Mobile Apps are powerful and profitable for business. Starbuck conducted 16% of their transactions over their member app alone. Mobile app for the catering industry is an unstoppable growing business. It is worthy to invest as soon as you can. We have 8 points to explain helping you to make your decision.
1.Mobile Apps Integrated with Loyalty Programs
On Black Friday 2015, Pizza Ranch carried a promotion that rewarded their customers’ double points for shopping from them that day. It achieved 67.6% more business than they normally do. It was a successful and cost-effective marketing strategy and their ROI (return on investment) was 780% on the money and time they invested. Thanks to the mobile-based loyalty app, it included incentive programs which motivated customers to revisit their shop. Customer loyalty could be better guaranteed due to the continued engagement functions in the mobile app. For example, push notification, promotion, special offer and rewards and etc. Pizza Ranch’s member received the double points announcement before Black Friday, hence the purchase.
Research found that 65 % of restaurant customers are willing to download restaurant’s app if the time to time special offers and discounts are available. 80 % of apps users are happy to re-visit again to redeem deals.
2. Smooth Order Fulfillment
Mobile apps make order fulfillment more satisfied. It benefits for both, you and your customers. The traditional ordering method is inefficient and unreliable. The staff needs to spend the time to understand the customers’ orders and convey what needs to be done to the cooks. The mobile apps help to ease the process. It greatly reduces time, mistakes and manpower.
The mobile payment complete transactions in a more efficient and accurate way, it better ensures smooth communication and process. It reduces back and forth and double check for the payment amount.
According to ordering app GrubHub, placing an order via
phone takes two minutes to complete, while placing via mobile apps only takes
45 seconds.
Manpower shortage is a difficulty for all catering. You can now consider a mobile app an extra help, only faster, better. The app can be installed in mobile and tablets. The latter is more common in Hong Kong. For example, Kokonoi Sushi deployed tablets to carry their ordering. The technology is more mature and complete nowadays.
3. Mobile Apps Attract Millennial and 90s
According to Food Tech Connect, 98% of 18 to 34 year-olds who’ve paid a bill via mobile would like to do so again. 35% enjoy placing their orders via the app. 40% actually prefer mobile payment over other options.
Some of you may argue their purchasing power is lower than
others. Therefore, they are not your main customers’ stream. They are not now
but will be soon.
A loyalty mobile app is a long term investment. It will continue to contribute your business. A mobile app integrated with CRM? Better, it is ready for future growth and need. If there any new technology for mobile, you can upgrade your apps with simple enhancement. The Loyalty app won’t be outdated.
4.Social Media Marketing on Mobile Apps
One of the advantages of mobile app is social media
marketing, free! You can invite your
customers to leave some comments and share their experiences on their social
profiles.
The app allows encouraging guests to share your restaurant in so many ways. You can link their membership account to their social media, setting several sharing buttons in your app, sharing on Facebook earns extra bonus and etc.
“Share this restaurant with friends and everyone enjoy a lower price.”
5.Higher Menu Accessibility
According to research by Chadwick Martin Bailey, 62% of customers are less likely to visit into a restaurant if they can’t easily access the menu on their mobile device. Many customers prefer to have a look on the menu. They may want to learn the signature of the restaurant compares it with others. With the app you can present your menu much easier.
6.Invite Phone Conversation
You can invite guests to call your restaurant by simply add a click to call button in the app. It helps to boost the conversion rate. Guest can call instantly without looking up your phone number in Google. All they need to do is tap on it. According to Google, 70% of people who search on mobile prefer the click to call. Therefore, if you put that button in your mobile app, the engagement will most likely go up.
7.Higher Re-visit Rate
Coupons and gifts are popular ways to boost re-visit rate. Coupon was introduced back in 1887 by Coca-Cola. They created hand-written tiny pieces of paper for a free bottle of Coca-Cola.
However, coupons are easy to lose and forgotten. Today people are carrying too many things in their wallet. It’s time to make coupon digital. You can simply integrate it with the mobile app. Guests no longer need to carry coupons around. With the app, guest can easily redeem coupons.
8.Mobile Apps have Better Photo Display
Food display is important for catering. A good image prompts
desire and appetite. Many restaurants spend effort on their menu in order to
present better ‘’food’’. The order of
the menu can’t change frequently but the app can. You can change the order
anytime you like.
Mobile apps present food in multiple ways, like videos, GIFS and pictures. It makes customers hungry.
To conclude, the rapid growth of mobile apps benefits to retail and service industry, especially the catering. The trend is unstoppable. If you start sooner, you will outstand yourself and be more competitive than others.
The influence of mobile applications is increasing every day. In the time of using Smartphone, 90% people spend time on Apps, while only 10% people spend on mobile websites. The potential for ‘mobile apps’ marketing is too big to ignore. Therefore, we present you 5 Reasons why you should have started now.
1. Be Available to Customers at All Times
There are over 3 billion Smartphone users worldwide. Mobile app is a game changer to marketing. The current defect of customer service is limited service time. Mobile Apps breakthrough that. Through the apps you are 7X24 available for your customers. User can visit and gets to know about you at any time. They can even purchase in the middle at the night and all they need to do is to download and install your app. They don’t need to wait for the business hours. Moreover, the app reduces dependence on manpower. Mobile app is the key to enhance customer experience.
2. Approach Customers by Multiple Channels
Apps serve many functions. With the continued growth of mobile technology, it serves more. For example, the AR/VR technology makes Apps shopping experience shift from 2D to 3D. The technology can be applied in video games and retail, health care, and education. Customers can shop through AR functions within apps. There are and will be many functions, chose whatever it suits your business. You can approach your customers to introduce special sales and promotions in so many ways at any time.
3. Mobile Apps Allow Integration
with Loyalty Program
Loyalty Program encourages customer loyalty through rewards and incentives. It motivates users to re-visit again. Membership cards are traditional present of the loyalty program. In the era of mobile apps, membership cards are being replaced. Users can register and become member more easily through the app. No more complex registration procedure. Once they are members they will receive promotions and discounts regularly, a more efficient way to engage with customers.
4. Mobile Apps Contribute Brand Building
A mobile app can greatly contribute to brand awareness. The more often you can get customers participated with your mobile app, the sooner they will be interested to purchase your products. Coca-Cola captures user’s imagination with mobile apps. In 2003, it cooperated with Spotify. The app combined the physical experience of drinking a Coke, with the virtual experience of blending that moment with music through the playlist.
5. Mobile Apps to Standout Yourself
People are surrounded by noise in social media, like Facebook, Twitter, advertisements, websites, email marketing. It weakens your effect on customers. It’s necessary to stand out yourself and establishes a stable connection with your customers.
Overall, if you think that mobile apps are only for big brands, it’s not. More and more small and midsize businesses are following the mobile trend. They are ahead of the competition. The cost of mobile apps development is lower, therefore you should invest on it to catch up the trend.
Membership Cards was the foundation of loyalty marketing. However, it is outdated. ‘Mobile Apps’ lead it to a new era. Many aware of the rapid growth of mobile apps development, therefore, expand their business with member mobile apps. Some insist on the membership cards as it is a lower cost choice. It’s not a wise move though. We present you 6 Reasons why you should start Mobile Apps asap.
Easy and Convenient
Research found 44% people have to carry 2-4 membership cards with them anywhere. Carrying multiple plastic cards in wallet and pockets can be very messy. Every time they purchase they have to find and then pull them out. Carrying multiple cards pain consumers the most. 43% says having a load of cards is the biggest frustrations. By providing mobile apps, you can improve the shopping experiences. Wallets and pockets suddenly get their space back. Plus mobile apps will not be lost as easy as cards.
Customer Engagement with Mobile Apps
A membership card cannot engage and approach customers. They have no incentives and rewards to motivate customers to re-visit your business. Membership cards are easy to be forgotten and lost. Meaning it is not a reliable tool to keep your customers loyal.
With a mobile app installed on your customer’s phone, your brand will be presented frequently which serves as a constant reminder of your brand.
Personalized Communication
Membership cards provide zero communication with customers. The only viewable content it has is the limited text printed on the cards. It cannot establish any long-term relationship with your customers.
Mobile apps allow unique, custom and personalized engagements with your targeted customers. You can connect with them at the chosen time. For example, you can provide limited time promotion for festivals. With the push notification, users are easily informed about special promotions and discounts. Birthday greeting and other incentives are available, which better encourage customers to re-visit again.
True Loyalty
Mobile apps provide fruitful interaction, like gift cards, lotteries, special offers and etc. You can collect customer feedback and data following each purchase. You can better meet the customer’s expectation and ensure the usability of your marketing campaign.
Visual and Emotional Appeal
Membership cards lack visual and emotional appeal as the earned points and rewards are not viewable. Member apps can display colorful images and videos. It better introduces your hero products. The emotional appeal motivates users to keep an eye on your promotions. Moreover, it helps nurture the more powerful connection between customers and your brand.
Data collection
For membership cards, it’s much more difficult to collect and analyze data on your customers. It means you cannot send personalized offers to your clients and create highly targeted marketing campaigns.
With a mobile app, you can easily collect valuable data to get insights into demographics, behavior, and preferences. You can analyze the data to capture the customers’ profile. It helps in increasing the success of your marketing campaign.
Overall, consumers are more demanding than ever, they need fast and simple shopping experiences, personalized engagement and promotions. Most consumers prefer mobile apps than membership cards. As a result, membership cards are outdated and soon become useless. Some concerns the cost of mobile apps, it actually becomes more cost-effective due to the popularization of mobile technology. 2018 has come to an end and it’s better to start late than never. If you don’t have a mobile app with Loyalty Management System, starting one in 2019 will be a good way to start.
The consumption behavior and habits are changing, due to the CRM technology. The CRM system brings mobile payment, online stores, and internet finance, which magnifies the purchasing power of the Chinese.
Accenture, leading global professional services company announced a report ‘’2018 Accenture China Consumer Insight”. It indicated that when, where and what became the main considerations when buying. Price, quantity, quality, and trademark were less important. The report summarized five major trends in consumer behavior.
1.Two Line Buying
Online Shopping? Traditional stores? Cheap? Convenient?
For retailers, these two binary oppositions were the dilemma. Today, the two are gradually forming a balance, from opposition to integration.
The report said that as shopping prices became more transparent, price comparisons were more and more popular. Half of the people said that they often used their mobile phones to compare prices when buying in the store. 45% said they often used websites which provide discounts information to locate cheaper prices. People realized that time is money while the comparisons. More than half of consumers believed it was worthwhile to spend money and time. They were willing to spend the time to compare the differences between online stores and traditional stores.
Online shopping and traditional stores were no longer in the opposite.
2.Shopping Socialization
The report showed that nearly 90% of consumers have their own social circle on Facebook, Twitter, Wechat and etc. Social media had a strong influence on consumption behavior. Sharing and recommendation posts stimulate the purchase interest. According to the report, Food, travel sports and fitness were the most concerned topics among social media. 87% of consumers were happy to share their purchase experience and comments. Most people believed the recommendatory products from their friends on social media over advertisements.
3.Focus on Shopping Experience
59% of respondents believed shopping was not only about commodity, but it was also about the experience. Many had positive feedback on participatory commerce, which allowed shoppers to participate in the design, selection of the products they purchased. 64% believed that participatory commerce helped them to buy the products they wanted. 53% said that they like a brand because of the good shopping experience.
4.New Consumption Behavior: Fitness Consumption
Sports and fitness is the latest lifestyle, also a huge potential market. Chinese had a higher budget for purchasing sports products and fitness services. This new lifestyle changed consumption behavior and habits.
In addition, “sports + new technology” had gradually become a combination of sports consumers expect. 44% of consumers expressed their visions on AR/VR technology. They wished the technology would be applied in the field of sports and fitness. 41% of consumers hoped that artificial intelligence and internet would be widely adopted in sports and fitness assistance. 29% of consumers hoped that outdoor sports products could also able to be shared. For example, the shared bikes.
5.Embrace the Sharing Economy
Nearly half said that many products were rarely used after they were bought, and more than 60% of them had experience on second-hand trading platforms. They hoped those products could be shared. Sharing economy is unstoppable.
Consumption behavior changed due to the CRM Big data technology. Enterprises need to adjust their marketing scheme to meet the new demand of the customers. WeChat promoted WeChat pay, a mobile payment application widely. It made a huge success in China.
