ABSTRACT
The study is focused on nutritional labelling of restaurant menu and customer’s choice of restaurant. Nutritional labelling is the practice of providing information about calories, fat, sodium, or other selected nutrients in menu items at point of purchase, nutritional labelling is one strategy in a broad spectrum of efforts to reduce rates of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases all over the world. Since many people all over the world consume food away from home, access to nutrition information at point of food and beverage purchases may help consumers make healthier choices. Menu labelling regulations for chain restaurants, usually in the form of calorie information at the point of purchase, have been adopted by many countries especially the developed and developing countries. Menu labels can appear on menu boards, food tags (cards with nutritional information placed next to food items in display cases or cafeteria lines) or printed menus. The significant growth in food labelling does not, itself, give consumers the knowledge to make informed choices. Without a clear understanding of how this information can improve one’s health, the advantages are lost. Nutritional labelling on restaurant menus is more likely to be accepted in popular restaurant and fast food establishments where consumers eat regularly and predominantly for sustenance and, where such information is available. Similar schemes in fine-dining restaurants, may be viewed less favorably by customers. No labelling system or legislation can control the choices made by individuals and therefore the responsibility to select nutritional balance food is personal. The difficulties of standardization and the high costs involved in providing precise nutritional information suggest it would difficult for small businesses to achieve and these may be put at risk of closure if forced to calculate nutritional values. Without an appropriate, holistic, restaurant nutritional labelling system, there appears to be little point in the hospitality industry endeavoring to provide information which many customers may ignore or not understand. Based on this conclusion, the study recommends that fast food restaurants have to put more effort on encouraging customers to use nutritional labeling by making the label more accessible and in a user friendly format. Also restaurants should ensure that their menu is labelled in such a way that customers can actually know the content of the food. This is because some customers have health issue that would deprive them of eating some foods. The study further recommends that nutritional labelling should be compulsory for every fast food and restaurants. That would give customers more confident in consuming the food having known the content of the food.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1
1.0
Introduction
1.1
Background of the study
1
1.2
Statement of the problem
6
1.3
Objectives of the study
8
1.4
Research questions
8
1.5
Significance of the study
9
1.6
Scope of the study
10
CHAPTER
2
2.0
Review of related literature
11
2.1.1
Conceptual framework
11
2.1.2
An overview of the Nigerian Restaurant Industry 12
2.1.1
Quick service restaurant
14
2.1.2
Food labeling
16
2.1.3
Food labelling in restaurants
18
2.1.4
Nutrition
22
2.1.5
Legal implementation of nutritional labelling
36
2.1.6
Impact of nutritional labelling in the restaurant 37
2.1.7
The impact nutritional labelling has on customers behaviors
Towards their food choices in the
restaurant
38
2.1.8
Influence of menu labelling and restaurant foods 46
2.2
Theoretical framework
51
2.2.1
Utility theory (Richarm 2005)
51
2.2.1.1
Analytical method
52
2.2.1.2
Perspective models
54
2.3
Empirical literature
54
CHAPTER
3
3.0
Research methodology
60
3.1
Research Design
60
3.2
Area of the study
60
3.3
Population of the study
60
3.4
Sample/Sampling techniques
60
3.5
Instrument for data collection
61
3.6
validation of the instrument
62
3.7
Reliability of the instrument
62
3.8
Method of data collection
63
3.9
Method of data analysis
63
CHAPTER
4
4.0
Data presentation, analysis and discussions of results 64
4.1
Data presentation 64
4.3
Major findings 72
4.4
Discussion of findings 73
CHAPTER 5
5.0
Summary, conclusion and recommendation 77
5.1
Summary 77
5.1.1
Restatement of the problem 78
5.1.2
Description of methods used 79
5.1.3
Major findings 80
5.2
Conclusion 80
5.3
Recommendation 82
5.4
Contribution to knowledge 82
5.5
Suggestion for further studies 82
REFERENCE
APPENDIX
LIST OF TABLES
2.2.1
Cognitive Consumer Behavior Model (Hall, 2016)
51
4.1 Distribution of questionnaire and response
rate 64
4.2.1
Socioeconomic Characteristics of the respondents 64
4.3 Factors affecting purchasing decisions,
Consumer buying and Nutritional
Labelling in the restaurant.
65
4.4 Mean responses on the influence nutritional
labelling is having on
Consumer Purchasing decisions within restaurants 67
4.5 Mean responses on how customers purchasing
decisions are affected
by Nutritional labelling on menus.
69
4.6 Mean responses on the extents of
nutritional labelling impacts on
Purchasing decisions in the
restaurant.
70-71
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
According to the definition provided
by the American Marketing Association (2018), marketing refers to “an
organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and
delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways
that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” In essence, marketing is a
consumer-oriented philosophy or way of doing business; companies that are
consumer-oriented will put consumers’ needs and wants on their top priority.
From this perspective, the ultimate goal of marketing is therefore to create and
retain profitable customers by satisfying their demands. It is worth noting
that the goal of retaining profitable customers is particularly challenging in
Asia including Hong Kong. This is because people in this region tend to be more
group-oriented and the word-of-mouth effects are especially strong.
Hospitality marketing is unique
because it deals with the tangible product, like a bed in the hotel or food in
the restaurant, but it also deals with the intangible aspects of the
hospitality and tourism industry. It is about the experience in a trip and
social status it brings eating in a fine-dining restaurant. Hospitality
marketing is very critical in the success of any hospitality and tourism
product, organization and tourist destination. Proper marketing effort promotes
a product or service that fills the needs and wants of the consumers and at the
same time, bring profits to the
organization or country that features it (Akhtar, 2011).
E-Marketing or electronic marketing refers to the application of marketing
principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the
Internet. The terms e-Marketing, Internet marketing and online marketing, are
frequently interchanged, and can often be considered synonymous. E-Marketing is
the process of marketing a brand using the Internet. It includes both direct
response marketing and indirect marketing elements and uses a range of
technologies to help connect businesses to their customers. By such a
definition, e-Marketing encompasses all the activities a business conducts via
the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current
business and developing its brand identity. E-marketing refers to the use of
the Internet and digital media capabilities to help sell your products or
services. These digital technologies are a valuable addition to traditional
marketing approaches regardless of the size and type of your business (Elis,
2015).
E-marketing is also referred to as
Internet marketing (i-marketing), online marketing or web marketing. As with
conventional marketing, e-marketing is creating a strategy that helps
businesses deliver the right messages and product/services to the right
audience. It consists of all activities and processes with the purpose of
finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers. What has changed is its
wider scope and options compared to conventional marketing methods. E-marketing
is deemed to be broad in scope, because it not only refers to marketing and
promotions over the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail and
wireless media. E-marketing also embraces the management of digital customer
data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) and several other
business management functions (Jackson, 2018).
E-marketing joins creative and
technical aspects of the Internet, including: design, development, advertising
and sales. It includes the use of a website in combination with online
promotional techniques such as search engine marketing (SEM), social medial
marketing, interactive online ads, online directories, e-mail marketing,
affiliate marketing, viral marketing and so on. The digital technologies used
as delivery and communication mediums within the scope of e-marketing
include: internet media such as
websites, YouTube and e-mail; Digital media such as wireless, mobile, cable and
satellite (Gilmore, 2017).
According
to Davis (2019), e-marketing is achieving marketing objectives through applying
digital technologies. It is the application of online and related digital
technologies in conjunction with traditional communications to achieve
marketing objectives. It comprises not only of advertising which are shown on
websites, but also other kinds of online activities like email and social
networking. e-marketing allow
individuals customers to interact with one another and to build relationships.
Companies across the world have joined the fastest growing networks such as
Facebook and Twitter, so as to connect with their customers (Trattner and Kappe
2012). The social media networks act so fantastically as the vehicle helping
companies to gain traffic or attention to their own website usually through the
use of Links via the adverts they place on the social media websites (Chinag
and Chung, 2011). It also acts just as the traditional Word of Mouth in
mainstream marketing does. Corporate messages uploaded on the sites spread very
fast from users to users and presumably resonate in favour of the company in
terms of customer repeat purchase (Deis and Hensel, 2010). Most hotels prefer e-marketing
where they communicate with customers through online devices such as online
advertising and social media marketing. The internet has a unique
characteristic, as such businesses organizations have redefine and rebuild
their markets and branding strategies using the internet (Simmons, 2017).
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Online marketing is the application of electronic
communication technology in achieving objectives. Online marketing is
considered to have broader scope since it refers to the internet, interactive
digital television and mobile marketing together with other concept such as
data based marketing and electronic customer relations (Jackson, 2011). In
spite of these importance, most retail outlet fails to engage in it, as
observed less than 25% retail outlets engage in online marketing while more
than 75% do not consider online marketing as an important factor that enhances
customer patronage (Omololu, 2004). Vij and James (2014) contend that numerous
hotel establishments in Africa and particularly in Nigeria do not comprehend
the effect and the possibilities of engaging in e-marketing, and continue to
depend on traditional marketing to communicate with their audience. In spite of
the tremendous marketing openings exhibited by web-based social networking,
hotel establishments in Nigeria confront different difficulties, for example,
the absence of staff accessibility to actualize an online networking technique.
Legal restrictions likewise introduce a barrier to a portion of the hotel
industry in utilizing e-marketing. Also, numerous hotel establishments evade
the use of social media marketing in view of the expanding instances of
cybercrime (Kabue, 2013). Consequently,
most hotel establishment do not adequately utilize and enjoy the benefits that
comes from online marketing. Most of them do not market their products and
services online using social media platforms. The reason for lack of usage of e-marketing
by hotels in either lack of knowledge on the benefits of e-marketing or that
the hotel is trying to run away from cost. Unlike other business organization,
you can hardly see where hotels and other hospitality establishments advertise
or market their products or services using social media platforms like
facebook, twitter, instagram among others. It is just few of them that
understand the importance and benefits of social media usage. Also, there is
lack of research in the area of e-marketing in hotel organizations. Most of the
research works focuses on manufacturing firms and other business organization.
Hence, it is on this ground that this study aimed to examine the influence of e-marketing
and services: to achieving effective customer’s service in hotel organizations.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to examine the influence
of e-marketing services on effective customer service in hotel organizations.
The specific objectives of the study were to;
(i)
examine the influence of social media marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations.
(ii)
determine the influence of search engine marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations.
(iii)
ascertain the influence of e-display advertising on effective
customer service in hotel organizations.
(iv)
examine the influence of e-mail marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations.
1.4 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
The following questions guided the study.
(i)
What is the influence of social media marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations?
(ii)
What is the influence of search engine marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations?
(iii)
What is the influence of e-display advertising on effective
customer service in hotel organizations
(iv)
What is the influence of e-mail marketing on effective
customer service in hotel organizations?
1.5
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
For the purpose of the study, the following hypotheses
were stated in null form
H01: Social
media marketing has no significant effect on effective customer service in hotel
organizations.
H02: Search
engine marketing has no significant effect on effective customer service in hotel
organizations.
H03: E-display
advertising has no significant effect on effective customer service in hotel
organizations.
H04: E-mail
marketing has no significant effect on effective customer service in hotel
organizations.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
study will be quite significance to the following group of people
ü Hospitality
industry;
The
findings and recommendation of this work will be an eye opener to hospitality
industry on the need to engage in e-marketing rather than depending wholly on
traditional marketing. This study will help hospitality industry to understand
the various e-marketing tools that can help them increase customer service. It
will also enlighten them on the importance of e-marketing in their business
development.
ü Managers
The findings of this study will help managers of
hospitality establishments to understand the importance of integrating social
media marketing in their business. Facebook, Instagram, whatsapp, twitter and
snap chat are the most common platforms used by millions of people every day.
These platforms offer marketing options that can help hotel managers in
marketing their products over a huge audience. However, the findings of this
study will enable managers of hospitality establishments to see the need to
engage in all these social media platform for the purpose of increasing their
sales volume and profitability.
ü Customers
Since
customers are the reason for every business organization, this study will
enable customers to be aware of every new and existing product and service in
the hospitality establishments. That would enable them in their choice of
demand. This study will also guide customers on the particular e-marketing tool
to adopt in making their demands.
ü Government
The findings of this study will also be significant to
government. This is because existing laws and policies that regulate marketing
operations are largely limited to the traditional mediums of marketing. This
study offers insights into the importance of e- marketing and its impact on
hospitality service delivery. The governments should use the findings of this
study as a reference for formulating new marketing policies and regulatory
framework that will cover the e-marketing tools. In addition, the government
can also craft regulatory framework that will ensure fair use of e-marketing to
benefit hospitality establishments.
ü Researchers
The
study will serve as a reference material to researcher who would wish to
research on a similar topic in future.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The content scope is influence
of e-marketing services on effective customer service in hotel organizations. The
geographical scope is Umuahia, Abia state. The unit scope is the staff and
customers of selected hotels in Umuahia, Abia State.
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