INFLUENCE OF ONLINE FOOD REVIEWS ON CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTIONS: AN ASSESMENT

Abstract

In today's digital landscape, online food reviews play a pivotal role in shaping consumer purchase intentions. This study explores the influence of food vloggers on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, focusing on how factors such as vlogger expertise, popularity, video quality, and video length affect the food-buying decisions of Filipino consumers. It also examines whether demographic characteristics—particularly age and gender—significantly impact these purchase behaviors. This study employed a descriptive-correlational research design with 200 respondents from Caloocan and Quezon City who regularly watch food reviews and have made purchase decisions based on them. A structured questionnaire was distributed through online platforms using the snowball sampling method. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation to assess the relationship between review characteristics and consumer purchasing behavior. The results indicated that all four variables—vlogger expertise (Mean = 2.72), popularity (Mean = 2.62), video quality (Mean = 2.69), and video length (Mean = 2.68)—were considered influential by the respondents in shaping their food purchase decisions. Among these, video quality demonstrated the strongest correlation with purchase intention (r = 0.60), followed by vlogger popularity (r = 0.52), expertise (r = 0.48), and video length (r = 0.45). Meanwhile, demographic variables such as age and gender showed weak or no significant correlation with purchase intentions (p > 0.05), suggesting that the influence of online food reviews transcends these demographic distinctions. The findings underscore that the quality of food review content—emphasizing the reviewer’s expertise, credibility, and overall presentation—exerts a stronger influence on consumer purchase decisions than demographic factors like age or gender. Although viewers are drawn to brief and engaging videos, they still value informative and trustworthy content. Therefore, content creators and businesses should prioritize producing reliable, well-crafted reviews to effectively shape consumer behavior and enhance marketing impact.