Why your restaurant needs an online ordering system
Created on 22 August, 2022 • Hospitality • 4 minutes read
42% of consumers that the ability to order online makes them choose one restaurant over another.
Who doesn’t love an extra chance to bring in more customers? According to the National Restaurant Association says 42% of consumers that the ability to order online makes them choose one restaurant over another. While that percentage is huge, some restaurants are still on the cusp of implementing an online ordering system. They think things like, “Is my restaurant suitable for online ordering?” and “Are these numbers 100% accurate?” With today’s technological advancements, customers can take their time, review their orders and be precise with what they want to order. As an added bonus, some restaurants offer people the option of having their online orders delivered to their homes without picking up the phone or traveling to the restaurant’s location. Let’s be honest; convenience alone is a strong selling point for potential consumers. Here are eight other reasons your restaurant should implement an online ordering system.
1. Online ordering systems increase sales
Online ordering allows customers to discover everything a restaurant has to offer, without the feeling of time pressure that offline dining requires. If people don’t feel pressured or stressed in time, they may have the potential to spend more and even order more menu items. With online ordering, you give people more options to order your food. With more opportunities comes more sales. You can even give customers the ability to order 24/7 while your restaurant sleeps. That way, the customer can plan what they want in advance and come to your restaurant to pick up their order when it suits them.
2. Online Ordering Systems Improve the In-Store Experience
If you don’t need employees to man the phones to take phone orders, you can use them for work inside the restaurant. Online ordering improves several factors of the customer experience in restaurants. The productivity of restaurants increases when they can devote more people to the interior of a restaurant. For example, bringing food when no one is around or helping colleagues to clean a table faster when a large party has just arrived. Even as a lower-level employee, a restaurant’s environment can be under a lot of pressure. Having more people to help with day-to-day tasks can also relieve a lot of your employees’ stress. Other factors that contribute to a better customer experience are faster service, fewer errors, and improved customer feedback.
3. Online Ordering Systems Improve Marketing
Efforts Online ordering systems are the perfect place to advertise any promotions or maximize your marketing efforts. Dominos is a good example of this concept. This allows you to choose one of their current coupons to apply to your order online before checkout. Having an online ordering system is great for email capture, and after the capture process, you can remarket these individuals with seasonal specials, and events, and create buzz for certain promotions.
4. Be Ahead of the Competition
Some intermediary hosting sites for online ordering are causing bidding wars between restaurants. Websites like GrubHub charge restaurants certain commissions per order. GrubHub even allows restaurants to choose the commission they want to award. There are many restaurants that are still stuck in the Middle Ages and are slow to adopt new technology. Each new adoption allows you to slowly creep past competitors. Keeping abreast of these developments in online ordering gives you the opportunity to attract new customers away from the competition.
5. Online Ordering Systems Easier Tracking
Customer Information Business is all about the customer, and knowing as much as possible about the people who enter your restaurant can be a huge advantage. can be a lot harder to track online menu items from phone orders than directly on an online ordering platform. If you have a POS system, you can easily integrate your online ordering system. With that integration, you can get reports that analyze customer data on which menu items sold more, and even which menu items people spent the most time on but didn’t buy.
6. Online Ordering Systems Improve Order Accuracy
Phone orders are much more likely to be inaccurate. People talk at different volume levels and with loud background noise, things can be easily missed or misunderstood. Language barriers can also be an issue with the accuracy of the telephone order. If you put an employee on the phone who is new to the language, your customers and your staff can get frustrated.
7. Expanding Online Customer Base
One thing about online ordering is that it is becoming a habit among people. You will find a great Chinese restaurant where you can easily order online. What are the chances of trying a new place? Not very! Implementing an online ordering system is a great way to convert curious online searchers into regular customers. If you already get a lot of organic traffic from your restaurant website, why not give these visitors an extra chance to convert directly to your website? Internet searchers are always looking for good food, but if you combine that with convenience, you can easily get more customers.
8. Online Ordering Systems Save Money Money is spent
every second in a restaurant. When a customer enters a restaurant to order, it can take a long time, especially if they are new to the restaurant and unfamiliar with your menu. By switching your concentration to a focused online ordering concept, it is less difficult for your staff to handle undecided telephone and in-person customers. This less hassle will also reduce the lost time that staff may experience.