A Study of Customer Perception towards Online Food Delivery with respect to Age and Gender

 

Manpreet Singh, Daljeet Kaur

GNA Business School, GNA University, Phagwara- 144401 Dist - Kapurthala (PB) India.

 

ABSTRACT:

Where e-commerce has rapidly spreading its wings around the world, on the same side the trend of ordering food online is picking up. This research paper aims to focus on the fact that what customer think about the services of online food delivery. In this study the primary data was collected from 250 respondents through a structured questionnaire. The main objective of this paper is to study the perception of customers regarding online food delivery with special reference to Gender and Age. The scope of study has been kept limited to customerswho belong to Jalandhar City. The primary data was collected for the purpose of studying the perception of customer. For this study, we use descriptive statistics and t-test which run on SPSS.In this study, it is proved that on the 5% significant the null hypothesis is accepted. There is no impact of age and gender on the factors easiness and convenient, cost effectiveness, easy mode of payment, doorstep delivery, choice of restaurants, 24X7 delivery, promotions and offers and overall satisfaction.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

In India, the food industry is self-assured for high growth and profit due to its massive potential for adding value to the world of food trade every year. Now a days, technology plays a very prominent role in bringing revolution in food industry. With online food delivery players like Zomato, Swiggy, TinyOwl, FoodPanda many well organized businesses builds a various scale through partnerships and faced a huge potential and promising future.The online food ordering business in India is at its budding stage, but it is observing quadrupling growth.It has contributed a lot to satisfy the demands of consumers which changes from phone- based to online ordering system including ready to eat meals deliver at their doorstep. People these days prefer online ordering more to purchase food with less effort and cost.

 

The biggest convenience behind this concept is the easy steps required to make an order which is very simple with a few click on laptops, smartphones and tablets. Along with this, when people don’t have plans on where and what to eat, the time taken for the food to be delivered serves as a good reason to order online which labeled them as more lazy these days. Even the Government of India has also allows the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% FDI in Food product e-commerce through automatic route. According to researches, 50.8% people prefer not to cook because it allows them to have their delivered in less than an hour straight to their home or office.

 

CONCEPT OF ON-LINE FOOD DELIVERY:

Online Food ordering is the process of ordering food through the multi-restaurant’s website or mobile app. The online food ordering market includes foods prepared by independent people, restaurants, and groceries being ordered online and then picked up or delivered. A customer can choose according to his choice to have pick up facility or food delivered at his own door step. The customer can first choose the restaurant of his choice, then scan the menu items and finally placing an order for pick-up or door step delivery. The payment is then made by paying with debit or credit card through the app or website or even in cash at the counter of restaurant. Then the website or app intimates the customer about the time duration of food preparation, when food is ready to pick up, amount of time it will take to deliver at door step of customer. A customer can also add his comments in the instruction box if he wants to add something extra in his food. This online food delivery industry grew at 150 per cent every year.

 

HYPOTHESIS:

H1: Gender has a positive impact on Easiness and convenience of online food delivery.

 

H2: Gender has a positive impact on Cost effectiveness of online food delivery.

 

H3: Gender has a positive impact on Easy mode of payment of online food delivery.

 

H4: Gender has a positive impact on Doorstep delivery of online food delivery.

 

H5: Gender has a positive impact on Choice of restaurants of online food delivery.

 

H6: Gender has a positive impact on 24*7 delivery of online food delivery.

 

H7: Gender has a positive impact on Promotions and Offers of online food delivery.

 

H8: Gender has a positive impact on Overall satisfaction of online food delivery.

 

H9: Age has a positive impact on Easiness and convenience of online food delivery.

 

H10: Age has a positive impact on Cost effectiveness of online food delivery.

 

H11: Age has a positive impact on Easy mode of payment of online food delivery.

 

H12: Age has a positive impact on Doorstep delivery of online food delivery.

 

H13: Age has a positive impact on Choice of restaurants of online food delivery.

H14: Age has a positive impact on 24*7 delivery of online food delivery.

 

H15: Age has a positive impact on Promotions and Offers of online food delivery.

 

H16: Age has a positive impact on Overall satisfaction of online food delivery.

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The validity of any research is depends upon the systematic methods of data collection and analysing the same in a sequential and logical order. In the study, an extensive use of primary data has been made and making use of description and analytical research. In the study, primary source have been used to collect the data. Primary source was a structured questionnaire, designed for the purpose of getting responses of the respondents regarding online food delivery. For the study, 250 filled-in questionnaires were collected. This was administrated to 250 respondents who were aware about online food delivery services. The time duration of the study is 2019.

 

DATA ANALYSIS:

The customer’s responses in relation to perception towards online food delivery have been analyzed. For this purpose, descriptive statistics and independents t-test (on SPSS) has been used to study the perception of the respondents regarding online food delivery services.

 

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESPONDENTS:

This section provides description of the respondents who have been included in the sample for the purpose of study.

 

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE VARIABLE:

This section deals with the demographic profile of the respondents. Percentage method is used to analyse the demographic variables. Following demographic variables are used in this study:

·       Gender

·       Age

 

RESULTS:

RELIABILITY:

Table 1: Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha	N of Items
.936	8

 

Reliability test was taken on 204 were responses and found the cronbach’s alpha at 0.936 which shows that the questions are reliable.

 

 

T-Test:

Table 2: Group Statistics

	Gender	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
EASY_CONVENIENT	Male	66	2.4242	1.30160	.16022
	Female	138	2.4275	1.23742	.10534
COST_EFFECTIVENESS	Male	66	2.9697	1.32398	.16297
	Female	138	2.6304	1.14673	.09762
EASY_MODE_OF_PAYMENT	Male	66	2.5606	1.39371	.17155
	Female	138	2.2681	1.35377	.11524
DOORSTEP_DELIVERY	Male	66	2.3939	1.49747	.18433
	Female	138	2.2246	1.40395	.11951
CHOICE_OF_RESTAURANT	Male	66	2.8333	1.28402	.15805
	Female	138	2.5942	1.22408	.10420
24*7 DELIVERY	Male	66	2.7879	1.22179	.15039
	Female	138	2.5797	1.20104	.10224
PROMOTIONS_OFFERS	Male	66	2.8182	1.31159	.16145
	Female	138	2.6449	1.26029	.10728
OVERALL_SATISFACTION	Male	66	2.7727	1.34502	.16556
	Female	138	2.4928	1.21575	.10349

 

Table 3: Independent t-test (Gender)

	Levene’s Test for Equality of Variances	t-test for Equality of Means(F)	Sig.	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
EASY_CONVENIENT	Equal variances assumed	.361	.549	-.017	202	.986
	Equal variances not assumed			-.017	122.480	.986
COST_EFFECTIVENESS	Equal variances assumed	1.854	.175	1.879	202	.062
	Equal variances not assumed			1.786	113.100	.077
EASY_MODE_OF_PAYMENT	Equal variances assumed	.341	.560	1.430	202	.154
	Equal variances not assumed			1.415	124.837	.159
DOORSTEP_DELIVERY	Equal variances assumed	3.411	.066	.788	202	.431
	Equal variances not assumed			.771	120.992	.442
CHOICE_OF_RESTAURANT	Equal variances assumed	.247	.619	1.285	202	.200
	Equal variances not assumed			1.263	122.779	.209
24*7 DELIVERY	Equal variances assumed	.016	.898	1.152	202	.251
	Equal variances not assumed			1.145	126.177	.254
PROMOTIONS_OFFERS	Equal variances assumed	.003	.958	.907	202	.366
	Equal variances not assumed			.894	123.641	.373
OVERALL_SATISFACTION	Equal variances assumed	1.965	.163	1.486	202	.139
	Equal variances not assumed			1.434	117.229	.154

 

The independent t-test was run on SPSS. The significant value (on 5% significant level) of the factors easiness and convenient, cost effectiveness, easy mode of payment, doorstep delivery, choice of restaurants, 24*7 delivery, promotions and offers and overall satisfaction are 0.986, 0.062, 0.154, 0.431, 0.200, 0.251, 0.366 and 0.139 respectively. It states null hypothesis is accepted and there is no significant difference between gender and these factors.

 

T-Test:

Table 4: Group Statistics

	AGE	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean
EASY_CONVENIENT	18-25	177	2.4972	1.20191	.09034
	25-Above	27	1.9630	1.50592	.28982
COST_EFFECTIVENESS	18-25	177	2.7401	1.15317	.08668
	25-Above	27	2.7407	1.58339	.30472
EASY_MODE_OF_PAYMENT	18-25	177	2.4124	1.35028	.10149
	25-Above	27	2.0370	1.48016	.28486
DOORSTEP_DELIVERY	18-25	177	2.3051	1.42128	.10683
	25-Above	27	2.1111	1.52753	.29397
CHOICE_OF_RESTAURANT	18-25	177	2.7006	1.20399	.09050
	25-Above	27	2.4815	1.50308	.28927
24*7 DELIVERY	18-25	177	2.6723	1.20367	.09047
	25-Above	27	2.4815	1.25178	.24091
PROMOTIONS_OFFERS	18-25	177	2.7119	1.22081	.09176
	25-Above	27	2.6296	1.62073	.31191
OVERALL_SATISFACTION	18-25	177	2.5989	1.23518	.09284
	25-Above	27	2.4815	1.45100	.27925

 

Table 5: Independent t-test (Age)

	Levene's Test for Equality of Variances	t-test for Equality of Means(F)	Sig.	T	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
EASY_CONVENIENT	Equal variances assumed	3.617	.059	2.076	202	.039
	Equal variances not assumed			1.760	31.255	.088
COST_EFFECTIVENESS	Equal variances assumed	9.898	.002	-.002	202	.998
	Equal variances not assumed			-.002	30.348	.998
EASY_MODE_OF_PAYMENT	Equal variances assumed	.005	.945	1.328	202	.186
	Equal variances not assumed			1.241	32.942	.223
DOORSTEP_DELIVERY	Equal variances assumed	.041	.840	.654	202	.514
	Equal variances not assumed			.620	33.235	.539
CHOICE_OF_RESTAURANT	Equal variances assumed	3.645	.058	.851	202	.396
	Equal variances not assumed			.723	31.294	.475
24*7 DELIVERY	Equal variances assumed	.086	.770	.763	202	.446
	Equal variances not assumed			.742	33.752	.463
PROMOTIONS_OFFERS	Equal variances assumed	9.128	.003	.311	202	.756
	Equal variances not assumed			.253	30.661	.802
OVERALL_SATISFACTION	Equal variances assumed	2.754	.099	.449	202	.654
	Equal variances not assumed			.399	32.008	.693

 

 

The independent t-test was run on SPSS. The significant value (on 5% significant level) of the factors easiness and convenient, cost effectiveness, easy mode of payment, doorstep delivery, choice of restaurants, 24*7 delivery, promotions and offers and overall satisfaction are 0.039, 0.998, 0.186, 0.514, 0.396, 0.446, 0.802 and 0.654 respectively. It states null hypothesis for cost effectiveness, easy mode of payment, doorstep delivery, choice of restaurants, 24*7 delivery, promotions and offers and overall satisfaction is accepted and there is no significant difference between age and these factors. But the p value for cost easiness and convenience is 0.039 which is less than 0.05 (p<0.05).

 

DISCUSSION AND LIMITATION:

E-commerce has surpassed its traditional definition (Jones, 2013). Consumers prefer E-commerce platforms as a shopping medium because they can shop at the comfort of their own homes and at the leisure of their own time (Jiang et al., 2013; Rezaei et al., 2016a). The expeditious growth of the Internet has affected online retailing and Ecommerce development in general (Bressolles et al., 2014; Burt and Sparks, 2003; Faqih and Jaradat, 2015; Nilashi et al., 2015; Towers and Xu, 2016). In the recent time online retailing of foods and related services developed very fast. Customers now have unlimited choices of restaurants, get more customized products and get benefit from this. The online food delivery company provides services with customization, real time tracking, and fast delivery, attractive offers and discount and good customer service support. The food industry is very saturated market and now delivering online of foods has added additional value to the customer. However, the previous study has examined the customer attitude with respect to online/e-commerce services. Only a few researchers have studied the experience of customer with respect to inline food delivery services.

 

According to Spykerman (2013), Malaysia has an Internet penetration rate of 67%. Although the number of users are lower than China but the percentage is higher, which shows that Malaysians in general are more assertive in e-commerce. In China alone, there are over 420 million Internet users, of which 87.88 million users are online shoppers (CNNIC, 2010). According to Euromonitor (2015), the 100% home delivery market in Malaysia has a value of RM253 million in 2014, and is expected to continue growth at 11% per annum. This is the evident in the segment of fast food that provides delivery directly to homes. One of the major players, Kentucky Fried Chicken has started delivery services in Malaysia in 2012 and further they enhance their quality of services of fast food delivery. On the other side, smaller food retailers are also rasping to provide delivery services with the help of food delivery intermediaries like. In India Zomato and Swiggy are two major players who provide intermediaries services to these retailers and as for online food ordering. Kimes (2011) found that 44% of adults in the United States have ordered food online and 23% of large food chains provide delivery to home. There are two types of retailers which provide food delivery.

 

There were few limitations of the study. First, the study was descriptive in nature. The study was self-reported and there is possibility of common bias. The future research can consider different study methods. The size of the study were limited to 250 and among them only 204 were using online food delivery services, that too they used it at least once and may not be frequent service holder. The study was limited to area which was Jalandhar city, Punjab and the age group 18-40. The study consider only eight important factor and the other factor can also influence on the perceptions of customers. A wider study is including rural and semi-urban can give better clarity and insight on the perception of customers. Culture is an integral aspect of consumer purchase decision in India, given there is different cultural and religious diversity.

 

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS:

The study can be used by the restaurants who want to get themselves registered with the online food delivery companies. The new entrepreneurs who are planning to start a new venture in the area of online food delivery can use this data.

 

CONCLUSION:

Developments in Information technology have given a rise to the innovations in the products and services of E-commerce. In food services every restaurants has to focus on its services and food quality which in turn is very helpful in building their brand image. To stand in this competitive era every company fights to win the race of providing best food quality. Customer wants that they get food of best quality and at very convenient. From this study it can be said that many respondents use and were aware about the services of online food delivery. Among all online food delivery companies’ respondents mainly prefer order food online through Zomato. The respondents were satisfied with the ease, convenience, cost effectiveness, doorstep delivery, and their mode of payment along with their offers which they generally use for the promotion of services. From the entire study it has been concluded that major respondents were satisfied with the services of online food delivery. The online food delivery sector is rapidly increasing in India and may witness the higher growth in the coming years.

 

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