Viral Marketing's Impact on Skincare Sales
Viral Marketing's Impact on Skincare Sales
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to analyze and explain the effect of viral
marketing and brand awareness on purchasing decisions for somethinc. The
population in this study is people who use Somethinc products in Samarinda,
East Kalimantan. The sampling technique uses a non-probability sampling
approach with purposive sampling. With a total sample of 120 people. Data
collection techniques using a questionnaire. The analysis was carried out using
SmartPLS software version 3. This research is quantitative in nature. The
results of this study indicate that the effect of viral marketing has a positive
and significant effect on purchasing decisions; the effect of brand awareness
has a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions.
1. Introduction
Now, technological developments make the business world more accessible to carry out
marketing strategies that can provide information and promote a product. The development of
this era of globalization is better known as digital marketing, namely the internet. The
internet has spread widely in the community through word-of-mouth marketing by creating a
new concept, as marketing communications. Marketing communication has the advantage
that it can be brought to marketers by the presence of an innovation in technology to be able
to carry out a marketing practice through viral marketing via the internet with the latest
platform. This feature is used as an advertising method that is viral marketing.
Viral marketing has begun to be widely adapted by internet-based retailers or online
stores that have emerged as they are famous today. Digital marketing has various strategies
that can be carried out by businesses, one of which is viral marketing (Tumbuan et al., 2019).
The existence of viral marketing can make it easier for a company to carry out a promotion
and it is easier to be well-known in the community to find out what consumers need. In
increasing a sales company must be aware of the intended brand consumers to make
purchasing decisions.
The current product that is much sought after by the public is skincare as a daily
necessity. In Indonesia, there are many skincare brands that are starting to grow rapidly and
various sales strategies for skincare products have different variants according to skin needs.
The development of the skincare business is currently very rapid. Product development is so
fast, many new skincare and makeup brands have emerged.
Somethinc is a local brand that has been successful in the skincare industry. Somethinc
markets products using some assistance, namely social media to share information about the
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various types of products that will be offered. One of the social media that Somethinc uses is
Instagram and TikTok. According to a survey conducted by iPrice Somethinc occupies the
first most popular position on social media TikTok with a total of 57.3 million hashtag views.
It is known that Somethinc itself has a wide variety of skincare products from facial soap,
facial serum, toner, and various types of makeup that women need. Somethinc's best-selling
product is serum. Somethinc is the newest skincare, but something has become the best-
selling skincare in various e-commerce or offline stores today.
Based on the results of the Compas team's sales research on 213 thousand product
listings on the Shopee Official and Non-Official Store brand Somethinc in August 2021, the
best-selling facial serum, namely the first, Somethinc 5% Niacimade + Moisture Sabi Beet
serum, was successfully sold through approximately 9 thousand transactions at shoppe
official store of IDR 841.67 million. Second, Hyaluronic 9+ Advanced + B5 serum managed
to sell approximately 5 thousand transactions at the official store shoppe for IDR 58.35
million. Third, Somethinc 10% Niacimade + Moisture Sabi Beet Max serum has sold
approximately 3,000 transactions at the shoppe official store.
Brand awareness in skincare somethinc which is currently virally known in the
community and plays a role in society can influence consumer purchasing decisions.
Something already has a halal certificate. Somethinc already has a BPOM number and has
received many positive reviews on various social media.
Purchase Decision
Purchasing Decisions are at the evaluation stage, consumers form brands in a collection
of choices and also form intentions to buy the most preferred brand in accordance with
purchase intentions to make decisions (Kotler & Keller, 2016: 198). Where there is a need
and desire for a product through an assessment of existing sources to set purchasing goals in
the purchase decision making process accompanied by post-purchase behavior (Fahrudin &
Yulianti, 2015). (Yanti & Sukotjo, 2016). There are two factors that cause a person to decide
to buy, namely (Yulianti et. al, 2019: 19). Attitudes of other people, the decision to buy can
be influenced by friends, family, relatives, or anyone you trust. Unforeseen situational
factors, such as income price factors. Consumers will buy a product at a certain brand with
very good quality according to their wishes, consumers will tend to buy back the product
even though there are other brands (Sudaryanto et al., 2019).
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is another form of online word of mouth or "word of mouth" that
encourages consumers to be able to spread products via audio or writing to other people
online (Kotler & Keller, 2016: 646). Dissemination of information to market a product with
the internet where businesspeople viral information through influencers (Haryanto et al.,
2021). Providing information about brands that exist in a short time among mass media with
the use of digital networks (Roy, 2022). A place to support branding and advertising
promotions to attract consumers to visit or buy as a marketing strategy that follows lifestyle
digital trends (Agesti et al., 2021).
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the recognition of a brand as a condition for product purchasing
decisions as a factor for remembering a name, logo, and attributes (Febrian, 2018). Where
consumers can find out about a brand that currently uses a lot of social media as a level of
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brand awareness (Ardiansyah & Sarwoko, 2020). A potential buyer's ability to remember
brands such as logos and names that promote products by market players (Firmansyah, 2019:
44). A brand strength in memory that can be measured as the ability of consumers to identify
brands under different conditions (Keller, 2013: 73). The ability to recognize a brand or name
to encourage consumers to make certain purchases by promoting a product (Kholiq & Sari,
2021). Based on the theory that has been presented and the problems described earlier as a
basis for thinking in retrieving and analyzing data that will be tested for validity, the
hypotheses used in this study are as follows:
H1: Viral Marketing influences Purchasing Decisions
H2: Brand Awareness influences Purchasing Decisions
2. Research Method
This study uses 2 (two) types of variables, namely the dependent variable and the
independent variable. The dependent variable consists of purchasing decisions and the
independent variable consists of viral marketing, brand awareness. The objects in this study
are Something products in Samarinda.
Table 1. Variables, Indicators dan Items
Variables Indicators Items
Purchase Decision Product Choice - Somethinc suits my face
Brand Choice - The Somethinc brand fits my needs
Product reseller - I decided to buy Somethinc products
through e-commerce
Amount Purchase - I decided to buy many types of products
according to my needs.
Marketing Viral Social Media - I found out about Something's products
through social media.
Invol opinion leader - I introduced Somethinc's products to
relatives
Product knowledge - I see that there are good ingredients in
Somethinc products
Accesibility - Somethinc's product information is self-
Information explanatory
Product word of mouth _ I found out about several types of products
through a friend's recommendation
Brand Awaareness Top of mind something is always in my heart
Brand recognition The “S” logo on the Something product
packaging is easy for me to remember.
Brand reminder I bought Something product as first choice
The research sample is the people of Samarinda who use Something products. In this
study, the number of indicators is 12 using the Hair et al formula with the assumption that n x
5 to n x 10, then the number of indicators is multiplied by the sample size on a scale of 5-10
from 1-10. The number of samples in this study is based on the formula above, namely: n =
12 x 10 = 120, where the number of samples in this study is 120 respondents.
In this study, data were collected using questionnaires or questionnaire techniques with
closed and open formats. The research scale used in this study is a Likert scale measurement
starting from Strongly Disagree (STS) to Strongly Agree (SS). This study uses an index
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analysis technique that describes the respondents to the question items asked. The scoring
technique used in this study is a score of 1-5. The analysis tool for this research uses the
SmartPLS version 3.2.9 software program which consists of evaluating the outer model and
inner model.
Based on table 2, the results of the data analysis above can be seen that the answers of
respondents who use Something products in Samarinda regarding indicators of the viral
marketing variable have an average index of 86.8, which means that the level of respondents
to the viral marketing variable on Something products in Samarinda is high. Of the 5 viral
marketing indicators that have the highest index is the social media indicator, which is 87.7.
Table 3. Respondents' Responses to Brand Awareness (X2)
Responden’s Answer
No. Indicators 1 2 3 4 5 Indexs
F % F % F % F % F %
1. KM.1 1 0,8 0 0 14 11,7 46 38,3 59 49,2 79,4
2. KM.2 0 0 0 0 16 13,3 50 41,7 54 45,0 86,3
3. KM.3 1 0,8 0 0 20 16,7 44 36,7 55 48,3 87,8
Mean 84,5
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Based on table 3, the results of the data analysis above can be seen that the answers of
respondents who use Something products in Samarinda regarding indicators of brand
awareness variables have an average index of 84.5, which means that the level of respondents
to brand awareness variables on Something products in Samarinda is high. Of the 3 brand
awareness indicators that have the highest index is the recall indicator which is equal to 87.8
Table 4. Respondents' Responses to Purchase Decisions (Y)
Responden’s Answer
No. Indicators 1 2 3 4 5 Indexs
F % F % F % F % F %
1. KP.1 1 0,8 2 1,6 14 11,6 43 35,8 60 50 86,4
2. KP.2 2 1,6 1 0,8 12 10,0 49 40,8 56 46,7 85,9
3. KP.3 2 1,6 2 1,6 17 14,2 43 35,8 56 46,7 84,8
4. KP.4 1 0,8 2 1,6 12 10,0 53 44,2 52 43,3 85,4
Mean 85,6
Based on table 4, the results of the data analysis above can be seen that the answers of
respondents who use Something products in Samarinda regarding indicators of purchasing
decision variables have an average index of 85.6, which means that the level of respondents
to purchasing decision variables on Something products in Samarinda is high. Of the 4
purchasing decision indicators that have the highest index is the product selection indicator,
which is equal to 86.4
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X2.5 0.839
Purch. Decision
Y1.1 0.882 0,786 0,936
Y1.2 0.910
Y1.3 0.872
Y1.4 0.883
Source: Data processing results 2022
The second assessment is AVE (Average Variance Extracted). A minimum AVE value
of 0.5 and higher indicates an adequate level of convergent validity. The test results in table 7
show that the AVE value for all constructs is greater than 0.50 and for individual
characteristic variables a moderate AVE value close to 0.50 is said to be valid so that all
constructs have adequate discriminant validity. Based on table 8, the output results of
composite reliability and Cronbach alpha all have values above 0.70 indicating that reliability
has been achieved. Thus, it can be stated that all latent variables have a good level of
reliability.
Model Feasibility Test in model evaluation or evaluating models in SmartPLS is
evaluated using R-Square for each latency that the R-Square for the purchase decision
variable is 0.762. From these data it can be concluded that the Purchase Decision variable (Y)
can be explained by the Viral Marketing and Brand Awareness variables of 76% and the
remaining 24% is influenced by other variables outside the research.
The calculation results show a predictive relevance value of 0.76 or a relevant predictive
value of 76%. This can be interpreted that the model is good enough that is more than (0)
which indicates that the model has a value of Purchase Decision.
To assess the significance of the prediction model in testing the structural model, it can
be seen from the t-statistic value between exogenous and endogenous variables in the path
coefficient table at the SmartPLS output below:
Table 6. Path Coefficient
Variabel Influence Original Sample Standard T P Description
Exogenous Endogenous Sample Mean Deviation Statistic values
Variabel Variabel
Viral Purchase 0,628 0,618 0,098 6,423 0,000 Accepted
Marketing Decision
Brand Purchase 0,286 0,295 0,099 2,902 0,004 Accepted
Awareness Decision
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3.2 Discussion
The Influence of Viral Marketing on Purchasing Decisions
From the results of data processing analysis, it can be concluded that Viral Marketing has
a positive and significant influence on positive Purchase Decisions. This is evidenced by the
influence of Viral Marketing on Purchase Decisions through a path coefficient of 0.628, a t-
statistic of 6.423 and a p-value of 0.000. This value can be said to be greater than t-table
(1.96) and p value <0.05. Thus, this shows that Hypothesis 1 is accepted.
The results of the analysis show that Viral Marketing has a positive influence on
Purchasing Decisions in using Something products in Samarinda, the higher the level of
doing Viral Marketing promotions, the higher consumers are to make Purchase Decisions in
using Something products in Samarinda. The highest or dominating indicator on the Viral
Marketing variable is product knowledge. The lowest indicator on the Viral Marketing
variable is information clarity.
The results of the analysis show that the Viral Marketing variable on the product
knowledge indicator has been able to provide a dominating influence on purchasing
decisions. This means that consumers experience positive things, namely knowing what
ingredients are in the product, such as the presence of ingredients that can help make changes
to the face such as niacinamide which can brighten the face, aha bha and salicylic acid to
exfoliate and clean clogged pores. This influence makes consumers to know more about the
benefits of these products.
This means that consumers are aware that Something's product is aware of social media
as a promotional tool for Somethinc's product. As for the indicators of opinion leader
involvement, it is enough to have a positive influence on purchasing decisions, so consumers
already know about Somethinc's products from reviews of people around them through social
promotions or word of mouth. However, consumers consider that Something's product does
not disappoint consumers because it makes many changes to the face and the price is
affordable. The higher the product is known and widely promoted; the more consumers know
about the product to make a purchasing decision for Something's product.
This result is in accordance with (Kholiq & Sari, 2021) which states that the more
consumers talk about a product and promote it through social media, the more widely known
the product will be and consumers will be more interested in making a purchase. In addition,
the clarity of information on a product will make it easier for consumers to get detailed
knowledge about a product to be purchased.
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The results of the analysis show that the Brand Awareness variable on the top-of-mind
indicator has been able to provide a dominating influence on purchasing decisions. This
means that consumers are aware of the Somethinc product and can increase sales with brand
awareness to consumers when buying Something product. Currently, consumers are aware
that many people already know the “S” logo on the Something product packaging when
buying a product. The existence of this logo can increase brand awareness of Somethinc
products to be better known by the public. For example, cushion products where the front of
the product packaging has an “S” logo as the symbol of Something to make it easier for the
public to know that the product is a Something product. When buying Somethinc products,
consumers will be aware of the existence of the logo and consumers can immediately
recognize Somethinc products when they see advertisements about Somethinc products. So
that the higher consumer awareness of the Something product, the higher the consumer
decision to purchase the product. Something.
The results are in line with this research, namely according to (Kholiq & Sari, 2021) data
analysis proves that Brand Awareness has an influence on Purchase Decisions. This shows
that Brand Awareness is the ability of a potential buyer to recognize a product that is superior
in a brand. Top of mind is the brand that first appears in the minds of consumers, the brand is
the main brand of various brands that are in the minds of consumers. In addition, there are
characteristics that a product has, such as a product logo or writing.
4.2 Recommendation
Based on the above conclusions, further suggestions can be proposed that can be
expected to provide benefits in the future, as follows: It is suggested that viral marketing
variables consist of social media indicators, opinion leader involvement, product knowledge,
clarity of product information and discussing products can promote products through social
media. broad knowledge, introducing products through testimonials, being able to find out
more product benefits and uses of products and introducing the types of products that are
widely used. Moreover, the product knowledge indicator as an indicator that has the highest
index so that it can generate understanding can carry out social media promotions or word of
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mouth and become a reference for increase sales of Somethinc products and become more
widely known in Samarinda.
It is suggested in this case the brand awareness variable which consists of peak thoughts
that can increase consumer awareness to buy Something products, brand recognition
indicators for consumers to know the characteristics of the product and reminder indicators
for consumers to make Something a priority product or first choice. Moreover, the recall
indicator as an indicator that has the highest index in analyzing factors to influence buyer
interest and consumer loyalty to Somenthinc products.
It is suggested in this case that the purchase decision variables consist of product selection
indicators, brand recognition, purchasing dealers and purchase quantities. Moreover, the
product selection indicator is the indicator that has the highest index so that it can produce an
understanding that consumers have compatibility using products with the ingredients they
have, Somethinc products can be purchased in various e-commerce or directly and consumers
use many types of Something products with more than 1 quantity so that consumers can make
purchasing decisions for Something in Samarinda.
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