1

THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH ON CONSUMER

PURCHASE INTENTION AND PROFIT MAXIMIZATION IN FAST FOOD

INDUSTRY

Research by:

SUMAIYA MUMTAZ

RIDA KHALEEQ

SYEDA QANDEEL ZEHRA

MARYAM MUHAMMAD ZAKIR

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ABSTRACT:

Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is widely accepted as a critical factor in building

marketing strategies and communications. Invention of the Internet and proliferation of social

media have added a new electronic dimension to traditional WOM, thereby converting it into

ElectronicWOM (eWOM). The extant literature has focused on various aspects of eWOM

such as its effect on consumer’s purchase decision process, utilization of eWOM to build

brand strength and consumer loyalty.

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) plays a significant role in consumer purchase decisions.

The influence of eWOM even changes the life style of consumers and it has brought

unprecedented opportunities and challenges for marketing activity. Therefore, eWOM

communication has received extensive attention from both academics and practitioners for

decades. The current study on eWOM is following two lines. The first line regards eWOM as

an outcome of consumers' post purchase behavior and the second line considers eWOM as a

driver of consumers' purchase behavior. The objective of this paper is to review prior studies

to provide a better understanding of eWOM's effect on consumers and corporate. Based on

the literature review, several issues that need to be addressed in the future research are

identified.
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AKNOWLEDGEMENT:

First of all we are very thankful to Almighty ALLAH for giving us strength and ability to

understand, learn and complete this report. This research was supported by our honorable

mentor Sir Javed Hussain Baloch. We thank our colleagues from the Institute of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah University who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted

the research, although they may not agree with all of the interpretations/conclusions of this

paper.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER: 01 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................6

RESEARCH PROBLEM:......................................................................................................8

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:...................................................................................................8

BACKGROUND....................................................................................................................9

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:-..................................................................................................10

SIGINIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:-.................................................................................11

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:-.......................................................................................11

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:-.......................................................................................11

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK:.......................................................................................12

CHAPTER: 02 LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................13

CHAPTER: 03 METHODOLOGY....................................................................................23

TYPE OF RESEARCH:.......................................................................................................23

SOURCE OF DATA:...........................................................................................................23

SAMPLE SELECTION & SIZE:.........................................................................................23

INSTRUMENTATION:......................................................................................................23

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY:......................................................................................23

COVER LETTER................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER: 04 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS........................................................................25

INTERPRETATIONS..............................................................................................................25

CHAPTER 05: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................37

CONCLUSION:...................................................................................................................37
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RECOMMENDATION:..........................................................................................................37

REFERENCES:........................................................................................................................39

QUESTIONNAIRE:............................................................................................................35
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CHAPTER: 01 INTRODUCTION

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is defined as the dynamic and ongoing information

exchange process between potential, actual, or former consumers regarding a product,

service, brand, or company, which is available to a multitude of individuals and institutions

via the Internet. EWOM is considered as an important source of information influencing

human behavior significantly affecting the way consumers make purchase decisions. In

recent studies, 93% of consumers indicated that online reviews (a type of eWOM

communication) significantly influence their purchase.

Several empirical studies have established the effect of eWOM on consumers’ intention to

buy products or services; for example, on purchase intention of cars, laptops, intention to

choose tourist destinations and intention to book to state a few. However, some studies have

contradictory results about different characteristics of eWOM influencing buying intention;.

For example, He and Bond found that volume of eWOM communications affects intention to

buy, while found this relationship to be non-significant. In terms of the impact of valence on

intention to buy, some studies found its effect to be significant while others found it to be

non-significant.

Collectively, studies provide valuable insights into factors affecting intention to purchase

within the boundaries of the contexts studied but it is difficult to generalize them. Ewom

investigates how volume and valence as well as types of reviewers and websites, product

types and usage situation affect retailer sales elasticity. In spite of significant insight provided

by previous research on eWOM communications, a consensus regarding the factors affecting

consumers’ intention to buy is yet to emerge, indicating the need for a systematic integration

of this body of work.

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In this research, we aim to synthesis findings from previous studies by employing weight

analysis and meta-analysis to reconcile conflicting evidence and draw a “big picture” of

eWOM factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy. For practitioners it will provide

benefits in terms of practical guidance based on detailed analysis of specific factors

influencing consumers’ intention to buy, which could enhance their marketing activities.

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN ( KFC ) :

KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried

chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression.

Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept and the first "Kentucky

Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast-food

industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger.

By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure

of American cultural history and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising to this

day. However, the company's rapid expansion overwhelmed the aging Sanders and he sold it

to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey in 1964.

KFC is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky that

specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by

sales) after McDonald's, with 22,621 locations globally in 150 countries as of December

2019.The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns

the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wing Street chains.

KFC was one of the first American fast food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets

in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the

1970s and 1980s, it experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of

changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the
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early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the

R.J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate; that company sold the chain to PepsiCo. The

chain continued to expand overseas, however, and in 1987, it became the first Western

restaurant chain to open in China. It has since expanded rapidly in China, which is now the

company's single largest market. PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global

Restaurants, which later changed its name to Yum!(Anderson & He, 1998)

RESEARCH PROBLEM:

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has become the dynamic information exchange process

between potential, actual, or former consumers regarding a product, service, brand, or

company, which is available to a multitude of individuals and institutions via the Internet.

There are positive as well as negative consequences of effects of EWOM. Our target of study

is to find out the impact of electronic word of mouth on consumer purchase intention and

profit maximization in fast food industry taking example of KFC.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:

 The purpose of this research is to synthesis the findings from existing studies of the

effects of eWOM on intention to buy & profit maximization in fast food industry, a

combination of reviews of customers on other customer’s buying decisions.

 To check the impact of eWOM through customers’ loyalty and satisfaction towards
these restaurants.

 To investigate the Fast Food Provider financial analysis in terms of eWOM.

 To check the consumer’s response towards these Fast Food Restaurants.

 To examine how restaurants’ profit margin increases or decreases due to eWOM.

 To investigate that who is losing the market value.

 To check how these restaurants impress their customers.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

 How eWOM is involved in making the consumers’ satisfaction best in restaurants?

 How these restaurants maintain their market value?

 How they make their service quality and ambience good?

 How do these restaurants compete with new emerging fast food restaurants?

 How they attract consumers to get maximum possible profit through the effect of

EWOM?

BACKGROUND OF STUDY :

BrightLocal, a search engine optimization (SEO) firm, does regular market research and

explores the consumer consumption of online reviews, and how these reviews influence

consumers’ opinions and purchases from local businesses (Local Consumer Review Survey,

2014 ). The 2014 report shows that 88 per cent of the consumers trust online reviews as much

as personal recommendations. This is further supported by another study by Dimensional

Research in 2013, which shows that an overwhelming 90 per cent of the customers say that

their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews (Marketing Land, 2013). Online

reviews are one type of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. A few examples

from the real world exemplify the importance of eWOM communication for marketers: • In

2005, disappointed with Dell’s customer service, blogger Jarvis coined the term ‘Dell Hell’ in

his blogs, which brought Dell national embarrassment (Xia, 2013). • In 2012, McDonald

launched a campaign on twitter with hash tag #McDStories about the heritage of company’s

food, which turned into a chaos when the hashtag was being used to share negative or funny

stories about the company (Pfeffer, Zorbach, & Carley, 2014). • In 2014, Zomato, an online

restaurant review site in India (similar to yelp.com), had to take back its hiring advertisement

and issue an apology. It has created a controversial recruitment ad, comparing two cities—
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New Delhi and Bengaluru—on different parameters and lifestyles, which did not go down

well, especially with people working in Bengaluru, known as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’

(Lighthouse Insights, 2014). PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The topic of eWOM has attracted

the attention of researchers across areas and a mixture of many theo- retical foundations and

frameworks from different streams including consumer behaviour, information systems, and

sociology literature. The objective of this study is twofold: (a) to summarize the extant

literature in eWOM domain, and (b) to identify areas for future research. This article provides

an overview of research and important findings on the following topics: • Traditional WOM

and eWOM, also referred to as online WOM (OWOM) in literature • Theoretical foundations

and frameworks, which have been used in the eWOM literature. • Motivations for consumer

to generate and spread eWOM on various eWOM channels. • Importance and effects of

eWOM in marketing strategies. • Learnings for marketers on how to deal with eWOM

(positive and negative) and how to utilize it for their benefits. There is an impressive body of

research available on the topic of eWOM. So, we have used a few basic criteria to limit the

number of research articles to a manageable set. We have referred to the version 4 of the

Academic Journal Quality Guide published by the Association of Business School (Harvey et

al., 2010), for ranking of the academic journals. We have included journals that are listed in

either under Grade 4 or Grade 3 from the Marketing and Information Management areas. We

have also included some unranked (unlisted) journals for a better coverage of the topic. We

have made a conscious effort to focus our literature review in the eWOM domain in the last

10 years of publication.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:-

Information is perceived to be helpful when it is useful in making a purchase decision in fast

food industry. It has been found that eWOM has an influence on individuals’ evaluation of

products and services. When eWOM communications are useful they significantly affect an
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individual’s purchase intention. Several studies have investigated the relationship between

eWOM usefulness and purchase intention.

The scope of this research is to know what people think about different kinds of fast food

restaurants, they include customer responses, their experience, how the people thinks about

the competition between KFC and MacDonald’s and their responses towards the both

restaurants.

SIGINIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:-

The impact of eWOM is very important especially to marketing managers to understand the

behavior of the consumers pertaining to how consumers perceive their products which

isusually recognized from its brand, from the negative or positive feedbacks. So Marketing

managers can create appropriate medium of communication that will enhance consumers’

knowledge pertaining to their brand.Apart from that, they can also attempt to amend any

negative views consumers might have pertaining to their brand using eWOM, which will

thus create positive brand image will consequently reduce their marketingexpenses as well as

increase consumers’ tendency to buy their brand

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:-

1. To understand the relationship between the effect of eWOM and consumer’s buying

decision & profit maximization in the fast food industry.

2. To determine the factors affecting the consumer’s purchase intension and decisions in

matter of fast food restaurants.

3. To identify the respondents opinion about positive and negative reviews of product.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:-

We have tried our best to make this research as reliable as possible but still there are some

limitations of this research. It is acknowledged that this is an interview based research. The
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survey took some time due to personal visit so time constraints and costs are also the

limitation of our research.

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK:

PURCHASE PROFIT
INTENTION eWOM MAXIMIZATION
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CHAPTER: 02 LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Pride and Ferrell (2014), they defined WOM to be personal communicational

interchange ofconsumer information that is conversed to others pertaining to goods, brands,

and organizations. Whereas,according to Armstrong and Kotler (2013), they defined WOM

to be the influence of words and suggestion offriends on individual/individuals trusted,

acquaintances as well as other customers on behavior of purchase.Whereas, other researchers

referred WOM to be spoken communication among actual consumer and prospective

consumers as well as other individuals or groups such as relatives, friends, brokers,

professionals (Jalil-vand&Samiei, 2012; Xie et al., 2011)

Consumers have benefitted immensely through the eWOM with great thanks to the internet

compared to theorthodox WOM. eWOM has many advantages such as the swiftness,

promptness and accessibility of information, its extensive obtainability duration, without the

need of physical presence in a place one intends todisseminate the information such as virtual

communication of (Luo and Zhong, 2015; Serra Cantallops andSalvi, 2014; Mauri &Minazzi,

2013). eWOM inculcates various online portals whereby outmost accessibilityto reviews

among consumers is existing (Nakhaee&Kheiri, 2012).

What’s more astonishing is according to a prominent consulting firm named Booz & Co.

(2012), eWOM have become the trend in digital related research topics, especially pertaining

to communications among consumers,which they have in fact advised firms to make their

customers as their supporters; by shifting the marketing paradigm to facilitating discussions

amid consumers rather than conveying messages directly to consumers.Consumers have been

utilizing numerous internet podiums to share their experiences pertaining to goods as-

sessment as well as commerce such as through company websites, discussion forums, social
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media, privateagencies, chat rooms, emails, blogs, instant messaging (Fang, 2014; Lovett,

Peres, and Shachar, 2013; MauriandMinazzi, 2013; Punj, 2013; Browning and Sparks, 2011).

EWOM is generally an association of factors that’s behaviorally driven by many motives

such as to interactively socialize, maintain social relations, to be recognized, to demonstrate

support, to obtain joy through ac-tivities that are available online esteem (Munar and

Jacobsen, 2014; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2004). Though, atFacebook, whereby people are

accustomed to forming networks where their written view are credible sincethe users increase

their social base as well as their regularity and period of personal relation, in comparison

toanother podiums whereby some are limited and less credible (Luo and Zhong,

2015). Whereas according to O’Connor (2008), as dissatisfied consumers had abilities

to disseminate their unfavorable experiences amongtheir close circle, with the advancement

of technology that led to eWOM, they can now impact a vast numberof consumers by

utilizing their various social platforms which can be Twitter, Myspace or/and Facebook.

Moreover, in times at which consumers’ reliance on companies as well as adverts has

declined excessively,WOM has contributed means to attain important benefits. With the

current digitized surroundings, eWOM has become among the most impactful mediums of

acquiring, evaluating and deducing impact that an individual can influence on others through

the internet (Jalilvand&Samiei, 2012).Researches demonstrated WOM communications to

have greater impact compared to other mediums of com-munication such as ads, that was

justified to the reason that trustable information are obtained through WOMcommunications

(Mauri and Minazzi, 2013; Browning and Sparks, 2011). Apart from that, research also

shows that only 14% of consumers believe on what ads advertise. What’s astonishing is that

from every 9 of every 10 consumers believe in their relatives, friends as well as their work

mates since they won’t get any advantagefor favoring a product or service (Nakhaee&Kheiri,

2012).
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Brand image:-

According to Keller (1998), he defined brand image to be a way how consumers perceive a

brand to be and reflects what their mind have associated the brand to. The relations are based

on various dimensions as well as contain emotions or attitude towards the brand image apart

from the expected quality. Pertaining to the general view of the experiences of consumers is

vital as only by this way, they can form emotional, cognitive as well as behavioral reactions

of consumers to be the consequence (Padgett & Allen, 1997). Whereas, according to Moore

(1981), he viewed image to be a psychological approximation to an overall level of being

satisfied by a firm’s undertakings and enactments. As it is by evaluating the image perceived

by the consumers, firms can understand the consumers’ attitude to their organizations, by

analyzing what the consumers expect and whether the firm has fulfilled their promises.

With the development of eWOM, communicational publicity has increased rapidly to new

heights as well as further strengthened the image of a brand (Serkan &Gokhan, 2005).

Whereas, according to East et al. (2007), theimage of a brand immensely impacted choices

made by consumers as well as buying intention that consequently leads to selection of

a brand. As per Dellarocas (2003), Electronic social podiums and networks have supported

the dissemination of eWOM that kept it distant from the orthodox WOM due to

its unparalleled reachability, ability of eWOM’s creators to regulate and oversee its eWOM

activities as well as special characteristics of interactions that is virtual. What’smore

astonishingly vital is the internet’s ability to communicational interactivity on a bigger gauge.

eWOM has been a ground breaking technology for people since the anthropological history,

consumers are able to share their individual point of view, thought as well as reactions

to users of internet around the globe, as shared communication led to electronic contrivance

of response to support numerous activities that includes develop-ing brands, advancements of

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products, acquirement of customers, control of quality as well as guarantee of resource

quality.

Likewise, a research by Lee and Cranage (2014) also finds significant amount

of behavior variation towards unfavorableeWOM in a situation where high consent of eviden

ce is availablecompared to low consent of evidence is available. In contrast, according to a

research conducted by Sandesand Urban (2013) on the impact of eWOM advertisement

towards behavior of consumers, the research demonstrated publicity of whatever remark

impacts the brand image.Whereas, according to World Intellectual Property Report (2013),

the image of a brand has the tendency to impact firm’s earning, consumers’ intention to

buy as well as their marketing’s success which all will consequently impact their

sustainability in the long run. In this perspective, as WOM have a vital impact to theintention

of purchasing a product, eWOM have a further higher impact on the image of the product

as well asthe intention to purchase the product of a brand due to its global proximity of

disseminating information (Filieri& McLeay, 2014; Smith, Menon, & Sivakumar, 2005;

Senecal&Nantel, 2004).

Purchase intention:-

According to Liu and Park (2015), Bronner and de Hoog (2011) as well as Zhang et

al (2010), consumer’s relyuponeWOM to reduce avowed risk. As a matter of fact, Nielsen

Research (2013), stated that buyers signifi-cantly rely on the consumer views that are online

before buying. Moreover, it is the second most prominently dependable source of evidence

after friends’ recommendation that is initially dependable upon. Furthermore ,consumer

views that are online significantly influences choices undertaken by buyers (Filieri &

McLeay, 2014;Smith, Menon, & Sivakumar, 2005; Senecal&Nantel, 2004) as well as various

types of products sales (Cui,Lui, & Guo, 2012; Zhu & Zhang, 2010; Ye, Law, & Gu, 2009;
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Dellarocas, Zhang, &Awad, 2007; Liu, 2006;Godes &Mayzlin, 2004). The impact of online

consumer review by consumers is so immense on decision made by consumers that various

firms, for instance Kia-Motors currently hosts reviews on their online allow their automobiles

to be discoursed by consumers as well as utilize online assessments to be portray done their

television commercials (Kia Motors, 2014) to portray their brand image so they can induce

consumers to purchase their automobiles .According to Litvin et al. (2008), information as

well as assessments that has been disseminated through WOMenabled consumers to be able

to help other prospects on their decision of selecting a good or service. Despite the fact that

increase of purchase probability increases by means of PWOM, decrease of purchase

probabilityincreases by means of NWOM effect (Luo and Zhong, 2015; Park & Nicolau,

2015; Litvin et al., 2008). BothLuo and Zhong (2015) and Litvin et al (2008) fond eWOM to

be dependable as well as unprejudiced means of obtaining evidence. Moreover, they

both argued consumers’ anticipation, inclinations as well as behavior are shaped through

eWOM impacts on their choices as well as their after use assessments. Whereas, according to

Park et al. (2007), consumers are highly influenced by the high volume of comments as well

as consumer evaluations, as it portrays the number of consumers who have bought the good,

that consequently justifies their conduct of obtaining the good. According to a research

conducted by Luo and Zhong (2015) that investigates on the aspect of how eWOM through

virtual social platforms are impacted by social relations and interaction, found that the

strength of social bonds’ whether strong, neutral or poor have the tendency to have an impact

on eWOM. Moreover, they have also found that, attitude as well as determination of choices

is impacted by eWOM through social connections that are robust.

According to Forman et al.(2008), in a connected surrounding, consumers’ are greatly

impacted towards the  perspective they have on a review from the restricted particulars

of consumers available online such as the disclosed name and photo as well as the

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community’s online recognition. Apart from that, existing literatures have discoursed on the

vitality of arithmetical assessments pertaining to consumers’ review given by people who

read and analyze their impact towards the course of buying decision (Poston & Speier, 2005),

sale of goods (Duan, et al., 2008) and searching cost (Todd &Benbasat, 1992).

FastFood Industry image significantly influences the relationship between Electronic Word-

of-Mouth and Purchase Intention.

Fast Food Restaurants: -

Fast Food Restaurant, also named as Quick Service Restaurant link towards buildings used
for the preparation and making and sale of ready-to-eat food. Fast Food Restaurants are also
described by a limited menu of food items prepared quickly with food machines (often within
a few minutes for preparing), and sometimes cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot to serve
quickly to eat.(M. J. Schröder & McEachern, 2005)Any eatery described by the capacity, on
a fundamental level, to give hot sustenance the base of deferral (regularly no longer than a
supporter would be glad to stand and pause). Does not really block the preparing of
nourishment to arrange a drive-through joint, otherwise called a speedy administration eatery
(QSR) inside the business, is a particular sort of eatery that serves cheap food cooking and
has negligible table administration.(Tan, Oriade, & Fallon, 2014) The sustenance served in
drive-through joints is regularly part of a "meat-sweet eating routine", offered from a
restricted menu, cooked in mass ahead of time and kept hot, completed and bundled to
arrange, and normally accessible for remove, however seating might be given. Drive-through
eateries are commonly part of an eatery network or establishment activity that gives
institutionalized fixings as well as incompletely arranged sustenance’s and supplies to every
eatery through controlled supply channels. The expression "cheap food" was perceived in a
word reference by Merriam– Webster in 1951.(Sharma, Bash, Patel, Friedrich, & Chase,
2005).

Service Quality: -

An appraisal of how well a conveyed administration complies with the customer's desires.
Administration business administrators frequently survey the administration quality gave to
their clients so as to improve their administration, to rapidly recognize issues, and to more
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readily evaluate customer fulfillment.Administration/Service quality is an accomplishment in

client service. It reflects at each administration experience. Clients structure administration
desires from past encounters, verbal exchange and showcasing communications. By and
large, clients contrast apparent administration and anticipated administration, and which if the
previous misses the mark concerning the last the clients are baffled.(Shen & Xiao, 2014)
Specialized quality: What the client gets because of communications with the administration
firm (for example a supper in an eatery, a bed in lodging)

Useful quality: How the client gets the administration; the expressive idea of the
administration conveyance (for example graciousness, mindfulness, expeditiousness).(Jones,
Shears, Hillier, & Clarke-Hill, 2002)

The estimation of emotional parts of client administration relies upon the congruity of the
normal advantage with the apparent outcome.(Stone, 2003) This in turns relies on the client's
desire as far as administration, they may get and the specialist co-op's capacity and ability to
display this normal administration. Effective organizations add advantages to their offering
that fulfill the clients as well as astonishment and enjoyment them.(Akbay, Tiryaki, & Gul,
2007) Enchanting clients involves surpassing their desires.(Fight)Administration quality a
basic part of client's discernment will be the prevailing component in client assessment. In
situations where client administration or administrations are offered in blend with a physical
item, administration quality may likewise be extremely basic in deciding consumer loyalty.
Clients judge their nature of administration on their impression of the specialized result and
how was the result conveyed.(Spykman, 2017)

Food Quality: -

Nourishment/Food quality is the quality attributes of sustenance that is worthy to shoppers. This
incorporates outer factors as appearance (estimate, shape, shading, shine, and consistency), surface,
and flavor; factors, for example, government grade measures (for example of eggs) and inner
(substance, physical, microbial).(k. hussain, 2019)Sustenance quality in the United States is upheld
by the Food Safety Act 1990.(S. Khan, Hussain, & Yaqoob, 2013) Individuals from the open
grumble to exchanging gauges’ experts, who submit objection tests and furthermore tests used to
routinely screen the nourishment commercial center to open investigators. Open investigators
complete logical examination on the examples to decide if the quality is of adequate standard.
(Yan, 2013)
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Sustenance quality is an essential nourishment fabricating prerequisite, since sustenance customers

are helpless to any type of defilement that may happen amid the assembling procedure. Numerous
purchasers additionally depend on assembling and handling gauges, especially to realize what
fixings are available, because of dietary, healthful prerequisites (genuine, halal, veggie lover), or
ailments (e.g., diabetes, or sensitivities).Nourishment quality likewise manages item detect ability,
(e.g., of fixing, and bundling providers), should a review of the item be required. It likewise
manages marking issues to guarantee there is right fixing and dietary data. (Zhu, Anagondahalli, &
Zhang, 2017)

There are many existing global quality foundations testing sustenance items so as to show to all
purchasers which are higher quality items. Established in 1961 in Brussels, The universal Monde
Selection quality honor is the most established in assessing sustenance quality. Amid the
degustation, the items must meet the accompanying choice criteria, required by the Institute: tactile
investigation, bacteriological and compound examination, the sustenance and wellbeing claims, and
the use take note.(Yu & Zhang, 2009)

Customers Experience:-

Client experience envelops each part of an organization's putting forth—the nature of client care,
obviously, yet additionally promoting, bundling, item and administration highlights, convenience,
and dependability. Making direct connections in where clients purchase, use and get benefits by a
business expected for clients, for example, in store or up close and personal contact with the client
which could be seen through communicating with the client through the retail staff. We at that
point have backhanded connections which can appear as surprising communications through an
organization's item delegate, certain administrations or brands and positive suggestions – or it could
even appear as "analysis, publicizing, news, reports" and a lot more along that line. Client
experience is made by the commitment of the clients' qualities as well as by the commitment of the
organization giving the experience. (Kangas, 2012)

The majority of the occasions experienced by clients when they buy a product are a piece of the
client experience. At the point when a client is attempted the experience it is viewed as close to
home and remarkable, just as it gives incitement to all tactile, passionate, reasonable and physical
parts of which can make a critical encounter for the purchaser of which they will always remember.
(M. J. Khan & Ullah, 2009). The idea of client experience can be investigated in different kinds of
associations and ventures all through the world; however numerous examinations on client
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involvement in the retail business have been created. In the retail business, both organization and
clients assume a major job in making a client experience.Forbes says that client experience is the
"total effect of different touch focuses" through the span of a client's communication with an
association. A few organizations are known to fragment the client experience into communications
through the web and web based life, while others characterize human collaboration, for example,
via telephone client administration or up close and personal retail administration as the client
experience. (Aftab, Sarwar, Sultan, & Qadeer, 2016)

As indicated by Forrester Research (by means of Fast Company), the six controls for incredible
client experience is methodology, client getting, plan, estimation, administration and culture. An
organization's capacity to convey an encounter that separates it according to its clients will build
the measure of shopper going through with the organization and move dependability to its image.
As indicated by Jessica Sebor,“faithfulness is currently determined essentially by an organization's
cooperation with its clients and how well it conveys on their needs and needs.(M. J. A. Schröder,
2013)

Food Price:-

Nourishment costs allude to the (arrived at the midpoint of) value level for sustenance specifically
nations or areas or on a worldwide scale. The sustenance business' commitment to the value levels
and variances originate from the nourishment creation process, sustenance promoting and
nourishment dissemination. Wellspring of wild value variances are changing harvest yield from
overabundance supply to collect disappointment and sustenance theory exercises.(Anderson & He,
1998) It is estimated that as of now the worldwide environmental change could be a main
consideration behind rising nourishment costs. Consumer costs in the rich nations are hugely
impacted by the influence of markdown stores and comprise just a little piece of the whole typical
cost for basic items. Specifically, Western example diet constituents like those that are prepared by
inexpensive food chains are relatively shoddy in the Western half of the globe. Benefits depend
fundamentally on amount (see large scale manufacturing), not exactly high-value quality. For some
item classes like dairy or meat, overproduction has turned the value relations in a manner totally
obscure in immature nations ("spread mountain").(Riaz, Wahla, & Naseem, 2011)

Customer Loyalty:-

Consumer loyalty (regularly abridged as CSAT, all the more accurately CSat) is a term as often as
possible utilized in showcasing. It is a proportion of how items and administrations provided by an
organization meet or outperform client desire. Consumer loyalty is characterized as "the quantity of
 22

clients, or level of all out clients, whose revealed involvement with a firm, its items, or its
administrations (evaluations) surpasses determined fulfillment goals. “Customer fulfillment gives a
main marker of buyer buy expectations and loyalty. Customer fulfillment information is among the
most much of the time gathered pointers of market discernments.(Anwar ulHaq & Zafar-uz-Zaman)
Their chief use is twofold: (Badal, 2017)

"Inside associations, the accumulation, investigation and scattering of this information

communicate something specific about the significance of watching out for clients and
guaranteeing that they have a positive involvement with the organization's products and enterprises.
(Dani, 2014)

"In spite of the fact that deals or piece of the overall industry can show how well a firm is
performing right now, fulfillment is maybe the best pointer of how likely it is that the association's
clients will make further buys later on.”(Gordon, 1993; Shen & Xiao, 2014) Much research has
concentrated on the connection between consumer loyalty and maintenance. Studies demonstrate
that the consequences of fulfillment are most unequivocally acknowledged at the limits.(Gordon,
1993)

Restaurants Atmosphere:-

An eatery's environment sets the stage. It's about something beyond a lounge area far from home.
Sustenance accepts the spotlight as visitors become its group of onlookers. Factors, for example,
music, lighting, work of art and dividing join to make solace, closeness and even sentiment. "Air –
it's absolutely critical. It's vital. The lighting must be correct.(Starvish, 2011) What's more, table
settings need to also. It's tied in with attempting to space tables out pleasantly so you have that
climate regardless of how bustling you are," says Scott Andrews, activities chief at lodging and
eatery Gidleigh Park.(Hanratty et al., 2012) Atmospherics has been characterized as "the push to
configuration purchasing conditions to deliver explicit Passionate impacts in the purchaser that
improve his buy likelihood" tactile channels for air are locate, sound, aroma and contact
atmospherics writing, Turley and Milliman (2000) assigned a "general inside" atmospherics
classification which incorporates music, sound, lighting, aroma, shading, temperature (regularly
alluded to as "encompassing" ecological signs), and visual plan components.(Lynch et al., 2019)
23

CHAPTER: 03 METHODOLOGY

TYPE OF RESEARCH:

This is an interview based type of research. This research helped us in identifying the effect

of EWOM on Consumer Purchase Intention & Profit Maximization.

SOURCE OF DATA:

In order to attain the appropriate data to support this study, we conducted interviews of

several employees of KFC to get real time & accurate information. We have survey method

of questionnaire in order to gather primary data on the effect of EWOM on Consumer

Purchase Intention & Profit Maximization.

SAMPLE SELECTION & SIZE:

In our research we have mainly focused on the employees of KFC.

Sample Size: 05

INSTRUMENT:

The instruments that we used for this study are; Questionnaire, Interview and Observations.

This is an exploratory research.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY:

Validity is the extent to which a procedure correlates with the current behaviour of subjects.

Reliability explains that the test scores tend to obtain the same score when tested at different

times.
24

COVER LETTER

Dear participants,

This questionnaire is designed to study the "Effect of EWOM on Consumer Purchase

Intention & Profit Maximization.”

This information you’ll provide will help us better understand the subject above because you

are the one who can give us correct picture of how you experienced this subject.

I request you to respond the questions frankly and honestly. Your responses will be kept

strictly confidential. Only the members of research team will have access to the information

you give us. This number will be used by us only to follow up the procedure.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation. We greatly appreciate your

participation in furthering this research process.

Cordially,

Sumaiya Mumtaz

Rida Khaleeq

Syeda Qandeel Zehra

Maryam Muhammad Zakir

25

CHAPTER: 04 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

HYPOTHESIS:

H1. eWOM has a significant impact on brand image.

H2. eWOM has a significant impact on purchase intention.

Ho. Positive eWOM significantly influences Consumer Purchase Intention &

Profit Maximization.

INTERPRETATIONS:

We conducted interviews and asked question to the employees of KFC. The answers and

reponses we got are as follow:

Employee 01: Mr. Kamran

When we asked the employee about the effect of eWOM on Consumer Purchase Intention &

Profit Maximization, we got to know that there is a significantly positive impact of positive

eWOM on KFC. The employee specifically told us about the launch of “Pulled Chicken” and

how it became the most popular product of KFC for the time being. The “Pulled Chicken”

campaign achieved +75,000 engagements across social media and saw over half of the young

customers market participate. He further informed us that the ‘Pulled’ Chicken” range

successfully extended the KFC brand out of “Fried” for the first time in history.

Employee 02: Mr. Shafiq

Mr. Shafiq told us about the sea of customers they get because of the exposure social media

gives them every time they lauch or advertise a product. He was the oldest employee of KFC

there & he told us that he has never seen this kind of traffic before the era of social media. He

further elaborated on that by telling us that in his opinion, social media really helped the
26

business of KFC & if it wasn’t for positive feedback of customers on social media, KFC

wouldn’t have gotten such new & loyal customers.

Employee 03: Mr. Arif

While interviewing this employee, Mr. Arif seemed really happy with the way things are

working in the favor of KFC right now. He told us that sometimes when there is a huge profit

in the annual sales of the products of KFC, the employees get extra bonuses also. He said that

positive & encouraging feedback on social media has given KFC the boost to work even

harder & provide the best possible food & service they can to their customers.

Employee 04: Mr. Saleem

Mr. Saleem told us about the traditional way of advertising & how it was so difficult for any

business to flourish & make profits that way. He said that the emergence of social media

helped not only KFC but many other businesses to create & maintain a healthy relationship

with its existing customers as well as potential customers. He told us that through the means

of social media, many new customers became our regular & loyal customers & we make 10

times the profit that we used to make before social media.

Employee 05: Mr. Hassan

Mr. Hassan told us about the impact of positive word of mouth through social media. He said

it has helped KFC in making bigger & better profit margin. He said whenever KFC launches

or advertises a new product; a lot of the customers come in our outlet & ask for the product

because they have read good & positive reviews about it on social media.
27

CHAPTER 05: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

CONCLUSION:

In our review of eWOM literature, we have seen that eWOM is an extension of the well-

established concept of WOM on the Internet platform. The traditional marketing approach is

being revised and modified to utilize the power of the Internet. Consumers have more power

with them due to proliferation of social media and the Internet forums and communities.

Many consumers directly or indirectly make use of eWOM before making the final purchase.

Consumers use eWOM in the post-purchase process also to share products’ experiences and

to voice their opinions. Consumers have different motivations when they participate in

eWOM creation. They participate to provide first-hand reviews, to help other consumers & to

discuss pros and cons of a product. Brand loyalties are fought hard in social communities and

forums. eWom has helped many businesses in making better profits & made the competition

more cutthroat.

RECOMMENDATION:

Businesses can utilize eWOM for building product awareness, improving sales, making better

profit, strengthening brand value & building customer loyalty. eWOM also acts as a direct

feedback to businesses. They can use positive and negative eWOM to improve their product

and service deliveries and to offer recoveries and address consumer grievances.

Technological breakthroughs and inventions and innovations of smart devices, smartphones,

are the new trends and events that will have an impact on how consumers and marketers will

deal with eWOM. Seth Godin, a famous American marketer and author, sums the

importance of eWOM aptly in his blog (Godin, 2010): “The experience I have with you as a

customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen.
28

The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are

more important than they ever were before.”

29

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QUESTIONNAIRE:-

1. What are your thoughts on eWOM on social media?

2. How do you think eWOM has helped (or not) in making businesses more successful?

3. How eWOM has made KFC more successful?

4. Did positive eWOM on social media bring more customers to KFC?

5. How much profit did KFC make due to positive eWOM?