HOW DOES THE INFORMATIVENESS OF INSTAGRAM ADVERTISEMENTS CORRELATE WITH CONSUMER PURCHASING DECISIONS FOR SMALL TO MEDIUM BUSINESS ENTERPRISES (SMES) DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

• Main Author: Diba Aqila, Sania
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/77444
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The COVID-19 epidemic in Indonesia had a substantial impact on e-commerce data usage as a way of meeting demands. The rise in e-commerce usage happened during the first quarter of 2020, correlating with the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Indonesia. One of the areas that is significantly impacted by the Covid-19 epidemic is SMEs. The loss in purchasing power of consumers causes SMEs to have a decrease in their revenues since there are fewer consumers. Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, SMEs have performed less well in Indonesia in terms of market, production, and income. The growth of social media users presents a significant opportunity to develop e-commerce activities. The Instagram Ads function is highly helpful for entrepreneurs and owners of online stores. SMEs should make use of this to maximize their sales. Owners of businesses must react swiftly and effectively by altering their sales strategy. SMEs can go into more specifics on how technology and social media empowerment can be used to address this. Information with messages intended to influence others' opinions about the products or services being given is referred to as advertising. Advertising can inform consumers about new products and pricing adjustments, assess the utility of new products, describe how things work, and enhance the reputation of a company. Since the main objective of these commercial placements is to increase sales, they are performed with the intention of making profit. Advertising functions include providing information, persuading, reminding, adding value, and helping (supporting) companies with other businesses. In this sense, informativeness is one of the most fundamental characteristics that make advertising valuable. Providing correct information is fulfilling one of the basic rights of consumers and compensating for sharp criticism directed at advertising by the public. On the social network Instagram, there has been an explosion of demand for products and services. Consumers can more easily learn about a product and eventually have a relation with purchasing decisions when there is a business Instagram account promoting the product. It was discovered that Instagram media's online advertising has a correlation with consumer choices. The future of Instagram Advertisement can look very bright with the increasing popularity and usage of this social media platform. Instagram is constantly developing new features to improve user experience and increase advertising effectiveness for businesses. The impact of Instagram Advertisement on online purchasing behavior is also expected to continue to grow. The aim of this research study is to find out if there is any correlation between informativeness of advertising on Instagram media and consumer purchasing decisions. The correlation between informativeness of Instagram advertisements and consumer purchasing decisions during the Covid-19 epidemic for SMEs has become an issue that is interesting to be researched further. In order to understand the correlation of the variables that affected this research, which are informativeness of Instagram Ads and Consumer Purchasing Decision, this study develops hypotheses that are evaluated through online questionnaires or surveys carried out in Java Island, Indonesia and analyzed the correlation between two variables using the Spearman Analysis Correlation in statistical program SPSS.