Multiply Your ROI by Launching a Restaurant Food Delivery App
Any industry has to embrace technology and restaurants and the Food Industry is not an exception to this golden rule. We have seen restaurants adopt a lot of new technologies with the changing times, and they have, without question, resulted in profit for the restaurant.
One of the latest manifestations of this constantly changing technology in today's world of Any industry has to embrace technology and restaurants and the Food Industry is not an exception to this golden rule. We have seen restaurants adopt a lot of new technologies using Ubereats Clone with the changing times, and they have, without question, resulting in profit for the restaurant.
One of the latest manifestations of this constantly changing technology in today's world of smartphones is mobile applications. Mobile applications have been finding increased adoption across all ages and in different geographies. With respect to the restaurant industry, it is gaining prominence with every passing day. There are a lot of applications for these applications!
There are a few compelling reasons to consider creating an app for your restaurant. The National Restaurant Association has concluded that 83% of the adults search for restaurants in their vicinity using their smartphones. 75% of those users use their mobile devices to survey the menu before making a decision on what to order and even on whether or not to visit the restaurant. More than 50% of the orders for take outs are done using the official websites of the restaurant. This is a clear indicator that there is quite some market for restaurant applications.
There are a few compelling reasons why restaurants should invest their time, effort, thought, and money in creating a mobile app for their brand.
Reasons to create a restaurant mobile app
On the surface, it might seem like most of the restaurant apps limit their utility to checking menus, price lists, hours of operation and finding out if there is an outlet nearby. However, restaurant applications have a lot more utility than just the tip of the iceberg that we have seen above.
Increasing customer loyalty: it has been quite known since times immemorial that loyalty has always been a catalyst for increasing sales. However, tracking loyalty was always a challenge. Today, thanks to mobile applications, tracking loyalty can be seamless and accurate. There are a lot of apps that keep a complete track of the bills, the items ordered the number of visits to the restaurant, the number of social check-ins and a lot of other related information that can help build a complete loyalty profile for every user.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that brands like Starbucks have increased their sales by 80% only because they had a wholesome loyalty program in place. It will be interesting to note that the Starbucks app was the first while leader when it comes to app-based digital payments until Apple Pay took over – what is even more intriguing is that Apple Pay works for all shops whereas Starbucks is just about one brand. This is the power of loyalty using apps.
Including payment options: With our previous point of discussion, and with the changing mindset of people about digital payments, an app would be a good idea to receive online payments for your food orders. Incorporating a payment gateway into your app not only increases the possibility of your app being used but also helps in accurately tracking the buying and billing patterns of your customer, so you can build another layer of data over the pre-existing layer of loyalty.
Location-based marketing: Most of the on-demand applications exist today because of one major innovation in smartphones – precise GPS-based location data. The technology that was once confined to the military and aviation has now been made available to every individual. Using technologies like iBeacon, it is possible to determine the proximity of a user to the physical location of a shop. Using this proximity data, it would be possible to send push notifications and promotions to users in a locality, making the targeting more precise and likely to convert.
Food order and delivery: this particular utility goes without saying. Ordering via restaurant apps is bound to be greatly beneficial to the restaurant. One might argue that there are a lot of third-party food delivery provider-apps like UberEats and GrubHub, and it is true to a considerable extent that these apps contribute to the volume of sales. However, since most of the payment is made using digital payment methods, there is some delay introduced in transferring the profit from the service provider to the restaurant. Using an app exclusive for the restaurant eliminates this delay, and ensures that profits are quickly made available in the bank account of the restaurant. In addition, it also ensures that you do not have any competition when it comes to ordering your food – which is, by a considerable distance, one of the greatest advantages. This enables restaurants to introduce offers and discounts exclusively for the app.
Entertainment: This is perhaps one of the most overlooked features when it comes to restaurant apps. Every other utility might have an off-line counterpart or a third party provider but when it comes to entertainment, it is only the restaurant app that enjoys the exclusivity of being the only provider. There can be engaging games or quizzes that happen from time to time, and the winner can be incentivized with a discount or an offer. For the restaurant, it helps in increasing the quotient of engagement. Passively, it also helps positively impact the stats that define the success of an app.
Other regular utilities: All the utilities stated above might be considered auxiliary. However, for a basic restaurant app, there are a couple of utilities that are considered essential. One of them, as stated earlier, is in assisting the user to find the nearest restaurant. The next is to give a detailed menu in an interactive and rivet fashion. Last but not the least, it is also important that the app provides a facility to reserve tables in advance, especially for large crowds.
Developing a restaurant mobile app
There are a few steps involved in creating a holistic restaurant mobile app.
- The first step is to conduct thorough market research on what problems the customers encounter and how effectively will your app address those pain points.
- Once you have figured out the pain points, you will need to set a strategy to achieve your business goals defined through tangible KPIs.
- You will need to find the right technical partner who will take care to deliver the app in the quickest and most cost-effective way possible.
- Once the app is tested for consistency, the app should be marketed effectively through meticulously planned marketing campaigns.
Conclusion: The need for and the relevance of restaurant mobile apps has been clearly stated above. However, it should also be informed that creating an app for a restaurant can involve a lot of development and design efforts. As a workaround, you can consider customizing white label clones of UberEats. These UberEats clones are bound to have the essential functionalities of a restaurant app already configured, and that too without any glitches. Therefore, you will save a lot in terms of time to market, cost of development, and testing. You can get in touch with UberEats clone app development companies if you would like to create your own restaurant app!