This study examined the influence of social media on Durban customers’ purchasing decisions and the extent to which social media influences consumers’ decision-making while buying products. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether consumers are eager to interact with products on social media platforms to obtain more information about product features, benefits, performance, prices, promotions, and reputation. An exploratory study employing a quantitative research approach was carried out, with questionnaires distributed to 400 Durban consumers over the age of 18 who were regular social media users. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in this study. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study discovered that social media is a very powerful communication tool that can be used to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, and consumers stated that the more they knew about a product through social media, the more they desired to buy it, and vice versa. Businesses should incorporate promotional events, contests, and competitions on their social network product pages to enhance awareness, social media platform traffic, and customer engagement.

The determination of retailers to deal with the challenges of managing perishable products’ category continues as they persist to provide quality service and fresh products to their customers. These challenges often afflict retailers and consumers alike, which innately impact category management and good consumer behavior. This article reports on a study that investigates the influence of category management on consumers’ purchase behavior of perishable products.  The objectives of this article are to determine the influence of category management on purchase behavior, to explore the current retail category management practices for perishable products, and to investigate the relationship between pricing and shelf life of perishable products and how this relationship influences consumers’ purchase behavior.  To achieve these objectives, in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews that were explorative by nature were conducted, with ten (10) staff members of a selected store in Durban, South Africa, who were responsible for the perishable products category.  The findings reveal that category management does influence the purchase behavior of perishable products; however, problems were identified concerning assortment planning, shelving, promotions, pricing, and shelf life. The results were limited to this Durban store. Recommendations were made to the retailers to solve those problems to effectively satisfy consumers.

Social media has eternally changed the purchasing cycle of consumers. Instead of merely making a purchase, today shoppers have added two vital rudiments that come prior and post purchase in the buying the process. By use of blog posts, review, forums and tweets, today consumers conduct online research on brands that they have an interest of purchasing and opinions posted by other consumers have an immense power to influence their decisions (Agresta, Bough and Miletsky 2010:32). This creates a measuring tool that can be utilised to direct efforts towards real time. Taking note of what users are saying in social media and engaging in their discussions is a great way of influencing these discussions. Social media is mostly if not wholly characterised by ratings, comments, reviews, and other features that are found on website that indicates what users think of the content being discussed (Evans and Bratton 2012:38). The aim of this study is to determine the influence of social media marketing on Durban consumers’ choice of brands, while the primary objective is to determine the degree to which social media marketing influences consumers’ decision making when selecting a brand. According to TNNG (2013) above 60% of traffic on the internet created by the African continent comes from South Africa. A method of study adopted by this research to achieve the set objectives was quantitative in nature. Convenience and purposive sampling were two non-probability sampling techniques employed to recruit participants in this study. All Durban consumers above the age of 18 who are active social media users were the population targeted by this study. 88% response rate was achieved as only 400 questionnaires out of 450 were collected. The study used a structured self-administered questionnaire which consisted of 45 items to gather primary data. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilised in this study. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. The outcomes of this research advocate that social media is a very powerful communication tool that can be used to influence consumers’ decisions when selecting a brand. All users emphasised that they are active on computer generated platforms of which Facebook is the most used network among Durban consumers. Literature reviewed in this study indicates that social media plays a significant part in the way users learn, explore, and share brand information. Generally, reviews and product ratings produced by users are the most favoured information sources among consumers in social media (Nielsen 2011). Consumers point out that social media is very important to them as it creates brand awareness which they make use of when making a purchase decision. Consumers in this study indicated that the more aware they became of a brand via social media, the more they would want to buy the brand and vice versa. Conversations about certain brands on social media create awareness about those brands among consumers (Liu and Lopez 2016). The study recommended that brands should incorporate promotional activities, contests and competitions on its social media brand page posts to increase traffic and excitement among consumers. Another recommendation was that marketers should identify a personality that will represent a brand well in social media, giving it a vital feel that will entice the target audience. The study also recommended further research on the influence of opinion leaders on consumers’ choice of brands, the influence of specific social media channels and the influence of social media on specific age groups to give broader insight of social media marketing to marketers and brand managers.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of social media marketing on South African consumers' brand selection in Durban, with the primary goal of determining the extent to which social media marketing influences consumers' decision-making when selecting a brand. This research used a quantitative research method and non-probability sampling approaches. Only 400 questionnaires out of 450 were collected. In this study, descriptive, and inferential statistics were used. The results of this study suggest that social media is an extremely effective communication tool that might be used to sway consumers' judgments when selecting where to buy. All users claimed to utilize computer-generated platforms, with Facebook being the most widely used. Customers claimed that the more information they learnt about a business through social media, the more they desired to purchase it, and the opposite was also true. According to the report, businesses should publish promotional events, competitions, and giveaways on their social media brand pages to increase customer interest and traffic. Another recommendation was for marketers to establish a personality who can effectively represent a brand on social media and give it a lively mood that will attract customers.