Social Media Marketing Practices of Kazakhstan's Local Coffee and Tea Chains: A Multiple-Case Analysis Based on the S-O-R Model

Abstract

Purpose. This paper investigates how three leading local coffee and tea chains in Kazakhstan design and deploy social media marketing (SMM) stimuli, and how the observed patterns can be interpreted through the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theoretical framework. Systematic academic analysis of local Central-Asian F&B chains remains scarce, and the study responds to this gap.

Design/Methodology. The paper adopts a multiple-case study design following Yin (2018). Three purposively selected Kazakhstani chains — Coffee BOOM, Marrone Rosso and Daily Coffee — jointly cover the strategic space of the local coffee/tea market along the value-to-premium spectrum. Data were collected from the brands' public Instagram, TikTok and Telegram accounts, supplemented by industry press and the DataReportal Digital 2025 Kazakhstan report. Cross-case pattern-matching was used to map each brand's SMM configuration onto the S-O-R model's stimulus, organism and response stages.

Findings. The three brands adopt visibly distinct SMM configurations that map to different S-O-R conversion pathways. Coffee BOOM emphasises reach-oriented stimuli (breakfast promotions, mass-audience Instagram posts) that convert primarily through perceived value. Marrone Rosso relies on aesthetic-quality stimuli and Instagram lifestyle photography, converting mainly through brand attitude. Daily Coffee operates a youth-culture, atmosphere-driven pattern whose primary conversion route runs through affective brand attachment — a finding that departs from the dominant logic of the Chinese SMM literature. Three sector-level gaps are identified: under-utilisation of TikTok despite its dominance in Kazakhstan's social media landscape; fragmented private-domain retention via Telegram; and limited structured cooperation with local micro-influencers (KOCs).

Originality/Value. This is, to the author's knowledge, the first study to apply the integrated S-O-R and AISAS framework to Kazakhstan's local F&B sector. The findings offer an empirical baseline against which incoming international competitors — most visibly Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and Chinese chains such as Mixue Bingcheng — can be benchmarked, and they identify three concrete, actionable levers through which local brands can defend and grow market share.