Impact of digital marketing on the competitiveness of the restaurant industry

ABSTRACT Digital marketing uses digital technologies and media to achieve marketing goals. With the advent of digital media, digital marketing strategies have gained a lot of importance among marketers to reach their target markets and improve their performance. This study aims to examine the effect of various digital marketing tools that can significantly impact the competitiveness of the restaurant industry. Restaurants have used various facets of digital marketing to attract and influence customer decisions. The study attempts to identify the digital marketing tools based on the asset-process-performance (APP) framework. The study utilises the structural equation modelling technique to determine the structural relationship among various digital marketing variables. The result indicates that social media, online branding, online advertisements, and post-service quality have a significant impact on the competitiveness of the restaurant industry. Further, the research provides implications for practitioners and policymakers.