Tremendously hungry and stuck in traffic? Too worn-out and exhausted to cook?
It’s alright to say no to all those tins and packets of frozen food because hot and fresh food is now merely a button away. Whether you’re at home, in office or in your dorm, thanks to technology becoming so synonymous with life, food will be delivered to you within no time.
When online ordering for restaurants was on the emergence, speculations arose as to whether it was to stay or not. In this age, the new query doing the rounds is, “mobile ordering for restaurants, is a fad or utmost essential?”
Now-a-days, the digital world is submerged in gazillions of custom-mobile apps with the current escalation in technology. Doing business with the help of these apps has become an unprecedented way of dealing with customers and believe it or not, it’s the new way of drawing people to your eatery!
So, if your restaurant or food-servicing business hasn’t added the online-ordering system or custom-mobile app, you might want to reconsider your marketing strategy.
As Smartphone use continues to soar, restaurants and eateries are the ones that tend to gain the most from the initiation of mobile ordering for restaurants through customized apps. More so due to the fact that for today’s tech-savvy generation, having food outside is often an impulsive decision made while on-the-go. Online ordering for restaurants entails the same effortless process as one no longer needs to place a call to the delivery system or travel to procure food from eateries.
While one survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says that at least two-thirds of customers use their Smartphone/tablets to place an online order or use custom-mobile apps, another study released by Single Platform states that 81% of consumers have used web-browsers and mobile apps to search for restaurants.
Needless to say, food-joints have started making use of these facilities to enhance sales and service as well as generate consumer buzz. While online ordering for restaurants increases ordering frequency as customers not paying with cash tend to spend more, mobile ordering stores past orders and credit card information thus encouraging repeat business. This way restaurant can use customer-relationship marketing tool to target future promotions and the benefits reaped shall be mutual.
The varied tools that restaurants can employ to boost custom-mobile apps are-
- Optimizing for local search which uncomplicates things for consumers.
- Introducing a mobile-friendly menu because its’ annoying for users to download a PDF of the menu.
- Getting to know the consumer well so as to target them accordingly.
The perks that restaurants via online/mobile ordering get are many to be named.
Firstly, they get to establish a one-on-one connection with consumers specially in casual eateries. Also, the pressure of commissions, threats and financial shortages is fairly less. It’s also a great tool to help reduce order errors as restaurants sometimes struggle with language barriers between consumers and staff. Moreover, due to the increased dependency on technology, this area has an opportunity to boom for both consumers and food-joints.
As one entrepreneur quotes, “If you don’t have a mobile presence in your restaurant business, then you are not relevant to the majority of the marketplace because consumers’ lifestyle dictates spending on their mobile devices,”
Therefore, in my opinion, restaurants and food-joint marketers should pay close attention to this trend or they could find themselves missing out on a huge transition.
