Decisión de compra y actitud hacia el marketing digital en usuarios de una clínica veterinaria: Estudio empírico en el mercado peruano

Veterinary clinics, like other service businesses, were forced to digitize their customer relationship channels in the face of the restrictions generated by COVID-19. These companies found digital marketing to be an alternative for connecting with different markets and developing an agile and timely service system. Despite the importance of digital actions, their relationship with the purchase decision has not been thoroughly studied. The present study aimed to confirm this relationship, specifically in users of a veterinary clinic in the city of Trujillo, northern Peru. The research employed a quantitative approach and a non-experimental, cross-sectional design with a quantitative scope. The sample consisted of 224 clients of a specialized veterinary clinic. A questionnaire with an ordinal scale was used for data collection, and Spearman's coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the variables. The main finding confirms a moderate association between the constructs, i.e., although there is a link between the two, variation in one does not precisely predict the level of change in the other. Likewise, the purchase decision is positively and moderately associated with social media actions and content marketing, while there is a negative association with emailing. This work demonstrates that, although digital marketing is a key factor for businesses, not all actions are directly linked to the decision, especially in businesses where the shopping experience is crucial, due to the sensitivity of their consumers, which contributes to the Theory of Uses and Gratifications.