Effect of weather on online food ordering

Abstract

Purpose Weather affects consumer decision-making. However, academic research on how weather factors affect specific takeaway foods is limited. This paper aims to fill in the gap and therefore to contribute to online marketing and operation. Design/methodology/approach Web crawler techniques were first exploited to collect takeaway food ordering data from Meituan, the world’s largest GMV platform. Then statistics models and a time series regression model were selected to study the weather impact on online orders. Findings The findings highlight that certain weather factors, such as temperature, air quality and rainfall have clear effects on most category takeaway orders. Originality/value Quantitative analysis of weather impacts on the takeaway ordering business will help to guide the online service platforms for marketing promotion and the settled businesses to make reasonable arrangements for inventory and marketing tactics.