Multi-Disciplinary Journal - ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print) www.mahratta.org, Mahratta Peer Review Journel ...
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Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMER’S DECISIONS
WHILE PURCHASING FOOD ONLINE, PRE-LOCKDOWN AND POST
UNLOCK
Ms. Juhi Bhagwat
(Junior Research Fellow, Department of Hotel Management,
Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune)
Ms. Priyanka Shetty
(Assistant Professor, Department of Hotel management
Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune)
Abstract
Indian food delivery apps have progressed a lot since last 5 to 6 years. We see every new restaurant
over the app which helps them increase visibility and to create awareness as well. Purchasing food
online from restaurants is has emerged tremendously has changed due per capita disposal income.
Today we have lot of mobile applications available which is regularly updated with new content from
the advertisers and thus pushes us to make a decision on buying food online. The younger generation,
who are more tech savy are always attracted to the food and shopping applications and demand instant
satisfaction out of the product.
Swiggy, zomato, foodpanda are one of the leading food delivery brands Uber later joined this parade
with the name as Uber-eats. Before 2011 people used to order over the phone by speaking with the
customer, but even brands such as Dominoes, Macdonald’s, Pizza hut have their own websites and
mobile applications. These applications are designed in such a way that it creates a want or demand in
customer’s mind. Macdonald has created app which offers Dine-in, takeaway and home delivery
which has become quite popular. Restaurants, cafes, Hotels were doing quite well in contributing
towards GDP until COVID-19 hit the country. After lockdown everything changed drastically and still
we are facing the brunt of coronavirus. Hotels and restaurants opened in October for dining and
accommodation until then home delivery was allowed by the Govt which provided some revenue to
the restaurants and thus helped them in surviving the business. It is observed that due to the scare of
coronavirus many preferred to stay indoors and order food online instead of going to the restaurant.
There might be few customers who enjoy dining in a restaurant and.
The study aims at finding out what is currently preferred by the customers dining experience at a
restaurant of a café or they would choose option of home delivery due to COVID-19. The study helps
us to understand purchase behavior , patterns, preferences of the customers and what facto This is an
exploratory and descriptive research where the researcher is trying to find if customers prefer to order
food online or are interested in going to a restaurant after covid 19 as well what are the factors which
drives them to order to food online.
rs influence them to buy food online instead going to restaurant during COVID-19.
Objectives • To evaluate factors, behavioural patterns and priorities while ordering food online.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 1|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
• To ascertain if customers prefer to buy food online over dining experience due to Covid19
Keywords
Customer buying behavior, Food delivery apps, Customer purchasing behavior, Food
Delivery Industry
Introduction
The pandemic caused disruption in the whole world. People were struggling to get essentials such as
daily grocery, supplies because of restrictions on grocery shops as well. Since we are in 21st century
and have made progressions in technology new normal norms such as work from home became
permanent for many companies. ICT’s, 4G – 5G internet connections have made life easier. With the
help of laptop, mobile, tablet we are able to reach anywhere virtually, order food, grocery etc. The
birth of new set of guidelines while going out changed the way people think and live, people ordered
vegetables, fruits, dairy through grocery apps such as Grofers, Big Basket and Kirana.com. Although
they faced lot of challenges such as deliveries were not allowed in containment zones, some items
were unavailable to due to disruptions in supply chain. Restaurant, dine-in services, food delivery were
completely closed. The food delivery services started in month of June after the state govt took steps to
lift complete lockdown. Food delivery apps picked up good amount of business by month of
November as people preferred the same and felt they are more safer especially during COVID-19.
Justification on why food delivery applications are more necessary and helpful in COVID-19
• Online applications help in keeping economy running.
• Mitigates business from shutting down
• Promotes social distancing
• It helped elderly to order grocery, daily supplies.
• Generates revenue for the restaurant.
Many local eateries in Pune were saved from shutting down completely as they received lot of
business after complete lockdown was lifted from June to October. In October 2020, govt allowed to
resume with the dine- in services hence youngsters, corporate started visiting their usual restaurants.
However many restaurant owner complain that they still running slack in their business and receiving
most of the orders through food applications. Hotel Industry lost a major chunk of their usual business
during 25th December, 2020 and 31st December 2020 as the state government imposed 11 pm curfew.
Hotels were ready to cater as per their forecasted numbers but they did not received much response for
dine-in due to the 11 pm curfew.Mint enewspaper reported that on 31st December 2020 Zomato made a
record as its Gross Merchandise value (GMV) rose 60 % from last year. Zomato received 4,254 orders
per minute while its rival Swiggy received 5500 orders per minute and the number of new users had
also doubled. Restrictions on public gatherings, curbs on movement of more than 5 people prompted
people to stay inside.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 2|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
Methodology
Data Collection and sample
The data collected for this empirical study is through questionnaire which were responded by 68
people of different age group and occupation.
The questionnaire was as divided into two sections
• Customers preference before Lockdown
• Customers preference during unlock
• Buying patterns such as if customer was pulled towards an advertisement after which he/she
orders food online are also studied.
Literature Review
1. Consumer Behaviors in Ordering Foodstuff Online Using App Services: A Fundamental Study
to Ascertain Procurement Psychology of Academic Diaspora in the Indian State of Punjab.( Dr.
Suriya Hamid, Dr. Kiran Sood, Dr. Navneet Seth)
The sudden rise of Information Technolgy has benefited everyone due to availability of softwares, web
based apps which are helping us to complete our tasks fast. Professionals with limited resources
especially time, rely on shopping apps, grocery delivery apps and food delivery apps to save time.
Even young students have access to these food delivery apps thus creating a human tendency of using
applications. Food delivery apps have shown a remarkable growth since 2014 as almost every
individual who has a smartphone has different apps of online shopping. Amongst these several salaried
people between the age of 25 to 35 order food online as they have less time and prefer to have food at
home which is their comfort zone. The purpose of the research is to understand and evaluate factors
which affect buying behaviour of customers especially of students and professionals. The researcher
conducted survey based study at educational institutes with a sample size of 100, 50 respondents were
professional and other 50 were students. 74 % respondents prefer ordering food online i.e through
online food apps, 16% prefer through restaurants app and just 4 % prefer ordering through call.
Around 42 % of respondents order through online food delivery apps weekly and is very popular
among youngsters (Professional or Non-professional). An analysis was conducted on average spend of
a customer in a restaurant and on food ordered through food delivery app. Its observed that 47% of
the professional respondents spend below Rs.500 when ordering food through apps. Whereas 39 %
professionals spend between Rs. 500 – 1000 at a restaurant.
Online food delivery apps especially the Indian ones like Zomato ,Swiggy have gained immense
popularity as they provide online slelection of various food items of different restaurants with online
tracking of the delivery. Customers are mostly satisfied with delivery time and speed but many say the
quality of the food is not at par with what a restaurant offers. Some customers reported complaints
related to hygiene and the customer service.One problem which the online delivery companies face is
the increasing traffic every year and hence it becomes difficult to manage the deliveries on time. The
researcher suggested usage of mini drones to meet the demands of the customers to solve the problem
of traffic at the road. The second concept the researcher suggested is using software enabled coding
systems on delivered food which can help maintaining the quality of the food. Online food delivery
apps should come with payment wallets the amazon offers which will increase percentage of ordering
food online and the companies will flourish further.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 3|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
2. According to research paper by Aditya Tribhuvan “A study on consumers perception on Food
Apps’, majority of people use food apps as it is convenient. Food apps are extremely easy to use for
heavy users and is user friendly.The research also conveys that all age groups use food apps and
people are usually satidfied with the product and service quality. Swiggy is one of the most popular
app followed by zomato. A total of 143 responses were recorded by the researcher with incorporation
of TAM theory which explains factors influencing users decisions on food apps and how consumers
use it. A set of 26 questions were prepared while considering the objectives- ‘ To examine the
consumers perception regarding online food delivery food apps and to analyze the factors that
influence consumer’s perception towards online food delivery apps.40% users use apps whereas many
people prefer to shop or order through phone. About 70 % use the swiggy app as the service quality is
better. Even all apps have option of linking with UPI ids, customers still wish to order on cash on
delivery as they aren’t comfortable to share case sensitive information such debit and credit card.
Customers feel food apps are efficient, flexible, however many do not agree that food apps are
affordable as people, only the apps may offer some cashbacks or discount.Many customer still food
delivery apps are difficult to use hence they avoid ordering online but prefer ordering through
phonecall. It was also observed that customers get lot of options, different variety of restaurants while
ordering through food apps. When ordering through app the user is able to order as per his/her taste
3. 9th December, 2020 article on Zomato, Swiggy leading food Brands.
Swiggy, Zomato are one of the most used apps for ordering food online. However youngsters prefer
ordering through International QSR chain’s applications such as KFC, Macdonalds, Dominoes
according to Market research Company YouGov. 35 % prefer to order through restaurant app directly
and do wish to download a third party or aggregater’s app. Other 18 % are likely to order through the
aggregator’s app and the restaurant’s app as well.However the General Manager of Market Research
company added that restaurants have their own apps but still food aggregators are leading in the race.
45% of respondents agreed that they often use food apps once they download.
4. 20th August, Zomato Report on Covid impact on food delivery Industry
According the article in The Print, food delivery industry made sales of around 75 to 80 %. 70
restaurants in Kolkata were offering deliveries in August 2020. Due to increase in business the report
stated that after 2 to 3 month the industry would hit the pre-covid levels of business.One of the leading
food app claimed that it was successful in delivering 7 core food orders since lockdown. The report
also stated that through food aggregators and direct restaurant channels, since the lockdown Indian
have ordered 20 crore times.
5. 8th October, 2020, Pune news article on Covid-19 impact.
On 5th of October 2020, after six months the ban on dine –in service was lifted across Maharashtra and
were allowed to operate the premises with 50 % capacity, according to Hindustan Times. Due to the
disruptions caused by COVID-19 many restaurants in Pune have shut down permanently. Out of 8500
restaurant associated with Pune Hoteliers association only 2000 restaurants opened on 5th October
2020. Many popular joints, cafes in Tilak Chowk, Shaniwarpeth areas were closed completely as they
could not even pay 20% of rent and salaries of staff.Owners suffered huge financial loss due rent of the
property, loan from bank and salaries. Ms. Bhagat owner of Rayat non-veg Hotel mentioned that they
had to shut down 2 of their restaurants as they were unable to pay salaries and rent and started only one
of the restaurant with family members and no hired staff.Another had left his job and opened up his
own restaurant with help of bank loan in the month of January 2020, but decide to close permanently
after lockdown. Famous restaurants did not resume immediately due to disruption in supply chain and
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 4|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
shortage of staff as well as they were many cafes which were open only for Home delivery and
takeaway
Data Interpretation
1. Occupation
A total of 68 responses were collected who were between age 18 to 63, out of which
24 were working professional, 36 students, 5 self employed and 3 were retired
1. Do you order food online?
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 5|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
A generalised question was asked to understand how many used people use to order food online
before covid 19. More than 50 % answered as yes, hence this shows many preferred to order online
and are aware of food apps.
2. Before Lockdown, how many times in a month you ordered food online ?
39 % respondents ordered food online twice before lockdown and 25 % ordered oniy once. Most of the
students have selected twice in a month or thrice in a month.
Whereas respondent above age of 50 have selected only once in a month, as they prefer light, non oily
and less spicy food.
3. What are the reasons to order food online instead of going to the restaurant before COVID-
19 ? Prioritize your answer on scale of 1 to 7, where 1 is being the highest and 7 being the
lowest.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 6|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
The respondents were asked to rate factors which influence them to order food through food delivery
apps instead of going to a restaurant before COVID -19.Here they were asked to prioritise each factor
on scale of 1 to 7. The first fact ‘Convenient’ was 1st priority of many respondents as ordering
through apps saves lot of time. Any individual wishing to have food of a restaurant which is located at
a distance does not need to travel in heavy traffic. Hence people feel food delivery apps are quite
flexible and convenient for everyone.An important reason is students and professionals do not have
time to cook food at home nor have time to search a restaurant. 15 respondents gave the least rating to
‘no hygiene and cleanliness in restaurants’ which concludes that many were interested in going to a
restaurant before COVID-19. One of the food delivery app ‘Swiggy’ offers wide range of different
discounts and also has attractive offers with e-wallets such as Amazon pay, Paytm which makes
payments a lot easier. Whenever such discounts and cashbacks are offered people tend order food by
making payment through UPI and e-wallet to avail discounts and cashback, making discounts and
cashback as 2nd priority The State govt of Maharashtra allowed the restaurants the service of Home
delivery in the of June, but were completely closed of dine-in due to coronavirus. More than 50 % of
the respondents say that they ordered food online when unlock 2.0 was initiated. The online food
delivery apps become the sole lifeline of the modern day customer. Ordering online was one of the
safest recreational option available to customers during pandemic. 35 people ordered food through
apps while 13 customers did not order.
4. Did you order food when restaurants were closed for dine-in?
Many customers ordered food online, Zomato reported that most ordered was Biryani, Pizza. The
reason might be people were looking forward for a change in the new normal.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 7|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
5. After unlock, how many times in a month have you ordered food online?
22 respondents agreed that they order food online only once due to COVID-19 as people did not
wanted to get in touch with delivery who had high chances of being virus carrier. Hence many opted
to order only once. People also were spending less during lockdown and unlock as many faced with
challenges such as lay-offs, salary cuts and closure of businesses. Hence people preferred to save
money.
6. What do you prefer after unlock?
62 % respondents say that they will order food online after unlock as they do not wish to visit a
restaurant which might be crowded and will also aggravate the spread of coronavirus. Customers
prefer to be at home most of the time as they are also concerned if the sanitization practices are
followed correctly at the restaurant.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 8|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
7. What are the reasons to order food online instead of going to the restaurant, during
COVID- 19 ? Prioritize your answer on scale to 1 to 7 where 1 is being the highest and 7
being the lowest.
This question helps us to understand the factors influencing to order food through food delivery apps
during COVID-19. In earlier question 63 % respondents chose that they prefer ordering food online,
the reason of the same is food apps are very easy to use. Secondly people do not have much time to
search and travel to a restaurant. Nowadays most of working professionals are adhered to work from
home, which makes the customers to also take impulsive decision to order food online.29 respondents
selected 1st rating for factor ‘convenient’’. 23 respondents selected 3rd rating for Impulsive decision
factors, through which we understand that people also decide to order food because of last moment
decision or to satisfy need and want of consuming certain food item. Cleanliness and hygiene factor at
restaurant were concerns of very few people as 20 customers rated this factor as 7th rating which is the
least one.
8. Do you feel the advertisements of food delivery apps which appear on social media and on
TV make you order food online?
This question was purposely asked to identify if customers choose to buy food through apps
impulsively after watching advertisements appearing on social media and on television. 15 have agreed
on the same but 15 are agreeing as well as not agreeing.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 9|Page
Multi-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
9. I never ordered food online because I always prefer________
Out of 68 respondents (20 respondents) 70 % replied that they never order food online as they feel
home-cooked meals are healthy, and much cheaper than spending at a restaurant.
Limitations
The number of respondents was only 68 out of which 48 replied yes to ordering food online. Since the
responses were less it is difficult to determine what exactly is perceived by the customer.Secondly it
people belonging to middle or higher middle would only be interested spending money. Others
belonging to rural areas maybe aware of food applications but may not be ordering online as compared
to urban users.
Conclusion
People behave according to different demographs they fall in, most important age factor. It was
observed that individuals who fall into age group 18 to 40 , who may be students and working
professionals order food online because it is convenient and also they receive lot of discount on the
ordered food. Customers are willing to visit restaurants as well, but mostly will be loyal to different
food delivery apps until cases of coronavirus decrease.
Kesari Mahratta Trust – (Copyright-2021) Volume-I, Issue-II, MAY-2021 10 | P a g eMulti-Disciplinary Journal
ISSN No- 2581-9879 (Online), 0076-2571 (Print)
www.mahratta.org, editor@mahratta.org
References
• Ankita Chakraverti (March 2020), COVID-19 Lockdown: Online delivery of food items is
essential service but don’t rely on it for your dinner, India Today, published on 25th March
2020, viewed on 25th January 2021
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/covid19-lockdown-onlinedelivery-of-food-
items-is-essential-service-but-don-t-rely-on-it-for-yourdinner-1659490-2020-03-25
• (2020) Coronavirus Lockdown : 90 % customers to continue online shopping for apparell, 80
% for food item, BusinessToday.in published on 24th June, 2020, viewed on 25th January 2021.
https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/coronaviruslockdown-90-percent-
customers-to-continue-online-shopping-for-apparel-80percent-for-food-
items/story/407913.html
• Suneera Tandon (2021), Zomato, Swiggy struggle to cope with demand on New Year’s Eve,
Mint, published on 2nd January 2021, viewed on 25th January 2021.
https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/zomato-swiggy-struggle-to-copewith-demand-on-
new-year-s-eve-11609525533761.html
Tilak, G. (2021). Impact of Lockdown in Covid-19 on Hospitality and Tourism Industry of India-A
Review. International Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking, 14(1), 1649-
1652.
• Mr. Mathews Joao Chorneukar, (2014), “To Study the Customer
Perceptions of Electronic Food Ordering”,Google Scholar, published in 2014, viewed on 21st
January 2021
http://sjput.in/pdf/Marketing%20sample%20project.pdf
• Kiran Sood, Suriya Hami, Navneet Seth, (2020), Consumer Behaviors in Ordering Foodstuff
Online Using App Services: A Fundamental Study to Ascertain Procurement Psychology of
Academic Diaspora in the Indian State of Punjab, Researchgate.net, published in March
2020,viewed on 15th January 2021.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340105245_Consumer_Behaviors_in_Order
ing_Foodstuff_Online_Using_App_Services_A_Fundamental_Study_to_Ascertain_P
rocurement_Psychology_of_Academic_Diaspora_in_the_Indian_State_of_Punjab_Int
roduction
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