ABSTRACT

THIS RESEARCH PAPER ANALYSES THE MARKETING EFFORTS AND IMPORTANT ATTRIBUTES OF MACAU TEA RESTAURANTS THAT HAVE BEEN OPEN FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, ESPECIALLY THE DIGITAL METHODS THAT TEA RESTAURANTS HAVE USED TO SUSTAIN THEIR BUSINESS AND MEET CUSTOMERS' NEEDS IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL TRANSITION AFTER THE ONSET OF THE 2019 COVID 19 PANDEMIC YEAR. USING ONLINE MARKETING CHANNELS NOWADAYS BECOME AN IMPORTANT TOOL FOR COMMUNICATING WITH CUSTOMERS TODAY. DESPITE THE OLD TEA RESTAURANTS IN MACAU DID NOT PUT MUCH EFFORTS ON DIGITAL CHANNELS FOR COMMUNICATION YET, TO FIND OUT HOW TEA RESTAURANTS SURVIVE IN THE RIVAL RESTAURANT INDUSTRY IN MACAU, QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS WERE USED TO SEE HOW THEY MEET THE NEEDS OF THEIR CUSTOMERS. FOR THE QUANTITATIVE METHOD, AN ONLINE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE IN BILINGUAL ENGLISH AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE WAS CONDUCTED WITH 280 RESPONDENTS ON CUSTOMER PURCHASE HABITS, IMPORTANCE OF RESTAURANTS’ ATTRIBUTES AND SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS ON TEA RESTAURANTS, AND THE DATA WAS ANALYSIS BY SPSS FOR THE RELATIONSHIP AND SIGNIFICANCE. FOR THE QUALITATIVE METHOD, 7 INTERVIEWS WERE CONDUCTED WITH THE BUSINESS OWNERS OF THE OLD TEA RESTAURANTS WHICH THAT HAVE BEEN OPENED FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, INCLUDING MARKETING EFFORTS AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS DIGITALIZATION. TO FIND OUT THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF MACAU’S OLD TEA RESTAURANTS IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ERA, IT WAS FOUND THAT “PLACE” AND “PRODUCT” ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING MIX FOR CUSTOMERS. TEA RESTAURANT OWNERS FOCUS ON PRODUCT QUALITY, AND GENERATE “WORD-OF-MOUTH” WHICH IS CUSTOMER-GENERATED MARKETING, AND IS AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO INFLUENCE CUSTOMERS FOR LOCAL TEA RESTAURANTS. MEANWHILE BUSINESS OWNERS WILL CONSIDER DIGITALIZE IN THE NEAR FUTURE AS WELL TO MATCH THE NEW YOUNG CUSTOMERS’ ONLINE HABITS AND THE NEED FOR “PLACE” SUCH AS ONLINE DELIVERY PLATFORM