Digital-First Marketing Strategies and Their Impact on Consumer Engagement in Pune's Food Industry: A Supply Chain Perspective

Digitization has led to an enormous change in how food businesses communicate with, engage, and develop lasting relationships with their customers. As the food industry in Pune continues to grow exponentially, digitally-oriented strategies like social media campaigns, influencer collaborations, app-based promotions, tailored digital advertising, and customer analytics driven by Big Data has became the bedrock of sustained competitiveness. This research investigates the role of digitally-oriented marketing strategies in consumer engagement and simultaneously explores how certain organizations based in Pune achieve these marketing results through supply chain practices.Mixed methods research design was employed wherein data was collected from consumers (350), supply chain managers, marketing professionals along with an interview of the owners of food enterprises that include restaurants, cloud kitchens and food manufacturers and others. Results of statistical analysis, using regression models and ANOVA, indicate that digital marketing strategies have a statistically significant positive effect on each component of consumer engagement including purchase intention, customer engagement intensity, brand trust, and advocacy, thus contributing significantly to consumer engagement and other metrics.