| Abstract: |
In today's digital marketing landscape, influencer endorsement has become a strategic tool for shaping consumer behaviour and purchase decisions. While several studies have explored the impact of influencers on consumer markets, limited attention has been given to their influence on service-based businesses such as laundry providers. This paper analysed how the endorsement of an influencer can affect the detergent selection of the providers of the laundry services, with the specific case of Viva plus detergent. The research is based on Bandwagon Theory, Social Influencer Theory, and Hierarchy of Effects Model using a mixed method that includes distribution of structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews among the choicest laundry service providers in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The researchers explored the effect that the influencers have on raising awareness, trust, and future adoption of Viva Plus detergent by laundry operators. The quantitative information was summarised and interpreted with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas qualitative information helped to achieve contextual insights related to the process of decision-making. It has been found that there is a close relationship between influencer visibility and trust in detergent brands, and Instagram and TikTok have been shown as the most successful platforms of influencer influence. The researchers of the study came to the conclusion that endorsement by influencer is a big factor in decision-making, not only in consumer-based decision making but also in business to business (B2B) decisions of what product to take in the business world, particularly in fields dependent on the quality of the product on a regular basis such as in the field of laundry services. The article suggests that detergent brands should partner with micro-influencers who identify with the B2B buyers and advises policy-based systems to hold the influencers accountable. This study is contributing to the new body of knowledge on the topic of influencer marketing in the B2B situations in Africa. |
