When a company first looks at adding mobile or online ordering to its customer service offering, it’s often because it wants to reduce queues, streamline orders, or find a more cost-effective way of presenting a mobile offering than Just Eat, Deliveroo or other providers allow.

However, the benefits that a mobile or online ordering service bring go beyond operational. Pre-ordering can make a deeper impact on your business.

Supporting customer acquisition

As well as being well received by an existing and loyal customer base, mobile ordering opens businesses up to new streams of customers and therefore, revenue potential. McDonald’s recently launched mobile ordering in the USA with the hope that it can gain new customers and increase growth.

It’s generally assumed that it is the millennial and younger generations which will sample and stay with a brand if it offers a mobile ordering service. They are internet and mobile-savvy, yet often pushed for time, so will look around for new opportunities to order great food, fast. However, as the gap in smartphone penetration and app usage between younger and older generations is closing you might be surprised about the demographic of new customers attracted.

One company we spoke to has a small chain of restaurants and has been offering mobile ordering for a year. It commented that it had been surprised by how many new business cards it was sending out each week (a card with a discount offer is sent out to each first-time customer upon their first mobile order). It also confirmed that it was gaining much of its new business from the older generations.

Help you grow your business strategically

Through the data pre-ordering provides, you have the opportunity to learn more about both your business and customer base, and the impact that the technology is having upon it. It’s very easy to review the data your platform gathers, for example, what is the customer’s average basket size and how does this compare to the average in-store order? Is there an upward trend in spend?

While data like this is great, it’s just the beginning. Why not go further and take a look at in-store service speeds; are they improving now staff aren’t held up taking telephone orders? What about stock levels? With the ability to spot ordering trends through the platform, can you reduce waste and therefore improve profit? If one area of the menu is proving particularly popular, might there be an opportunity to expand it? These in-store metrics show how mobile ordering is impacting your customers’ experience as well as demonstrating further avenues for business growth.

Support industry objectives

Within most hospitality industries there are government and association-set objectives that businesses are under pressure to support. The coffee/drinks market is a relevant case in point.

Recent studies have caught the attention of the media which has reported coffee lovers in the UK are getting through 2.5 billion disposable cups every twelve months, yet only 1 in 400 is recycled. Stores are being encouraged to push reusable cups at customers yet uptake has been slow. But what if you could use you mobile ordering platform to provide an incentive to customers?

Consider this: what if the customer could pre-order their drink, walk in and collect it in a reusable cup? Then, next time, all they need do is swap their used cup for a fresh drink, in a fresh cup. The store would take the dirty cup back, clean it, and hand it out with the next pre-order that comes in. It would save the customer time and money (if they received a small discount for using the service) and it would dramatically reduce the need for paper cups.

We have developed a white paper on this subject, so if you’re interested in this idea, download it, we’d love to know what you think.

Mobile ordering opens up a world of possibilities for hospitality businesses, and they are not limited to those mentioned here. If you’re curious about how mobile ordering can benefit your business, get in touch on Georgina.Miller@preoday.com, we like to chat.

Den primære grund til at virksomheder overvejer at integrere et system for mobil og online bestilling er at reducere ventetid, strømline bestillingsprocessen, eller for at finde et billigere alternativ til Just Eat og Deliveroo.

Men fordelene ved en mobil eller online bestillingsplatform kan påvirke dine virksomhed langt udover det operationelle.

Støtte til kunden

Mobilbestilling vil blive velmodtaget af dine loyale kunder. Det vil samtidigt åbne op for nye kundegrupper, og dermed øge omsætningen. McDonald’s har for nyligt offentliggjort mobilbestilling  i USA, i håb om at øge omsætningen, og skaffe nye kunder.

Det antages generelt, at det er den yngre generationer, som vil forblive loyale mod en virksomhed, hvis den tilbyder en mobilbestillingstjenester. De er internet og mobil-vante, og har ofte travlt, så de vil se efter nye muligheder for at bestille god mad, hurtigt.Forskellen mellem de yngre og ældre generationer er ved at udlignes, og man bliver overrasket over demografien i forhold til hvilke nye kunder som bliver tiltrukket af mobiltjenester.  Vi talte med en restaurant kæde som har tilbudt mobilbestilling i et år. De udtalte at de var yderst overrasket over hvor mange ekstra kort de har sendt af sted hver uge (kort med en rabat til kunder første gang de anvender mobilbestilling). De udtalte ligeledes at de har fået meget større omsætning og nye kunder fra de ældre generationer.

Hjælp til at udvikle din forretningsstrategi

Forudbestillingsprocessen giver dig indsigt i din virksomhed, og dine kunder. Dataen du indsamler er let at overskue, det kunne for eksempel være data som fortæller dig hvor meget kunderne køber i gennemsnit når de bestiller online, i forhold til i butikken.

Den slags data er en stor ressource, og det er kun begyndelsen. Du kan se på din virksomheds in-store service. Udvikles den, nu hvor personalet ikke skal tage imod bestillinger pr. telefon? Hvad med lagerbeholdningen? Nu hvor i kan spotte tendenserne i jeres salg kan i øge omsætningen og undgå spild. Hvis dele af menuen er ekstra populære, kan det måske være en idé at udvikle dette? Udover at få indsigt i kunders adfærd og behov, får I overblik over hvor virksomheden lettest øger omsætningen.

Støtte til industrien

Restaurationsbranchen er under stort pres for at efterleve de mange politiske regler og krav fra fagforeningerne.

Kaffe og drinks markedet er relevant i denne forbindelse.

Nylige undersøgelser har fået opmærksomheden fra medierne, som har rapporteret, at kaffeelskere i England bruger 2,5 milliarder engangskopper hvert år, men kun 1 ud af 400 genanvendes. Butikker opfordres til at motivere kunderne til at anvende genanvendelige kopper, men det er indtil videre ikke et projekt med en særligt høj succesrate.

Men hvad nu hvis du kunne bruge din mobilbestillingsplatform til at give kunderne et incitament? Overvej dette: Hvad hvis kunden kunne forudbestille deres drikke, gå ind og få den serveret i en genanvendelig kop? Så næste gang er alt, hvad de behøver gøre, at bytte deres brugte kop til en frisk drink i en frisk kop. Butikken ville tage den beskidte kop tilbage, rense den og servere den med den næste forudbestilling, der kommer ind. Det ville spare kunden tid og penge (hvis de fik en lille rabat for at bruge tjenesten) og det ville reducere behovet for papirkopper drastisk.

Vi har udviklet en artikel om dette, og hvis du er interesseret kan du download den her. Vi vil meget gerne høre dine tanker om dette emne.

Mobilbestilling åbner et hav af muligheder for restaurationsbranchen, og der er mange flere end dem som er nævnt her. Hvis du gerne vil vide hvordan mobilbestillinger kan anvendes i din virksomhed er du meget velkommen til at skrive til os på Mark.Anderson@preoday.com. Vi vil meget gerne høre fra dig.