Abstract:
Nowadays, Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a powerful promotional tool for influencing consumers’ purchase intention. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of SMM activities such as entertainment, customization, interaction, trendiness, and electronic word of mouth on consumers’ purchase intention in the context of the handloom clothing businesses in Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. The research used an online survey of 176 suitable responses. The respondents were selected based on the convenient sampling technique. Multiple regression analysis was conducted. The findings of this study revealed that customization, trendiness, and electronic word of mouth have significant impact on consumers’ purchase intention, while entertainment and interaction have no impact on consumers’ purchase intention towards handloom clothes in Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. The main implication of this research is that handloom clothing businesses should perform effectively the social media marketing activities which pave the ways to stimulate
consumers’ purchase intention. Future researchers may investigate how social media marketing activities influence other businesses or industries. Furthermore, age, gender, income and cultural differences may be used as moderators in the future regarding this topic.
