Holly Anderson, Senior Sales Manager
Last year we launched Slerp Dispatch, our product to directly integrate our online ordering platform with a host of the UK’s leading last-mile courier providers like Stuart and Addison Lee. It has provided our restaurant partners with a truly turnkey end-to-end solution to grow delivery orders at scale. Some of the results we have achieved already include:
With the addition of Uber Direct, our restaurant partners now have access to one of the largest last-mile courier fleets in the UK, including bikes, motorbikes and cars. As a result, we can offer our powerful, fully-integrated dispatch solution to even more locations across the UK, and increase the number of available drivers. That means faster assignment and delivery times.
Slerp Dispatch is more than just a link between your restaurant and a courier provider. It’s a dynamic platform backed by logistics experts which can turbo-charge your last-mile delivery. Here’s how:
Ultimately this integration with Uber Direct will contribute to an already industry-leading service. We are trusted by hundreds of restaurants to manage their tens of thousands of deliveries from beginning to end.
Simply put, working with Uber allows us to do more of what we are great at and we are excited to get even better!
Already a Slerp partner and not yet offering delivery? Get in touch with your account manager now.
Want to find out more about delivery with Slerp? Click the link below and get started on your delivery journey.
October to December are a busy and exciting time of year for hospitality, with lots of occasions to celebrate.
Some of the biggest dates to note include:
With each of these events comes a high demand for gifting. So these occasions are the perfect time to bring out a new menu or a themed special. Here are some tips from on us on how to make sure you’re set up for a successful gifting season:
These kinds of occasions are usually planned for and so customers want to place orders in advance. Pre orders are also a great way to increase average order value (AOV), in fact last year, Slerp partners found pre order AOVs to be as much as 50% higher than same day orders.
With celebrations come presents, and name a better present than food?
Make sure it’s easy for customers to find what they’re looking for with specific gifting bundles and options. With Slerp, you can split your menu into categories and have a section designed especially for gifting, making your customer’s user journey quick and easy.
It’s also worth offering gift wrapping and personalised notes as an add on. This is another easy way of boosting your AOV whilst giving customers the ability to add a personal touch for their loved ones. One of our partners made over £30k in sales last year from gift wrapping alone.
Slerp Tip: Our partners can use a convenient feature that enables gift wrapping on their online store with just one click.
All of this is great but if you don’t give your customers a heads up they won’t know that they can order from your business for these kinds of occasions. There are three key ways you can do this:
All of this can be organised and managed through our own CRM system, designed and set up for hospitality businesses. Our experts can help you send communications to your contacts via SMS and email and set up automations to minimise effort and maximise impact.
Following these tips means you’re sure to have a great gifting season and finish the year on a high. Interested in working with Slerp? Get in touch with us now.
Introducing our new Senior Sales Manager for the North West, Holly Anderson. We interviewed her in her home city of Liverpool, to talk about what it is that’s driving the success of online ordering and what makes hospitality here so special.
When it comes to good taste, and by good taste, we mean great food, it’s hard to compete with Liverpool.
One of our absolute favourite foodie hotspots, Liverpool has built a vibrant cultural scene around food over many years. Residents and the many millions of tourists who flock to the city each year can choose from more than 300 restaurants in the city centre alone.
So we sat down with Holly to talk about what exactly it is that’s driving the success of online ordering, the kinds of food businesses that are thriving and why D2C delivery (direct to consumer) helps solve some key challenges for Liverpool hospitality.
Holly Anderson, Senior Sales Manager
I think businesses in the UK are recognising the opportunities that D2C delivery brings. In this economy operators are really feeling the expense of marketplaces, but most of all they want access to and control of their data. I’d also say with the growth of delivery, it makes sense that Slerp is seeing growth too. I’m obviously biassed but delivery is our bread and butter. We are the only ordering platform who handles the whole process end to end, from courier assignment to invoicing. So with more operators opting to do direct delivery, we’re the obvious choice.
Liverpool is a vibrant and busy city with a strong local economy. It has a good balance of residents, students and tourists who provide a significant customer base for restaurants and takeaways. The high population density ensures a steady flow of potential customers looking for good eats. However, unlike some other areas of the UK, the cost of commercial spaces, including retail units, tends to be more affordable, giving smaller, independent restaurants, with very loyal followings, the opportunity to thrive.
In short, the unique cultures of Liverpool makes it an incredibly rewarding place to operate, as does the community. It’s the perfect environment for D2C. Operators want more contact with their customers, to know who they are and give them an ordering experience that is tailored to their brand. Customer service and building genuine relationships is so important to us here, our team understands the importance of this and we’re excited to partner with more of the incredible brands that this city has to offer.
A real variety. We work with enterprise partners and mid market businesses as well as local heroes. Recently we’ve seen lots of our partners start to capitalise on pre-orders and the opportunity that they bring. This includes big corporate catering orders or events (the kind that are normally ordered ahead of when they are needed) as well as those promoting big calendar events for gifting (like Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year, Halloween). This style of online ordering helps drive average order value up and we’ve noticed that operators offering these options tend to be the ones that are really thriving.
I would say delivery and loyalty. Delivery in general has seen significant growth across the UK in recent years. We specifically have an extensive fleet of delivery drivers operating in Liverpool, Merseyside and the surrounding areas. With the growth of direct delivery, I definitely think we’ll see more and more operators looking to do it.
But features like digital loyalty also align perfectly with the industry in Liverpool where restaurants see a lot of repeat customers. We have a really collaborative and supportive environment here. With Slerp’s digital loyalty programme businesses can reward customer loyalty easily, however they order – whether it’s online, in person or on an app.
You could have the best set up online ordering platform with beautiful branding, a quick and easy checkout process for customers and delicious products for them to buy. But if you’re not generating enough traffic, it won’t make a difference.
Traffic is the number of visitors a website or web page gets. You can track where the ‘traffic’ has come from i.e. did they just google your name? Or maybe they came from a link or an ad on one of your social media platforms.
Regardless of how they got there, (although this is important when looking at growth) the main thing you need to know is that in order to increase your sales, you need to be generating enough visits to your website. So here are five things you need to do to increase your traffic…
We talk about this one a lot but it’s for a reason. How do you expect anyone to order from you if they can’t find your online store? Priority number one should be making sure you have multiple buttons on your website and links on your social media that send customers directly to your shopping page. Make sure these are in easy to find places i.e. link in bio or at the top of your homepage. It’s also worth keeping the CTA (call to action) something clear like “Order Now”.
Just because pretty much everything is digital now does not mean print & physical collateral no longer has a place in your marketing strategy. In fact things like flyering are a low cost, high return activity, with 89% of people remembering receiving a flyer, more than any other form of advertising.
Connect your in-person customers with your online platform using QR codes that provide a direct link to your website. You can print them onto flyers, loyalty cards and even window decals, so customers can scan and instantly start browsing.
If you’re going to do one thing with print, make sure you pair it with some kind of incentive. Flyers that include a discount code are 50% more likely to be kept for at least a week and are more likely to drive sales.
Similarly to our first point, how do you expect customers to order from you if you don’t tell them they can? Email and SMS continue to be incredibly effective methods of communication, for the best results we recommend the following:
This doesn’t even have to be a discount, it could be a quick message to let customers know about your new menu or a limited edition product.
Putting a time limit on an offer, creates a sense of urgency and fear of missing out, encouraging customers to commit to buying.
In the case of communications they are really best done in tandem. One of our partners saw a 190% increase in revenue when they used email, SMS and push notifications simultaneously.
We know what you’re thinking, apps are very expensive, but you’d be wrong. With Slerp you can have your own branded ordering app for as little as £25pm. There are so many pros to having an app, it’s a really smooth ordering process for your customers, goes hand in hand with digital loyalty and when done properly is the perfect way to display your brand and own a spot on your customers phone. We won’t go on too much but if you’re interested in an ordering app you can read more here.
Back to driving traffic… if you already have your own ordering app or are getting one, make sure you’re utilising app/push notifications. If you’re not sure what this is, they’re the notifications that pop up on your phone home screen from various apps and they’re FREE to send. Unlike SMS and email that can feel a little spammy at times, push notifications are an ‘official’ looking way to communicate an update or promotion.
Last but not least, social media. Whilst this is a pretty obvious one, it’s still worth mentioning. To see results you need to be posting regular and consistent content reminding your customers that they can order from your online store.
Try utilising features like story links where you can edit CTAs and send customers directly to your store. Paired with an enticing image of your food and posted just before lunch or dinner time, this can be a great way to boost traffic and orders.
Summer is fast approaching now, but as we well know, warmer weather can cause a noticeable change in consumer buying habits. So what you should be doing to weatherproof your sales for the summer months, and a different set of customer demands.
Well one thing’s for sure, demand is definitely still there. Just because customers might be ordering fewer takeaways on their sofas, doesn’t mean they’re not still after your delicious dishes. UK sunshine is often in short supply, so when it’s out, so are we! Here are some tips for how you can make the most of online ordering this summer.
Summer means warmer days, lighter nights and customers that are more likely to be out and about. So are you offering click and collect?
Click and collect really is such a win-win for the customer and the business, whether you’re a restaurant, cafe, bar, bakery or coffee shop. Walking in and skipping the queue is always a great feeling. It also gives you as the operator a chance to prep and get an idea of order volume for the day.
Last year, 4 in 10 orders on Slerp were for collection, so if you’re not offering it, think of the number of sales you’re missing out on. You want to ensure your customers can order from you in multiple ways. Our most successful partners are those offering customers both click and collect and delivery. For commuters and other busy customers, it pairs perfectly with app ordering too – our PressPay feature allows them to order in as little as six seconds, saving them from long queues! Find out how here.
And in summer it means the consumer can pick up their order and take it outside to enjoy. Maybe in the park, on a bench or back home. It’s versatile and it’s easy. Which brings us nicely onto our next point…
If you’re lucky enough to have outdoor space, use QR code ordering on your tables. It will allow you to collect customer data for marketing and save your staff time. It also gives your customers a better experience when they no longer have to disrupt their conversation flagging down a waiter to order.
Park deliveries… the gen z answer to a traditional British picnic. Sushi in the park, pizza in the park, noodles in the park… the possibilities are endless. Is there really anything better than having a takeaway brought to the exact spot you’re sitting in the park? But how you might ask? Well you could just wing it and send your delivery driver into the depths of the trees to locate your customer. Or you could use apps like ‘what 3 words’ who have assigned 3 words to every 3 square metres in the world! Ask your customers to provide this in the notes of their order and you have an exact location without any faff.
This might sound like an obvious one but a seasonal menu is a great way to tempt customers into ordering with the excitement of new dishes. Take some photos and get them on your socials to drum up some buzz. In summer customers might prefer a lighter, fresher dish with the warmer weather. Take advantage of local seasonal ingredients, it’s better for the environment and a nice added detail to your menu when you can tell customers exactly where an ingredient came from.
Crosstown
Willy’s Pies
Pavilion
This one likely brings some mixed emotions for some parents. But for the restaurateurs in the room, it brings opportunity and more families to your venue. Now is the perfect time to run a promotion such as ‘feed four for £x’ or create a bundle for kids and adults. Everyone loves a deal and the school holidays are the perfect time to take advantage of that. There is a big demand for family dining both at home and in-house. 54% of people want more kid friendly options when ordering. That can mean smaller portions, fuss free dishes and healthier options. Either way, you don’t want to miss out on that business, so make sure your menu caters to everyone.
54% of people want more kid friendly options when ordering
KAM Media X Slerp
Consumer survey
So in short, let’s look at this summer as a great opportunity to make the most of the weather and the consumer habits that come with it. You’re already used to adapting to all sorts of situations, online ordering in summer will be a doddle.
This year for the first time in 25 years, the UK is hosting Eurovision. If, like us, you failed to get tickets or didn’t fancy spending thousands on a hotel in Liverpool, then why not celebrate at home in the best way, with food. Maybe you’re planning a night in and fancy branching out from your usual burger? Or maybe you’re hosting a Eurovision party. Either way, it’s a good excuse to celebrate with great food that would be sure to get the judge’s top scores – no nul points here!
Slerp works with a huge range of partners that can deliver food from many of the countries you will watch on the night. Whether you plan to champion Spain, Sweden, Georgia…or even the UK, you will be guaranteed a tasty treat to accompany what is always some memorable performances.
And as Slerp powers direct online ordering – meaning restaurants, QSRs, bakeries and more directly benefit from their own ordering system, you know you will be doing your part to support a local business.
So here are our 9 top eats for the best Eurovision celebration this weekend:
Is there anything more French than cheese? Why not order some of their freshly baked bread too for the ultimate cheese board, perfect for a party.
Did you know that Khachapuri is the national dish of Georgia? That’s our top pick on this menu – it’s a delicious classic filled with a speciality cheese mix and finished off with an egg yolk.
Serving up modern Greek food, pick your favourite classic dish direct from OPSO, or branch out and try their grilled octopus with caramelised onion, sherry vinegar & black eyed beans.
You’ve likely heard of Ottolenghi, maybe you’ve tried one of his amazing recipes? But have you been to one of his restaurants? Here you’ll find a selection of food rooted in middle eastern and mediterranean tradition. Choose from a selection of delicious salads, small plates and cakes.
Whilst we’re aware pizza is a very familiar concept in the UK, have you tried Basilico? Traditional thin crust pizza topped with seasonal ingredients, they were actually London’s first wood fired pizza delivery company!
The perfect dessert, treat yourself and your mates to a party box and choose from 8 different flavours, ranging from classic to chocolate to fruit.
La Maritxu specialised in authentic Basque Cheesecake (originating from the Spanish coastal town of San Sebastian). They consist of burnt caramelised crust and a rich & creamy interior – need we say more?
Delicious, swedish, cinnamon buns to be enjoyed at any and all hours of the day. But you can also directly order all kinds of delicious pastries and breads.
Is there anything more British than pie and mash? Born in lockdown, Willy’s pies are some of the best you’ll ever have.
When you hear the term ‘Gen Z’ what likely springs to mind is teens and TikTok. You might assume they are young and without very much buying power compared to their older generations. And whilst they may be young, the latter is definitely false. Born between 1997 and 2012, a Generation ‘Z’ can be as young as 10 and as old as 25.
So why are they important? Well, research has shown that Generation Z make up a whopping 40% of consumers and have an estimated global spending power of $360 billion. What’s more, they’re still at an age where they influence their parents’ purchasing habits, which makes their actual spend much, much higher.
What does this actually mean for hospitality though? Could now be the time to switch up your target market? Well in part, yes! They have the potential to seriously boost your sales in a time when every sale counts.
Well… kind of. It’s that time in your life when you leave home (often for the first time) and you start to become financially independent. Naturally, mistakes are made but students are undoubtedly good at living life off a small budget. Despite this, there’s always room for a takeaway or two. And while not all Gen Zs are students, a large proportion of the demographic are at an age where they may be at college or university. The convenience of having food delivered to your accommodation is too hard to resist, particularly when you’re hungover and sleep deprived. The student is simply put, a QSR’s dream.
Slightly off topic, but if anything this bodes well for online ordering in a time where people’s pockets are tighter. Like students, other customers that may view eating out as a luxury they can’t afford right now, don’t tend to feel the same about takeaways. Yet another reason to diversify with D2C. In fact, takeaways and fast-food spending has grown 11.7% as half of consumers start swapping nights out for nights in to save money this autumn and winter.
Anyway, back to Gen Z. They have really started to build a reputation as the ‘ethical generation’. From sustainability to human rights, they care a lot more about who they are buying from and where their products come from. They tend to prefer to shop from small businesses that support the local community, business owners and the economy. Good news for D2C as ordering direct means consumers can support the business better rather than ordering through a marketplace and is therefore, often seen as more ‘ethical’.
Additionally, Gen Z may be more likely to order from you if your business aligns with their values. For example, research has shown that Gen Z not only prefer to shop sustainably, but are prepared to pay more for it. Whatever it might be that makes your business stand out… Do you focus on local ingredients, have a vegan only menu or give back to your community? It could be anything, but it could also be the hook that makes members of this generation loyal to you.
If there’s one thing that Gen Z are known for, it’s social media. They have grown up surrounded by the internet and smartphones, it’s their norm! It’s how they keep up to date with current affairs, chat to friends and family, and it’s also how they shop! 60% use instagram as a way to discover new brands and products. With social commerce on the rise, if you want to get in front of Gen Z, social media is where you need to be!
Having grown up in a digital world, it comes as no surprise that Gen Z are big drivers of online ordering, ordering a takeaway a whopping 8.8 times a month on average! It also won’t surprise you to know that they prefer to do so via mobile. They like a slick and easy ordering experience that apps can bring which is why they can convert up to 157% better than web traffic. With Slerp you can have your own ordering app available for only £25 per month (per site).
So Gen Z are tech savvy, influential and have high buying power, if you weren’t already convinced, perhaps you are now. Even still, their generation is the future, as they age, more of them will become your staff and your customers, so it’s definitely worth considering how your business might appeal to them.
The way in which we buy and sell goods has been getting continuously quicker and easier as technology advances. And whilst five years ago adding your card details at the checkout was quick enough, fast-forward a few years and we wanted to use Apple and Google Pay to be even quicker. Technology moves fast, and today we need to consider that even those extra steps to open your phone wallet could be seen as time consuming, and a potential barrier to ordering. Speed, ease and convenience is key when it comes to customers making a purchase.
The ability to order ahead on an ordering app reduces your queues and makes your customers ordering process quick and seamless. Add our feature PressPay into the mix and customers can order their favourite coffee for collection on their phones in as little as six seconds.
Launched last year, PressPay is an award winning feature of our ordering apps, allowing for quick action payments.
By pressing and holding the app on their home screen, customers have the ability to repeat their previous order. They are then taken directly to the checkout page where they can pay, reducing the entire ordering process to a few seconds.
You often hear people saying they can’t function until their morning coffee, well with PressPay, you hardly have to!
Coffee purchasing is habitual, and often driven by convenience. The majority of customers have a favourite that they like to order time and time again, which makes PressPay the perfect feature for the exhausted parent, busy commuter and the socially anxious. With PressPay you can make an order on-the-go, quickly and efficiently and pick it up on your way through with very little interaction.
Now we’re not saying that this is always what customers want, there will always be a time for a relaxed sit down visit. But there are certainly benefits that PressPay can bring to your business.
It’s no secret that it’s a lot cheaper to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one, but that doesn’t make it an easy task. Driving loyalty is well worth it though with repeat customers spending an average of 67% more than new customers. This is likely why we have seen a push in loyalty schemes over the past year with big brands like Pizza Express launching their own programmes to bring consumers back.
We know the consumer today wants convenience, so the ease of features like PressPay are perfect for driving repeat business. Not just because of the nature of the ‘repeat order’ function, but because ordering from a business with the feature is easier and quicker than anywhere else.
Tech is constantly changing and so are our purchasing habits. Features like Apple Pay now mean that many people don’t even carry a physical card on them anymore. Gen Z have grown up with mobiles and are consistently open and accepting of new tech.
PressPay very much fits in with this evolution and presents yet another more efficient method of buying. Operators using this feature can show their customers that they are forward thinking and appeal to tech savvy generations better.
Coming back to how well PressPay partners with coffee shops, it naturally also pairs well with click and collect. This is unsurprising as a key benefit of click and collect is shortening the ordering process. No more long unpredictable queues or trying to decide what you want last minute. Customers can do all of that before entering a physical store and collect upon arrival.
PressPay simply takes this to the next level, you’re already skipping the queue, now you can skip the other aspects of ordering too.
So in short, PressPay is a stand out, fun feature that streamlines ordering for customers and takes app ordering to the next level. It’s not just for the coffee shops of the world, but it’s certainly a feature that could be just your cup of….coffee.
Aiming for exceptional customer service is an essential goal for pretty much any business. To achieve and build sales your customers have to be happy right?
And whilst it remains at the centre of industries like hospitality, it is drastically changing for many online businesses. It’s a pretty rare occurrence now to be able to pick up the phone and speak to a real person, with the majority of companies utilising automated messages and bots to diagnose the problem first. And some companies either make it impossible to contact them or very difficult.
In the case of Slerp, customer service is hugely important. We couldn’t call ourselves experts in delivery without it. A combination of an excellent team and sophisticated software is what enables us to manage deliveries efficiently.
We consistently and regularly liaise between our partners and their customers, as well as couriers, to ensure products are delivered efficiently without sacrificing quality. This saves our partners the headache of having to do this themselves, although we can also support those running self delivery too.
Now nobody’s perfect but for the past 4 months we have received a 98% satisfaction rate. So what is it about our service that our partners love? And how do we continue to deliver our best in class customer service?
Tech naturally continues to automate and make our lives easier, however there are some occasions where you cannot beat human contact.
Our ops team are based all over the world, which helps us offer our partners live support throughout their busiest periods, whether their peak is at breakfast or dinner. They successfully manage thousands of deliveries every week and when partners need support, they help resolve it quickly and efficiently with an average response time of 73 seconds, and an end to end time of 23 minutes.
With that service alongside the high quality couriers we work with, it’s no wonder we successfully deliver 99% of orders.
Our internal system, Dispatch, has really been a game changer in managing deliveries smoothly. Cutting out the middleman and building our own software means there are no third-parties involved, couriers are assigned to orders automatically.
Every single last-mile delivery is managed on our platform from end to end, giving us and our partners more control over the delivery process.
We also manage courier invoicing to save our partners the headache, where they would otherwise have to manually process them themselves.
Last but not least, we track the entire delivery journey. From the courier arriving at the restaurant to the end customer’s door. We send automatic live updates to the customer so they know where their order is and when they can expect it.
The orders can also be tracked by the customer so they can see where their driver is, giving them full transparency over the process.
So in short, it’s a combination of our people and our tech that allow us to offer the level of service that our partners require. Delivery isn’t the easiest thing, but we work to make it a smooth and successful process for our partners and their customers.
The speciality roastery, Allpress will offer ordering and loyalty via web and app, making use of Slerp’s Award-winning PressPay technology.
We are excited to announce that we have joined forces with the speciality coffee roastery Allpress Espresso to offer an innovative new ordering offering directly through their app, together with a new loyalty programme for customers.
The partnership means that Allpress will be utilising Slerp’s revolutionary technology whilst Allpress will retain full control of their own customer experience. This includes Slerp’s new and award-winning PressPay app function that won the Restaurant Marketer & Innovator Award for Best Technology earlier this year.
“We want to keep that local feeling, but also offer customers the benefits that come with larger chains, like loyalty programmes and having both this and click-and-collect in one app, that we fully own, means we can offer even more benefits to our customers.”
For those ordering via the app, Slerp’s unique PressPay option allows customers to repeat order their favourite coffee directly from their phone’s home screen without needing to even open the Allpress app. A ‘long press’ on the app icon immediately enables a customer to reorder their preferred coffee followed by a quick action payment. Alongside the new ordering technology, Allpress will also be rolling out a new digital loyalty programme, powered by Slerp, to reward regular customers to their London roastery’s.
Allpress, in addition to its three East London locations, also has cafes across Australia, Singapore, Japan and in New Zealand – where they were founded over 30 years ago from a single Allpress Espresso Cart. Today their coffee is also available in over 1,200 independent cafes globally.
Ollie Simon, UK Communities Manager for Allpress said: “One of our company values is that human connection is at the heart of what we do. In today’s increasingly digital world keeping that human touch with our valued customers is ever important, and Slerp is the hospitality technology company on the market who can help us to facilitate that connection.”
“We want to keep that local feeling, but also offer customers the benefits that come with larger chains, like loyalty programmes and having both this and click-and-collect in one app, that we fully own, means we can offer even more benefits to our customers.”
Customers can repeat their last order by pressing and holding down the Allpress app
JP Then, Founder of Slerp said: “It is great to have Allpress Espresso on board and to be able to support them in creating brilliant customer experiences through technology, whilst still keeping that independent roastery flavour which is so important to the brand.
“PressPay is the perfect technology for Allpress to introduce to their customers – buying coffee is habitual and customers tend to have the same regular order, so just repeating that order with one touch is a speedy and easy way to get your daily caffeine fix.”
