If you haven’t read our 2020 predictions paper yet, click here to download it now.
Here at Preoday, we focus on the merits of digital ordering through a smartphone app or website interface. However, kiosks offer much the same benefit as online and mobile ordering, with the main difference being their position within the physical buyer journey.
With a mobile app, most orders tend to be placed before a customer reaches the restaurant or food shop, or they have arranged for delivery from home – in any case, they are not physically present in the food provider’s location. Kiosks on the other hand are used once the customer is on-site. Their main advantage is that they are integrated into the restaurant’s, or shop’s, EPOS systems, stopping people all funneling to one order and pay line and preventing a backlog at the tills.
In any case, the benefits of mobile ordering are reflected in kiosk technology. Brands can benefit from using both. By using both, operators can decide which products to showcase on which menu, adding modifiers and altering item position to aid up- and cross-selling. Both these on- and off-site technologies are shown to increase average basket size, improve order accuracy and streamline customer service. They appeal to tech-savvy consumers and, when managed properly, help to improve the efficiency of operations.
Moreover, the data shows that customers are embracing this technology, much like they appreciate mobile and online ordering. Research in 2019 showed that a quarter of restaurant customers have used a self-ordering kiosk at a restaurant in the three months prior, a figure up sever percent year-on-year. This same research goes on to predict that the self-order kiosk market will reach $30.8bn by 2024.
And quick service brands are reacting to this demand. KFC plans to have kiosks in 5,000 restaurants around the world by 2020, and sister chain Taco Bell plans to have its entire domestic system outfitted with the technology by the end of this year. Burger King, Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ are just some of the other brands also focusing on in-store technology, including kiosks.
There’s more on kiosks available to read in our 2020 predictions report, so download it now! Once you’ve read it, we’d be keen to hear if you agree with our thoughts.
It’s not as catchy as: ‘When is a door not a door?’ (answer, when it’s a jar) but it speaks to the idea that in-car collection, and the technologies that support it, are flexible enough to bend to the needs of a business and its guests.
Delivery can be daunting to the uninitiated, and it might be tempting to sign up with a third-party ordering aggregator that offers the service, such as UberEats, but other options could suit your business and brand better. Here we present three different ‘levels’ of delivery, starting with the most basic – and cheapest method: doing it yourself.
