Fast food operators find mobile technology to be quite appetizing for their restaurants and diners. As the following article describes, this restaurant category is capitalizing on mobile app features such as payments and mobile ordering.
Every business should have an online presence. Even brick-and-mortar stores benefit from this. It lets customers find you easily and quite literally puts you on the map. By using the latest trends and engaging with customers through technology you will find new consumers and fresh ways to interact with them to boost revenue. There are a few simple ways to integrate technology into your food business that I will cover in this article. Allowing consumers to use mobile payment makes it easier for dinners and shoppers to pay.
Tim Hortons, Starbucks, and McDonalds are among a growing number of brands to implement this new technology. Not only does it save time but also it’s more efficient for users. By making more payment choices available you also widen the range of customers you can serve.
In the U.S., the trend of making payments via QR codes or NFC with a smartphone is still in its infancy. But don’t let that fool you, mobile payments are going to be big business and soon. QR code & barcode payments in China, is a huge market, so much so that you don’t even need a wallet. Every store from mom-and-pop kiosks to big-chain retail outlets accepts smartphone payments. Even street performers and food stalls have smart wallets. All these operate through either WeChat or Alipay, the two big rivals that control this market in China. It won’t be long before we see a similar trend in the U.S.
You’d be hard pressed to find many consumers these days that don’t own a smartphone. With the boom in phone ownership, mobile sales and the applications that make them possible have become big business. You can use this new technology to setup a mobile app for your shop or restaurant. These sorts of apps could do many things for your business. They allow takeout orders to be efficiently processed, notify consumers of upcoming promotions, act as a loyalty cards, and book reservations. Customers could even leave reviews of the restaurants and meals they enjoyed there. So how can we do all this?
If you do a roaring take-out business then having an order-fulfillment app with added in payment is much more efficient. It saves your front desk staff employee the phone while also having to seat walk-in customers. An app of this sort ensures no important information like delivery address or special dietary requests will get missed. Not only does this free up your staff it is also more efficient as customers won’t have to wait on hold at busy times.
The best example of QSRs using mobile technology is with mobile order and pay. This has become the new sales channel that increases store volume and enhances staff productivity. Done right, QSRs can integrate loyalty and marketing offers with mobile pay apps and drive new business throughout the day. Diners using mobile apps to order and pay typically spend more per transaction as well. Lesson learned: build a good mobile app and diners will find a way to your store.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Associate Director, Research Services Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the quoted story here
