Abstract:
In the era of digitization, it has become difficult for consumers to identify the most efficient product option while online purchasing. Similarly, businesses are having a hard time attracting and retaining customers. The digital marketing strategies such as the eWOM act as a medium to share product information from business to customer and from customer to customer. This online information and review sharing system has been observed to alter the purchase intention of the consumer community. With the development of food and dining culture, an escalation in the food businesses in the twin cities area is observed. As most of these businesses have an online presence, a virtual community is developed which includes the major stakeholders of the food and beverage industry; the consumer population, and the food business owners. Because of the increased dependence of the millennial generation on the internet, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of eWOM on consumer behavior in the millennials. Moreover, increased eWOM reliance also generates a customer’s perceived value which was also evaluated for the food and beverage industry in this study. The research model consists of two hypotheses which were tested using an instrument of three variables. The survey was conducted on 300 millennials of the urban area of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It was observed that a large majority of millennials of the population were comfortable in consulting online reviews. Many millennials consult social media before dining out. The millennials are more focused on the value of money as compared to other factors. It was found that eWOM is a strong influencer of the perceived value and the consumer behavior of the millennial generation in the food and beverage industry of twin cities
