. Hence, companies can use this medium to promote their products effectively to reach their target audience. 3. Most of the respondents purchase products like pendrive, T-shirts and shirts which are at low price, companies can also market their products which are low in price, through social networking sites. 4. Generally, respondents feel apprehension of paying money in advance while purchasing products through online. So, they want to get their product first and then they pay money, which is proved in this study that most of the respondents prefer to pay cash on delivery. Therefore, companies initially may adopt this method of payment to get reputation, and then move the buyers to net-banking or other modes of payment. 5. Most of the respondents receive information about the products through advertisements compared to ewom and pages. Hence it is suggested that the marketers should develop advertisements that focus on provoking the curiousness of viewers and motivate them to read the advertisement fully.

12 6. Respondents reacted positively towards three aspects (behavioural response, trust and informative) out of five aspects that represent attitude towards advertisement. Therefore, companies should contemplate on building trust among the audience towards advertisements. Besides, the advertisements should also include clear information pertaining to the products or services. 7. Not like other traditional media, in social networking sites, companies need not focus on entertaining aspects of advertisements as the respondents give moderate importance to entertaining. Rather, it is recommended that the product executives can think of using persuasive advertisements. 8. Since, respondents show positive attitude towards brand awareness and brand image, it is recommended to the companies to utilize SNS for creating awareness about the brand at a faster pace. Besides, easy recognition of product features and easy memorizing of the brand logo comes as additional benefits. 9. As postpurchase behavior is found to be positive, companies could promote to sell their products through SNS, because people found that the product purchased through Facebook is of good quality and they are also satisfied with the price of the product. Additionally, when companies meet out the promises given in the extent. 10. Since the respondents who spend less time on SNS significantly differ from other categories, companies should position their products or services either through advertisements or ewom within short duration of time. For instance,within15 minutes, people normally check their SNS account and simultaneously scan the

13 advertisements that pop up during the time. Hence it is suggested to the brand managers to release single frame advertisements, that appear more frequently in a short span of time. This would enhance the recall level among the viewers. 11. In this fast paced E-World, all the marketers should understand the range of the global wings-spread of SNS. More than 70% of the respondents use SNS for communicating with friends and 33.2% of respondents use SNS many times a day. In fact on the platform of SNS, the viewers could immediately express their level of satisfaction, by using ewom. By predicting their postpurchase bahaviour, the companies may concentrate more on their product and service features. When the marketers succeed well to bring positivity towards ewom of the consumers, they may produce sound source credibility which may lead to a better yield of consumer retention and value creation. 12. Excitement is found to be positive and esteem is neutral. As majority of the respondents feel excited when they get the same product features through Facebook or ewom, the companies should concentrate more on the excitement features of their advertisement such as using celebrities, fascinating appeals, flash presentations, while half of the respondents feel esteem about the use of the products shown in advertisement or ewom. It is the preliminary duty of the marketers promoting their products through the SNS. 13. Female respondents are found to have more favorable brand attitude and ewom than male respondents. It has been established that in Indian scenario, most of the purchase decisions are made by female, irrespective of the gender of the product. So

14 the online marketers should create their sales promotion schemes focusing on female audience. 14. While considering the theme, layout and appeals of the Facebook advertisement, the advertisement creators should concentrate more on the socio-economic characteristics of their target audience, because it has been found that youngster, students and school level respondents put a very favorable response towards Facebook advertisement. Usage of pretty music, songs, love appeal and colorful creative layout might be appropriate to get the interest and desirability of the target audience for the company. 15. For positioning the brand, the company may use very attractive strategies to capture the youth market through SNS, because it has been found that youngster, school students, jobseekers have better brand attitude. Through these attractive strategies, company can easily create sound brand awareness among the youth. By providing reliable information, companies can construct a change brand image. 16. It is noticed that the probability of considering the purchase in Facebook is getting raised among youngster, businessman and students community. So, all the businessman can consider this scenario as an emerging golden opportunity to promote their business by adopting innovative techniques like online personalized sales promotions and e-point of sale through Facebook. And also, while these respondents experiencing benefits of the products, spontaneously they share the level of satisfaction in Facebook through ewom. So it is the vital duty of the marketers to utilise these opportunities with a right spirit to promote the business carefully as SNS can boom or bane a business.

15 17. In the case of Facebook, the consumers with huge longevity is well stated as using ewom to transit satisfactory information quite oftenly. As Facebook is providing a global space for intellectual excitement among the spectators, the shopping site seldom become w 18. Nowadays most of the companies are creating their fan page separately, and aim to familiarize them through SNSs. By calculating the number of likes in Fan page, companies can easily determine the reach of its products through SNS. So it is the inevitable duty of the marketer to compulsorily create fan page with fascinating appeal to psychologically motivate them to develop their gothrough intentions. 19. The companies have to concentrate more on the needs of personalized advertisement in Facebook. The perfect profile maintenance will send enough information while deciding specific advertisements. By measuring the volume of amount spent in online purchase, the shopping sites may develop their own personalized sales promotional schemes. 20. Frequent checking of personal accounts may assist the company to perfectly position their brand image in the minds of their target customer. The shopping site should provide enough information about their consumer database, to Facebook. So Facebook can carefully commit to mining and analyzing these personalized data and decide accurate Facebook traffic. 21. The shopping sites may probe into the kinds of advertisement clicks, and analyze the e-purchasing activities of the viewers of Facebook. The combined impact of the shopping sites, personalized database and appropriate Facebook presentation can

16 certainly create wide opportunities for the companies to successfully place their products through impulse purchase of the Facebook viewers. 22. Companies may keep their concentration well on the emerging issues of sustaining their e-purchase through Facebook, such as building community wise likes, measuring level of social media loyalty through common likes, etc. 23. While concentrating more on the creation of trust through Facebook advertisement, any company can build better brand image. Under these conditions,a company may focus on the excitement part of their advertisement to improve the impulse buying intention towards their products. Companies use Facebook advertisement, because the shopping attitude of e-purchase through Facebook is made by the combined impact of advertisement trust, brand image, perceived enjoyment and impulse buying intention. 24. Entertainment values can increase the viewership range and go through motivation of the viewers of Facebook advertisement. So, the company may consider the entertaining features of their advertisement by using games, celebrities, fashionable materials and attractive appeals. 25. As source credibility of ewom significantly influences brand image, the business concern may insist on the Facebook to identify the lead users, who are maintaining sound network. By the way of rendering benefits to the lead users. Facebook can manage those lead users as credible source and transfer favorable relevant product details through ewom. 26. With respect to the shopping attitude, it will be a tremendous challenge for the companies to bring excitement in impulse buying intension and perceived ease of

17 use. By the way of improving the argument quality of ewom, those companies may transit their product and service information spontaneously. The information may be highly useful for the impulse purchasers while they deal with shopping process. 27. First of all, marketers should understand the pace and reach of Facebook communication system. A social network site provides a higher space for all the business people to familiarize their available products and services immediately. Especially, a well satisfied customer is the first advertiser of the company as he shares his favorable or unfavorable opinion through ewom to this entire friends list. 28. As India is becoming second largest country enjoying the Facebook, all the business concerns may predict the future possible dimensions of their purchase decision making process. Facebook will be the biggest source of information to the purchaser soon. The community link and their argument quality may yield mutual sharing alert the various features of the products like brand image, perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment. 29. Facebook users are expecting higher respect from the society for their e-purchase and this attitude influence their impulses buying intentions. The business promoters may understand the fact that e-purchases are felt very comfortable as they purchase through Facebook and their Facbook shopping makes their life easier. By probing these consumer attitudes all the marketers may create their presentation and promotional strategies very appropriately through Facebook, because Facebook is

18 getting into a primary position as a source of business information throughout the globe. 30. In this customer-oriented market, e-consumers are bombarded by plenty of shopping sites. To withstand in this competitive era, every shopping site should probe into the attitude of its own consumers. By the way of maintaining the discrete record, the companies can create its own personalized database. While companies are maintaining the customer database, categories of need satisfied may be perfectly decided, based on their purchasing volume and purchasing power. By mining into the database, the organizations can also probe the buying pattern of the SNS viewers and offer product information relevant to their need. 5.3 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION The research findings provided some important evidences for the online advertisers on SNSs. Those findings have to be taken into consideration by the marketers while they are promoting or need to interact with the consumers. They have to think about the consumers in the age group of below 25 years who have high degree of attitude towards advertisements and ewom. Advertisers on SNSs have to consider about the effect of the personal characteristics on interaction with their advertisements, as identified by the present research that different age group, education level and profession affect the empirical findings can help the advertisers on SNSs to have a better understanding of the effect of different aspects of SNS like frequency of checking personal SNS account, duration of time spend on SNS, longevity of purchasing the products through SNS,

19 amount spend per year for purchasing through SNS and worrying about privacy problem when using SNS towards the study variables taken for this research. Though the quality of argument is considered as significant along with the re deemed to be the assets of the company, and encourage them to spread positive product information. Having regard for the nature of SNSs, ewom on these platforms can propagate fast, because when a user finds interesting and useful information on their network page they could very well adopt it and also pass it to everyone on their network. However, negative aspects can also easily reach a large group of people. Managers should therefore be aware of both the benefits and the disadvantages of using SNSs as marketing tools. This study points out the lack of research on business practices on Facebook in particular, and SNS in general. Facebook provides demographic information that business can use in order to target their customers effectively and efficiently. Nevertheless, it is a challenge for the managers who decide to fully commit their marketing strategies on not be 100 percent reliable. Still it is worthy experimenting with Facebook to engage with potential consumers. Managers who decide to incorporate Facebook in their marketing plan should hire a marketing professional with social media skills. With the aim or exploring brand attitude on Facebook, this study evaluated the application of brand attitude as a tool for shopping behavior. Marketers might find it useful to develop unique brand identity and employ them through ewom. This would

20 help them to gain advantage over other brands which typically use only basic features offered by Facebook. The findings of impulse buying intention significantly influence shopping attitude of consumers. Hence, marketers should therefore consider the emotional behavior of consumers, and device diverse strategies for different categories of consumers. In summary, social network marketers need to consider the socio-economic attitude towards advertisement, ewom, brand and impulse buying. This would help them in bringing the customers for shopping, which is the ultimate success of any marketer. 5.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 1. This study was conducted by considering only Facebook and hence, the results of this study cannot be generalized to all the social networking sites. 2. Since the responses were collected from the respondents through online mode, the responses may not be as accurate as one collect from personal interview. 3. While filling the questionnaire the subjects might have imagined different advertisements and ewom for different brands which may not be fit for other brands. 4. As the respondents belong to heterogeneous group i.e., from different states across India and also from abroad, the culture of the people may not be similar and hence, their perception may differ while giving the response.

21 5.5 CONCLUSION Social networking sites are most popular nowadays and several activities are being performed through this medium like business, politics and networking. This study contemplated on the business aspects in social networking sites in general, and Facebook in particular. After performing a range of analysis, several conclusions have been drawn from this study. Results show that youngsters, undergraduates, government employees and students show greater interest on SNS and tend to perceive positively towards advertisement, ewom, brand, impulse buying, shopping and also they are loyal on social media. In addition to this, frequency of checking, longevity of purchase and amount spend for purchase, are the key aspects in SNS that determine the effectiveness of key variables considered for this study. The study findings showed good evidence that the argument quality and source credibility are the important factors in ewom that determine shopping behavior. The result also indicated that when the information is useful people be inclined to adopt the information and go for shopping. The outcome of this study could also show clearly that the consumers who purchase through SNS are satisfied with their purchase and also they have a propensity to commune others through ewom. It is therefore strongly recommended that the companies should satisfy their customers during purchase which may result in addition of other customers. Finally, the engaged customers are highly important for successful marketing as they are more likely to influence other existing and prospect customers by providing referrals and recommendation, which in turn will help businesses to achieve new and affirmative attitude towards advertisement, ewom, brand and impulse buying will lead

22 to an enhanced shopping attitude. Trust, informative and entertaining aspects of advertisement receive importance while determining the shopping attitude of consumers. Further, brand image and excitement in impulse buying also have strong association in determining shopping attitude. If companies adopt this shopping model, they will be succeeding in their business through online media and build a prospective customer base over years in future. 5.6 SCOPE FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Given the dearth of empirical research on social networking sites in the Indian context, there are a number of relevant questions to be answered by further research: 1. This study was conducted with a sample of general public who use Facebook and purchase products through Facebook. Further research is needed to perform similar studies among specific category of people like IT employees or housewives, etc. This could help the product managers to focus specifically on particular category of people and target them effectively. 2. Given the sampling and response rate limitation, replicating the study using a different sampling method and larger sample size would also help to strengthen the external validity of the study. 3. In future, studies could be performed with the same conceptual model to other social network sites such as LinkedIn, Myspace, Google +, etc., and compare the results with the findings of the current study. 4. By investigating other possible factors to be included in the research model, further research may produce a more effective explanatory model that was

23 developed in this study. Cultural differences between the participants should also would allow controlling its influence. 5. Since the opportunities and awareness about social networking sites more among the consumers in urban area, future research could focus on the comparison between urban and rural consumers.