The Effect of Social Media Marketing on Purchase Intention through Brand Awareness among Generation Z TikTok Users of The Body Shop Body Butter/Cream Products: Evidence from the Greater Bandung Area

Abstract

This study examines the effect of social media marketing on purchase intention mediated by brand awareness among Generation Z TikTok users of The Body Shop Body Butter/Cream products in the Greater Bandung area. The research was motivated by the decline in The Body Shop’s Top Brand Index in the body butter/cream category, indicating weakened brand awareness and purchase intention. A quantitative descriptive-associative approach was employed using convenience sampling with 120 respondents. Data were collected through validated and reliable questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS software type 25. Hypothesis testing included simple linear regression, multiple linear regression, and the Sobel test. The findings indicate that social media marketing positively and significantly affects brand awareness and purchase intention, brand awareness positively and significantly affects purchase intention, while brand awareness significantly mediates the relationship between social media marketing and purchase intention. The management of The Body Shop Indonesia is encouraged to prioritize optimizing promotional content on TikTok by ensuring the informative, interactive, and entertaining to align with Generation Z's communication style, including the use of authentic testimonials to strengthen brand awareness.