Effects of the dietary behavior-related consumer competency on the purchase satisfaction of fresh food via early-morning delivery service

With the recent development of early-morning delivery service, there has been an increase in the online ordering of fresh foods. We aimed to analyze the utilization status of an early-morning fresh food delivery service (MFFD) and corresponding dietary behavior-related consumer competencies (DBCC) and verify the impact of DBCC on purchase satisfaction and the repurchase intention for MFFD. Four hundred participants who used MFFD were surveyed. An office worker in his 30s or 40s with children and with an average monthly household income between 4 million won to 6 million won tended to use MFFD once a week. Participants differed in their DBCC depending on their age and the status of their children. Results showed higher food information utilization competency in participants in their 30s and 40s, higher healthy dietary competency in those in their 30s, and higher safe dietary competency in those in their 20s. Both healthy and safe dietary competencies were particularly higher in those with children. An analysis after adjustment for the presence of children and age demonstrated that the higher the food label utilization competency and safe dietary competency, the higher the purchasing satisfaction. Also the higher the food information utilization competency and healthy dietary competency, the higher the repurchase intention. Our findings may suggest that healthy dietary competency positively affects satisfaction for MFFD, leading to a higher intention to repurchase. Our study provides a basis for emphasizing DBCC in MFFD marketing and the direction of consumer DBCC-related education from the perspective of consumers, not food suppliers.