Page 987 - MARSIUM'21 COMP OF PAPER

988 Woon & Grace (2022)

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES TO INCREASE BRAND OF A TRADITIONAL
CHINESE PASTRY SHOP – CHOP KEK LIAN SENG

YAP KAI YING*, THOO AI CHIN

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru

*Corresponding author: kaiying1998@graduate.utm.my

Abstract

Covid-19 has a wide range of effects on e-commerce and technology. The crisis has forced some retail stores to stop operating. During the pandemic, the use
of e-commerce and online retail applications is increased significantly. This trend has triggered the social media as one of the effective marketing channels
to communicate brand-related information by stimulating brand engagement and brand knowledge among consumers. In this case study, Chop Kek Liang, as
a traditional Chinese pastry shop is facing the problems like low brand awareness and brand image due to limited social media interaction. Before designing
a comprehensive social marketing plan for Chop Kian Lai Seng, this study firstly examined the factors that influence the brand awareness and brand image of
pastry shops in general. A quantitative method using surveys was distributed via Google form. Purposive sampling technique was used, and data was collected
from respondents who are using social media platforms as interaction with others in Malaysia to buy pastry products. The total usable data for the study is 169.
The findings show that there are positive and significant relationships between social media interaction, customer brand engagement, brand awareness and brand
image. Marketing strategies were conducted on the Facebook page of Chop Kek Lian Seng for 2 months and the social media strategies successfully and effectively
increased the brand awareness and brand image of the company. In short, social media interaction is the best-implemented strategy in the development of brand
awareness and brand image for Chop Kek Lian Seng. Therefore, this study has provided deeper insight into social media interaction for retailing industry to
enhance the brand awareness and brand image

Keywords: Social media interaction, brand awareness, brand engagement, brand image.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Retailing is business activities involved in selling products and services to end consumers. Retail is the final step of distribution
process from multiple suppliers to final customers (Berman et al., 2018). Now, the increase in the digitalization of the retail industry allows
retailers to collect customer data across the retail value chain to be better and effectively understand their needs and expectations (Evans and
Kitchin, 2018). In recent years, with the rise in prevalence of the Internet and smartphones, online retail has developed rapidly. For example,
the sales of Tmall (The largest e-commerce site in China) on Double Eleven, hit 540.3 billion yuan in 2021 (Yi, 2021). Nowadays, new retail
technology has allowed consumers to purchase product and services at lower prices and perform purchase decisions based on online reviews.
Therefore, online purchasing and shopping is becoming more and more popular, easy, and cost-effective. This makes the traditional physical
retail has experienced "retail end" in many places (Arya et al., 2019).

Due to global pandemic (Covid-19), retail industry has faced significant change and this crisis has made the online shopping
becomes common and popular. Covid-19 is a major destructive event that has affected the global economy and several unresolved value
networks (Nicola, 2020). Evidently, Covid-19 brings many substantive psychology, social and professional changes, such as unemployment,
low savings, external fears and stress to uncertain futures as well as physical and mental health issues (Bradbury and Isham, 2020). Due to
lockdown procedures, Covid-19 has a wide effect on e-commerce, technology, economy and forced many retail stores to close (Hasanat et
al., 2020). This situation has been unprecedentedly determined and disrupts many businesses. During this pandemic, the usage of online retail
platform and e-commerce had increased significantly. A retail survey showed that 22 million of Malaysians are digital consumers, and they
spend 80% of their time online to make purchase decision (Ganesan, 2021). Due to this trend, many large and small retail companies are
adapting and converting into e-commerce and e-business.

One of the common communication channels recently used by the retail sector is social media for their activities in marketing.
Social media is one of the effective online applications, programs, platforms, or media tools to promote interaction among users, corporate,
or information sharing (Kim and Ko, 2012). Studies show that social media marketing activities are important part of corporate with brand
activities (Tsimonis and Dimitriadis, 2014). Social media marketing (SMM) entails the creation and use of social media platforms to
implement marketing strategies, deliver brand information and engage relationships with customers (Solem and Pedersen, 2016; Schultz and
Peltier, 2013;). Therefore, social media marketing could take a part in affecting consumer’s perception of company brand (Langaro et al.,
2018). According to Stelzner (2014), 90% of the companies use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube in creating marketing activities

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