For many people January is not a popular month. But with these tips, we’re confident it will be a good one for you. Try not to think of this as another trends blog but more a couple of opportunities that could help you build your online ordering presence and effectiveness, not just as a way to boost the quieter months, but things to build on throughout the year.
Let’s start with who’s ordering! Unsurprisingly, millennials are one of the key customer demographics for online ordering. Aged 26 – 41 they make up a large proportion of the current workforce and as a result have an increasing spending power. They spend the highest percentage of their earnings on prepared food than any other generation. Again, this isn’t surprising when you consider that many Millennials will be working parents with young kids and very little time to prepare and cook food.
That being said, don’t discredit the Gen Z opportunity. We’ve got a separate blog all about this but this generation’s buying power is huge (as much as $3 trillion when considering the influence they still have over their parents). They have grown up surrounded by technology and ordering online is second nature to them.
Anyway, how does this affect you? Well naturally you need to think about who your customers are when it comes to menus, messaging and brand! So consider what about your business might appeal to these generations, because there are big opportunities there.
This may seem like a more obvious one but you’d be surprised how many companies still prioritise desktop view when it comes to their website. These days attention spans are short and ease of use is a priority, so if a website is hard to navigate on a phone we’re not going to waste our time persevering. And touching on what we mentioned above, your primary audience are very much on their phones! Particularly those Gen Zers who literally grew up with smartphones.
Luckily for you, Slerp is very mobile friendly when it comes to ordering, we even offer ordering apps to partners! This year we saw the number of mobile orders grow to 71%. So if you didn’t believe us before, that number shows just how important mobile optimisation is.
And the same goes for marketing and comms. Are the emails you’re sending easy to view on a phone? Do the images download quickly enough? Are you utilising SMS? These are all things we can help you with. So if you want to make your business more mobile friendly, then get in contact.
This extension of E Commerce has been around for a while now, but the growth of image based platforms like Instagram and Tiktok are not slowing down. More and more people are using social media for inspo when it comes to cooking, eating out and ordering in. Let’s face it, instagramable videos and photography are simply more appealing than even the best written description (they say as they continue to write blogs). In fact, 48% of people look for good photography before ordering. Look we’re not saying words aren’t important, being able to visualise and see that what your ordering matches it’s description instals trust in customers.
So this is why things like Instagram shopping are great for online ordering. Customers could be scrolling through the platform and stumble upon your product with a direct link to your store! Again, we just happen to have a blog all about why social commerce is a great opportunity for hospitality as well as a step by step guide to setting it up.
We understand that it’s not an easy market in Hospitality right now and let’s be honest we’ve not had an easy few years. But even if you can set a goal to look into and do one of these things, we reckon you’ll see the benefits! And as always, we’re here to help and give advice if you’re not sure where to start.