Marketing Communication in the Digital Age and Intention to Purchase from Online Food Delivery Services in Colombo District, Sri Lanka

With the increase in the number of internet users and its use in daily communication at the individual and organizational levels, there has been a significant growth in revenue within the online food delivery industry globally. The researcher aimed to investigate the influence of digital marketing communication on the intention to purchase from online food delivery services among consumers in Sri Lanka, and to identify remedies to boost revenue growth, specifically addressing three forms of digital marketing communication, namely, online communities, online advertisements, and electronic-word of mouth based on past literature. The Technology Acceptance Model and the Uses and Gratifications theory were used as the base of this research. The study was of a deductive and quantitative nature and employed a survey strategy where data was gathered by way of Google Forms from 404 participants who purchased food online and resided within the Colombo district. Non-probabilistic Convenience sampling was used to collect the data, and SPSS was used to analyze the data. The results demonstrated that online advertisements and electronic word of mouth exert a significant positive influence on intention to purchase, while online communities have an insignificant impact on intention to purchase. The findings of the study also revealed that food delivery apps are the most used digital marketing communication platforms for purchasing food online in Sri Lanka.