The effect of viral marketing activities on store preference: A comparative application on franchise businesses and consumers purchasing from independent retailers

Today, the increasing number of stores and the advantages of the products and services offered by these stores to customers cause consumers to be undecided about where to shop. Consumers think that the information they obtain through viral marketing is more reliable than other sources. Consumers direct their purchasing decisions as a result of this interaction. In this context, the effects of viral marketing activities on store preference and the comparison of consumers purchasing from franchise organizations and independent retailers were tried to be examined in this study. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the effect of viral marketing activities on store preference and to try to find out how viral marketing creates a difference between franchisees and independent retailers. For this purpose, a questionnaire was to 600 people and the data abtained in the study were analyzed with the SPSS 24.0 program. The data obtained in the study were tested with mean and standard deviation, T- test, ANOVA test, factor analysis and regression analysis. In addition, it has been observed that viral marketing has a statistically significant effect on store preference. Keywords: Viral Marketing, Store Preference, Franchise Organizations, Independent Retailers.