We just don’t eat, we enjoy food. We relish the happiness of having food—especially if it is of our choice from many, and there is an option for food delivery near me. Similarly, we just don’t order food online, we send our wish lists to the wish makers and wait to see them becoming true in no time.
Interestingly, most of us feel hungrier after placing an order than before.
Food for thought
There is always an emotional attachment and a bunch of expectations involved when we search for “food delivery near me” in Google. For obvious reasons, the whole dynamics of online food ordering is different from how we shop for electronics, garments, or any other products online. The craving for food is anytime high for food lovers than any other product they order online—if you think it through.
Moreover, with the increasing competitions among app-based food delivery chains, food courts, and restaurants, the effort and investments to retain and grow customers have become manifold. Differential pricing strategies, competitive offerings, promoting online and offline discount schemes, faster delivery promises—there are so many areas to work on to build a successful online food delivery chain.
Here comes the main challenge of online food delivery brands—in satiating customers with quality food, faster delivery, and the newest offers.
Getting ready for the ready-to-serve market
The good news is that India is becoming the fastest growing e-commerce market in the world, reaching $100 billion by 2020. As per an analysis by AIMS, for online food and restaurant service companies, the market is expected to reach $2.7 billion by 2019. According to a study by Market Research Future, by 2023, the Indian online food ordering market is expected to touch $17 billion.
Most importantly, there is enough food for both big players and the new entrants in the online food delivery business. When giants are still focusing on serving the affluent urban population of India, regional service providers can aim at capturing untapped small-town consumers and make a substantial profit from this booming industry.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the factors that define customer expectations and satisfaction level—some useful insights for the online food delivery services.
Engaging website and App UI
Developing a beautifully designed, sophisticated, consumer-centric website and an app is the first step to make food ordering a pleasant experience. Anything less than that doesn’t really fit the bill. Delivery location picker, attention-grabbing teasers and taglines, easy search bar, sign-in and sign-up options, visuals of delicious and trendy dishes are some of the common elements that consumers usually expect in any food ordering app or website.
Better and wider choice of restaurants
The first and foremost option that any consumer looks forward in an app is the ‘food delivery near me’. Consumers want to get their favourite dishes ordered from favourite restaurants from anywhere, but to their doorstep. And, there is no dearth of new restaurants popping up now and then in the localities. Therefore, having a strong network and updated list of restaurants in and around is the must for any online food delivery chain.
The quick and convenient ordering process
Food delivery apps with ‘food delivery near me’ feature are the most preferred way to do on-the-go food ordering. Empirical data suggests that mobile phones are the most used mode of takeout orders.
Consumers feel comfortable in ordering through apps because that gives hassle-free ordering experience than phone calls, exciting offers based on past purchases, order tracking mechanism, easy payment methods and repeat buying advantages.
Faster delivery than promised
We all know that the clock runs slower when it comes to counting on doorstep delivery. Foodies expect 24×7 delivery, anytime, anywhere—and all the possible means to get any menu of their choice delivered at the quickest. Food chains with food delivery near me type of offerings are the most sought after for obvious reasons.
Any order value and no minimum order
Super-flexibility in ordering quantity and purchase value is what consumers want to be assured of. They look for special incentives for increased order size but no delivery charges on minimum order.
Attractive offers
Foodies have a sharp eye on exclusive offers and discounts going around, especially the first-time app users. Repeat buyers jump on seasonal discounts, promotional code for huge savings, special incentives on customer referral and discounts on volume orders. There is also a practice of subscribing to push notification for finding huge discounts from time to time. Here is an interesting paper by KPMG on restaurant industry trends.
Conclusion
Every consumer engages with restaurant brands through a certain buying lifecycle—Consideration > Purchase > Wait > Consume> Retain. It is important that online delivery brands keep interacting with customers and their data to provide seamless omnichannel experience, personalization and service recovery.
Digitization has also changed the relationship between consumers and restaurants. The service providers must focus on targeted customer relationship management. This includes enabling customers to provide feedback on food and service quality, get custom notifications, order through voice-enabled technology and similar upgraded services.
In summary, the future of online food delivery business in India lies with the next generation foodies. Let’s make this food ordering journey fun, fast, and fabulous for them.
Nancy Baker
Admin
Vitaly Kuprenko
Nathan Smith