Study on the Role of Social Media in Shaping Customer Purchasing Choice with respect to the Nashik District

The proliferation of social media platforms across India has fundamentally altered the manner in which consumers discover, evaluate and purchase products and services. This study examines the role of social media in shaping customer purchasing choice with specific reference to consumers in the Nashik District of Maharashtra, a fast-growing tier-2 urban-agrarian economy that combines a strong agricultural base with emerging automobile, engineering and wine-tourism clusters. Using a mixed-methods design that integrates a structured survey of 384 respondents drawn from the urban and rural talukas of Nashik with secondary data from industry reports and peer- reviewed literature, the paper investigates five dimensions of social-media influence: platform-usage patterns, influencer and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) effects, demographic variations, product-category impact and trust- related challenges. The findings indicate that WhatsApp and Instagram are the most influential platforms in the district, that micro-influencers generate higher purchase intent than celebrity endorsements, and that social media’s influence is strongest for apparel, electronics and food delivery categories while remaining moderate for high-involvement purchases such as two-wheelers and real estate. Trust, privacy and the credibility of online reviews emerge as significant concerns, particularly among older and rural respondents. The paper concludes with practical implications for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and marketers operating in Nashik, and outlines directions for future longitudinal research in similar tier-2 Indian markets.