Consumers acceptability of using screen capture methods to capture marketing strategies on online food delivery platforms: a qualitative study.

Abstract

Objective: The use of online food delivery (OFD) platforms is on the rise, and currently, there are no public health policies that regulate what and how food is sold on these platforms. Research quantifying and describing the marketing strategies on OFD platforms is limited. Our study aimed to test the consumers' acceptability of using two screen capture methods to record their food purchasing behaviour on OFD platforms and describe consumers' exposure to, and engagement with, marketing strategies on OFD platforms in real time.

Design: Semi-structured online interviews on the consumer acceptability of using the screen capture methods were analysed using thematic analysis. Screen recordings of OFD orders were analysed using content analysis, guided by the marketing mix framework (i.e. product, placement, price and promotion).

Settings: Victoria, Australia.

Participants: Twenty adults using the OFD service at least once a month were recruited.

Results: The mean age of the sample was 28 years. 75 % were females, over 80 % had completed higher education and 20 % lived with children < 18 years of age. Over half used OFD service two to five times per week. Participants expressed that both smartphone's in-built screen recording function and third-party screen recording application are easy-to-use and time-efficient with high levels of user satisfaction. A range of marketing strategies were observed on the OFD platform. These included the presence of, and strategic placement of selected food products, price discounts and promotion strategies. Participants appeared to engage with marketing strategies through multiple clicks to reduce the total cost of their OFD order.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that screen recording is an acceptable method for capturing and assessing consumers' real-time exposure to, and engagement with, a range of marketing strategies on the OFD platform. Studies with larger samples are needed to substantiate our findings.