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Are you online yet? Today, more of your customers are online than ever before. With more homes having dedicated Internet lines, web pages have replaced the phone book when it comes to viewing menus or simply getting a phone number. Savvy operators who are "in the know" have started to capitalize on this heavy Internet use by prompting customers to order online. Delivery, carryout, and even catering operations are looking to online ordering for increased sales, especially pizzerias. Is it worth it? For a growing number of pizzerias, the answer is yes. Papa John's expects its online business to double this year to $200 million in sales - or about 20% of its total U.S. revenue and they believe this enough to have spent $15 million developing and rolling out a proprietary online ordering system chain-wide…2007 could be the "breakout year" for online ordering.
Why Offer Online Ordering?
There are many reasons to offer online ordering. First, customers can browse your entire menu at their leisure without any rush to order just because the waiter is asking if they are ready. This also leads to higher check averages for online orders, which can be verified statistically. Karen Orton Katz, Food.com's senior V.P. of sales and marketing, has been quoted in saying that online ordering checks average 15 to 20% higher than orders that are placed by phone. One other advantage to online ordering is that customers can verify orders and by doing so, misplaced orders are inherently reduced.
By merging your online ordering with your POS system, you can accept orders directly from your web site, and have your workers start on them when they print automatically to your kitchen.
Top 9 Myths of Online Ordering
Myth #1 "I don't know enough about computers and the Internet." No need companies can have you online and running in a few days. Most online food ordering companies only require information, such as your menu and 30 minutes or so of your time to answer some questions.
Myth #2 "It costs too much" Online ordering has a vast range of prices. For example, to get your own website address with full online ordering abilities, charges can range from $20 to $30 per month with no set up fee to upwards of $300 for setup fees and $100 per month.
Myth #3 "The Internet is just a fad." According to Nielsen NetRatings, the number of Americans with Internet access from their home increased 9% from 2003 to 2004. The most impressive statistics were those published January 2005 by Stanford - the average Internet user spends three hours per day online, almost double the 1.7 hours the average respondent spends watching television.
Myth #4 "Customers don't want to give credit card information over the Internet." In 2004, 55 billion dollars were spent online buying everything from books to shoes to cars to pizza!
Myth #5 "My menu and coupons are too complex for the Internet." Most online ordering companies have employees that have owned and worked in the restaurant business and therefore understand the complexities of the restaurant business.
Myth #6 "Only College Students use the Internet" Of the roughly 220 million Internet users in the United States, only about 14 million, or 6%, are college students.
Myth #7 "Giving my current customers the ability to order online will not increase profi ts." Online ordering's major benefi t; higher check averages. The average online check order is six to nine dollars higher than the average phone check order.
Myth #8 "I already have a website, so I don't need to off er online ordering" The goal of any website should be not just to show customers what's available, but also to complete the transaction.
Myth #9 "I'll have a huge amount of online orders right after my site goes live!" Remember one thing - you only get what you give. After setting up your online ordering you have to tell your customers about it: Put the website address right next to your phone number wherever it appears.
Merging POS with Online Ordering
In years past, online ordering technology was separate from POS technology. You had one POS provider and if you offered online ordering, you used a different company for that technology and service. Back then, these two technologies spoke "different languages" and just simply didn't "talk to each other." Orders came mainly via fax. That was a huge turn-off for many operators, but now things are different. You can either purchase online ordering programs through your POS provider or through a separate company. They can bridge the gap between your online ordering customers and your POS and send orders directly to your POS. In many situations, you simply pay a flat rate monthly fee for as many orders as you can take online, but there are a lot of different fee models. With some you'll pay upfront for setup. Other companies provide free setup and even totally free web design, but then charge per-order or charge a percentage based on order volume (with min/max charges). That can be a good way to get started with minimal investment and risk.
By merging your online ordering with your POS system, you can accept orders directly from your web site, and have them automatically print in your kitchen or appear on your kitchen displays. With many POS systems you can have order confirmations instantly sent back to the customer. Call center operations can even choose to route online orders to the call center for verification.
The Benefits of Online Ordering
1. Happy customers: Online customers say they are more satisfied. You're never put on hold while ordering online.
2. More orders with less staff : When your website and POS are integrated, web orders can go directly to kitchen printers or make line monitors. No faxes, no manual re-entry, no chance of introducing errors at the restaurant.
3. More sales: Web orders average 13% to 22% higher tickets than phone orders. You can also highlight profitable specials and build in up-sell opportunities online. Corporate customers appreciate the convenience of web ordering for placing large catering orders in advance. Customers have full menus in front of them as they place their orders, and no time pressure like they have when placing a phone order. A well-designed online menu can also entice additional sales of items such as salads, appetizers, or desserts.
4. New marketing opportunities: Web ordering can open the door to opt-in e-mail marketing, especially when integrated with your POS. Email promotions are an inexpensive and timely way to send businesses your daily specials and pre-order forms, or to promote new menu items or package deals to your ecustomers. This is a great way to boost lunch business and an extremely inexpensive way to build loyalty with customers who prefer the web ordering experience.
5. Unique Marketing Applications: If higher check averages aren't enough, there are many perks to offering online ordering these days. With advancements in POS technology, there are a whole new level of marketing opportunities now available, such as additional ways to collect customers' email addresses and birth dates, which can be used for birthday programs and email marketing campaigns.
6. Ability to Schedule Orders: Online ordering also offers the advantage for individuals to pre-order. If a secretary has to have a meeting catered and you offer online service, she can go in and place and pay for an order in advance. Plus, if the meeting changes (either day, time or number of people), she can alter the order and not worry about it anymore.
It's Not Just for the Big Chains
Online ordering isn't just something for the big chains either. Pedro Galletti, owner of Mozzarella Di Bufala in San Francisco, didn't want to miss the boat so he adopted online ordering early and now processes between 10 and 15 online orders a day—and that amount's on the increase. Like many others, his initial online orders came via fax from a separate online ordering company. The time-consuming process of retrieving faxes and then having an employee input them into the POS was not sufficient. If a fax was missed, the order was delayed. Employees sometimes entered the orders wrong too…not good. Their solution was to go with an integrated web ordering system that sent orders directly to their kitchen printer. Not only are they getting higher online check averages and fewer online order mistakes, they have made such an impact with excellent service that they won the AOL City Guide's 2007 award for Best Pizza in San Francisco for their willingness to embrace new technology in response to their customers' evolving needs.
While situations vary depending on clientele, no pizzeria is too small for online ordering. Rascal House Pizza of Cleveland, OH, has six locations. While Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and Pizza Pro enjoy revenue increases of 5-10% from their online ordering systems, smaller pizza companies like Rascal House are starting to cash in too with over 500 online registrations since the launch of their online ordering site. Their average ticket for online orders is $27 and some locations are over the $30 mark, about 40% higher than the average phone order. Customers have reported that some of the reasons they keep using the online system is that they do not have to look up a phone number or sit on hold. Customers can also repeat previous orders, which offers great insight to customer ordering habits. This can be the basis for future marketing strategies, such as email promotions that target personal food preferences.