September 3, 2015

Online Ordering v Telephone

Eating out or ordering a takeout is now as much part of an urban household as watching TV!!  Well not as regular as that but it is gradually catching up.

Online Ordering will soon overtake Telephone Ordering

In a survey conducted in 2014 by Vouchercodes.co.uk some surprising results were published:

  • People in Britain spend almost £30 Billion every year on takeout and fast food.
  • That translates in to almost 10 takeout meals a month, or in the case of Coventry as much as 156 takeout meals a year.

That is an incredible statistic and one which has compelled many entrepreneurs to kickstart companies specifically designing products to cater to this ever burgeoning market.
Not surprisingly one of the prominent reasons for Britons spending so much of their money on takeouts is ‘laziness’.  Why cook when one can order!!

And how does one order?

DeliverooPeople usually just pick up a phone and place their order.  But increasingly ordering online is gaining in popularity.  There are several reasons and the trend is going only one way – UP.

  • Access to a smart mobile device – tablet, mobile phone and now wearables like the smart watches.

As per Ofcom in 2015 61% of Britons now use their mobile devices to access internet.  So companies and restaurants offering online ordering facilities or access to ordering apps, like ‘Deliveroo’ Quipup, Hungry House, Just Eat and many others, have mushroomed over the last 2 years.

  • Faster internet speeds on mobile devices – As per Ofocm by the end of 2014 23.6 million Britons had 4G speeds on their mobile devices. Also average fixed broadband speeds at homes and offices is almost 22 Mbits/second.

Faster internet speeds on mobile devices and broadband enable users to browse faster and no buffering!!

  • Convenience of Online Ordering – As people start using apps or access the internet to order they realize the ease and convenience of this process:

One can order at a time and place of your convenience, sometimes you do not want your boss to know that all you can think of is lunch!

Many restaurants put images of the dish next to the name.  This makes it so much easier to decide while ordering.

Chances of errors are greatly reduced as nothing gets lost in translation like when using the phone.

  • Organizations make more money by selling more and saving costs – Studies show that a user is far more likely to spend more whilst ordering online than over the phone. Also organizations save on costs hiring ordertakers and such.
  •  Live Notifications – Many online ordering platforms have live notifications built in. These show the progress of the order and predict with a fair degree of accuracy the expected time of arrival (ETA).   The more advance platforms even tell you the precise location of the driver enroute.
  • Security of online Ordering and card processing – Users feel far more comfortable to share card details with an online ordering bot than a human as chances of misuse are remote.

Soon more people will order online, because it is far more convenient, secure, faster and simpler than using the phone.

Bold but Safe Prediction: In a few years companies and restaurants will remove any option to use the phone to order online, as newer technologies make the user interface more intuitive and simple.  Take the example of Deliveroo , users do not have the option to call the company for any reason.