Food delivery has seen a great surge these days. With the tech evolution, almost everything could be processed and done with just a click of the mouse or tapping on a mobile device screen. Now, people need not go out to buy food, food is delivered to their doorsteps anytime, anywhere.
THE FOOD ORDERING BUSINESS EVOLUTION WITH CUSTOM BUSINESS SOFTWARE
App software development is a continuously growing business for many organizations nowadays. The food ordering business is just one of the industries that is heavily impacted by technology evolution and with the phenomenal and overwhelming rise in mobile devices and applications. Before there were smart phones, there was the traditional food delivery application model, such as a customer placing an order over the phone to a nearly restaurant or food shop and waits for delivery at the customer’s doorstep.
MAJOR TRANSFORMATION IN FOOD ORDERING
The world is witnessing major transformation in how people order food. And due to the hectic work schedule these days, modern consumers opt to order pizza, salad or pasta from a restaurant nearby rather than cooking by themselves. Based on statistics, 10 percent of respondents in the United States stated that they use the food ordering application once a week. Out of the respondents, 50 percent said that they enjoy using the food delivery app services. Moreover, despite the fall during the first and second quarter last year, the food ordering field still presents a $210 billion market opportunity.
SIX WAYS TO DEVELOP THE BEST ON-DEMAND FOOD DELIVERY APP
The following are the top ways of developing the best on-demand food delivery application for utmost customer experience. Developing the best food delivery application makes food ordering an enjoyable and very convenient experience for customers far and wide.
1) Invest in a custom built website to develop a successful food delivery application, buying a clone script is not enough. Focus on creating a unique identity to avoid ending up like a ‘me too’, which lacks originality. Give the food venture the advantage of custom programming and design. It’s extremely important to begin with a secure, feature rich website to earn people’s trust.
2) Search engine optimize and social media friendly platform. Database management system and information architecture should be such that the site is easy to read by the search engines. They would act as free source of constant traffic to the website. Adding social sharing button to the site provides increased visibility. Expecting these results by default in a food delivery system clone is unwise. Only an expert team of programmers and developers and custom software development could develop such system.
3) Build a database to start off. It requires creating an exhaustive database of restaurants in the target location with contact details, menu, delivery areas and more. An able sales team would help partner with local restaurants that agree with commissions and want to generate business via the website. Make certain that the site is programmed to manage a large database.
4) Target a smaller place and expand. It’s always a good idea to start a business with a focus on a limited area. This helps in:
- Building a stable brand name
- Focus all energy on a specific market
- Figure out issues and search for solutions in a convenient way
- Check project cost
5) Customize based on local demands. The success of an online food offering system will depend on how well it caters to the needs of the locality. These points could come handy:
- Unique web design and SEO optimized platform
- Database management and categorization varies as per the local cuisine preferences
- Mold business practices as per the local scenario. What works in online and offline marketing, scaling and daily operations in one city may not work in another
- Payment options on the website should comply with the preferences of the general public in the city.
6) Consider alternate revenue sources. Think of new ways in which local businesses could advertise on the website and boost sales. This would push up profits and make the platform relevant to local businesses. Check out the following:
- Some apps allow big scale restaurants who could shell out a larger budget for online advertising to feature their establishment on the home page. Some restaurants are given the privilege of displaying their banner
- Some have a different revenue model and charge a fixed monthly fee for letting a restaurant list their business on the platform, regardless of the generate sales
- Some food ordering system allows the option of enabling hotel reservations and earn a commission there too.
- Some food delivery apps allow third party advertising on their site
Food delivery apps provide an opportunity for restaurants to increase their user base. This could result in better use of kitchen facilities, higher income and overall business growth. For customers, it provides promptness, convenience and selection. Platform owners have the opportunity to work with bigger and well-established restaurants to achieve higher average order size.
Dhrumit Shukla has been working as Business Development Manager in a software development company named TatvaSoft since 5 years. He is profoundly skilled and well experienced in providing software development services on various technologies ranging from Microsoft .NET to JAVA, Salesforce, BizTalk, SharePoint, PHP, Open Source, iOS, Android, Pentaho and the list goes on.
Dhrumit has the true potential to manage client from a wide range of Industries like BFSI, Supply Chain, Healthcare, Retail, Hospitality etc. Another aspect that makes him a trusted technical advisor and IT solution partner in the eyes of his clients is his effective communication skills. He keeps track on status of each Project during SDLC and provides extended support to clients to make sure Project deadline is matched and delivered within the budget.