THE IMPACT OF MASCOT, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND SALES CHANNEL, FACTORS TOWARDS THE BUYING DECISION OF BUTTERBEAR BAKERY SHOP

Abstract

This study aims to understand the factors that influence the buying decisions of customers at Butterbear Bakery Shop. The three independent variables of this study to understand the dependent variable of customers' buying decision are the mascot, social media and sales channel. Sub-variables to test for mascot included appearance, personality and engagement. The sub-variables for social media consisted of the engagement, user-generated content and viral attractions. The sub-variables for the sales channel included accessibility, convenience and customer experience. A quantitative research method was employed, using a structured questionnaire distributed to 425 respondents in China, and snowball sampling method was used to collect the survey from social media contacts using Wenjuanxing for this study. The questionnaire comprises multiple choices for demographic data and a five-point Likert scale for independent and dependent variables. The statistical software used for analyzing data includes descriptive and inferential analysis. The results of the study showed that all the hypotheses proposed were supported. The results revealed that there is a significant effect between the independent variables (mascot, social media and sales channel) and the dependent variable (buying decision).