As more commerce shifts online, the war in the food sector is heating up every day. According to the numbers shared by Statista, 3 billion people are expected to use smartphones worldwide by 2020. To capitalize the power of mobile technology, businessmen, especially in the restaurant industry, are preparing to jump on the bandwagon and elevate the customer experience.

While food delivery companies like Zomato, Swiggy, UberEats, Deliveroo and Yelp are setting new milestones for the food and service industry, restaurants are moving away from traditional processes to take advantage of innovative technologies. One emerging trend that's catching up among restaurateurs is providing the customers with a multitude of payment processing options to choose from. Mobile payments are becoming the most preferred mode of payment for online ordering and it's time your restaurant understood the potential of keeping up with the trend.

If you’ve been thinking to wait to see how the mobile payment scenario reels out, you may be risking the ire of your customers. Customers are comfortable and willing to pay for their meal using their smartphone. Your work as a restaurant owner is to provide them with quick, easy and secure mobile payment solutions, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a QSR restaurant or a fine dining establishment.

Let's take a look at a few reasons why your restaurant should think about incorporating mobile payment solutions into their operations. This could be an effective way to rev up sales this year.

You don’t want customers to seek alternative options

70% of the mobile payment users are millennials or Gen Xers -  they're quick to adopt new technologies and typically more comfortable using their smartphones to pay for their bills. Your competitors understood this potential and have already lured this generation with their mobile apps. If your target audience belongs to these generations which they do, then implementing mobile payments may be a good choice for your business. The fact that your competitors are doing this already should be strong enough sign for you to follow suit.

You have expanded into online ordering

It is highly unlikely that you don’t have an online presence or a partnership with food delivery service. If online orders are contributing a major chunk to revenues, the decision of whether or not to have mobile payments is an easy one.

According to Food Tech Connect, 35% of millennials who pay their bills via mobile devices like to place their food orders online and 40% of these actually choose mobile payment over other options. What you need to know the most is that the top reason why carts are abandoned is when the restaurant doesn't provide a mobile payment option to order food.

If you provide doorstep food delivery, act quickly, incorporate mobile payment, because you already have an existing base of customers who prefer online ordering. It wouldn’t take long to convert them into loyal customers if you give them the ability to make a fast and secure payment via their smartphone.

You want to elevate customer experience

Reviews matter a lot in the digital space. If you want to build a business that's not just profitable, but also loved by everyone and anyone who deals with your restaurant, you need to deliver an exemplary customer experience at all levels - starting right from the website to menu, and checkout process.

Have you considered that lack of mobile payment could be a reason you're losing customers to your competition? The benefits of mobile payments are becoming more apparent to both restaurants and consumers as they make conducting transactions more convenient and secure.

You can send customers personalized push notifications informing them about new payment technologies and respective deals on online ordering. This will help you boost order count by 35%.

Offering mobile payments gives you other opportunities as well

Every restaurant needs to have a mobile payment option for online ordering. More than 72% of the online users prefer to order food online from the comfort of their office and home, so it’s only natural that they should be able to make the payment using their smartphone or tablet.

• Incorporating mobile payment technology enables speed and convenience -  two primary components cited in surveys conducted on customer service. Ordering online with fast checkout also takes stress off your operation and helps you gain operational efficiencies.
• Some mobile payment platforms charge less than credit card companies which convert to direct savings for the business.
• Paying via a mobile device helps save a considerable amount of time. This helps capture the business of impulse customers.
• Most mobile payment platforms allow you to track customers trends and inventory that in return help you better serve your customers. Hence, driving loyalty and more sales.

Why not get started accepting mobile payments now?

How to begin?

To begin accepting mobile payments, you would need an NFC system, which allows your reader and a customer's mobile phone to communicate through touch. There is a variety of options available for restaurants, and many of them feature similar infrastructures. The solutions available for restauranteurs range from custom apps to generic applications available to anyone. Restaurants can also accept mobile payment using mobile wallet solutions like Square, Level Up, Google Wallet, and Apple Pay. However, restaurant owners should first determine their need and then seek out a solution that's a perfect match for their operation and budget.

"Whichever option you choose to go with, mobile payments for online ordering are here to stay."

Is your restaurant ready to incorporate mobile payments? If you don't know how to go about it, speak to our experts at Restolabs. We'll help you determine which mobile payment platform is right for your restaurant business.