Tesco Social Media

Background of the research

Describe about the Effect of Social Network on Consumer Buying Behaviour and Demand Pattern of Tesco, UK?

The following research topic deals with the research topic of effects of social networking sites on the given retail organization with reference to buying patterns of the consumers. The research topic reflects about the organization Tesco. The sample size is taken as 50 customers’ and4 managers of the organization Tesco. The researcher has used both secondary and primary research methods. In addition to this, the main findings of the researcher are that the network of social media plays an effective part on the retail organization industries. The researcher has also evaluated several recommendations to the retail organization.

1.0 Introduction

Social media network is the areas that help people round the world to get connected to each other. The most important aspect in this case is the exchange of the information and the ideas that may be relating to any issue or buying methods. However, this is one of the best elements that are used by most of the well-known companies in the world to attract customers. The popularity of the social media is important, as it is an integral part of driving the purchase decisions of the customers. This is one of the reasons for a change in the customer behavior. Most of the companies these days are using retail organization as a method to change the behavior of the customers. Customers can easily access the information and the availability of the items with the retail organization sites. The buying decisions and the behavior of customers are largely dependent on the presentation and the attraction on the online retail sites (Netzer et al. 2012). The organization Tesco is suffering from the implementation of social network tools and needs to utilize all the given tools to judge the demand patterns of their respective organization.

There has been research conducted on the present topic that deals with retail organization and its effectiveness of e-commerce organizations. However, in the present research the idea is to derive the importance and impact of social media on the several retail organization organizations in terms of evaluating the customer buying behavior and demand patterns of the organization Tesco. In addition to this, this research will throw light on the organization Tesco which is one of the market leaders in the retail organizations in the market segment of United Kingdom. In addition to this, it can be also inferred that it is great essence for the organization Tesco to judge and utilize the tool of social media in an effective manner. This is mainly because; the level of competition is high in the retail market segment. Therefore, it is great essence for the organization to judge the importance of implementation of different tools of social media in an effective manner. This will be further evaluated through the given rationale of the research in an effective manner (Netzer et al. 2013).

Significance of the Research

The given research can be considered as significance for different business organizations. The primary research behind this can be considered as the latest tool of marketing that is the social media marketing. This tool and technique can be considered as latest tool of marketing for several business organizations. This will also help the organization Tesco to judge the pattern of their products among their prospective customers through the tool of social media.

Rationale of the given research project can be further evaluated through the help of the following points:-

What is the issue?

The major issue of the research can be evaluated in the form of consumer buying behavior and evaluation of the social networking tools and techniques. In addition to this, it can be deduced that it is of great essence for a retail organization like Tesco to judge the importance for social networking tools and techniques effectively. This will further help the organization to judge the pattern of customer buying behavior and demand patterns of the respective products and services. If it is not the case, then the market share and customer base of the organization will decline at a decreasing rate. In addition to this, it can be also inferred that the organization Tesco is required to nullify this issue through utilization of tools and techniques (Urde et al. 2013)

Why is the issue?

This can be considered as a major issue for a retail organization Tesco in terms of growth prospect and total number of market share. In addition to this, it can be further deduced that customer base will also decline in an effective manner. Therefore, it is an issue for the organization in terms of competitive resources. In addition to this, it can be deduced that the organization will lose its customer base in terms of its competitive advantage (Thompson and Prashant, 2013)

Why is it an issue now?

It is an issue now for the organization Tesco to implement all the tools and techniques of social media within their internal and external system as they are present both on offline and online. In the current business environment, the competition is very high. Therefore, Tesco has to implement all the tools of social media marketing within their system to survive in the business environment. Additionally, the organization has to judge all the aspects of consumer behavior to increase their customer base. This is mainly because the market share of the organization is coming down and the competitors are also increasing (Thompson and Prashant 2013),

Research Rationale

What will be the research shed light on?

The given research will shed light on various aspects of social media in addition to the different aspects of consumer buying behavior and demand patterns in the market. Apart from this, the research will also shed light on the attitudes of customers on several retail organization retail organizations in the market.

The preliminary aim of the research is to evaluate the impact of social media of the retail organization Tesco of United Kingdom with aspect to consumer buying behavior and demand patterns. In addition to this, the researcher will throw light on the aspects of attitude of consumers Tesco towards the given retail organizations in an effective manner. This is the main research aim of the research.

• To evaluate the effect of the platform of social media in the retail organization Tesco of United Kingdom
• To investigate about the consumer buying behavior for the retail organization Tesco
• To analyze the impact of social media on consumer buying behavior with regards to Tesco.
• To provide valid recommendations to the organization Tesco in terms of implementing tools of social media within their system

What is the total effect of the tool of social media in the retail organization business organization Tesco in United Kingdom?

What kind of consumer behavior and demand patterns that can be noticed among the cusyomers of Tesco?

What is the overall impact of the different tools and techniques of social media in the overall consumer buying behavior process with reference to Tesco?

What are the possible recommendations that can be given to the organization Tesco with regards to social media tools?

The given dissertation can be divided into five given chapters. The first chapter consists of purpose and background of the research project along with its aims and objectives

The second chapter consists of several data that is collected from secondary sources of past works of authors and researchers. An empirical analysis has been evaluated in this segment of literature review.

The third chapter consists of methodology of the research. The researcher has evaluated different alternatives from research paradigms, research approach and research design in an effective manner.

The fourth chapter deals with the findings and data analysis in terms of qualitative and quantitative data analysis of primary research. The analysis of the findings has been incorporated through several charts and graphs.

The fifth chapter consists of conclusions and recommendations. In this chapter, the researcher has linked with the findings of the research with the given research objectives.

2.1 Topic review

The importance of the present chapter lies with review of literature that helps to concrete the concepts. The analysis of the literature helps in delving into the topic especially with reference to the knowledge and skills that already exists. There are different approaches and models that have been analyzed with respect to the present topic.

Research Aim

There are different types of theory that is related to the social network and retail organization. In the UK industry and in the present case study this could be related to the demand of the customers and the buying behavior of the customers. The implementation of the models and t theories would help in deriving to the literature and the analysis of the present subject.

The literature review is usually the analysis of the work done by previous researchers. This would help in generating he views of the researchers and related them to the current study. In such case, the journals and the previous work would be part of the secondary data. This would help in getting the views of the previous researchers along with the theories and concepts that already exists.

Networking is a method that forwards the idea of connecting to the people. The most important aspect in the present case is to stay connected and to form an interaction process. Solomon et al. (2012) opines the relationship is established based on the formation of a network. The part of the interaction may be just two or more than two. The major concept of the social networking includes two aspect traditional networking and modern networking. The term networking first came in the traditional aspect with the introduction of the term web of relationship that was, established by sociologists. The fabric of the term relationship is, accentuated with the help of the network that is established in between two people or groups of people. In the traditional perspective of the social networking Mallapragada et al. (2012), put forward that most of the interaction was face to face. The type of modernized interaction that people have these days were unavailable in the past.

In the modernized methods most of the social network is mostly electronic. The medium of interaction in the present day is through different methods that do not entail the use of face-to-face interaction Liu-(2012).  In the social network that is found in the present day includes the use different methods of interaction. The technology use of the interaction is crucial in the present day. One of the most important and effective use of the social network is the sites like Facebook, twitter and others. Thos creates the interaction in between people one part of the world to another. The major difference in case of the traditional and the modern method of the social networking is the type of interaction in the former it is face o face whereas in the latter it is mostly not face-to-face. In the traditional method, the interaction was hardly global whereas in the present case there may be use of global interaction. Another best aspect Gössling et al. (2012) mentions is that most of the interaction can be at any time and at any place of the world.

Research objectives

Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2012) puts forward that online retailing is the best method for attracting customers. The interaction of the companies along with the customers in such case is with different mediums but especially with the social media sites. The major trends in the retail organization are that most of the retail c0mpany grow steadfast. The demography of the customers try to get broaden with the understanding o the demands of the business. Apart from the business growth, consumers are satisfied with the service as they can get the information that they require through the method of information provided in the retail organization sites. In a retail company, most of the products have the quantity, color details along with the details of the price. In such case, the customers can even compare with different sites and then pick their best-suited item. However, Fournier and Alvarez (2012) argue in this case that in many cases the information may not match with the delivery of the product. Retail organization is the strategy that includes the profit of the company. In the online methods, it may be said that most of the dealing is with the understanding of the demands of the customers and to enlarge the designing process. This also includes the range of products that help in getting better benefit for the company along with the prospect of the customers. However, the traditional mode of retailing is the presence of physical stores of the retail organizations.

In online retail companies the benefits of the company is that they can endorse different products and show their range of products in the online stores. Apart from this, customers of different age can get the products in the most convenient way. Online booking and home delivery is the best method that customer enjoys in the use of the retail organization sites (Rizkallah, 2012).

In most of the cases, the perception of the customers is largely dependent on the understanding that they have for the retail organization. In the social media, the promotional methods that are used carry the information for the customers. They buy in most of the cases the items that they are mostly attracted to. The social media play a pivotal role, as it is through the promotional techniques that most of the customer is, attracted to the products. In such case, the buying behavior of the customers can be mould by the companies. The advertisement posted in the online sites helps in drawing customers to the company. It may be said that most of the customers are inclined to the advertisement that the companies promote in the social media sites. Dabholkar and Sheng (2012) are of the opinion that in most of the cases the major issue that the customers face is lack of proper information. However, they can go the specific site and analyze the product. This helps the company to create the positioning if the product along with the customers to receive the items. However, in the buying perception the major issue of the social media is that of the views that is spread in the social media sites. The WOM or the word of mouth of the items or the company helps in creating the perception or the mindset of the customers. Zhou et al. (2012) puts forward that the perception of the customers is largely dependent on the buying process of the other customers. They get the ideas and the views online.

Research questions

The buying decisions if through the interaction that is formed in the social networking sites. The group helps in the interaction process where customers can get any of the idea thorough an interaction globally. The interaction can help in generating the views that help in understanding the buying decision of the customers. Peck et al. (2013) put forward that most of the interaction and the network help in getting the views of different products. There are fan pages on the social networking sites that help in getting the perception. The buying decision of the customers increases the perception of the customers. The views that may be, generated in the fan pages help in creating global perspective of the customers. Apart from the social networking, also help in creating reviews that may be, presented in blogs. Another major area that gets the reviews of the customers and the company to endorse their product is the blogs. The perception of the customers is, largely exhibited in the blogs.

Figure 1: Customer buying behavior

(Source: Peck et al. 2013)

The above model helps in the analyzing the different stages like the awareness that is present in social media. The next stage entails the search for the information that the customers look out before buying. Evaluation of the prospects and the products help in deciding the buying process of the customer. They purchase the product from the information generated and the power of the promotion. Finally, the evaluation of the buying process is by the prospective customers.

The theory relates to the social media tools that help in analyzing the modern retail organization methods that organizations follow in order to improve their service. The penetration method of the organizations in the social media helps in the process of self-disclosure. This helps in the analysis of diverse data and the information transmitted in between the customers and the organization. The penetration method helps in analyzing the information and the analysis of the social media sites. The interpersonal communication is analyzed through the measure of self-disclosure and forms of vulnerabilities. The data collection from different experiments helps in the systematic development and analysis. The different areas of self-disclosure includes-

• Orientation stage
• Exploratory and affective stage
• Affective stag
• Stable stage
• Finally, the optional stage (Depenetration)

The honey comb model of social media helps to reflect all the necessary elements and attributes of the respective usage of social media.  The given elements of this model are sharing, conversation, groups, reputation and relationship.

Dissertation structure

Identification- This element of the respective model helps to interpret and identify the respective brand in the overall buying process of the organization. The identification of the web of network is the most important aspect that helps in determining the preferences of the companies. It is the channel and the method identified by the company along with the reveling process of the users.

Conversations- In a social media site the rate of interaction and the posting of comments are much faster than any other blogs o sites. The interaction is much better in case of the social media sites. The organization or the firm’s needs to make the right decision in terms of the engagement that may be established with the customers (Brodie, 2013).

Reputation- social media is the platform that helps in deriving the reputation that the organization had with the company. The engagement process of the company is important along with the measure of the metrics. It is not the company that, cannot help in the control of the emotions or the comments. The users are key parts of the reputation presented online.

Group- in the social media there are presence of groups that help in the interaction process. The information that is received in the group could be personal information experience. This may help in generating positive or negative result. The communities and the user order are the main initiative that is taken up in the group perspective of the model.

Relationship- social media creates a web of relationship. In such case, the major issue of the relationship is the negative word of mouth. Apart from this, the model also states the fact of receiving the information sitting at any part of the world. This could be regarding any topic or products of an organization. The relationship is mostly informal and the products get the review from the users (Oliver, 2014).

Presence- The presence of the company is most important in order to know about the situation of the company in the social networking sites. The presence of the relationship along with the analysis of the group is important. The extent to which an organization is mentioned in the social media is important in the current respect (Yanos et al. 2014).

Sharing- This is the process of exchanging the views of the users in the comment. The share in the social media is the post of the different information by the users. The likes, comments and the share on the social networking sites are the main perspective of the company.

Figure 2: Honeycomb model

(Source: Yanos et al. 2014)

2.9 Gap model

The analysis of Gap model helps in understanding the difference of the reviews and the buying decisions of the customers with reference to the social networking sites. There is an analysis that may be made in relation to the understanding of the perceived quality and the received quality. In the social media, site the endorsements or the advertisements of the retail organization sites help in creating a review for the customers. They perceive the item in their mind. According the buying decisions of the customers vary. In this regard, it may be said that there are times when the customers do not receive the perceived quality of service. There is gap in the perception.

However, with the growing use of the social and the networking methods it is, found that there may be a large change in the perception of the customers. However, in this regard it is not always negative analysis that is, presented in the social media sites. The gap may not be, presented in the present case. That is the level of gap may be very less and so as per the requirement the perceived quality of products may be as per the satisfaction of the customers. In this case, it is important to note that in most of the social media the perceived quality of the customers is as pear the received quality. The companies make sure of the fact that they offer the best quality so that the company gets the competitive advantage. The customer loyalty and the retention is one of the major priorities, which can be delivered by the companies that endorse in the online methods. In case of gap theory, the company tries to implement the fact that the gap is less. This helps in customer attraction and the loyalty. Customers get satisfied with the least gap in the perceived and received quality.

Figure 2: Gap model

(Source: Oliver, 2014)

In the present study, the major gap is in the literature review the analysis is as per the concepts that already exists. However, in the present case the gap is due to the in-depth analysis of the topic that is not completely relatable to the literature review. The most important aspect is to analyze the gap that is established in the present study. The literature only helps in analyzing the topic and understanding the models and the perceptions that may be associated with the topic. However, the specific study is carried out with the help of data collection method and understanding of the study.

The first step that is essential for the six-step delivery process includes the following:-

Data collection – It is the information collected by the specific organization based on the drives and the requirements of the customers. The collection of the information is across the demography and in between different languages. The information collected must be devoid of spam and duplication (Solomon et al. 2014).

Data mining- It is the connection of the source identifiers with the source. The identification of the context of the organization is important along with the filtering process. The languages used in social media acts as a part in the filtering process.

Data analysis – The aggregation of data is through the useful information generated in the online sites. The identification process includes the trends, shares, associations and the integration process. The link established in the social media is one of t host important aspect of spreading and sharing.

Insight delivery- the insight is the delivery of the information through summary reports and the periodic methods of presentation. The enabling of the client is important to monitor the information through web-based alerts (Wrigley and Lowe, 2014).   

Consulting- The identification of the strengths is the most important aspect along with the understanding of the weakness, threats and opportunities of the clients. This step deals with the SWOT analysis for the clients. 

Solution delivery- The identification of the social media tools is to make the best-suited media strategy for the organization. This helps in gaining the competition in the market. The development of the social media is to perform according to the manager role and as per the media tools. The development of the media tools is to ensure the performance of a community.

It is important to understand and analyze the literature review in order to understand the different concepts and the theories that help to support the study. These theories act as the base of the study along with the different through process that could be related to the variables of the study. Conducting the review of literature would help in the findings and analysis to relate the study. The data collection would be, analyzed in the light of literature. It is for this purpose that an effective review of literature is carried out in order to understand the perceptions that are already in the concepts and the models.

Introduction

In the chapter called research methodology, it is able to be presumed that the design will be done successfully through researcher in case of minimizing the problem of this research. Moreover the objective of the research and the research aim can be maximized by the researcher in case of evaluating approaches and several modes of the research. The core part of the research that is based on the primary and the secondary data is described in this particular data.

In most of the organization of retail organization, the major problem occurs in case of dealing with the activities of the probable customers in efficient manner. Moreover, in any particular organization, it is very essential to search for the significance and the impacts of the sites of the social media for the requirements of the organization. The behavior of the consumer in case of buying the products gives many impacts in the organization with respect to the demand of the consumer in the efficient manner. Also with this, in several business organizations, most of the important problems occurs is that in case of minimizing the issues that have been occur in case of implementing the websites of the social network, different challenges should have been face by the organization which are conditional. In addition to this, further assume can be make that in case of competing efficient challenges, an organization can face different issues.

In this particular research the descriptive design is used to by the researcher through which the researcher can get the comprehensive study of the research or this particular research. Also the paradigm of the positivism research has been selected by the researcher and to analyse the research purpose in efficient manner, the deductive approach is done. Moreover, all the theories that are existing regarding to the research have also been deduced in this research by the researcher. Also in case of carrying the research forward, the approach of mixed method is used. Moreover, this particular research based on qualitative and quantitative collection of data deduced by the researcher.

What is the total effect of the tool of social media in different retail organization business organizations in United Kingdom?

What kind of consumer behavior and demand patterns that can be noticed among the retail organization business of United Kingdom?

What is the overall impact of the different tools and techniques of social media in the overall consumer buying behavior process with reference to Tesco?

What are the possible recommendations that can be given to the organization Tesco with regards to social media tools?

Research Onion

Figure: Research Onion

(Source: Saunders et al. 2009)

In 2009, Saunders back has developed the research onion. The process of research can be carried out in the systematic way by the researcher on using the research onion. The generic process can be considered by this through which the researcher can get help for the alternative choice to do the research in an efficient manner. Also it can be say that different process of the research is the different layers of the research onion. Also it can be said that every layer of the research onion helps the researcher in case of evaluating different approaches of the research for the provided research paradigm. The researcher gets the help from the every layer of the research onion in case of doing the research in efficient ways.

For any type of the research project, the research approaches can be varies. Reason behind this is from research to research the problems and the complexity of the total research can be varies. For this reason, some of the researcher may choose the inductive approach and some can choose deductive approach. Inductive approach is an approach which is done on the basis of considering the respondents of the research. The structure that can be provided to the research project can be done in more flexible and in effective manner. Deductive approach is an approach based on the scientific approaches. The relation between different variable can be find by using the deductive approach. In case of the inductive approach, there is no clear-cut interpretation that can be derived. In such case, the researcher needs to understand the perspective and they channel the theories or make concept after conducting the study. In case of the deductive approach the ideas are deduced which are both on the lines of positive and negative grounds in there (Varley, 2014)

In case of carrying the research in the scientific ways, the researcher chooses the deductive approach in this particular research. It can be said that with the positivism research paradigm, the deductive approach also goes hand-to-hand. One of the reason for which the researcher of this particular research have selected the deductive research is also this. For this particular research, the application of the inductive research cannot be taken as it is used to amplify the complexity on the basis of the human intervention. The feasibility of the particular research can also be increased in efficient ways.

As an option of the research paradigm that the researcher can select in their research, there are more than few. These options are like post-positivism, positivism, realism and, interpretive. The researcher used the positivism in the research in case of carrying the research on the basis of the scientific objectives and the facts. When the positivism is extended then it is called post-positivism. The scientific facts can further justified and measured in the efficient manner by the post-positivism. The interpretive can be said as the anti-positivism through which the scientific facts cannot be measured or tested. Whereas, realism is the mixed part of the interpretive and positivism approach. In case of positivism, the idea is much more scientific and based in the empirical status of the study. The statistical interpretation is the most important part that is related to positivism.

The positivism research is selected by the researcher to do the research in the efficient manner. The reason behind this is to determine the behavior of the customers and concept of the social media by using the scientific analysis of data. The human participants are no need to do this. Hence for this research the interpretive cannot be used. Moreover this research is done on the basis of the scientific facts and the objectives for doing the research in the feasible manner. Moreover, as the analysis of the primary data is used in this research therefore this research can help to evaluate the process of the scientific research process (Krippendorff, 2012).

In case of doing the research in an efficient manner, creation of the research design is very much important. The forms that are used in the research design are exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. In this research, the descriptive design is created to do the study in an efficient manner. Moreover, it can be seen that the positivism research and the descriptive design has a direct relation between them. The researcher does the design of the exploratory research when the aim and objective of the research is not very clear to them. To search the relation of the cause-effect, the exploratory design is used. In case of descriptive research most of the aspect like the positive and the negative aspects of the analysis is described in the research process effectively. Descriptive research helps in describing the analysis and the data with the help of reason from the literature studied for the study (Pickard, 2012)

The descriptive design is chosen by the researcher for this study in case of evaluating the comprehensive analysis of the research. Also it is noted that for collecting the data for the research the researcher used both qualitative and the quantitative mode. For this purpose the descriptive design is chosen.

The consumer of the organization TESCO and the managers of TESCO are selected as the sample of the research. 90 consumers and 8 managers are taken as the sample population for this project. But most of the customers and the mangers have failed to responds to the questionnaire regarding to the research. Hence the sample of the customers and the manger are reduced to 50 and 6 respectively. The researcher use different forms to evaluate the sample to make the resear in efficient ways. The sample size of customers and the manager are selected randomly from the organization of the TESCO.

In case of data collection methods, both the primary and the secondary data are taken in this research by the researcher to do the research in efficient manner. The literature review is evaluated for the secondary data. The qualitative and the quantitative data are used to collects the primary data. The researcher collects the quantitative data from the surveying the questionnaires through the online. The researcher collects the qualitative data from the interview of the manger of the organization through the telephone.

The ethical consideration is kept in mind of the researcher in case of doing the research. The rules and regulation of the acts called “Data Protection Act, 2002” are followed by the researcher in case of accomplish all the data and the information regarding the research. The required explanation is given to all the respondents of the project by the researcher. It is also noted by the researcher that any of the facts and the information of the research is not disclose in front of any of the outsides. The data that are gathered from the research are not used in any of the commercial use by the researcher. The data that are provided in the research are the data that are gathered from the primary and the secondary data research and nothing is manipulated by the own.

In this chapter the details about the research approach, research design and research paradigm that have been selected by the researcher have been given. All the objectives of the research can be accomplished by the researcher by getting the help from all the methodology of the research. The analysis of the primary research has been conducted by the researcher from the above given research methodology.

4.1 Introduction

This chapter aims to run with the surveyed data and the interviewing the managers. It is an obvious way to find out the statistically presenting the variables for this research to find out the relationship between customers buying behavior in online mode of marketing.  The chapter will provide information on quantification of qualitative information regarding the consumer behavior. Further, in this chapter, a set of opinions will be gathered from the working managers of Tesco who might provide deep details regarding the matter.

There will be ten questions in the survey form whereas five questions for the managers who will contribute in this research by providing the simple solution to the problems and the future problems they can observe from the survey.

Q1. How old are you?

Age group	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
18-28 (1)	50	17	34%
29-40 (2)	50	14	28%
41-52 (3)	50	9	18%
53-65 (4)	50	10	20%

Table 1: age wise distribution of the responders

Q2. What is your gender?

Gender	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Male	50	24	48%
Female	50	26	52%

Table 2: Gender

Q3. How far do you like to shop from retail organizations?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total	Age wise
Very much	50	14	28%	Majority 18-28
Moderate	50	9	18%	Majority 29-40
Neutral	50	10	20%	Mixed numbers
Sometimes	50	8	16%	Majority 41-52
Dislike	50	9	18%	Majority 53-65

Table 3: Affinity towards the shopping of the customers in retail organizations

The above table shows that majority of the customers like to purchase products via online or offline where the numbers are mainly governed by the young generation of the society. There are few people who has no view regarding the online marketing of the company as they have not tested the system well as well as they do not think much about the buying from where. Further, it is also seen in the table that older people do not like to shop online as it is seen they feel problems in using the online portal.

The surveyed data provides the truth about the society and the customer behavior  that new age people like the new technology and new development faster whereas it becomes difficult for the people of older age to cope up with the new system due to their age does not permit them to work with the new system. Further, it is also true that a resistance comes whenever a new thing happens which might be negative part of the life that reduce the customers to buy from online.

Q4. What are the factors do you think that make you to buy from retail organizations?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Price	50	15	30%
Quality	50	12	24%
Service time	50	9	18%
Ease of order	50	8	16%
No travelling	50	6	12%

Table 4: Reasons to buy from retail organizations

	Price	quality	service time	ease of order	no travelling
responses	15	12	9	8	6
male	6	7	7	3	1
female	9	5	2	5	5
1	9	2	2	3	1
2	4	4	0	3	3
3	0	4	4	1	0
4	2	2	3	1	2
covariance age wise	Price	quality	service time	ease of order	no travelling
Price	1
quality	-1.75	1
service time	-2.4375	-0.25	1
ease of order	2.75	0	-1.25	1
no travelling	0.625	0	-1.375	0.5

Table: covariance matrix of response age wise for buying from retail sites

The above table shows that company’s low pricing strategy has drawn the customers much more than any other issues that are the possible reason for the customers to go beyond the 30% of vote from the participants. Covariance matrix shows that responses towards price to quality is negative which depicts that more the age grows, people go for the quality while younger aged people go for low priced products. The same thing goes with service time and price. Ease of ordering is a factor for the younger person while they have become lay in the country as shown in the positive covariance from their responses. There is no variance with ease of order and travelling of the customers with quality of the products. The duration of servicing and ordering ease has negative variance, which is also same with the travelling for the customers. The variance of travelling and ease of ordering has shown a positive deviation, which depicts that tenacity of the customers varied towards lesser travelling due to vary in ease of order.   

Q5. What are the problems do you think can be faced by you during shopping online?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
No touch and feeling	50	14	28%
Deprived from quality	50	11	22%
Deviate from the service warranty	50	8	16%
Change in the product	50	9	18%
Abrupt service	50	8	16%

Table5: Problems during online shopping from retail organization Tesco

The problem of the customers, which they have faced already, is responded in the above table. The table shows that problems faced by the customers mainly due to not having privilege of touch and feeling of the products. Further, they also fear from deprivation of the quality while change in the ordered product is a matter of fact to make the customers afraid of buying from online shop. In addition to this, service warranty of the company may deviate from the said one after buying the products as well as interruption in service is also a matter in this case which accounts for 16% responses.

From the above table, it can be analyzed that trust is the main problem accounting for 32% for online business (Deviate from the service warranty, Abrupt service) while visualization impairment is another problem which accounts single handedly by 28%.

Q6. How much do you prefer to shop via online from Tesco?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Strongly prefer	50	13	26%
Prefer	50	11	22%
Neutral	50	9	18%
Do not prefer	50	10	20%
Strongly not prefer	50	7	14%

Table 6: Preference of shopping via online

mean	median	mode	s.d.
2.74	3	1	1.411469

The statistical distribution of the responses show that average people have responded towards preferring the online shopping while the median is 3 which suggests that there is still enough confusion among the consumers who may not take exact decision for buying their products from online shopping. The customers still do not prefer to buy from online shopping a number of customers that shows that nation has to go far for reaching the optimum stage of the business. The deviation of the responses shows that 1.41 that predicts the deviation of the responses may be deteriorated within time due to any negative responses. From the above table, it also infers that most of the respondent customers are extremely happy while shopping online.

Q7. How much do you use the social networking sites?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Always	50	14	28%
Regularly	50	9	18%
Irregularly	50	12	24%
Need purpose	50	7	14%
Never	50	8	16%

Table:7 Usage rate of social networking

The usage rate of social networking site is provided in the above table as may be seen where majority if the people are using the platform. The regular users of the platform are more than 45% while non-users of this platform is only 16%. It may be analyzed from the responses that majority of the people are present in social media, which helps company to promote their products, and services in their social media page as well as communicate with the customers using this platform which might be lesser cost for them.

Q8. How do you rate the price of the products in Tesco, both from online and store??

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Strongly agree	50	11	22%
Agree	50	9	18%
Neutral	50	10	20%
Disagree	50	12	24%
Strongly Disagree	50	8	16%

Table 8:  Price of the products

40% of people have responded for the low price of the products when buying from online while 20% have no responses regarding the matter. The negative responses from the customers is also 40% thereby, it may be said that customers could not find much relief from the online shopping from costly products while the price of the products are not reduced much. It also indicates that online shopping has improved the bottom line of the company mainly.

Q9. How are you going to rate your satisfaction for online shopping?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Strongly agree	50	12	24%
Agree	50	13	26%
Neutral	50	6	12%
Disagree	50	9	18%
Strongly Disagree	50	10	20%

Table: 9 Satisfaction of customers

More than half of the customers are happy with their experience of online shopping while 38% have bitter experience in shopping online which can be depicted from the above table.  However, the responses of the participants shows there are only 12% of people who has no comments on shopping online which also states that online shopping has not reached to all within time to all the customers. The level of satisfaction also not provided from the above responses of the participants while the younger people have responded in favor of the online shopping from their satisfaction level.

Q10. How far do you believe the blogs and advertisements in the social networking sites?

Options	Total numbers respondents	Number of respondents	Percentage of the total
Strongly agree	50	15	30%
Agree	50	10	20%
Neutral	50	7	14%
Disagree	50	11	22%
Strongly Disagree	50	7	14%

Table 10: Believe in blogs and advertisements

The customers of the young age believe in the blog discussion much more than any other aged people which can be seen in the above table. Overall 50% people have responded positively in favor of blog discussion and advertisements in the social networking sites. The non-believers are also not few while the participants have responded negatively for almost 36% of the total numbers. Therefore, it can be analyzed that Tesco can advertise and also promote their products in the social media sites as it has generated trust in the mind of the people which is a positive sign for the platform to be used by the business in generating business.

It was tried to reach the maximum number of managers who are maintaining the creative role and the major operational role in online business of Tesco Plc, however, it was found that not the all managers were ready to talk about online business of Tesco which is founded few times ago. In addition to this, it was also found that not all the managers were aware of the details of online business of the company. Therefore, it was tried to take interview of those people who are concerned with the changes that are being made in the company’s business policy. Therefore, two marketing managers from digital marketing department, one supply chain manager and one system manager was interviewed for getting the insights on new division of Tesco.

1. What are the factors of driving the business in online mode as well as in stores in case of your retail organization?

Company was running its business in traditional supermarket chain which was highly successful for the last decade and still remains number one position by volume and market share in retail business in UK. However, it is found that company has entered the online market which is the most emerging business field in retail organization section. The first marketing manager said that he has found several reasons for running the business online by the company among which the most conversed matter is reduction of cost of employees. Company has one of the largest numbers of employees in the country which has become a growing problem for the company due to increase in salary and rate if wages for them to pay. Therefore, it was found by the management to reduce the operating cost of the company a tactics to make the company profitable so that the regular loss making of the company can be stopped. The second manager said that company was falling behind of the new supermarket policy of doing business with a price reduction as well as the reduction in operating cost. Further, company did not do well in the business of daily product segment which was not making much profit because of the many convenient stores in the country. The supply chain manager thinks that customers were getting the product at their house which was the main advantage as they are buying the branded products which they do not need to be worried about the quality of the products while the customers’ cost of journey reduced in this way of marketing. Due to increase in mass demand of technical requirement in online marketing has also made the company to feel selling goods vial online mode. There are many reasons of online market for the company as there are many surveys had revealed that new age of people are fond of internet usage too much which might help them in acquiring the customers really fast and also it happens to be a new style of marketing of the company. The business is depended upon the digital marketing of the company which is crucial in many ways as said by system manager. The cost of advertising and promotion of the retail company has been a standard cost of operation which might be reduced due to the fact that company might use the online platform in selling its own products while it has been seen that people have many attraction towards the retail business. According to him, there was a chance to develop the business in e-market which is the one of the most lucrative business in the world.

2. How do you feel that social media may be a crucial factor in your retail business?

The second manager states that, social media has many influence over the society overall now a day which cannot be denied by the business owners of the retail segment. Therefore, first marketing manager states that company has to think about the social media very much as the impact on the society of social media is enormous. The company, therefore, uses the social media as a communicating media for the company. The second manager states that social media page of the company are used as the communicating media for the company. Further, company also uses this page as the regular interval for promoting new products in informing the followers. The supply chain manager think that social media helps the company in developing the interaction with the people which is not possible in e-marketing. Therefore, company gets the chance of doing customer relationship management with interacting with the individual customers which is really important to know their level of satisfaction. It is also true for the system manager that he thinks the company has to use the social media as there is little scope to avoid this instrument as it is one of the greatest place of doing business and promoting the products. Social media is that kind of platform where company can launch a product and advertise it with very limited cost incurred.

3. Why do you think that company need to work with the social media for doing business in both online and offline mode?

The third manager states that the supply chain manager has cited the issues related to impact over the customer behavior over the customers of retail business by social media which might change the business direction and also the strategy of to run it. Therefore, it is found that company must run the business of online selling using the social media which might provide the company in making progress to generate more customers. The system manager states that social media has influence over generating customers via advertising and also it can create a buzz due to presence of young generation vastly in this platform. The first marketing manager cites that retail organization is developing using the internet which is a technological aspect of business while the tools are media and reaching the customers within faster time. Therefore, company may not deny the social media at all in doing business in retail organization segment which makes possible the companies to reach and communicate with the customers directly. The second manager states that company has to develop a system of drawing the customers’ attention in doing business using both online and physical platforms which may be possible using the social media as there are many people are present who can be communicated through this media. Further, it is also true in his opinion that company can conduct online survey for getting any product review in the market especially if the product is new in the market. The pilot survey using the social media is a great type of conducting a survey which can be conducted within very short time and cost as observed by the second marketing manager.

4. What are the scenarios of the customers you may see in online business?

Both the marketing managers have stated that they have found very good responses from the online business of the company which is in line with the expectations of the customers while company needs to get the impact of the business in a different way. Therefore, it is customary that both the marketing manager have also stated that scenario of online business has revealed from the initial performance of the company that doing business in this segment provides the company to enhance its profitability and acquire new customers. The supply chain manager thinks that online business has made the company to make ensure the transportation of the company appropriate which has enhanced the efficiency of the company. System manager has stated that company’s online portal has been implemented with the help of third party and the requirement of online order taking and payment options and product information has been launched as per the requirement of the online business. The system of the retail organization is working well and it is the target of the company in delivering the appropriate and user friendly system to the customers.

5. How customers are reacting to the digital marketing concept and also what is their response towards buying and what type of products in online?

The system manager states that company’s performance in developing the online business as a whole is good as the traffic in the e-portal of the company is far good. The customers are also finding the products and also making the queries regarding the products in their online portal, which is a real positive sign for their online business. Manager has stated that company is running its online operation at lowest cost using the e-portal as labor cost is low here. The supply chain manager has stated that he has enough orders to be implemented in delivering the customers which makes him to believe that company has got a good response from this segment recently. The marketing managers have said that company’s projected sales and ordering level of the products have been crossed so far as the company is getting the orders more regularly. The overall customers’ response is at satisfactory level of the management, which is in line with the expectations. Further, they also state that company is getting more orders from the daily and fast moving consumable goods which are available in packaged way to the customers.

Conclusion and recommendations

Conclusion

From the above research survey, it can be conclude that ample effects are present on the usage of social media in retail organization of UK, which is a good sign for Tesco in developing their retail organization as well as the social media page. The buying behavior of the young people have shown in favor of the online shopping that also depicts that decision of going retail organization is a positive strategy in longer term for the company. The responses from the participants have enough space for concluding the impact on customers due to using the social media as it can influence the behavior of them easily. 

Linking to objective 1: To evaluate the effect of the platform of social media in the retail organization Tesco of United Kingdom

The effect of the social media on retail organization of UK organizations is evaluated from the survey which states that companies are associated with this model of business are really affected by the social media. The discussion in social media is the main concern for the company; further, social media is the platform where companies can promote their product as well as may sell their products in those platforms. It is also observed that social media is a place where a buzz can be created among the younger people as overall all of them are using this platform for communication purpose. Further, companies are also using the social media platform as an effective platform for the consumers, which might help them in creating buss among the people about any new launch of products or offers.

The consumers buying behavior of the customers of online shopping may be derived from the analysis made in the previous chapter where it can be seen that consumer behavior is overall positive for shopping vial online mode. The customers of the young age is eager to use the online shopping much more than other aged people while some of the busy couples also like to use the online mode of shopping due to their problem of time to go to the super market. In addition to this, shopping is a matter of satisfaction of the female who are eager to buy products more from the supermarkets due to having touched and feeling issue among them. The customers of old aged people avoid the online shopping due to technology usage in this shopping manner. Further, it can be seen that the buying behavior of the customers from online shopping in UK is lacking of trustworthiness of the retail organization business among the consumers which is a major problem for this business. Therefore, it is needed to be resolved quickly as it might reduce the revenue of the companies those are trying to go with online business model. The rate usage of internet technology is almost more than 70% in UK for the people, which show the huge opportunity of this business. It is the main reason for changing some policies of the company, which may drive the sentiment of the customers’ positive more. The consumers behavior in online shopping is mainly governed by the price, quality and time savings of the consumers which will provide them in making the online business lucrative to the customers who are already present in this field.

Social media has great impact over the business and social order now a day that cannot be denied by the people, companies and other stakeholders. The platform is one of the fastest public communicating platform that might provide the business a chance of connecting with the enough people in this manner. The gathering of so many people in the social media has made it to influence the business in many manners where people from one country to another country also can communicate with each other. In addition to this, it can be said that company might get the well response in the social media which will go in favor of its business as well as brand value of the company. The social media is a place where a buzz can be created easily while this buzz may help the company to create a new types of consumers who like to buy or make buying decision of products from the review in the social media. The effect of the social media is enormous as it can be seen that trust is a matter in retail organization business, which can be gained from positive social media campaigning. The impact will remain positive until there is any negative impact can be created to create any negative buzz in this field. Social media is a great place to advertise the products and offers among the customers, which is also used by the companies in this regard for developing the positive buying behavior of this platform.

It is recommended to utilize own website for blog discussion from the customers who will provide the deep insights of the products in that platform. Further, the official blog will also help the company’s executive to take participate in the discussion with the customer directly to reduce their doubts about their products and services. Company must create a field of buzz, which might provide them to grow its sale exponentially within a certain time. The regular changes in the social media page are also another option for the company to promote its social appearance and also the offers to the customers. Thereby, it is recommended to outsource either, or establish a digital marketing analysis department, which will estimate the likes and the behavior of the consumer regularly. It will also allow the company to conduct a survey among the customers for estimating their taste and likings. The overall customers’ response is at satisfactory level of the management, which is in line with the expectations. Therefore, the customers wants the organization needs to implement all the tools and techniques of social media tools and techniques. The organization Tesco needs to implement all the blogs of social media in order to perceive the behavior of the customers.

The project has enormous scope in this regard which might reflect the current picture of the consumer behavior and how this is influenced by the usage of social media. Thus, reflection of the consumers’ behavior in this regard will make an impact on the online business which can be evaluated by estimating the behavior of the customer from their practice of the purchasing decision mainly. The project also can be enhanced by evaluating the product wise purchasing behavior of the customers in e-marketing company so that the bullish and strong area of the business can be understood.

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