The role of brand experience and E-Wom on purchase decisions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of E-Wom and Brand Experience on MS Glow Skincare Product Purchase Decisions in Samarinda City. The sample for this study consisted of 95 people who had used and purchased MS Glow products at least twice and lived in Samarinda City. This study employs a quantitative descriptive approach. The collected data is then processed using the SmartPLS software. The findings of this study demonstrate that E-WOM has a positive and significant effect on purchase decisions and that Brand Experience also has a significant positive effect on purchase decisions for MS Glow Skincare Products in Samarinda City.


Introduction
Social media plays an important role in marketing strategies, particularly in the promotion of products and services. This is supported by the rapid development of information technology today. Sellers and buyers, as well as prospective buyers, can exchange information via social media. Sellers began to use social media to introduce and trade their products as they became aware that the increasing number of product options available to prospective buyers and not a few buyers who have experience with a product or brand (brand experience) feel satisfied or disappointed with the product or service they consume by sharing experiences or reviews on social media pages.
This phenomenon is known as E-WOM or electronic word of mouth. Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) is the exchange of information between consumers who also communicate in cyberspace in the form of reciprocity or feedback on products or services (King et al., 2014). Electronic Word of Mouth is a statement made by actual, potential, or previous consumers about a product or company where this information is available to people or institutions through internet media (Wijaya and Paramita, 2014). Many of them are also anonymous or confidential. This is done to allow for geographic and temporal flexibility. E-WOM comes from WOM or traditional word of mouth. Where WOM is viewed as a tool or method that is quite effective in the marketing process (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1966;Trusov et al., 2009) because it has the potential to shape and influence consumer behavior towards a product or service. Internet and social media users have grown in popularity as information technology has advanced, and this has had a significant impact on the mode of communication (Chan and Ngai, 2011). As a result, the term E-WOM was coined to describe the dissemination of word-of-mouth information through electronic media. E-WOM is the most commonly used medium for sharing product or service reviews on the market (Cheung and Thadani, 2012). Consumers trust more reviews presented by product manufacturers or sellers, according to (Nieto et al., 2014), and this trust is likely to result in online reviews that have a greater impact on purchasing intentions and consumer purchasing decisions (Lee and Youn, 2009;Tham et al., 2013). This study employs three indicators adapted from (Setyawan and Adiwijaya, 2018).

IJRBS VOL 12 NO 4 (2023) ISSN: 2147-4478
Available online at www.ssbfnet.com Journal homepage: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs Brand experience is not a general evaluative assessment of the brand, but rather includes specific sensations, feelings, cognitions, and behavioral responses triggered by specific brand-related stimuli (Brakus et al., 2009). Brand experience can create emotional bonds over time, but emotions are only one of the internal outcomes of the stimulation that created the experience. Brand experience can be defined as the consumer's perception of the brand at each point of contact between the consumer and the brand, whether as a result of the brand image built through advertising or the level of quality regarding the personalized treatment they receive. Brand experience is created when consumers use the brand, talk about the brand to others, look for brand information, and so on (Ambler et al., 2002). Brand experience occurs not only after consumption, but also whenever there is direct or indirect interaction with the brand.
The purchase decision is a type of selection and interest in purchasing the most preferred brand among several brands (Kotler and Keller (2016: 198)). Marketers must understand purchasing decisions in order to determine consumer intentions toward a product or to forecast future consumer behavior (Sipayung and Sinaga, 2017). Purchasing decisions are the point in the buyer's decision-making process at which the consumer actually buys. Individual decision making is directly involved in obtaining and using the goods offered (Kotler and Keller, 2016). E-WOM has been shown to be a motivator for people to make a purchase decision. According to Massie (2016), electronic word-ofmouth (e-WOM) has a partially significant effect on consumer purchasing decisions. The better the consumer response in e-WOM, the more likely the purchase decision. Likewise, the results of Yohansyah and Rodhiah's (2021) research that E-WOM has a positive influence on purchasing decisions. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of E-WOM on purchasing decisions. As a result, the purpose of this research is to discover whether there are other factors that can support an increase in consumer purchasing decisions for a product.

Methodology
This study employs quantitative descriptive research. The exact population size is unknown; however, the consumers included in this study have purchased Skincare MS Glow more than twice. The sampling technique used in this study was a combination of random and accidental sampling. Respondents in this study were 95 MS Glow customers who had purchased MS Glow products in Samarinda City more than twice. The study's data is obtained based on survey results and documentation. In the questionnaire submitted, a Likert scale is used to determine the extent to which respondents give their opinions according to a predetermined scale.
The data were analyzed through path analysis using partial least squares (PLS). PLS data analysis is used because the concept is to test the modified results of several research models to provide an overview of the variables under study (Garson, 2016).
The E-wom variable in this study is based on indicators developed by Setyawan and Adiwijaya (2018). Brand experience indicators from Kwong & Candinegara (2014). Furthermore, indicators from Dachi (2020) used to assess purchase decisions. Purchase Decision also established Ms Glow Aesthetic Clinic. Ms Glow beauty clinic currently has 14 branches in major cities in Indonesia. Ms Glow presents various facial and body care solutions such as laser, meso, skin rejuvenation, V shape, microdermabrasion, beauty transformation and others which are handled directly by expert doctors. Until now, Ms Glow already has many kinds of skin care products with innovations that are always updated and have been BPOM (Food and Drug Supervisory Agency). 57 60 The table above shows that most respondents (52.60%) are female. This demonstrates that women dominate skin care because it is used for health and self-beautification. Furthermore, the length of use indicates that the respondents are still in the trial stage, as evidenced by the use of 6 months. Furthermore, it shows that respondents make purchases > 3 times per year for repeat purchases; this demonstrates that each MS Glow package only lasts 1 month per package, allowing users to make repeated purchases for a series of product uses to achieve optimal results.

Measurement Model Analysis
To test the quality of the data, this study uses convergent validity and discriminant validity tests with the constructs to be measured for the initial research scale development values between 0.50 to 0.60 are values that are considered sufficient (Ghozali & Latan, 2015). In more detail, the results of the validity and reliability tests can be seen in table below.  According to the discriminant test results in Table 2, all items on the E-WOM, Brand Experience, and Purchase Decision variables have good discriminant validity, as evidenced by the value of the items that measure the E-WOM, Brand Experience, and Purchase Decision variables being higher on their own variables than on other variables. The reliability test in Table 3 Figure 2 shows that the path relationship of the Brand Experience variable on Purchase Decision has a very high influence value (0.616) when compared to the influence of the E-WOM variable on Purchase Decision. Rsquare on Purchase Decision is 0.552, indicating that the variable variation consisting of E-WOM and Brand Experience can explain the Purchase Decision variable in this study by 55.2%, with the remainder explained by other variables not included in the research model. Path analysis tests are performed to validate the research hypothesis. The following hypotheses are proposed in this study: H1 E-WOM has a significant effect on Purchase Decisions and H2 Brand Experience has a significant effect on Purchase Decisions. Table  4 shows that the T statistic value obtained by E-WOM on Purchase Decision is 2.510> 1.96 with a P value of 0.0120.05, indicating that the path relationship is significant and thus H1 is accepted. The T-statistic value of Brand Experience on Purchase Decision is 9.144> 1.96 with a P-value of 0.000 <0.000 indicating that the path relationship is significant, therefore H2 is accepted.
This study discovered that E-WOM and Brand Experience have a significant influence on Purchase Decisions. Brand experience is more important in influencing MS Glow Skincare product purchase decisions in Samarinda City. These findings support those of Prasetyo and Murti (2021), Setyawan and Adiwijaya (2018), and Chanaya and Sahetapy (2020), who discovered that Brand Experience has a strong and dominant influence on Purchase Decisions. A person's brand experience is a strong enough determining factor in the purchase decision. However, some consumers form an opinion about a brand based on the experiences of others who have used it.
The results of this assessment can only be learned about by consumers via E-WOM social media. Massie (2016), Handi et al. (2018), Yaumil et al. (2017), Anggraini and Dwijayanti (2021), and Wahyu (2021) all show that E-WOM has a significant influence on purchasing decisions, which is consistent with the findings of this study. The findings of this study show that Brand Experience, or consumer experience with a brand, is another factor that influences consumer purchasing decisions for skin care products.

Conclusions
Based on the research findings and discussions about the impact of e-wom and brand experience on purchase decisions, it is possible to conclude that e-wom can increase purchase decisions. This demonstrates that the more positive e-WOM consumers experience when using MS Glow, the more likely they are to purchase. MS Glow has positive consumer feedback, such as having precise, easyto-understand, beneficial, and trustworthy products and supporting consumer opinion to increase MS Glow purchasing decisions. Brand experience can influence purchase decisions. The better the brand experience formed by a brand, the higher the brand loyalty in the eyes of consumers, and vice versa. Brand experience contributes to developing cognitive and affective relationships between a brand and its consumers, with consumers remembering the memorable brand experience. The consumer's experience with MS Glow can occur indirectly, such as when the consumer sees a marketing advertisement. Still, most experiences occur directly when the consumer purchases and uses the product. This study contributes theoretically by supporting theory and previous research on the influence of e-wom and brand experience on purchasing decisions. Furthermore, this study makes a practical contribution, namely encouraging ms glow's sustainability and existence so that companies are also asked to pay more attention to or improve consumer brand experience by creating visually appealing packaging while maintaining product texture or maintaining the aroma of MS. Glow products or improving product quality.
This study has several research limitations. First, the sample in this study was drawn from MS Glow customers in Samarinda City, limiting the research findings' generalizability. Second, this study only focuses on e-wom and brand experience as independent variables, purchasing decisions as the dependent variable, and the limited number of MS Glow consumer objects. Therefore, it is hoped that future research will be carried out with a broader scope and use other variables to determine other variables that influence purchase decisions.