Profoma - Ewom

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Due to the advancement of technology and declining trust of customers towards traditional advertising,, there are many established companies have moved from the traditional WOM to the eWOM in order to stay competitive in the market. Throughout this research, researcher has chosen Tesco as the subject matter to be looked into. Tesco is one of the world’s largest retailers and mainly dealing with grocery and general merchandise. RESEARCH QUESTION This research is concerning about the emergence of eWOM in today’s market; what are the availability of eWOM platforms in Tesco; How is the customer’s perception and response towards the eWOM of Tesco; How eWOM platforms of Tesco actually influence or affect customer’s product judgement and purchasing decision. OBJECTIVES This research is to study the emergence of eWOM in Tesco; examine and identify the availability of Tesco eWOM platforms; evaluate the customer perception and response on the 3 selected eWOM platforms of Tesco; examine the impact of eWOM platforms of Tesco on customer purchasing decision. LITERATURE REVIEW Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) defined eWOM as positive or negative statements or recommendation made by customers about a company and its brand message, goods or services to another person through the use of Internet (Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten., Kevin P. Gwinner, Gianfranco Walsh, and Dwayne D. Gremler (2004), "Electronic Word-OfMouth Via Consumer-Opinion Platforms: What Motivates Consumers to Articulate Themselves on the Internet?" Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18 (1), 38-52). Emergence of eWOM in Tesco make it possible for its customers to share their thoughts and experiences about Tesco products, services and brands interactively. There are many eWOM platforms that are adopted by Tesco itself such as Facebook, Twitter, Websites, Foursquare, Blog, Forum, Emails and etc. However, researcher will only focus on the main 3 selected eWOM platforms of Tesco which