Revolutionising customer experience in the food sector with geolocation tools
In the restaurant industry, where speed and efficiency must be on the menu at every stage in the dining process, location APIs are providing a host of opportunities for optimising the customer journey.
We have already discussed the benefits of incorporating a Locator into your business in any industry in a previous article. Now, we will take a closer look at the advantages of a geolocation API – the Restaurant Finder – for fast food companies.
Thanks to this kind of tool, restaurants can offer a faster service, improve profitability and guarantee an exceptional customer experience. Let’s find out how geolocation can change the game in the fast food industry.
An optimised customer journey from order to plate thanks to geolocation
Fast food has become an extremely competitive sector where every minute counts. Customers are looking for quick, convenient solutions to sate their appetite in record time. According to a Bell and Howell study in 2018, over 80% of fast food customers give up on the idea of ordering if they think they will have to queue for more than 10 minutes.
This is where geolocation comes in: it can give fast food businesses the opportunity to optimise and accelerate their customer journey, from order to collection.
Locating the nearest restaurant
When a customer’s stomach starts to rumble, the first step in their journey is to find the nearest restaurant. Whether they want to have their food delivered, pick their order up through a Click and Collect system or eat on the premises, a Store Locator is essential, so that they can choose the right restaurant for their location.
The Woosmap Store Search API helps customers to find all the information they need in no time, including opening hours, menus and order options (Click and Collect, drive-through, car park service, table service, etc.). On top of that, thanks to the Product Locator, the customer can see if there are any set menus available and order online, thus saving precious time.
For an even smoother user experience, businesses can even link geolocation to mobile and multichannel communication platforms (Airship, Batch, Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, etc.) thanks to our turnkey connectors.
Real-time calculation of when the customer will arrive
Then, once the restaurant has been chosen and the order placed via the mobile app, the Woosmap Distance API calculates the customer’s journey and precise arrival time, whether they are walking or driving, according to traffic.
When the customer activates location tracking via the app, the Geofencing SDK comes into play, analysing their location in the background. Thanks to its live tracking functionality, the tool can let the restaurant know when the customer is nearby, so that their order can be sent to the kitchen.
When the customer gets there, they can pick up their order without needing to queue, as the restaurant is notified when they are about to arrive. This smooth, optimised process helps the restaurant to manage orders effectively.
The result?
- The customer arrives to find their order piping hot and ready to be picked up.
- Waiting time is reduced.
- Customers can pick up their order without going to a kiosk.
Apart from all that, we know that transparency and privacy are of the utmost importance to both businesses and users, so no user data is collected by Woosmap. The information stays on the customer’s smartphone, without going through any external servers.
Quick service and guaranteed profitability
Geolocation offers all sorts of advantages for fast food companies, in terms of both service speed and profitability. We know that these tools mean users can save precious time, but that is not all. Fast food businesses also benefit!
With a car park delivery service, restaurants can move away from the traditional drive-through system, thus avoiding long queues and freeing up space to expand their premises. This is only possible if the user has searched for a restaurant that provides this type of service and they can be located in the car park.
The same goes for on-foot customers: with the kiosk-free Click and Collect service, the number of order kiosks in the restaurant can be reduced and more tables can be put in their place, making the business more profitable.
Indoor Mapping: the future of fast food
Woosmap is at the forefront of indoor geolocation innovation, paving the way to the future of fast food. Thanks to this technology, customers can order at their table via a mobile app. This eliminates the need to queue at traditional order kiosks so that customers can get served without moving from their seat.
There are plenty of benefits of this approach:
- Customers save time.
- Customers are sure they will have a table.
- Restaurant space is optimised, as there are fewer kiosks.
- Profitability is increased.
- Savings are made over kiosk ordering (purchasing the equipment, repairing it, etc.).
Imagine a restaurant where there are no queues, customer satisfaction is maximised and there are more tables, thanks to the removal of order kiosks. The positive repercussions on revenue will be clear to see.
This is not about replacing one consumption method with another: the idea is to personalise the customer experience by adapting it to their preferred pick-up method. The result is a satisfied, loyal customer who will come back more often and recommend the business to their friends and family.
Thanks to this transition to indoor geolocation, more space can be used for serving customers and less for logistics. As well as creating a more comfortable environment, this increases businesses’ profits. Woosmap’s innovation in this area is opening up new possibilities for the fast food industry.
APIs for restaurants: a guaranteed positive experience
By using Woosmap APIs, fast food businesses can transform the way they work, speeding up their service, maximising their operational efficiency and creating an exceptional customer experience. Customer satisfaction is the key to success in this competitive industry, and geolocation is an effective way of fulfilling customers’ needs.
Geolocation tools have become essential for companies that want to stand out from the competition, win their customers’ loyalty and guarantee long-term success in this sector.
To find out more about all the functionalities of our APIs applied to the restaurant industry, get in touch with our team now!