Every kind of business, including those in the food industry, is deriving the benefits on online ordering. Now, you can conveniently order food from your favorite restaurant whenever you don’t want to go out, for whatever reasons. Though the trend is new, it is gaining momentum by the day. Recent studies confirm that 43% of the regular customers ordered delivery or take out of food online. Customers prefer restaurants offering the facility of online ordering. This arrangement of ordering food benefits the restaurants too.
Enhanced efficiency
Getting online orders helps restaurants to improve the efficiency of their routine functioning. Restaurant staff spends more time taking orders on the phone, compared to getting online orders. The likelihood of errors on telephonic orders is much bigger, compared to the Internet option, because of the language and accent of the clients, inefficient working of telephone lines, and the element of human error, resulting to making the wrong deliveries and the expense of redeliveries, as well as earning the customers’ dissatisfaction. Online ordering, on the other hand, gives ample time to the clients to go through the menu and order the precise items they require. There is no room for making errors on the part of the restaurant staff that receives the order electronically. Moreover, the staff gets a ready copy of the ordered goods, enabling them to focus on the timely execution of orders.
Larger orders
Other than getting error-free online orders, it is realized that customers tend to buy more items while ordering online, thus bringing additional revenue for the restaurant. A carefully structured menu helps generating more orders. Ordering take-out food on the Internet saves a lot of the customers’ time, as they can mention the time for picking up the ordered food, and only need to just stop for a while to quickly pick up their favorite food, for which payment is already made online. Restaurants offering formal sit-down dinners can also benefit by extending the facility of online ordering of food, as it opens up another business avenue, especially when maximum tables get occupied, and clients prefer eating at home.
Proven response to customers’ requirement
Of course, enhanced efficiency and larger orders prove beneficial. However, the most significant feature of online ordering is the fact that it can help restaurants expand their customer base. The worth of Ecommerce is $200 billion in the US, and it is expected to grow at the rate of fifteen percent per year. It’s an expanding market, waiting exploitation by the food industry. For instance, over 50% of the restaurants offer the facility of online ordering, but at present just 5% provide the facility of ordering through mobile devices. This fact is revealed by Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research. It found that amazing 90% users of mobile applications wanted to use their online devices for making purchases. That leaves little doubt that businesses not extending the facility of ordering through mobile applications are at a loss!
Cost effective
Small restaurants owned by individuals benefit by offering online ordering. They pay a nominal commission on orders which are actually executed, while websites are generally provided without any charge. Such restaurants can now enjoy the benefits of the technology that the larger restaurants employ. Moreover, the Internet enables small restaurants to be easily located by fresh clients who are always looking for new options for food.
