The Role of Social Commerce Components on the Consumer Decision-Making Process

Author(s):  
Saleh Mohammed Kutabish ◽  
Ana Maria Soares

Rapid changes in commerce, technology, and consumer behaviour are leading businesses to shift their online activities. The popularity of social media pushed online merchants to integrate these platforms into their online presence, leading to the rise of social commerce. Consumers' interaction and participation online create a massive amount of information. The use of social commerce components facilitates the interaction of consumers by sharing their experiences and learning from others' experiences. In this chapter, the authors look at how this process has impacts throughout the consumer decision-making process when making a purchase and suggests directions for future research.

Author(s):  
Saleh Mohammed Kutabish ◽  
Ana Maria Soares

Rapid changes in commerce, technology, and consumer behaviour are leading businesses to shift their online activities. The popularity of social media pushed online merchants to integrate these platforms into their online presence, leading to the rise of social commerce. Consumers' interaction and participation online create a massive amount of information. The use of social commerce components facilitates the interaction of consumers by sharing their experiences and learning from others' experiences. In this chapter, the authors look at how this process has impacts throughout the consumer decision-making process when making a purchase and suggests directions for future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudeepta Pradhan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to capture the decision-making process of one of the major stakeholders, i.e. consumers, while purchasing from socially responsible firms. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an exploratory approach to have an understanding of consumers’ evaluation of their perceptions of a company’s CSR during the purchasing process. A total of 60 respondents were interviewed, and their responses were transcribed. These messages were then analysed using content analysis. Findings The evaluation of CSR initiatives is an intricate, logical and structured process where consumers consider factors that are valued by them. The findings support the concept of legitimacy theory, as most respondents believed it was the duty of a firm to give back to the society. Research limitations/implications This study suffers from an inherent limitation faced by qualitative studies, namely, the results cannot be generalized. Hence, quantitative methods can be designed in future research in the field. A cross-cultural study would also provide deeper insights and interesting avenues in future investigation to identify different factors. Practical implications Managers have the option of ignoring consumers’ approach towards CSR, and/or focus on CSR positioning and use it in their marketing communications. The Companies Bill, 2013, mandated Indian firms to spend and report their CSR expenditures. Hence, they should use it strategically and advertise their CSR initiatives effectively to influence a large number of consumers. It is also essential for managers to make CSR information easily available and clarify the connection of the company to CSR initiatives. They should also identify the proper channels that would get desired results. Social implications The study investigates the intricate process that explicates the reasons why CSR affects the consumer decision-making process. The research provides a better understanding into intention-behavior gap, investigates the reasons for such discrepancy and identifies a large number of factors. Originality/value The study intends to contribute to the field of marketing by capturing stakeholder (consumer) engagement (by exploring consumers’ beliefs of CSR, their perceptions and the role of such perceptions) in decision-making. It also intends to add to the existing studies in legitimacy theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 03014
Author(s):  
Stefan Zak ◽  
Maria Hasprova

In the contemporary globalised markets opinion leaders play a vital role in the process of the purchasing decision-making of consumers. Thanks to their individual skills, specific knowledge or their personality, opinion leaders have a direct or indirect influence on the attitudes and decisions of consumers. In the contemporary globalised marketing using social media, this role is taken over by the influencers who affect consumers with their thoughts, attitudes and opinions and thus, significantly influence trends in demand for particular products. Over the recent years, influencer marketing has become increasingly popular, representing a specific type of social media marketing. The aim of this scientific contribution is the systematization of knowledge about the position and roles of influencers as opinion leaders in the social media environment in order to identify their typology, influence factors and the intensity of their impact on consumer decision making process, based on the comparison of knowledge from the results of global research studies and the quantitative online research study processed by authors. The findings of the survey showed that the promotion of some products through influencers may be more advantageous than others. Influencers will have the greatest impact when buying clothes, shoes, cosmetics and, surprisingly, services. Meanwhile, people rely heavily on other factors to buy food, jewellery and electronics, but it is not excluded that influencer marketing could affect them as well.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-Hwan Kim ◽  
Minjeong Kim ◽  
Jungmin Yoo ◽  
Minjung Park

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to investigate how mental imagery evoked from sensory in-store experience influences consumer anticipatory emotion, perceived ownership and decision satisfaction which eventually impact positive consumer responses such as behavioural intent. In this study, gender difference is proposed as a moderator to completely understand the role of mental imagery in the in-store decision-making process.Design/methodology/approachUsing a market research agency in South Korea, an online survey was employed to collect data. A total of 455 useable respondents (men = 224 and women = 231) largely living in the two most populous provinces in South Korea (i.e. Seoul and Gyeonggi provinces) completed the survey. A number of path analyses were conducted to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results of the study showed that mental imagery evoked from sensory product experience played a critical part in facilitating the consumer decision-making process by influencing anticipatory emotion and perceived ownership. The relationship among anticipatory emotion, perceived ownership, decision satisfaction and behavioural intent was significant except for the relationship between perceived ownership and behavioural intent. This study further indicated that the way mental imagery influences the in-store decision-making process differs between men and women.Originality/valueThe effect of mental imagery in a physical retail context is largely ignored. This study addressed the crucial role of mental imagery in a physical apparel retail setting and examined its impact on consumer decision-making processes. By exploring how to enhance consumers' in-store sensory shopping experiences through mental imagery to influence their positive shopping outcomes, this study offers vital insights into how retailers operating physical stores can successfully utilize their stores.


Author(s):  
Alina Stankevich

In the last years, research investigating consumer behaviour and how their decision-making process has advanced and has become an important topic in the marketing society and literature. To advance the research further, this paper presents an extensive literature review of academic publications in the area of buying decision-making process in marketing and its status. Furthermore, the paper presents latest trends and themes that emerge there. Based on 24 journal articles, reports and marketing books, the core models and theories in this area were evaluated and discussed. Moreover, a framework of “moments that matter” in consumer decision-making process and factors that influence them was elaborated for a possibility to influence consumer behaviour in favour of company’s offers. Furthermore, recommendations for marketers were suggested for deeper understanding the consumer behaviour and their buying strategies to empower marketing campaigns and be a success in the market. The paper also suggests several directions for future research related to buying behaviour.


Author(s):  
Lucy L. Henke ◽  
Gwen Fontenot

Several charges have been leveled against advertising as the cause of smoking initiation among both young people and adults, but an examination of the relevant literature indicates that advertising is not the cause of smoking initiation.  The present study is an examination of the role of advertising in the consumer decision making process generally, and specifically with regard to decisions about smoking.


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