Abstract:
This study empirically investigates the relationship between social media use at home and
consumer shopping preferences during Covid-19 pandemic in an emerging country, Indonesia,
using survey data. This study focus on popular consumer retail stores including online retail
stores such as Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada and KlikIndomaret, as well as brick-and-mortar retail
stores, such as Indomaret, Alfamart, Super Indo, and Transmart. Social media use of popular
platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Line, and LinkedIn are analyzed. The
results of our analysis found that the use of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and
LinkedIn at home is associated with consumer shopping preferences at online retail stores such
as Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada, and KlikIndomaret. In addition, our analysis revealed that the use
of these social media platforms at home is associated with consumer shopping preferences at
brick and mortar retail stores such as Alfamart, Indomaret, and Super Indo. Interestingly, there is
no significant association between social media use at home and consumer shopping preferences
at Transmart brick-and-mortar stores. Media Richness Theory and Strength of Weak Ties Theory
help explain the results of this study. Retail stores need to consider which social media platform
is more effective for implementing their marketing strategy. The results of this study can be used
as a reference in developing a retail store marketing strategy through social media.
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