You might have heard this before… ‘If your business is not on the internet, then your business is out of business’.
From the smallest food joint on the corner of the street to the larger multi-outlet restaurants, it is getting increasingly essential for F&B businesses to go online, in efforts to survive in a highly disruptive local market.
But before we dive into why it is crucial for you to take your restaurant online, let’s look at the industry for a second.
We’ve reached an age where technology has revolutionized the way restaurant sell their food.
With the inception of Foodpanda, Deliveroo, UberEats, Honest Bee and many other delivery providers locally, customers can now browse the menu of nearby restaurants, place orders on their smartphones, while on the move after work or at the comforts of their homes, and complete payment online without having to reach for their wallets.
According to an extensive research conducted by Ernst and Young in April this year, Singaporeans are spending a whopping 12hr 42 minutes a day on their digital devices.
While majority of the 12hrs going to communicating via email, online messaging or social media, this phenomenon has greatly boosted the way F&B businesses get more sales online.
Partner this with the arrival of a multitude of food ordering apps and websites, customers can buy from their favorite food joints around them.
And this trend is catching on among Singaporeans well, because it enables us to enjoy delicious food at the comforts, without having to spend time going down to the restaurant.
So, in a nutshell, not going taking your business online only disables you from getting more orders, restricting your business to only physical channels. Since your customers are already spending so much time on their digital devices, it only makes sense to be present online too.
It’s simply about meeting the demands of the younger generation that wants what they want, when they want it, by ordering online.
At this point of time, you might be thinking about what can a website do for you other than a way to display your delicious dishes, as a placeholder site for your customers to find you.
Your website serves tool for you to take delivery, takeaway, dine-in, catering and even reservation orders online
Your customers can now order their dishes directly from your website, without having to guide them to ordering when a website does that for you, with the help of self-service.
In addition, your customers can now take their time with their order, without having the pressure of a waiter rushing them to complete their order.
Your website also allows you to collect your customers’ contact information and purchase patterns, which allows you to do targeted marketing and promotions.
The best part is, now your website ties up all your social media channels, allowing you to funnel existing and new customers into a place to collect their data.
On top of all, taking your restaurant business online is crucial to survive and remain in business by upgrading your business or else you will be out of the business.
Having your website and mobile app will help you to bring more customers, hassle-free ordering and payments and easy delivery option with an elimination of human efforts and time consumption added with free marketing tools.
