Using Delivery Technology For Brand Management
More people are shifting to an on-demand lifestyle, and it is impacting businesses around the world. One of the most affected industries is the food industry. Restaurants and fast-food chains are starting to use online delivery services to cater to a larger market.
However, there are pros and cons to this kind of setup, and food businesses should consider several factors before they can include their locations on food delivery apps. Shiftpixy Brands, for example, offers their clients a lot of control on how they wanted their delivery services to be provided. According to the company, they allow their clients to develop an independent strategy when establishing their brand management.
The following information are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using delivery technology, and how it can affect a company’s brand control.
Advantages of using delivery technologies:
- Increased sales
- Customer convenience
- Outsourcing deliveries
- Discovery of new restaurants and a new set of customers
- Healthier options
- Avoiding weather delays
Increased sales
When food businesses use delivery technologies, they will experience an increase in sales. Many people are using these apps to deliver food straight to their homes, and experts believe that food delivery services would become a bigger industry. The number of people who have mobile devices is increasing, and software developers are creating apps that enable food businesses to deliver their products. The busy lifestyle of the public is also a primary reason why more people are turning into delivery apps. Despite the decreasing number of people who are actually going outside to eat, the profit of the food businesses is increasing because delivery services are much expensive.
Customer convenience
It is more convenient for people to use delivery apps to buy their favorite food. In the past, when these apps are not yet around, people would have to go to restaurants and fast-food chains to buy the food that they wanted. This would require the use of gas for the vehicle, effort for driving long distances, and falling in line or waiting for the staff to take the orders, among others. With the delivery apps, people can order through their phones, and wait for the products to arrive. Brands that have decided to depend on these apps are becoming more popular among the users, and as a result, they are generating more profit.
Outsourcing deliveries
It is not cheap to deliver products to the public – it actually generates an additional expense for the food business. However, there is a solution to this issue – outsourcing. Food businesses across the United States are starting to partner with third-party apps like Grubhub to outsource their delivery services. This is an effective way to save costs, and restaurant owners are satisfied with the current track that their business is growing. They believe that through assistance from third party outsourcing companies, they will be able to earn a lot of profit while slashing their expenses that should have been used for the delivery services.
Discovery of new restaurants and a new set of customers
Using an app for food delivery will enable users to discover smaller businesses. If you have a food delivery application on your smartphone, you would notice that there is an option to scout a specific area for available food options. Using this feature will pull up all of the restaurants and fast-food chains in the area that offers a variety of food. This is how people are discovering new places to eat, and it is advantageous for restaurants that have a limited budget for marketing. Others are lucky as they become viral overnight, which is good for the business.
On the other hand, restaurants would have to deal with new faces that are entering their restaurants. In the end, this is a win-win situation for all the parties involved.
Healthier options
People who are using delivery apps have the option to customize the food that they are ordering from different restaurants. Many fast-food chains are also offering a healthy alternative as more people are becoming health conscious. With the delivery apps, people can choose the food item that they wanted, and inform the restaurant about their special requests, for example, creating a vegan version for a certain product. Vegans are happy knowing that more people are choosing to live a healthy lifestyle, thanks to the opportunity provided by delivery apps. Experts also agree that more healthy options will be available to the public in the future as the behavior of the majority changes.
Avoiding weather delays
In the past, when the weather is not good, the restaurant would never expect people to come and eat. However, with the delivery apps ready to be installed, restaurants would never need to worry about the people who are coming into the restaurant. They can still earn money even if no one would come inside the restaurant because of the bad weather because delivery is another option. The restaurant would have to invest in weather protective attire for their delivery staff, and this is only a small expense on the part of the restaurant owners.
Disadvantages of using delivery technologies:
- More expenses for the company
- Overworked staff
- Outsourcing takes away total control of the business
- Longer wait times
- More expensive for the customer
- Killing the restaurant vibe
- Isolation
More expenses for the company
The disadvantage of using an app to deliver food products to customers would be the additional expenses for the business. The business would have to invest in a motorcycle or a vehicle that will be used for the delivery. They also need to train staff on how they can deliver the products to their destination. Equipment that is required for delivery will also be handled by the restaurant owners.
Overworked staff
Because of the new delivery option from the restaurant, the staff would have additional work to do. One of the main issues faced by restaurant businesses would be the increasing number of overworked staff who cannot find extra time for them to rest. Delivering an item from the restaurant to the house of the customer is a tiring experience for the staff, but they have to do it because this is how the restaurant is earning additional income. The solution to this problem would be training all of the staff inside the restaurant and make it rotational. Avoid putting all of the responsibilities to a single person because there is a tendency for them to burn out fast. The restaurant should take care of their employees, and avoid rendering overtime if they are too tired to work.
Outsourcing takes away total control of the business
When restaurant owners are working with third-party companies to outsource their delivery services, they would lose total control of how they manage their business. Grubhub, for example, is facing a complaint from other restaurant owners because of the unfair division of profit made from deliveries. However, they cannot do anything about it because they signed a partnership with Grubhub. Another issue when outsourcing the delivery services would be the satisfaction of the customers – without the direct control from the restaurant, a third party delivery can be rude to the customer, and the blame will be put on the restaurant.
Wait times
When a product is purchased inside a restaurant, the customer would only have to wait for ten to twenty minutes before their order arrives. However, with deliveries, the customer would have to wait for thirty minutes to an hour because of the travel time involved. Most of the time when the delivery is late, the customer can be agitated and will complain about the long wait times. This can be disadvantageous to the business, and the brand name can be affected negatively.
More expensive for the customer
Deliveries are more expensive because of the additional labor cost and the fuel used in transporting the food product. However, some people will still choose convenience, even if they have to wait for their food to arrive.
Killing the restaurant vibe and isolation
With the rise of delivery apps, the vibes inside the restaurant are slowly dying. More people tend to stay at home, rendering food places empty. In the future, socialization can be impacted heavily by the absence of the public who are going to restaurants to eat.
Conclusion
The world is changing at a fast pace, and restaurants are trying a lot of options to stay relevant. The rise of food delivery application is a testament to the technological advances felt across the world. People rely on these apps to order food and groceries, and it is more convenient because there is no need to go to an actual restaurant to eat or a grocery store to buy goods.
Companies need to improve their brand content and try out different approaches to how they can develop compatibility with the technologies used in deliveries and other services connected to the food industry. When they learn how to create their strategies, they can survive the changing attitude of the consumers towards eating out, and the business can stay in the competition for a longer period.
