The effect of mobile app design features on student buying behavior for online food ordering and delivery

The smartphone penetration in India is growing rapidly and online buying through mobile apps for products and services is growing at a faster pace. Restaurants in brick and mortar format in order to increase their customer base are trying to get their feet wet in an online mode. Though India has attracted food tech companies due to majority of population being millennial consumers, not many studies have focused on consumer behavior towards online food delivery and ordering through mobile apps especially pertaining to students’ market. Hence this study in an initiative to study the effect of mobile app design features on decision making stages of consumers pertaining for online food ordering and delivery sector. The study adopted SEM analysis through Smart PLS-3 with sample being students studying in Manipal Academy of Higher Education campus from across the globe. The result of study reveals that design features of mobile apps has huge impact on the students’ behavior design, with features, namely, ‘‘Security towards the retention of personal information of students’’, ‘‘Secure and accessible payment gateways”, “Option of tracking real time order status of food and beverages ordered”, ‘‘Access to customer service to respond to customers query without any hindrances”, ‘‘Pop up of trending information of food and beverages”, “Easy navigation of app features”, ‘‘Search function to quickly access the information”, and ‘‘Delivery services which are flexible”. This study could be used as a base by organizations to enhance the design features of mobile apps in food ordering sector for engaging customers and enhancing their business.