Voice-based ordering, food tracking believed to be “next big thing”, survey says
The GO Technology report also indicates that food delivery is “booming” in the UK.
Consumers believe that voice-based ordering and food tracking devices will become more common, according to the latest quarterly GO Technology report from Zonal and CGA.
The research, which tracks the technology habits of 5,000 UK consumers, reveals that almost a third (33%) of consumers want to know the exact delivery time as soon as they hit the order button.
A fifth (22%) of consumers think that voice-based ordering is also likely to take off as due to artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to becoming “an integral part of our home life” due to programmes such as Siri or Alexa.
The report also indicates that food delivery is “booming” in the UK, with 28% of British consumers are now ordering more food deliveries than they did last year, with over 27 million orders taken in the last six months. Half of these orders were made by millennials.
“With people leading busier and more hectic lives, the convenience of getting a delivery straight to the home, office or even hotel has become part of everyday life. Branded restaurants are understandably keen to get in on the action by extending their loyalty beyond the high street and onto people’s tables,” Zonal’s sales and marketing director Clive Consterdine said.
Technology a clear driver of delivery trend
Technology seems to be a clear driver of the trend, with 44% of consumers using online channels to order delivery, with two in five (40%) respondents believing more restaurants will start to offer delivery directly from their own websites, which are seen as the best source of information about delivery. In comparison, only 29% predict a growth in third party mobile delivery apps.
“It pays for restaurant brands to invest in their operational and technology infrastructure now in order to capitalise on the opportunity that home delivery brings to drive additional revenue and meet consumers’ expectations,” Consterdine added.
The research surmises that rewards on offer are potentially huge for brands, with 39% of consumers saying they would order more food for delivery if improvements are made to the speed of service and quality of food delivered. Two in five (43%) consumers, meanwhile, say they would like to see faster delivery, which puts it at the top of their wish list for improvements, followed by better food temperature (36%) and price (34%).
“Operators who want to exploit this huge opportunity should do so with the needs of the consumer at the forefront of their minds and invest in the processes and systems that can best serve their customers. Building a great service enhances brand equity and offering home delivery can open up a whole new customer base away from the high street. However, poor operational execution will see customers go elsewhere and damage the hard-earned brand reputation across all channels,” Karl Chessell, CGA Business Unit Director, Retail and Food concluded.
(Click here to access a copy of the full report.)
