Here’s a question for restaurants and bars. Do you really know what your customers want? Research by digital ordering company, Preoday, suggests people in the industry have quite a bit to learn. 54% of professionals think customers are looking for a unique experience, for example. Surprisingly, only 2% of consumers said it was the most important factor when choosing a place to eat.1
This is precisely why I’m so excited by the Preoday platform. It gives you the tools to let customers choose for themselves; learn from their behaviour, and use the insights to engage with and give them a better service.
It’s a single platform that lets your customers order ahead – online or through an app. But, crucially, it also gives you the tools and dashboard to gather and analyse the data that comes from these orders. You can then run more effective promotions. And grow/improve loyalty by personalising the service you give people.
This is just the kind of innovation we like at CyberSource. So, it made perfect sense to partner with Preoday. With our combined solution, customers can dine and pay the way they want – and know it is secure.
Another thing that stands out? You can brand the face of the platform and deploy it without the need for a developer. In the fast-moving world of food and drink, the ability to white label a ready-to-go system has real appeal. Yes, aggregators can help chains to take orders. But their commission rates can also eat into profits. So, there’s a strong argument for setting up your own, branded platform.
Protecting profits is one benefit. But there are many others that come from a Preoday-CyberSource platform. It extends a business’ brand into the digital space swiftly and securely. It can help to access fresh streams of revenue, winning new customers and keeping them. And ultimately this can all contribute to more revenue.
Take Aviva Stadium in Dublin, for example. Like many sports stadiums, it takes 60% of sales in one 15-minute interval. By using the Preoday app, the stadium can take orders hours or minutes before the interval and have drinks ready at designated collection points. One of these collection points is now taking more revenue than it did when it was a public bar.
The app allows Aviva Stadium to take more orders, in advance. But the data that flows into the app also contributes to takings. The Stadium can see that 45% of orders are placed up to three hours before kick-off and 42% are made during the match – before half time. This data makes it clear when to send marketing messages to fans.
Martina Flood is Head of Catering Operations at Aviva Stadium. She thinks that drinks orders could be just the start for the service. “Customers want to be able to purchase, not only their food and drink but merchandise, match day programs and possibly tickets for upcoming matches digitally.”
But it’s not just large-scale venues or corporate caterers that can make smart use of Preoday. It’s a platform that makes sense for high street food operators too. Take, for example, an innovative restaurant that uses Preoday for its app platform, so customers can order ahead online to skip the queues. The average order value via Preoday is higher than in-store purchases. This means that the restaurant’s multichannel customers are likely to be worth more than those using a single channel.
This is what CyberSource is all about. Helping merchants to be at the forefront of their sector. Through partnerships with like-minded providers, like Preoday, we can help merchants be at the top of their game. I can’t wait to see how the platform is put to use next.
Ken Ritchie, Strategic Alliance Director, CyberSource
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