CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS FOOD PANDA PRODUCTS AMONG

COLLEGE STUDENTS

ASHLEY MAE J. ARCILLA

JERWIN T. APIGO
JESSICA P. APILADO
ARABELA G. BALITON
JOHN MAVERICK C. BENITEZ

DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

MID LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, LA UNION

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

November 2021
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Situation Analysis

The Internet and e-commerce industry have been growing at its fastest speed

over the recent years. There have been a lot of changes in the traditional performance of

doing tasks and jobs, with the rise of e-commerce and in particular mobile e-commerce,

including the food and beverages industry. One successful outcome of this butterfly

effect is the online food delivery service, or commonly known as the OFD apps. OFD

apps can be defined as mobile apps that smartphone users download and use as an

innovative and convenient channel to access restaurants, view food menus, place food

orders, and make payments without any physical interaction with restaurant

staff (Alalwan, 2020).

For many people nowadays, delivery services are a convenient option during

movement control orders (MCO), or for safety reasons. We are not allowed to dine in at

restaurants or go outside for leisure purposes. Many prefer this option of food delivery as

this allows them to have fresh and healthy food at their offices or homes while they have

the freedom to continue to work during this challenging time. The situation in the food

service industry is unpredictable, where most businesses were forced to close for the

pandemic time. Some initiatives are to be taken among businesses to comply with

lockdown and social distancing regulations, including switching to take-away or delivery

and adopting adaptive solutions to procure products. Initiatives have been taken to a
certain degree of business adaptiveness and organizational resilience that has been

addressed in previous research (Hall, Prayag & Amore, 2017).

The rise of Food Panda during the pandemic is because of the powerful and

user-friendly mobile app and website. Customers have the chance to browse the huge

number of listed restaurants and order food without the hassle. They also may follow up

using the mobile app or website on the orders they made until the orders arrived. Food

Panda has raised $318 million of venture capital. Nearly $20 million was raised in initial

funding from Rocket Internet and investment AB Kinnevik 2013. During the same year,

iMENA Holdings invested approximately $8 million and received another $ 20 million in

the year 2014. Goldman Sachs also invested nearly $100 million. All the investments

really show confidence from investors and VCs about Food Panda's success and growth.

Despite the situation and marketing, the consistent purchase of a preferred product or

service considered as a deep commitment to customer loyalty.

For instance, companies are developing their sustainability measures to

reassure their customers that availing their service could both serve their needs and, at the

same time, being produced in a manner that is bound to economic, social, and

environmental goals that both companies and customers share. As the e-commerce sector

has become broad and diverse, many companies have established credibility in this sector

(Aslam et al., 2018). A known company in this sector is Food Panda. The company is a

mobile food delivery service that has a massive footprint of hundreds of restaurant

partners in over 50 countries and one of which is the Philippines. For an e-commerce

business like Food Panda, it is important to provide the best experience to its customers

as it can break or make their relationship with the customers and affect the longevity of
the company. Regardless of whatever trends and how much the e-commerce business

continues to expand, the first and foremost priority should always be to provide a positive

customer experience. With the introduction of e-commerce, the traditional distribution

channels have shifted from availing services in stores to availing these online. Today,

services are either marketed online to drive traffic to a company’s website or they are

sold by partner companies, like Food Panda.

The beauty of the Internet is precisely the possibility of digital forming of the

world that is around us. The main features of e-commerce, which cannot be ignored,

include an easy to access website or application design that does not compromise the

security and privacy of those who utilize it. In order to satisfy the growing needs of

modern online shoppers, new methods and tools must be innovated in the e-commerce

sector. Moreover, these businesses must try to propose the most flexible strategies to

address these needs respectively. Further, the inclusion of sustainability measures will be

a powerful tool for companies. Convenience is one of the main reasons to order food

online. It saves time, customers can choose from a variety of restaurants and their

payment details are stored. Food Panda apps media through which the restaurants parcel

food directly at the doorsteps of the customers. This idea of food delivery is quickly

spreading due to the increase in the number of the pandemic, working population and

their hectic work-life culture in the country.

Food delivery in the Philippines is considered a major alternative to dining out

and preparing meals at home for families who want a respite from home-cooked meals

and cannot endure the inconveniences of dining out the Philippines currently has one of

the highest digital populations in the world ranking 11th in the list. Internet penetration
now stands at around 63 percent out of 105.7 million Filipinos. According to Camus

(2018), more than half of the population, or 61 million, access the internet using a mobile

device. While e-commerce is rapidly-spreading around the world, the food industry also

began to take its place in this growing area. Indeed, technology has played a key role in

revolutionizing the food delivery service. The food delivery landscape has been

undergoing significant change in the last few years. Time-starved and convenience-

seeking consumers are ordering food, rather than dining in-store. Truly, online food

ordering and delivery trend is taking over the traditional phone ordering service. The

growth of the online food delivery segment is attributed to the changing characteristics of

consumers.

Food Panda has been operating in the Philippines since 2014. It’s part of

Delivery Hero, a multinational online food delivery service based in Berlin, Germany

(Zoleta, 2021). The massive and fast-growing €90 billion food delivery market is driven

by global trends, including booming smart-phone usage, younger populations of “digital

natives” in emerging markets, and a growing global middle class (Foodpanda, 2017).

Food Panda is probably one of the most popular online food delivery services in the

country ranking, first at the apple app store in the food and drinks section (Similarweb,

2019). The platform can be accessed, using their website or their Android and iOS

applications (Diangson, 2018). According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in

the Philippines, 71 percent of the respondents stated ordering more through food delivery

apps due to the imposed closure of all restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic as of

June 2020. On the other hand, only four percent stated they ordered online because they

couldn't cook.
 Food Panda is one of the leading food delivery apps in the country, based on

Kantar TNS research. Conducted from December 2018 to March 2019. Food Panda takes

pride in being mainly focused on providing just one type of service (delivering food to

customers) with undivided attention. On-demand food delivery service, Food Panda,

announced its expansion to more cities in the Philippines, solidifying the brand’s position

as the biggest online food and groceries delivery service in the country. Among the new

places where Food Panda is now available are Malolos, Dasmarinas, Iligan, Legazpi,

Cabanatuan, Dagupan, Olongapo, Novaliches, and Batangas. Food Panda has been

constantly growing, as people turn to delivery apps during these challenging times. The

expansion to new cities reflects its commitment to serving more Filipinos with

unparalleled delivery service. Food Panda delivers dishes from a range of global and

local cuisines as well as grocery items to your doorstep (Rappler, 2020).

As part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines in

an attempt to contain the spread of the virus, the government has imposed strict

quarantine measures and other restrictions, starting in Manila and quickly expanding to

other areas of the country. Lockdowns and curfews caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

have significantly affected shopping behavior not just in our country but in the whole

world, specifically herein our Province of La Union. The emergence of Food Panda is

brought by technological advances and innovations nowadays and triggers its usefulness

during this time of pandemic. Online food delivery services in the Philippines have

changed the way Filipinos order food specifically in the City of San Fernando, La Union.

It’s convenient to order food online, no need to step out and battle with the heat and

traffic.
 It takes just a few taps on your smart phones to order from your chose

restaurant and favorite food shops. Then all that’s left to do is to wait within half an hour

or so for your food to arrive. What a great way to save time and money, and to avoid

taking risk on going outside the households especially that COVID is making a threat to

everyone (Velasquez, 2021). During the world 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, the benefits of

online food delivery are obvious, because it facilitates consumer access to prepared meals

and enables food providers to stay operating. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has

disrupted most aspects of life, including the way people access goods. Government-

mandated lockdowns and curfews have kept consumers reception, preventing normal

shopping patterns and plenty of brick-and-mortar businesses has closed down.

According to Sabhani et al., (2021), in this technological era, almost

everything is made available to us at our fingertips. At just one click, we can buy

ourselves anything we wish for right at our doorsteps. The most common reasons for

which people prefer to order food online are busy schedules, food gets delivered within

the desired timeline, exciting offers and discounts, easy and convenient, etc. Despite

facing some difficulties like late delivery, payment issues, more delivery charges,

receiving unexpected quality and quantity, etc. it is found that the majority of the

consumers were satisfied with the usage of online food delivery services. In a nutshell, it

can be said that the online food delivery services are growing with the pace of

technological advancement as most people are found to have a positive attitude towards

using such services.

Primarily because of new innovations and technological advances, and better

accessibility to the internet and due to the underlying threat of COVID 19 in the external
environment emergence of Online Food Delivery services, apps and other platforms gain

popularity and demand. Studying about the consumers perception about Food Panda is

very relevant and timely.

Because this industry gains so much popularity especially during this time of

pandemic. Through this research we can understand and identify the perceptions of

consumer in terms of variety, price, quality, and convenience of Food Panda products. By

identifying the perceptive of consumers we can analyze and give recommendations on

how the consumers or users can use this platform into their advantage.

The rationale behind taking this study is to gain better understanding about the

emergence Food Panda, and the college students perceptions towards food panda

product. This study is very timely, due to its exceptional popularity of Food Panda

delivery during this pandemic period. This research will to interpret the perceptions of

online consumers towards Food Panda delivery services in a pandemic lockdown setting.

Framework of the Study

The framing of this study is a collection of theories and legal anchors that will

give foundation for the elaboration of the variables of the study.

The Uses and Gratification Theory

To begin with, The Uses and Gratification Theory discuss the effects of the

media on people. It explains how people use the media for their own need and get

satisfied when their needs are fulfilled. In other words, it can be said that the theory

argues what people do with media rather than what media does to people. Diverging from

other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?” UGT focuses
on "what do people do with media?" It postulates that media is a highly available product

and the audiences are the consumers of the same product. UGT holds that audiences are

responsible for choosing media to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification.

This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources

for viewers' gratification. The theory will help the researchers know the view of college

students consumer to the food panda, thus, the idea of how food panda application

fulfilled their desire after they ordered products to them.

PAD Theory. Developed by Mehrabian and Russel, it proposed the pleasure

arousal dominance (PAD) theory to understand a person’s emotions, which affect their

evaluations and responses to the surroundings. Pleasure is depicted as the feeling of an

individual ranging from extreme unhappiness or pain to extreme ecstasy or happiness

(Yang et al., 2020). The levels of pleasure are satisfied-unsatisfied, annoyed-pleased,

happy-unhappy. Arousal is defined as an individual’s degree of energy, stimulation, and

excitement ranging from sleep to excitement. The PAD theory has been adopted in

multiple contexts such as the intention of using social media (Hall et al., 2017), online

games (Huang et al., 2017), emotional branding in an online fashion (Yang et al., 2020).

In this study, we adopted the PAD theory in the context of using of food apps

because of two reasons: First, the PAD framework is appropriate for evaluating the

effects of emotional responses associated with the context of using the OFD apps (see,

Kumar and Shah, 2021). Second, the process of selecting food from the online menu until

the completion of payment or transactions can greatly influence the emotional response

of the consumers as the effects of emotional response are usually examined in online

retail settings and thus, the knowledge of it is limited in the domain of OFD apps. The
consumer’s interaction with the OFD apps creates emotional ties with the functionality

and the aesthetic features of the apps.

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Considers the roles of the individual

and social influence, is one of the most extensively accepted in the explanation of

technology adoption behaviors. The TPB, developed by Ajzen, has been used to explain

various behaviors such as understanding how users interact with virtual communities,

online services, students’ intention to use technology, mobile services, last-mile logistic

services, and drone delivery. This theory helps the researchers about how college students

interact in ordering products in food panda.

Consumer satisfaction with the delivery of online food is an indicator of how a

company’s services is delivered to meet customer needs. One of the most notable

measures of delivery quality, price, security/privacy and time is customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is affected by multiple factors, such as time, climate, current

situation and others. However, there are four considerations that should be taken into

account, which are delivery service, time, security/privacy, and price as it will shape

customer satisfaction among university students (Azman et al., 2021).

According to Sethu and Bhavya Saini (2016), their aim was to investigate the

student’s perception, behavior and satisfaction of online food ordering and delivery

services. Their study reveals that online food purchasing services help the students in

managing their time better. It is also found that ease of availability of their desired food at

any time and at the same time easy access to internet are the prime reason for using the

service. The internet has played a major role in increasing the awareness of the online

food delivery apps. Through internet, people can search about foods and restaurants,
compare their prices and their services and have easy access to them. Internet has made

all these things convenient for the customers (Dang and Tran, 2018).

Input Process Output

Respondents 1. Determining the

1. Profile; perception of college
1.1 Age students on food
1.2 Gender delivery.
1.3 Course
1.4 Food Choices 2. Gaining
information about
Consumer Perceptions college students
2.1 Variety perception about food
2.2 Price panda products. Satisfaction of
2.3 Quality college students
2.4 Convenience 3. Learning the factors towards Food Panda
that affects the products
consumers food
choices to order.

4. Determining the
perceived problems
that college students
encounter while
ordering on Food
Panda.

Feedback

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

Statement of the Problem

 This study aims to determine the consumer perceptions towards food panda

product among college students.

Specifically, it intended to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the students in terms of;

1.1 Age;

1.2 Gender;

1.3 Course; and

1.4 Food Choices?

2. What is the consumer perceptions towards food panda products?

2.1 Variety

2.2 Price

2.3 Quality

2.4 Convenience

3. Is there a significant difference on the perception of the college students towards food

panda products in terms as to their profile?

Definition of Terms

Butterfly effect - it is an idea that small things can have non-linear impacts on a

complex system.

Customer perception - it refers to the consumer's feelings about a certain

brand. It encompasses all their beliefs, expectations, and experiences with the business

and its products, whether positive or negative.

 E-commerce or electronic commerce - is the buying and selling of goods and

services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the

internet.

Food panda - is an online food delivery marketplace that connects users to

thousands of local food points. It maintains one of the most prominent apps for ordering

from restaurants.

Internet penetration - the relationship between the number of Internet users in

each country and its demographic data.

Movement control orders or MCO - it is a series of national quarantine and

sanitary cordon measures implemented by the federal government of Malaysia in

response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country; started: 18th of March, year 2020.

Online delivery apps or OFD app - it is an online application that can be

installed to any smart devices. It is used to order search for a favorite restaurant, usually

filtered via type of cuisine and choose from available items and choose delivery or pick-

up.

Smartphones - a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a

computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, internet access, and an operating

system capable of running downloaded applications.

 Chapter 2

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The researchers will use the quantitative-descriptive design which is the cross-

sectional survey with the use of survey questionnaire to determine the information needed

about Satisfaction on Food Panda products of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State

University - Mid La Union Campus students.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of college

students regarding Food Panda products.

A descriptive research design is a formal, objective and systematical process

in which numerical data are utilized to gain information on the phenomenon study. It

involves the collection of data in order to answer questions concerning the current status

of the study so there would be a proper recommendation that could be supplemented to

answer what is being asked on the study.

Data Sources

The study will be carried out in different departments or courses of the

University. The respondents of this study will be the college students enrolled in the

school year 2021 - 2022. The researchers will use a simple random sampling to acquire

respondents from the college students of Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

- Mid La Union Campus, La Union, Philippines.

Instrumentation and Data Collection

The study will use a survey questionnaire which will be utilizing Google

Forms or online survey as the data gathering tool. The questionnaire will apply close -

ended questions with multiple choice answer options with predefined answers that offer

the respondents the possibility to select and indicate a Likert 5- point scale. The

questionnaire will be divided into three parts: Part I will be informed consent form where

the respondents were given the time to read and affix their email addresses to signify

their agreement to participate in the study. Part II will tackle about the profile of the

students in terms of the following: age, gender, course, and food choices. Part III will be

the college students perceptions about food panda products in terms of: variety, price,

quality, and convenience.

Data Analysis

The data will be collected with the use of questionnaire. The profile of the

students- respondents will be treated as descriptive statistics including mean, mode, and

frequency counts and simple percentage to summarize the data.

On the other hand, college perceptions about Food Panda products, the

respondents will be measure by the use of average weighted mean.

For all the variables that will be use in this study, five- point Likert Scale

ranging from very satisfied (5) to very unsatisfied (1) will be use to categorize the data

gathered in this study. Furthermore, the finding of this study will be interpreted using the

following point values, statistical ranges, and descriptive equivalents.