St.

Paul College of Ilocos Sur

(Member, St. Paul University System)
St. Paul Avenue, Bantay, 2727 Ilocos Sur
Basic Education —Senior High School

Food Delivery Services in Metro Vigan:

A Study on Consumer Satisfaction
During COVID-19 Pandemic
____________________________________
A Research Paper
Presented to:
Ms. Nina Angeline Pastor
Subject Teacher in RES 102
____________________________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements in RES 102

by:
KING, Kaizer A.
SARMIENTO, Eben Matthew A.
LACANARIA, Angelica Yvonne F.
CORTEZ, Angelique Justine A.

2020
 Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

As the number of COVID-19 cases grow day-by-day in the Philippines, citizens

are forced to stay indoors by strict quarantine measures to keep safe from the virus.

Particularly in Ilocos Sur, the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) is

enforced, only allowing individuals aged 22-59 years in going outside of their residences.

Only business establishments under the categories 1 and 2 can operate in the MGCQ,

which includes food and beverages, hygiene products, medicine, pet and retail essentials,

and delivery services. Due to these conditions, food delivery services in Metro Vigan

have been on the rise in popularity ever since the quarantine started. These delivery

services include Arkila Vigan, Wen Boss Express, Vigan Makan Food Delivery, Scootr

Vigan and Ilocos PasaBuy.

These delivery services have been providing Metro Vigan residents their food and

beverage needs by delivering them to their door step by means of a motorcycle.

Customers will send messages to the food delivery service (FDS) official page containing

basic information like name, address, contact number, the source of orders and the

order(s). Delivery prices vary depending on the amount of orders, the location of the

customer and the set prices by the FDS. However, the services also have time restrictions.

Orders can only be processed from 9 am to 6 pm depending on the service provider.

This concept is not new to the economy, with GrabFood, Food Panda and Honest

Bee leading its popularization in Metro Manila. According to the March 2019 survey by
Kantar TNS cited by Fnbreport.ph (2019), GrabFood was the most used brand in the

Philippines with 62% of votes while FoodPanda and HonestBee only got 21% and 18%

respectively. Food delivery services originally provided convenience for the customers

due to the fact that it just takes more or less 30 minutes for the orders to arrive and

enduring traffic congestion is avoided. However, the service in the current state of the

country not only provides that, but also the contributes to the safety of consumers since

social interaction is limited.

With the rising popularity of the newly-introduced FDS in Ilocos Sur as per

observation, the study aims to uncover the customer satisfaction and repeat order

intentions on each service provider. Customer feedback is always important in order to

address the concerns of the target market. According to Bill Gates, “Your most unhappy

customers are your greatest source of learning”. Given this saying, it is also the study’s

objective to pinpoint various areas for improvement in the new enterprise based on the

customer feedback. However, repeat orders are the best proof on satisfied customers.

Given this, the study also seeks to find out if the customers will be repeating orders or if

the customer already had repeated the service request from the same service provider

given the feedback.

 Conceptual Framework

To improve comprehensibility on the concept of the research, the research

paradigm presented at Figure 1. The diagram below illustrates the factors which

influences the consumer satisfaction. It also identifies how a customer is satisfied. This

served as a guide in conducting the research investigation.

Control Variables Independent Variables Dependent Variables

Socio-demographics Service Quality Customer Satisfaction

Platform: Facebook Affordability Repeat Order
Mode of Transportation: Delivery Speed
Motorcycles Service Provider
Order Timeframe:
Quarantine Period
Source of Food: Within
Vigan-Bantay Figure

1. The

Research Paradigm

T h e r e s e a r c

consumer’s satisfaction. Consumer satisfaction can therefore be measured in terms of

speed of delivery, cost or fee of the delivery and quality of service provided, noted that

the control variables be observed. It is henceforth assumed that a consumer is satisfied

with the service provided when they repeat orders from the same service provider and

gives a good feedback.

 Statement of the Problem

The primary objective of the study is to assess the factors on customer satisfaction

on the Food Delivery Services in Metro Vigan. The study also seeks to find out if there

are or will be repeat orders based off the customers’ satisfaction level. Specifically, the

study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Age

b. Sex

c. Location

2. From where were the orders?

a. Within Metro Vigan

b. Outside Metro Vigan

3. What is the price range for the delivery in the following areas?

a. Vigan

b. Bantay

c. San Vicente

d. Caoayan

e. Sta. Catalina

f. San Ildefonso

g. Sto. Domingo

4. Are the customers satisfied with the delivery service in terms of:
 a. Service Quality

b. Delivery Speed

c. Affordability of Delivery Fee

5. Were there repeat orders from the same service provider?

6. Will there be repeat orders from the same service provider?

Significance of the Study

This section will provide a brief description on the various significances of the

study given.

To the customers- The researchers believe that the customers will benefit because

the study will be identifying their concerns on the food delivery services. In identifying

these concerns, certain areas may be improved and service to them may be improved.

To researchers- In doing the study, the researchers have acquired new skills and

knowledge that they can use in their profession. This paper can enlighten their thinking

with regards to the reality of life especially as one walks towards the path of the business

world.

To the students- The study can be used as basis for future researchers in

conducting their own studies regarding customer satisfaction on a different or somewhat

similar field.
 To the future researchers- Similar studies may use this study as a foundation for

improvement as different circumstances may arise in the future. Given that fact, there

may be a variety of areas that need to be explored as well.

To the business owners- The study will help in the food delivery services’

business flow by identifying the different areas they may need to improve in order to

fully satisfy the market. The results will we significant in developing the business’

strategies, especially in dealing with customers.

Assumptions of the Study

The researchers assumed the following of the study:

1. The respondents answered the survey forms truthfully.

2. Customer satisfaction are well-assessed and measurable.

Scope and limitations of the study

The study will be focusing on customers of the FDS in Metro Vigan only. The

term Metro Vigan comprises Vigan City, Bantay, San Vicente, Sta. Catalina, Caoayan,

San Ildefonso and Sto. Domingo. Due to the guidelines imposed for Modified General

Community Quarantine, the researchers cannot go out to conduct physical surveys. The

respondents will be answering through a survey questionnaire in the platform Google

Forms. The forms will be sent through private messages and Facebook posts. Only those

who answered will be considered as population for random sampling. The areas that the
respondents will be asked of in terms of their satisfaction are in: Service Quality,

Delivery Speed and Affordability. The study will only focus on 3 service providers who

post actively on delivered goods. In addendum, the study will only cover orders coming

from ________(pre-survey needed or web scraping).

Operational Definition of Terms

In order to avoid misinterpretations on the terms utilized in the study, the

following concepts are operationally defined:

Customers. The people who placed the order and the ones who received the

delivery.

Affordability. The price charged for the delivery service and not the price of the

purchased product(s) themselves.

Delivery Speed. The time between order confirmation and the time of arrival.

Service Quality. The condition of the product upon arrival, response speed of

admin, treatment of delivery persons towards customers and the safety guarantees

provided.

Food Delivery Service (FDS). Services pertaining to the delivery of food and

beverage that are sourced and picked up at a restaurant, café or of similar

establishments. The service providers.

 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section provides related significant literature that will further strengthen

development and conceptualization of the study with factual claims.

As technology continues to advance, people become more dependent on things

that can save their time or to what is more convenient for them. Henceforth, delivery

services have been popularizing for the past years, this is the type of convenience which

allows people, especially those who have busy lives, to buy or order things such as food

or if not grocery items without having the need to visit the store personally.

The Online Food Delivery Services make use of either an app or a website for

accepting and processing orders. There are also phone numbers or hotlines provided. In

the delivery process, the riders pick up and deliver the food and/or beverage/s to the

customers by the use of motorcycles. Correa J. et al. (2019) stated that the services rely

on “urban transportation” to eliminate the hassle of going through dense traffic.

On the Significance of Social Media

 According to Pigatto et al., only 57% of the 30 food delivery services in Brazil

made use of mobile applications, while Facebook was the most preferred social media

platform for publicity and customer attraction with a result of 100% from the website

analysis. Twitter was the second most preferred platform with 67% result. This

investment in social media platforms by large companies, including the incorporation of

websites and mobile applications, played a significant role in widening the companies’

geographical presence and direct contact with the customers. Additionally, it was also

stated that “Since the objective of these platforms is to offer an intermediary service

between commercial establishments and final consumers, clarity of communication and

adaptation to the target audience’s needs are essential for maintaining the business.

Product prices, payment method, the commercial establishment menu and whether it is

open or closed at the time of access are standardized information on these platforms; The

success of this business model depends on the greater availability of mobile applications

(APP) given the greater connectivity of consumers, intensive use of social media,

increased interaction and loyalty of consumers.” (2017)

On Factors of Food Delivery Service

On Delivery Speed

It is important to consider customer feedback for the improvement of the overall

service quality. “The improvement of OFD services might be supported by analyzing

customers comments with recent text mining techniques (Silge & Robinson, 2017) like

the ones employed by Jia (2018)” (qtd. in Correa et al., 2019). In the study conducted by
Jia (2018), software and websites were used to gather data like “Batch Geocode Tool”,

“Facebook”, “Google Maps”, and “Agenty”. The following were gathered: cost of the

delivery, expected delivery time, minimum number of items for order, the delivery time

fulfillment and number of comments that customers have registered for each provider as

proof for negative or positive feedback. The study made use of Google Maps to identify

rush hours, Agenty as a web-scraping tool to identify the number of restaurants the

service providers have been coordinating with, and Batch Geocode Tool to locate the

longitude and longitude of the base of operations of the admin. It was also stated by

Correa et al. (2019) that such methods exposed the significant performance indicators of

the service providers and uncovered its association with traffic patterns such as rush

hours.

On Service Quality

According to Augus & Yusra (2018), service quality has a positive effect to both

customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It is important to pay close attention to

service quality. Unsatisfied customers may relay bad experiences to others, which may

potentially become threats to the enterprise. It was also stated that in improving the

service, personal innovativeness of consumers must be considered. While it is important

to maintain customer satisfaction by improving quality of service to maintain loyalty, the

market is mainly composed of tech-savvy, young, busy and working citizens. Hence, it is

more likely for them to lean towards futuristic, innovative or high-tech options. Such

factor may be detrimental to customer loyalty when service quality is not paid attention
to. Understanding the needs of the customers and the aspects of online delivery services

that are important to them are vital for improvements.

The role of the riders of the food delivery services also play a crucial role.

Lodorfos et al., (2015) suggests that delivery service systems should consider the

following- role performance of employees, their adaptability to individual customer

needs, effectiveness of their coordination and effectiveness of service process' control in

order to provide a high-quality service to customers. Based on the findings of the study,

only three of these variables are confirmed to have positive influence in ensuring that

such delivery service is providing satisfaction to the customers. As for the influence of

employee’s ability to offer customized solutions to the customer, it is concluded that such

factor has no significance to the perceived quality service. With that, such conclusions

highlight the need for well-coordinated procedures in order to ensure that employees

enact an effective and efficient role in the service.

On Price Consciousness

Augus & Yusra (2020) states that customers advocate online food delivery

services with cheaper prices yet with same service quality. Price plays an important role

in affecting customer behavior and has been studied widely in marketing literature.

Norfarah et al. (2018) stated that price-conscious consumers tend to favor lower-

priced goods when evaluating a product and focus less on product quality. Therefore,

price-conscious customers will be willing to switch or try another brand when offered the

lowest price. Store image perception, perceived product quality and price consciousness
have a significant relationship with the purchase intention of consumers. However,

consumers’ value consciousness has a negative relationship with to purchase intention.

According to Rahpeima et al., price consciousness is the favorable attitude of

customers on paying cheaper prices and seeking cheaper prices is one of the behaviors

prevailing to earn a profit. It is expected for customers with a high price consciousness to

favor discounts and cheaper prices (2014).

Lee (2008) states that price-conscious customers tend to favor stores that give

decent quality while charging minimal lucre. Price can bring a different perception to

different consumers. People who are price conscious do not pay attention to functional

and social risks and are immediately drawn to store-branded merchandise prices. He also

stated that publicity or the use of public relations also matter in expanding the contact

area of businesses as this can bring about consumer familiarity with the brand and its

quality. Hence, the “brand image” must be taken care of. This includes the concept of the

enterprise, the labels, the designs, the advertisement, and the like.

On Relationship Between Socio-Demographics & Food Delivery Services

A study in India by Prabash (2020) showed that e-commerce in the country has

been improving due to the advancements of the Internet. E-commerce development has

made online food ordering services a preferred avenue in conveniently acquiring food

from various food establishments. The point of view on the service, however, varies from

person-to-person. Young customers tend to lean more on online food applications as the

most influencing factor while breadwinners, both men and women, enjoy the service due
to the payment convenience and time-saving factors. It was also shown that there were

some factors that contribute to hesitation in ordering online such as unawareness, fear of

online payment and fear of exposing personal information.

According to Beliya et al. (2019), majority of the food delivery services’ users are

of 18 to 30 years of age. According to the study, the services are availed once a week

during lunch and dinner.

Rathore & Chaudhary (2018) stated that the online delivery services is more

geared towards the younger tech-savvy generation. It was shown that the most influential

factors in online delivery service are price of the products, discounts and special offers.

Convenience and on-time deliveries are also two of the defining factors that influence the

customer intentions in ordering. Weekly delivery patterns show that the most common

orders which are Fast Food, come in during snack and dinner time. It was also noted that

“majority of students of Indore region are well aware of the online food ordering and

most of them have used online food ordering services which indicates the growing

popularity of the online food ordering within the youngsters.”

Kitthanadeachakorn (2016) conducted a study with regards to customer buying

decision process using online platform for online food delivery in Thailand. Upon

exploring the factors that could affect consumer decision-making process toward the

online food delivery service, the researcher found out that the perception toward the

online food delivery service is positive. Consumers who utilize the use of online food

delivery perceive that such service offers convenience to them. However, there are some

negative feedbacks on the complexity of the online platform. As for the non-users, they
also perceive that online food delivery service offers convenience. However, the reasons

they do not use the service are either because of their limitations on using the system or

they cannot justify the perceived risk that are involved in ordering food online such as

quality of food and payment.

On Food Delivery Services During Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery services thrive. According to Sebastian

(2020), delivery services have become especially convenient during these times.

However, these kinds of services are not completely done without risk but can be

maintained by lessening the interpersonal contact through the following practices: (a)

“Implement a Cashless System”; transactions online are essential during the payment

process after delivery to prevent cross-contamination. (b.) “Leave a Digital Trace by

Shopping In-App”; tracking by means of application records will also prove useful in

monitoring the flow of customers’ contact with staff members. (c) “Ensure that

Resources are Accessible"; proper equipment or hygiene products must be provided to

staff members like face masks, gloves, soaps and sanitizers. (d) “Reinforce Existing

Cleaning and Disinfection Programs”; designated areas for specific tasks like bagging

items and collection of insulated bags should be assigned to prevent contamination.

These methods are helpful in slowing down the spread of the virus. However, these

products must be properly disposed of after usage as to prevent the contamination of

nearby operational areas.

 The aforementioned pieces of literature have provided advantageous insights for

the improvement of the study and for the identification of the gaps that need to be filled.

To summarize, the present study identifies how customer satisfaction on food delivery

services are affected by the following factors: Affordability, Service Quality and Delivery

Speed. The mentioned studies highlighted the importance of taking these factors into

consideration in determining the satisfaction of the customers as part of the feedback.

Additionally, the study will take note of the socio-demographic profiles of the

respondents, which may also be defining factors in the satisfaction level.