Marketing Communication Mix and Innovation on Customer Retention and Sustainable Competitive Advantages in Culinary Tourism Business Environment in the City of Medan

Abstract

This study aimed at analysing marketing communication mix and innovation towards customer retention and sustainable competitive advantage in the culinary business in the city of Medan. The type of research in this study is descriptive quantitative and the nature of the research is explanatory. This study used a random sampling method to collect data of 126 respondents. In analysing the data, the method of SEM analysis was used to determine the effect of marketing communication mix and innovation on customer retention and sustainable competitive advantage in the culinary business in the city of Medan. As a result, it was revealed that: 1) marketing communication mix has negative but significant effect on the culinary business customer retention in the city of Medan; 2) innovation has positive and significant effect on culinary business customer retention in the city of Medan; 3) marketing communication mix has positive but not significant effect on the sustainable competitive advantage in the culinary business in the city of Medan; 4) innovation has a  positive and significant effect on the culinary business sustainable competitive advantage in the city of Medan; 5) customer retention has a positive and significant effect on culinary business customer retention in Medan. In this study, the results of SEM analysis discovered that marketing communication mix does not significantly affect sustainable competitive advantages, but rather continuous innovation that can improve sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, it is suggested that in order to continue to exist, business owners of culinary business should create innovative products on foods/drinks and a few technical dimensions that help achieve sustainable competitive advantage.