Effects of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Purchase Intention in the Retail Sector of Australia

Abstract

This research aims to determine how social media marketing affects consumer purchase intent in Australia's retail industry. The study's main goal is to see if social media marketing impacts customer purchase intent and brand equity as a moderator between dependent and independent variables. The data comes from Austria's retail sector and is based on five cities: Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Adelaide. By utilizing social media channels in the implementation of the survey strategy, a survey questionnaire with a size of 385 valid responses is made available to a targeted audience of the retail industry in Australia. The mixed methodologies research with a cross-sectional time horizon and a deductive research strategy for this study is used. The study's findings show that social media positively correlates with consumer purchase intention, and brand equity moderates the relationship between the dependent and independent variables, as evidenced by correlation, regression, and exploratory factor analysis.