The influence of sensory experiences on consumer perceptions, preferences, and consumption patterns in digitalised yet culturally rooted and diverse Nigeria: Evidence from food delivery applications

Nigeria’s economy is continuously developing, and specifically the digital economy. This has led to changes in consumption habits of which online food delivery is a major example. Marketing strategies mainly rely on visual consumption to regulate perceived impressions of taste and quality of the food. This research was designed to explore the influence of sensory marketing and how the human senses shape an individuals’ sensory perception and identified consumption patterns among users of food delivery platforms in Nigeria. This study implemented an eye tracking experimental study and identified two key visual parameters, colour saturation and visual distance, which were used as measures to determine the extent to which visual attention is influenced. The study adopts a novel approach through an eye tracking experiment and philosophical interpretations of sensory perception anchored on the philosophies of Hume, Gibson, Berkley, and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception. The combination of the eye tracking data and philosophical interpretations led the study to uncover not only how the visual stimuli and its parameters influence the participants’ sensory perception, but also the pathway for interpretation of why and how they are perceived within the Nigerian visual culture and consumption context. The findings indicate the significance of colour saturation in food images as a precursor for taste and quality perceptions that create a sensory engagement, while visual distance displayed the nature of visualising, creating impressions and perceptual multi-sensory engagement. This study delivers a novel and unique contribution to knowledge on how the human senses can be influenced, not only through the online food delivery systems but also through consumers’ behavioural intentions, i.e., culture, emotions, and perceptions.