Social Networking Sites: A Path to Online Stores

Global Journal of Management and Business Studies. ISSN 2248-9878 Volume 3, Number 8 (2013), pp. 835-842 Research India Publications http://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs.htm Social Networking Sites: A Path to Online Stores (MBA, JRF), Farhan Akhter(MBA, JRF), Mohd Hamza Khan(MBA(IB), NET Qualified), Sablu Khan(MBA(IB), JRF) Dept. of Business Administration Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Abstract The present study has been carried out to assess the extent of social networking sites giving a new space to the online retailers to market their various products in India. A questionnaire of 20 items based on Likert-scale has been used to carry out the study. A mail-survey with the help of structured online questionnaire has been carried out. Non probability sampling especially convenience sampling techniques for a sample size of 150 has been used. The responses were collected from different customers living in India. Data analysis based on the 4 hypotheses related with social networking sites and online retailers along with demographic variables has been done. Factor analysis, Independent sample T test, and one-way ANOVA have been used to test the hypotheses. Results from regression analysis about the relationship between online retailers and social networking sites have been discussed. And a research model has been prepared for social networking sites a path to online retailers for the customers. The study has a practical significance for different online retailers in their promotion through social networking. Keywords: - social media, customer behaviour, online retailers. 1. Introduction Websites have turned out to be an interactive advertising media. And this interactive property of internet has made it powerful in the advertisement field. In a matter of very few years, the internet has consolidated itself as a very powerful platform that has changed the way we communicate and the way we do business. According to

836 international telecommunications union over 2.7 billion people are using the internet in 2013 which correspond to 39% of the world population. According to new e-marketer report, Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013 forecast and comparative estimates, nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide will use social networks in 2013.The number of social network users around the world will rise from 1.47 billion in 2012 to 1.73 billion this year, an 18% increase. By 2017 the global social network audience will total 2.55 billion. Understanding how social networks are used and how they shape purchasing decisions is one of the fundamental interests of e-commerce. Presently social networks have been used in e-commerce applications to some extent. The use of social networks in online shopping provides marketers and businesses with new revenue opportunities, while providing consumers with product information and both economic and social rewards for sharing. 2. Literature Review Companies must understand customers need and try to create differentiate implications to be better than the competitors in present competitive market (Strader and Hendrickson 1999&2001). Bellman and his colleagues in 1999 studied the predictors of online behavior and found that there are two main reasons of internet buyer behavior. Firstly internet is used by the customers normally as a part of their lifestyles. Secondly, now a day, customers do not have that much time to spend for the traditional ways of shopping. A survey by Guttman, Moukas and Maes on Buyer Behavior and the internet in 1999 brought up 6 stages model in explaining buyer behavior with internet. The six stages model includes price negotiation, Shipping option, Financial center, customer help, User preferences and personalization. In 2000 Mile and his colleagues added three additional stages to the 6 stages model of buyer behavior (Guttman, Moukas and Maes) such as identify and manage criteria, search for products and merchant and compare alternatives and choose. The internet, as no other communication medium has given Globalized dimension to the world. It has become the universal source of information for millions of people and has proved to be the most democratic of all the mass media. Through internet a business can reach a very large market, directly, economically and fast no matter where is the location of the business. It has been reported that more than 627 million people in the world shopped online in 2006, (AcNielsen., 2007). 3. Present Work The recent developments in technology and the increase in the number of internet users have given a new sphere to the marketers to explore. Modern technology, however has gradually transformed social interactions among people. It has been found that on an average now people communicate more using different types of technology platforms. Social Networking websites have become ubiquitous and it has provided the marketers to target the customers through these networking sites. The increased importance of

Social Networking Sites: A Path to Online Stores 837 technology platforms for social interactions has raised the interest of product marketers who seek to explore these as new advertising/promotion media and influencing the consumers to buy online. On these websites, users exhibit their demographics as well as their preferences in their profile which is heavily used by the marketers to segment their market with ease. 4. Research Objective To analyze the role of social media for shopping from online stores. The relationship between internal and external influencing factors and impact of these factors on social media. 5. Proposed Research Model Factors (Internal) Social Media Online Retailers Factors (External) The proposed research model has been prepared on the basis of above objectives. Where the internal influencing Factors are Friends & Relatives feedback, Purchasing Capacity and Internet Savvy While the external factors Online Advertisement, Social Media Marketing and Convenience Factors. 6. Research Hypotheses H01: There is no significant relationship between internal and external influencing factors. H02: There is no significant impact of internal influencing factors on social media. H03: There is no significant impact of external influencing factors on social media. H04: There is no significant relationship between social media and online stores.

838 7. Methodology The research design used in this study is Descriptive research design. Non probability sampling especially convenience sampling technique is used. A Questionnaire based 4 constructs has been used to collect the data. The five points of the scale represent the following five categories of response: (5) strongly agree, (4) Agree, (3) neither agree Nor Disagree (2) disagree, and (1) strongly disagree. 8. Validity and Reliability of the Study The questionnaires were entered directly into computer software SPSS 16.0 after disregarding the uncompleted. The validity test aimed to confirm that the dimensions in the conceptual structure were presented and was well in the model. Validity was measured by applying factor analysis; the Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin Test was used to measure the sampling adequacy. In this study, the result of the test was 0.601, which is good. In order to measure sphericity in the study, a Bartlett s test was applied, which showed that the sample was significant at 0.000, which is also acceptable and indicating absolute significant. A reliability test is used because this tests the consistency and the positive correlation between the model s variables. Reliability was measured by Cronbach s Alpha. The closer the Cronbach s Alpha result is to one, the higher the reliability of the study. In this study, the Cronbach s Alpha result was 0.818, which indicates a high degree of reliability. Hypotheses Dimensions Beta t-value Sig. value Remark Significant H01 factors (internal external).152 2.166.032 Insignificant H02 factors (internal) Social Networking Sites.124 1.862.066 Significant H03 factors (external) SNS.249 3.005.004 Social Significant HO4 Networking Sites Online Stores.493 5.859.000

Social Networking Sites: A Path to Online Stores 839 From the above table it is found that the relationship between the internal and external influencing factors, impact of internal influencing factors on social media, and the impact of social media on online stores have significant impact (significant value <0.05) so all the three hypotheses H01, H03 and H04 are not supported. The internal influencing factors have insignificant impact on social media because the significant value is.066>0.05 and the beta value is 0.124. So the Hypothesis, H02: There is no significant impact of internal influencing factor on social media, is not rejected. 9. Conclusion The Internet s viral and social capabilities have created a whole new forum for the consumers and the marketers. Internet communities, blogs and social networks have become a part of life for most of the people worldwide. Many Researches have been done and it has been found that most of the internet users are linked to different Social Networking Sites and it has been found that 1.2 billion (82% of the worlds online population) people of the world uses Social Networking Sites. It has become a common means for information transfer, services and trade. The ever-increasing use of the internet all over the world provides a developing prospect for E-marketers. This proliferation and increasing usage of social media websites provides a platform for nurturing brands and impacting people s purchase decisions. It has been found that these days consumers rely on various types of social media websites as much as company websites for product and brand information. As a result, companies that utilize social media and engage directly with consumers have a greater opportunity to not only reach more customers, but also increase their likelihood of making a purchase. Online shopping has been a growing phenomenon in all four corners of the world, in particular amongst countries possessing highly developed infrastructure available for marketing activities through the internet. Today, internet is not only a networking media, but also a global means of transaction for consumers. Internet usage has grown rapidly over the past years and it has become a common means for information transfer, services and trade. Social media marketing is playing an increasingly important role in the marketing strategies of companies. One of the biggest advantages that social media websites have over company or news sites is that consumers who visit social media websites are more likely to take action. Consequently, companies who integrate elements of social media into their marketing mix will have a greater opportunity to influence consumers buying choices. At last it can be said that companies which are not engaging in Social media as part of their online marketing strategy are lacking behind and they are missing an opportunity to reach a potential group of consumers.

840 10. Acknowledgement I am very thankful to all my teaching and non-teaching staff of Aligarh Muslim University. I take this opportunity to thank to my entire respondents for providing me the valuable time to respond my Questionnaire. I would like to thank to the organizing committee of GLOBAL SUMMIT on Management of Business, Economy, Marketing and Services-New Approaches (MBEMSNA 2013) to be held on 9 th and 10 th November, 2013. at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, to give me such a great platform to share my research work. References [1] The Importance of Social Media In Branding by Stephanie, 2011 http://stephanieromano.com/smr/blog/2011/03/the-importance-of-socialmedia-in-brandin/ [2] Sablu, Hamza :social media marketing, Global Journal of Finace and management(gjfm) ISSN0975-6477 Volume 4 Number 4, 2012 [3] Kotler, Kelly, Koshy and Jha: Marketing Management, pearson Education [4] Engel, J.F., Blackwell, R.D. and Miniard, P.W.(1993), Consumer Behaviour. [5] Ogilvy, David: confessions of an advertising man,atheneum: New York,1963 [6] Journal of American Science, 2010;6(1) Delafrooz, et al, Students Online Shopping [7] Journal of Media Business Studies. Dan Shaver, Impact of the Internet on Consumer Search Behavior in the United States, 4(2):27-39 (2007). [8] http://spredfast.com/social-crm/brand-awareness/ [9] http://www.prlog.org/10607097-building-brand-awareness-through-socialnetworks.html [10] http://webbiquity.com/social-media-marketing/best-social-media-stats-factsand-marketing-research-of-2010/ [11] Christy M.K.Cheung, Dimple R.Thadani: The Effectiveness of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication. [12] Jayawardhena, C., Wright, L.-T. and Dennis, C. (2007), Consumers online: intentions, orientations and segmentation, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 35 No. 6. [13] European Journal of Marketing, Volume 43, Issue 9/10: 1121-1139 (2009). E- consumer behaviour Charles Dennis1, Bill Merrilees, Chanaka Jayawardhena and Len Tiu Wright. [14] U.M. Dholakia et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 21 (2004) 241 263 [15] www.sciencedirect.com [16] The Financial Express (Newspaper) [17] The Business Line www.businessline.in

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