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AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF 'IMPACT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING ON

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION OF WATER PURIFIERS

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AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ‘IMPACT OF INFLUENCER MARKETING ON

CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION OF WATER PURIFIERS

DR. RAVINDRA MARATHE

PROFESSOR, BHARTI VIDYAPEETH (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY) PUNE, YMIM
KARAD

DR. SANDEEP N. JAGDALE

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, BHARTI VIDYAPEETH (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)
PUNE, YMIM KARAD

ABSTRACT

Marketing strategies evolved over the period of time. Marketers has seen sea change in their
approach towards marketing of their products and services. Customer Relationship Marketing,
Holistic Marketing, Social Marketing etc. are some of the strategies were used by the companies
over last two decades. Influencer Marketing is a decade old phenomenon. Influencer Marketing
is a type of Social Media Marketing, which uses endorsements of the customers of products or
services to influence the potential buyers. It has been seen that influencer marketing has more
success ratio as compared to the traditional advertisement. This paper tries to explore the role of
influencer marketing on the consumer buying decision.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate and understand the impact of Influencer
Marketing on Consumer Buying Decision of water purifiers. This research paper tries to relate
the significant aspects of influencer marketing as against the traditional mode of promotion of
water purifiers. This assignment also studies the various means of influencer marketing tools
used by the water purifier manufacturers in Pune City.

Keywords: Influencer Marketing, Social Media Engagement, Social Proof, Customer Purchase
Decision, Water Purifiers.

INTRODUCTION

These days, marketers are struggling in drawing the attention of consumers towards their
products or services with the traditional marketing approaches. Companies are shifting their
efforts to use digital platform rather only on using traditional channels. It is becoming very
difficult for the brands to stand out in many advertisements in recent past. Marketers are facing
this competition due to rapid change in the marketing environment. Technological change,
digitization, globalization etc. has contributed world businesses becoming more and more
competitive. Over the past few decades, usage of digital platform in various businesses has
increased. The boom of World Wide Web and social media such as blogs, social network and
media sharing platforms have led to the growth of user generated content, a global community
and publishing of consumer opinions. This resulted into the growing needs for the companies to

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generate positive user-driven content which would easily spread within the potential buyers
(Monojit Dutta, 2020).

It is the fundamental requirement of any business that companies need to interact regularly with
the customers. Medium of interaction varies depending upon the type of products you sell. Due
to digitization in India, role of Influencer Marketing become very significant. Influencer
marketing is a form of social media marketing. This involves endorsements and product
placement from influencers, people and organizations. The influencers are claimed to be expert
level of knowledge or social influence in their field (wikipedia). Today’s youth and children have
lot of options of entertainment by the way of digital platforms of social media and gaming.
YouTube in particular, has emerged as a platform for children’s screen time and an alternative
for traditional television (TV) content (Watson, 2019)3. YouTube is a powerful platform of
Influencer Marketing, where new possibilities of brand promotion which engrosses children and
their parents making them comprehensive to the brand elevation. The social media is a big
phenomenon in influencer marketing has got a great platform to work on. When looking at the
different social media channels, there can be seen a plenty of different influencer accounts,
including accounts of celebrities, bloggers, YouTubers, and basic people who have a lot of
followers, for instance. Many of the owners of those accounts work in collaborations with
different companies, and promote their products and services. Influencer marketing is an ever-
changing and the leanings are constantly changing, along with the systems on various social
media platforms.

This paper aims to outlay how social media influencers, as a new source in advertising, target
and affect the buying decisions of water purifiers. This research assignment was chosen due to
India is transforming from its base of business to digital way from traditional way. Companies
are getting benefits from influencer marketing aspect in great manner. There are few of the
research papers published on this topic in India in recent past, but the there are no research
articles published or research assignment undertaken with special reference to influencer
marketing and buying decisions of water purifiers. In this paper the impact of influencer
marketing on the water purifier buyer is studied. How the target audience experiences about the
influencer marketing and also measures the attitude of the buyer towards the influencers. This
paper also studies the buying factors which govern their buying decision alongside influencer
marketing aspect.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To study the awareness of influencer marketing among the water purifier buyers
2. To understand the level of trust/belief on influencer marketing by buyers of water
purifiers
3. To understand the impact of influencers marketing on the potential buyers of water
purifiers
4. To find which medium of influencer marketing the target group follows
5. To investigate the attitudes of the potential customers towards influencer marketing
6. To study the buying decision factors of water purifier customers

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

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1. There is significant relationship between water purifier buyers’ perception and

behavior and influencer marketing
2. Influencer Marketing is very important factor in purchase intention of water purifier

LITERATURE REVIEW

Monojit Dutta and Sainaz Sardar (Monojit Dutta, 2020)4, has presented findings of Influencer
Marketing on youth with reference to fashion sector. The research paper titled ‘Impact of
Influencer Marketing on Millennial: A study on Fashion Industry’ with the purpose of gaining
an in-depth understanding of what factors that effects the millennial to follow the social media
influencers and to identify the relationship between millennial’s perception and behaviour
towards influencer marketing in fashion industry. In conclusion researcher observed that
influencers play a great role in the buying behaviour of the millennials and also helps in creation
of prospective customers in fashion industry. There is a significant impact of influencer
marketing on millennials. Glucksman (Glucksman, 2017)5 notices that influencers on social
media who promote a lifestyle brand are most successful in interacting with consumers when
they are authentic, confident, and interactive in their content. With the use of influencers in social
media for promoting the lifestyle brands, it has broken the wall between the consumer, the brand,
and followers through social media content. Through this research, it is evident that social media
influencer marketing has, in fact, changed the way brands interact with consumers in a positive
way.

Aanchal Nagori (Nagori, 2020)6 concluded in her research article titled ‘Impact of Influencer
Marketing on Purchase Intention with specific reference to Health and Beauty Products’ that less
than half of the population make purchases of health and beauty products based on
recommendation by influencers but at the same time they use influencers. Also it is observed
that this form of promotion is effective in the initial stage of consumer buying process.

Zdenka KÁDEKOVÁ and Mária HOLIENČINOVÁ (HOLIENČINOVÁ, 2018)7 have

undertaken a research study on ‘Influencer Marketing as a Modern Phenomenon Creating a New
Frontier of Virtual Opportunities’. The main objective of the research assignment is to offer a
comprehensive reflection on influencer marketing opportunities and determine the impact of
influencers on consumer behavior of Generations Y and Z. The major findings of the research
are there are significant differences between the above-mentioned consumer generations in the
area of impact of influencers on consumer behavior, which leads to different marketing
opportunities.

Aruna Nidamarthy, Blanche D’mello and Sharmiladevi J.C (Aruna Nidamarthy, 2020)8 have
investigated that how influencer marketers could assist the marketer to attract towards their
products or services. Research paper titled ‘Influencer Marketing: Reaching the Right Person at
the Right Place’ published with an objective is to understand various social media platforms used
by the audience to view different content and additionally gauge its impact on consumers which
could help companies decide appropriate marketing strategies to reach the right customer at the
right place. The findings from this research paper are encouraging marketers to use influencer
marketing as a tool in creating awareness on a specific social media platform based on the

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industry. Choosing the right platform is crucial in order to reach the right consumer at the right
place.

Steven Woods (Woods, 2016)9 has published a Research article titled ‘Sponsored: The
Emergence of Influencer Marketing’. One of the major finding of the research was Influencer
marketing is proving to be successful and will continue to grow in popularity and the returns on
investment are unparalleled if well executed.

Morgan Glucksman (Glucksman M. , 2017)10 has published a research article titled ‘The Rise
of Social Media Influencer Marketing on Lifestyle Branding: A Case Study of Lucie Fink’. The
major findings observed in this research assignment are that the use of social media influencer
marketing in public relations initiatives has broken the wall between the consumer and the brand,
changing the way the two interact.

RESEARCH GAP

The literature review of relevant and very recent research articles were done to understand the
theoretical framework of Influencer Marketing and its significance in contemporary business
scenario in India. Reviewing upon the various research articles on Influencer Marketing, it was
observed that most of the research was confined to initial study about the conceptual and basic
framework of Influencer Marketing. Very few papers addressed the area of Influencer Marketing
and purchase decision and its relationship. Based on the research paper review, it was observed
that water treatment industry in India was not taken up for research purpose with special
reference to Influencer Marketing. Hence, the researchers had undertaken the current research
assignment to find out the impact of Influencer Marketing on the purchase decision of water
purifier.

OUTLINE OF WATER TREATMENT INDUSTRY IN INDIA

As far as India is concerned, its share in population is almost around the 16% of world’s
population, but accounts for only 4% of water resources of the world. Currently India’s
population is growing at a pace of 2% per annum, and expected to be 1.5 billion by 2050. The
Planning Commission, Government of India has projected the water demand to increase from
710 BCM (Billion Cubic Meters) which is in 2010 to almost 1180 BCM in 2050. The residential
water usage and industrial water requirement expected to increase almost 2.5 times by 2050. The
raw water quality existing in India fluctuates significantly, which calls for alterations as per the
standards and palatability. There are various factors contributed for the deterioration of water
quality. The organic and inorganic substances percolated and dissolved in the water bodies like
rivers, lakes, ground water etc. The concern to the civic bodies to ensure availability of safe and
pure water which not only free from organic matters such as bacteria, viruses, obscene color,
foul odor, filthy taste etc. but also to remove inorganic compound which are hazardous for
consumption such as heavy metals, detergents, pesticides etc.

The wastewater treatment plants market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 12%
during 2016-2021. India’s industrial water and waste water treatment market is expected to reach
$ 2.3 billion by 2022. India’s water and wastewater treatment chemicals market is projected to
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reach $ 805 million by 2023 (WATER & WASTE WATER SECTOR OVERVIEW-2020)11.
Indian Water Purifiers Industry was begun in 1984 when first water purifier was launched by
Eureka Forbes. Market growth of water purifier industry has seen during 1990 to 2010. The
market has seen a double digit CAGR during FY’2014-FY’2020 both in terms of revenue and
volume. The current water electric water purifier penetration in India was 8.7% in 2018 whereas
for non- electronic purifier it was 3.5% (KenResearch, 2020)12.

Major brands in the water purifier industry are:

1. Eureka Forbs Limited (Aquaguard)

2. Kent RO
3. Pureit (HUL)
4. Tata Swatch
5. Ion Exchange India Limited (ZeroB)
6. Livepure
7. AO Smith
8. LG
9. Blue Star

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this study, researchers used structured mechanism to collect and tabulate the relevant
quantitative data for the purpose of the analysis. The collected data through the questionnaire
was analysed using SPSS 21, MS-EXCEL and content analysis. Methods of data analysis such
as Friedman Test, Chi-square Test, Pearson Correlation, scaling technique and Mean Rank
techniques were administered. The reliability and validity of the survey instrument were tested.
Total 200 responses were used for the data analysis. The data was collected from the water
purifier and active social media users from Pune city using Probability Simple random sampling.

Reliability Test of Questionnaire

Case Processing Summary

N %
Valid 200 100
Cases
Excludeda 0 0
Total 200 100
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

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.998 103

The reliability coefficient value was highly significant i.e. 0.998 and depict high reliability of
the questionnaire. Reliability test was applied using SPSS-21 software and the reliability test
measures is as follows

The alpha coefficient is 0.998, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency.
{Reliability coefficient .60 or higher is considered “acceptable” in most social science research
situations}. So the above Cronbach’s Alpha strongly suggests the acceptability.

Hypothesis Testing:

Hypothesis 1: There is significant relationship between water purifier buyers’ perception and
behavior and influencer marketing

H0: There is no significant relationship between water purifier buyers’ perception and behavior
and influencer marketing

H1: There is significant relationship between water purifier buyers’ perception and behavior and
influencer marketing

To find out whether there is significant relation between water purifier buyers’ perception and
behavior and influencer marketing, researchers administered correlation test using SPSS
software.

The results calculated using SPSS are represented in the following table

Correlation
If I came
to know that
Influence How many
my preferred
Independen r will not Times you
influencers
t reviews are constantly influenced in
are paid for
more reliable recommend the previous
their
than company a product year due to
endorsements
sponsored that will influencers’
, it will not
reviews useless to recommendatio
damage their
me n
credibility in
my mind
Independen Pearson
t reviews Correlatio 1 .336** .387** .192*
are more n
reliable Sig. (2-
0 0 0.35
than tailed)

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company
sponsored N 200 200 200 200
reviews
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The above table indicates the relations between independent reviews registered by influencers
on water purifiers are more reliable than company sponsored reviews and number of times
influences took place in the previous year due to recommendation from an influencer is 19.2%,
which is positively correlated, i.e., the variables tend to increase together, but the magnitude of
correlation is weak, i.e., (r ≤0.3), and thus it is significant at 5% level. At the same time, the
relationships between influencers will not constantly recommend a product that is not useful to
me, and between independent reviews registered by influencers on water purifiers are more
reliable than company sponsored reviews and number of times influences took place in the
previous year due to recommendation from an influencer is 33.6% which is positively correlated,
i.e., the variables tend to increase together, but the magnitude of correlation is moderate i.e.,(0.3
≤ r ≤ 0.7) and thus it is significant at 1 % level. The relations between if If I came to know that
my preferred influencers are paid for their endorsements, it will not damage their credibility in
my mind and independent reviews registered by influencers on water purifiers are more reliable
than company sponsored reviews and number of times influences took place in the previous year
due to recommendation from an influencer is 38.7% which is positively correlated, i.e., the
variables tend to increase together, but the magnitude of correlation is weak, i.e.,(0.3 ≤ r ≤ 0.7)
and it is significant at 1% level. So there is significant relationship between water purifier buyers’
perception and behavior and influencer marketing

Hypothesis 2: Influencer Marketing is very important factor in purchase intention of water

purifier

H0: Influencer Marketing is not an important factor in purchase intention of water purifier H1:
Influencer Marketing is an important factor in purchase intention of water purifier Statistical
Test: Friedman Test

Ranks
Mean Rank
Appears to be easier to use than other methods 5.85
Friend’s/Relative’s Advice 7.66
Product Visibility and advertisement 6.53
After sales service support 5.85
Perceived Quality 7.91
Company’s Reputation 8.92
Economical in the long run 2.33
Free Gift 6.16
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Price 9.80
Retailer’s Advice 6.78
Credit Facility/Installment 2.15
Influencer’s advice/review 8.06

Test Statisticsa
N 400
Chi- 2223.26
Square 7
df 11

Scaling technique for variable measurement: Data were collected using 12 items scaled
independently on a 5 point measurement scale.

Level of Significance: 0.05

Since Friedman test is significant, the null hypothesis is rejected and hence it is concluded that
Influencer Marketing is an important factor in purchase intention of water purifier.

It is found that the customer’s opinion regarding the determinants of intention to buy water
purifier significantly differ in magnitudes of importance.

From the rank table, it can be seen that customer’s opinion regarding price of the product has the
highest mean rank of 9.80, company’s reputation has a mean rank of 8.92, and friend’s /relative
advice has a mean rank of 8.06, perceived quality has a mean rank of 7.91, economical in the
long run has a mean rank of 7.66 while the Influencer’s advice/review has the mean rank of 2.33
and credit facility/ installment has the least mean rank of 2.15.

Thus, it can be concluded that price and company’s reputation are the important determinants in
buying a water purifier while credit or installment facility and Influencer’s advice/review are the
least important determinants.

MAJOR FINDINGS

The researchers had made effort to present the data after careful and scientific analysis of the
collected data on the defined objectives. Following are the major findings of the research
assignment:

1. It has been observed that most of the water purifier manufacturers are shifting their
focus of marketing strategies from the traditional mode to digital forms
2. Influencer marketing is one of the new approach adopted by the water purifier
companies in India by placing their brand/product content on social media
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3. Many of the influencers work in coordination with the companies

4. From the literature review, it is observed that influencer marketing has a great role in
buying behavior of the consumers and also it has changed the process in which brands
interact with the customer
5. It is also observed from the recent past literature that choosing the right digital
platform is crucial in order to reach the right consumer at the right place
6. There is significant relationship between water purifier buyers’ perception and
behavior and influencer marketing
7. Price and company’s reputation are the important determinants in buying a water
purifier while credit or installment facility and Influencer’s advice/review are the
least important determinants
8. Aquaguard is the most popular water purifier models amongst all respondents
9. Most of the respondents are aware about the influencer marketing tool used on social
media and also remember the influencer marketing content occurrence on social
media platform
10. Instagram and Facebook are the most popular and viewed platforms in context of
influencer marketing content and contents on blogs are the least popular
11. It can be concluded that there is no significant relationship between purchase decision
and trust/belief
12. The attitude of potential buyer is mostly influenced by influencers’ recommendation
of the company, which is in turn promoted by the buyers of water purifier

CONCLUSION

In the current business scenario, this is influenced by digital era; the relevance of the brands and
products/services is dependent on the visibility. Social media is one the powerful platform where
the companies are focusing. It is very important for the companies that their brands interact with
customers on regular basis. With respect to water purifier manufacturing and marketing
companies, there are several brands for which influencers are working either sponsored or non-
sponsored way. This has allowed the water purifier brands to reach their potential customer
effectively. Water purifier brands are ready to collaborate with influencers to promote their brand
and product. Influencer backed promotions are going to expand their horizon in the country based
on the fact that there is substantial impact of the influencers on the customers. Findings of this
research assignment will help marketers of water purifier in generating awareness on a social
media platform.

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