Online retailers connecting to the youth segment through Facebook (A study on the influence of gender and personality type)
| Published date | 12 December 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-08-2015-0129 |
| Date | 12 December 2017 |
| Pages | 387-412 |
| Author | Oly Mishra,Prasad Ayatham |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
Online retailers connecting to the youth
segment through Facebook (A study on
the influence of gender and
personality type)
Oly Mishra and Prasad Ayatham
Oly Mishra is Research
Scholar at the
Department of Humanities
and Social Sciences,
Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam, India.
Prasad Ayatham is based
at the Department of
Humanities and Social
Sciences, Andhra
University,
Visakhapatnam, India.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the different personality types
and Facebook behavior of the young Indian consumers in the context of e-tailing. With the increased
popularity of Facebook, consumers and e-tailers are using it as a platform to connect better with each
other. This paper makes an attempt to study the motive and online purchasing behavior of youth by
examining Facebook posts and understanding their relationship with personality and gender.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey was conducted on 200 young Indian consumers who use
Facebook as well as follow at least one e-tailer on Facebook. The responses to the survey were used to
test the proposed conceptual model to find out the relationship of personality types and gender with
Facebook behavior, type of post liked on Facebook, reason to use Facebook and motive to follow an
e-tailer on Facebook using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests.
Findings –The tests showed that gender of online consumers influences their Facebook behavior and
the type of post that they like the most on Facebook. The personality type of the online consumers has
a significant influence on the motive to follow an e-tailer on Facebook and the reason to use Facebook.
It implies that the Facebook pages of e-tailers should plan their posts keeping the gender and
personality type of their followers in mind. In this manner, Facebook can be used as a platform by the
e-tailers to increase their consumer base, especially among the youth.
Research limitations/implications –The limitations of this study are the respondents for this study are
in the age group of 15-25 years only and the results of the study may vary with the change in the age
group. The respondents are Indians by nationality and the results may vary for different nations.
Practical implications –This paper provides an insight to the e-tailer about attracting young
consumers on their Facebook page in the context of their gender and personality type to enhance the
reach and expand their business. This research paper is informative to the e-tailers who have budgets
for social media marketing to know about social media usage by youth for online shopping.
Originality/value –Presently, India has a demographic advantage and this paper contributes to
understand the youth social media usage for online shopping. The e-tailers can relate the findings to
develop strategies to enhance their customer base. This research paper will contribute to the existing
literature on social media marketing and e-tailing.
Keywords Gender, Social media, Youth, Online shopping, E-tailers, Personality type
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Today marketers are trying to attract more consumers by providing them a better shopping
experience. To do this, the marketers are continuously innovating and trying to find out new
ways of connecting with their consumers. Earlier, the marketers would connect with their
consumers specifically through newspaper and TV advertisements, pamphlets, bill boards
and demonstrations. Now, consumers are technology-savvy and use computers, social
Received 19 August 2015
Revised 17 November 2015
21 January 2016
28 April 2016
Accepted 28 April 2016
DOI 10.1108/JABS-08-2015-0129 VOL. 11 NO. 4 2017, pp. 387-412, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 JOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES PAGE 387
media and internet in their daily life. Among the different age groups of consumers, the
youth are most comfortable in using technology.
The ways in which people exchange information and communicate with each other have
changed significantly (Henning-Thurau et al., 2010) owing to internet. Internet is being
effectively used to connect with consumers, partners and suppliers, and this has changed
the lifestyle of consumers too. The latest format of retailing is online retailing/e-retailing/
e-tailing. Online retailing or e-tailing is defined by Meuter et al. (2000) as a virtual realm
where products and services exist as digital information and can be delivered through
information-based channels. A broader definition by Wang and Head (2002) states that
e-tailing is the selling of goods and services to the consumer market via the internet.
E-tailing is the most innovative and challenging contribution to the retail industry. The online
retailers carry out their business process online, so they also have to communicate and
promote their products online. Today the most popular mode of online communication is
social media. Marketers are also exploring this medium to communicate with their
consumers. Owing to the increased reach of the consumers through social media,
word-of-mouth has become electronic word-of-mouth, and it has helped the consumers
and the company to participate in a conversation with each other (Deighton and Kornfeld,
2009). Consumers can create and integrate messages about the company which can go
“viral” on social media platforms (Kozinets et al., 2010;Libai et al., 2010). It is also used by
consumers to interact with each other who have already used the product to gain valuable
insights (Garretson, 2008).
Some of the popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. are
useful tools for the marketers owing to their dynamic nature, reach and flexibility and a
platform for direct contact with the consumers for marketing and feedback. Owing to lack
of face-to-face communication between the online retailers and consumers, there is higher
uncertainty in the minds of the consumers regarding the authenticity of the company and
reliability of its products. In this situation, the online retailers can gain the confidence of the
consumers by the proper use of social media. The leading online retailers in India such as
Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal, eBay, etc. have their own Facebook pages, Twitter handles
and YouTube channel. Effective social media usage will help the e-tailers to increase the
awareness of the online retailer, building the consumer base and increasing sales and
market share (Dholakia et al., 2004). The popularity of social media among the youth has
made marketers believe that if they can gain the loyalty of the young consumers, then they
will continue to be their consumers for lifetime. This belief is owing to India’s demographic
dividend. Hence, they have included social media in their promotional strategy.
This paper studies how marketers are connecting to the youth through social media,
especially through Facebook. It tries to understand youth’s main intention of using
Facebook and also the main motive with which they follow the online retailers on Facebook.
The study is divided into:
review of literature;
objectives of the study;
hypotheses framed;
research methodology;
data analysis and results; and
managerial implications and conclusions.
2. Review of literature
Over the past decades, the researchers have studied specific differences in the
consumers’ pattern of shopping (Tauber, 1972;Dawson et al., 1990;Mooradian and
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