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How to shape a successful marketing strategy for digital marketplace?

How to shape a successful marketing strategy for digital marketplace?
“Not since the digital revolution in the early ‘90s has technology placed such a comprehensive burden on business, employees and individuals to reinvent their business plans, services and products, and themselves to keep pace with the changing marketplace.”
– Simon Mainwaring

Table of Content

1. introduction

2. Growing relationship between businesses & a digital marketplace

3. Some useful statistics

4. Essential touchpoints prior to choosing a strategy

5. Marketing strategies for digital marketplace

6. Conclusion

1. introduction

“The only option better than a multi-vendor e-commerce marketplace to showcase all your products and offerings and grow your business, is a multi-vendor e-commerce marketplace that is promising and is talked about more often.”
Digitalization, as permeant and inevitable as it can get, is laying its pervasive hands upon businesses and customers alike. It is spreading like wildfire from urbanised areas to pockets of several suburbs and to the rural corners of the world. That’s how ingressing digitalization has been, lately.
E-commerce marketplace platforms and the growing hunger for hyperlocal deliveries has impacted and digitalized businesses and customers, often for good. This has resulted in the coming into being of highly sophisticated and technology-intensive online platforms, which are commonly known as digital marketplaces.
A digital marketplace is thus an online platform that creates a venue for both buyers and sellers to transact over a product or a service. It helps bring together the potential buyers of a product or service with the providers of that very product or service. In simple words, a digital marketplace is an intermediary platform that doesn’t own any assets in the form of products or merchandise to be sold.

2. Businesses and digital marketplace: Understanding the growing relationship

2. Businesses and digital marketplace: Understanding the growing relationship

With businesses and entrepreneurs increasingly getting into the digital marketplace, the competition has not just transformed but has intensified more than ever. Businesses, irrespective of their nature, are partnering with the providers of digital marketplace or the so-called hyperlocal marketplace solutions to support their digital platforms. Not just this, but their reliance on such hyperlocal marketplace softwares is increasing day by day.
Without a digital marketplace, a business, no matter how flourishing and prosperous it is, can constrain its ability to reach out to its customers and present to them its offerings. Digital marketplaces are the need of the hour since they are vital for building positive value about your brand and creating an exceptional and an unforgettable customer experience.
Right from selling food items to clothes and groceries to stationaries, it’s all getting done online, and digitalization is the pivot around which modern day businesses are moving. Think of UberEats, Swiggy, Amazon, Doordash and eBay, and know that their brand reputation is only because they have boldly chosen to go online in the e-commerce world. And courtesy to digitalization and automated business processes and techniques, they have been able to maintain their competitive positions over time.
So, before we go on with the discussion of what ways and strategies will best meet the digital marketplace objectives, it is imperative to understand about the parties involved in the digital marketplace. Essentially, a multisided business model of a marketplace involves the following participants.
  • Operator or the marketplace owner: It is a company that provides a digital platform for facilitating buying and selling in the digital marketplace;
  • Buyer: It refers to customers who buy from different merchants who are onboard the digital marketplace platform;
  • Seller/Merchant: It is the company that offers its products or services to be listed for selling on the digital marketplace platform.
These three parties generally inhabit the digital marketplace ecosystem. Each of them has his role to play in order to achieve mutual gains arising out of their co-existence on the digital platform. This mutual reciprocation has helped facilitate digitalization and technology intensive business processes worldwide.
In fact, seeing the growing reach of digital commerce, many traditional physical stores are quickly laying their hands on digital marketplace platforms. Walmart is one big name among many, that started its own online marketplace in the year 2009. After witnessing some industry peculiar highs and lows for a few years, the United States’ largest retailer, surpassed one lakh sellers in its marketplace, nearly thrice more than it was before the covid pandemic hit the world.

3. Some useful statistics

Below are some statistics so as to gain insights into how big the digital cum online marketplace is increasingly getting with each passing day.
  • To put a statistic in point over here, as of the year 2021, Amazon and eBay, both stand as the most visited online marketplaces worldwide.
  • By the second half of the year 2021, Walmart was the third most visited online marketplace in the United Sates.
  • As of the year 2020, TaoBao and Tmall were the world’s leading online marketplaces based on gross merchandise volume, with roughly 600 billion US dollars each.
  • A homegrown Latin American marketplace player, by the name of Mercado Libre, is one of the fastest growing online marketplaces globally, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 66 percent between 2019 and 2021.
So, whether your business prefers to sell its offerings on eBay, Amazon or other leading marketplaces, it’s important that you keep track of the latest e-commerce statistics and trends from time to time. The rapidly changing paradigm of the digital marketplace industry as well as world transforming events and phenomena, such as the covid pandemic, can have a big impact on global e-commerce figures.
For this very reason, staying a step ahead of what’s happening today is essential. And for this very purpose, various ways or marketing strategies have been put in place that businesses should learn to adopt.
So, isn’t it advisable for businesses to start working on their aspects concerning digitalization and incorporation of automated processes? Certainly, it is. And one of the primary tasks for them is to know what kind of marketing strategies will work for the digital marketplace and how to shape them.

4. Essential touchpoints prior to choosing a strategy

4. Essential touchpoints prior to choosing a strategy

But prior to implementing any strategy, it is vital to explore various aspects of your digital marketplace that may lead you to prefer one marketing strategy over the other. These aspects help a business develop efficient market plan and strategy accordingly.

a. Explore the target audience

Making out a detailed profile of your customers and their needs and choices is in fact one of the most fundamental things to do. Once you are able to get a track of what do they buy more often, when do they prefer to buy, etc, you can easily draft strategies that will be in conformity with their needs and choices. such strategies are deemed to be highly relevant. The biggest merit of pursuing this approach is when you find customers’ needs evolving or changing, you can bring about a shift in your strategy too.

b. Do research of your competitors’ marketplace

Analyze and evaluate digital marketplaces that run in the same niche as yours. Go about searching for and identifying their products, pricing methods and prevalent marketing practices. This sort of a research helps outline your benefits as compared to your competitor’s marketplaces.

c. Highlight your USP

Expanded as unique selling proposition of a business, this feature makes it look unique. Find out the USP of your business, and show your customers what is special about your digital marketplace. By putting your best foot forward through USPs, the digital marketplace becomes an easy grab for the visitors.

d. Discover customer touchpoints

In this, when a customer visits your digital marketplace, his behaviour at various touchpoints is observed and evaluated. Herein, each touchpoint describes a customer’s actions and how your business responds to it. With the help of this, a business can optimize and personalize customers’ experiences in the light of its marketplace.

5. Marketing strategies for digital marketplace

5. Marketing strategies for digital marketplace

a. Explore the target audience

Businesses wishful of succeeding in the competitive digital marketplace must learn how to stand out from the rest of the competitors in the industry. This differentiation may be in any product feature, speedy delivery mechanism or any other thing that enriches the overall customer experience. As a business, while pursuing differentiation, one should try finding answers to the following questions- What makes your brand distinctive and stand apart from the masses? Why should the potential customers choose you over and above other online marketplace players? What can your business offer to customers that rival businesses cannot?

b. Search engine optimization

Also, commonly known as SEO, this strategy helps your business’s website to rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP), thereby enabling more traffic. The fundamental goal of search engine marketing is to rank on the first page of google results for search terms that mean the most to a business’s target audience. But, how should a business go about shaping and implementing SEO and watch itself grow? Firstly, search and identify the relevant keywords with good search traffic potential. Then, learn to publish a high quality and extremely relevant content and one that has the ability to influence. Ensure that the content so published is optimized for search engines and for users. You may include links from trustworthy websites. Next, keep your content updated, in tandem with the modern demands and needs. Lastly, measure the results.

c. Invite referrals

Commonly known as a referral program, it is a system that incentivizes and provides rewards to customers when they recommend your offerings to their family, friends, relatives or anyone else in the social group. In other words, customers who make such referrals are generally considered loyal to the brand. In fact, they act as brand advocates, on behalf of the business. This is one fine way to reach out to an increasing number of customers, thereby attracting more traffic on your digital marketplace.

d. Content marketing

Using content as a tool to promote your marketplace and get noticed can be another effective way of discovering and coming clear of your indistinct identity as a business in the digital marketplace. Developing content like interesting blogs, insightful articles, videos or infographics can get the audience engaged and interested in your marketplace’s offerings. A spectacular example of content-based marketing strategy in point over here is that of Beardbrand campaign. They have a blog by the title of Urban Bearded Man that is strictly focussed upon bearded men. Aimed at all those men who take pride in caring for their beards, the blog offers a lot of insights about different aspects of beard care and everything related to it- from razor models to the optimal temperature of the towel that is applied to the fact after shaving. Such contents attract the target audience to the marketplace. As a result of good content, the Beardbrand’s website attracts hundreds and thousands of visitors every month.

e. Boost your social presence

Businesses in digital marketplace domains thrive better when they have an organic social presence. The benefits of social media can be availed only when businesses learn to use it to their advantage. Businesses can make sure that the social media channels and websites are stocked with vibrant images and engaging videos. The frequency of such posts should be high and rich visual content must be created so as to look appealing. Other ways to take advantage of social media is by hosting giveaways, associating with expert bloggers who are active in your niche and using appropriate hashtags.

f. Take part in online events and discussions

Discussions and debates across various online platforms have become quite commonplace. But businesses taking part in them is still not so. Therein, lies the opportunity for passionate and futuristic businesses. They can leverage their expertise by participating in virtual conferences or webinars to get the word out about their business.

6. Conclusion

There are plenty of marketing strategies to be employed in order to promote your online or digital marketplace; however which strategies a business should employ majorly depends upon the nature of the business, its objectives and goals that it has set for itself. A few of the below mentioned questions can help one figure out the appropriate strategy.

Are your customers wanting uniqueness in your products and offerings? If yes, are you capable of providing it to them? In this case, the differentiation strategy can work best.

Do you have a bunch of loyal customers who are expecting a bit more from you than what you provide to the new customers? Try inviting referrals and it may work wonders.

Does your audience want a good content in the form of insightful blogs so as to connect more with you? Content-based marketing strategy can see you through.

Does the audience for your products flock to specific social media platforms? If so, those platforms can be a good place to focus upon.

Is your main goal to reach new customers who haven’t heard of your brand and are unaware of your offerings? Search engine optimization (SEO) can show you a way out.

Lastly, and above all, is your business really desirous of adopting a successful marketing strategy for its digital marketplace? If yes, now is the time

Because, remember the words that occurred at the very beginning- “Technology has never placed such a great burden on businesses to reinvent their plans, strategies, services and products to keep pace with the changing marketplace.”
So, would you shy away from owning that burden and shouldering it responsibly as a business? All this, while you surreptitiously but firmly believe that it is nothing less than a blessing in disguise for you.
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How Food Delivery Apps Have Changed the Shape of the Restaurant Industry?

How Food Delivery Apps Have Changed the Shape of the Restaurant Industry?

Table of Content

1. introduction

2. Technology: Driving The Industry Changes

3. Reasons Galore For Restaurant Businesses To Smile

4. Accepting The Growing Reality Of Food Delivery Apps

5. Effect Of Digitalization On The Food And Restaurant Industry

6. Increasing Popularity Of Cloud Kitchens

7. Few Recent Developments

8. Making Your Business Decode The Statistics

Table of Content

1. introduction

2. Technology: Driving The Industry Changes

3. Reasons Galore For Restaurant Businesses To Smile

4. Accepting The Growing Reality Of Food Delivery Apps

5. Effect Of Digitalization On The Food And Restaurant Industry

6. Increasing Popularity Of Cloud Kitchens

7. Few Recent Developments

8. Making Your Business Decode The Statistics

1. introduction

In the present times, if there seems an industry that is flourishing like anything and is highly promising, it is the restaurant industry. As the industry trends pick up pace, and growth appears imminent, few questions may often arrive in every food entrepreneur and a passionate restaurateur’s mind, viz a viz –
  • How profitable can this industry be?
  • Is it time to go all guns blazing for us to be dubbed as one of the industry-leading food businesses?
  • How can our business make significant gains while contributing to the industry’s overall profit?
  • By adopting what techniques and processes can our business become a market leader?
The list of such questions for perceptive businesses may be quite long. Addressing allied questions from time to time and working hard to finding solutions about it, makes businesses more forward looking and future oriented.
But the going is always not that easy as it may apparently appear, especially in an industry that faces really fast paced and cut throat competition every hour of the day. So, the question arises- Whether your business can make the most of the booming times in an industry that is characterized by intense competition?

2. Technology: driving the industry changes

2. Technology: driving the industry changes

The world is witnessing a phenomenal shift in consumer buying. While technology has been the main cause behind it, restaurant industry has been one of the most impacted one, albeit for good. Technology has made everything so accessible that businesses everywhere around are witnessing a phenomenal shift in consumers’ buying ways and companies’ business conducting practices. To this statement, online food ordering can be considered no exception.
Increased internet penetration rate, quick and easy access to smartphones, simplified and hassle-free e-banking systems and processes, improved food service logistics and rapidly changing lifestyles have contributed primarily and majorly to online food delivery market growth. Perhaps, such a pressing need is the reason why food delivery app solutions are being offered by software companies.
Customers are rapidly heading online more than ever, a thing worth noticing and something which perhaps, has fueled rapid growth in the e-commerce industry over the previous few years. This shift in consumer shopping habits has been fueled by a variety of causes, some of which are industry or country-specific, while others are the product of global shifts. Most of it can be attributed to the availability of an increased number of online food delivery businesses, a better understanding by consumers of the developments of online e-commerce, a better, easy and secure option for online payments of services, disposable incomes of people on the rise and work from home like activities leaving less time for people to invest in making the food themselves.
The restaurant industry, as mentioned in the above statements, in the previous 10-12 years or so, has continued to evolve phenomenally which is why it becomes relevant and all the more important to take deeper insights about the growth trends in the industry and the statistics that may fascinate us to the limit, thereby leaving us well informed than ever for better business decision making.
The coming together of technology and food industry has allowed several restaurants and businesses to deliver food to consumers much faster than ever. It is this coming together that has given rise and prominence to various forms of restaurant delivery software and food delivery app solutions on offer, which has further resulted in mass digitalization of the restaurant industry.
A good restaurant delivery management software or a food delivery app development company is certainly capable of providing feasible and timely food/restaurant delivery solutions to businesses worldwide, which is why they are being widely preferred.

3. Food delivery apps: Reasons galore for restaurant businesses to smile

3. Food delivery apps: Reasons galore for restaurant businesses to smile

Digitalization has affected several domains of a business, one of which is online ordering. Online food ordering has become a fad in the recent few years. Put it on the pandemic that hit the world in 2020 or the increasingly sedentary lifestyle choices of consumers, there has been a massive surge in the way food is ordered online across the globe. Courtesy of companies offering food delivery app solutions, everything is just a few clicks away and the food is ready and delivered to your doorstep.
Cart screen of ordering app
In a survey of consumers in the US market conducted in April 2020, it was reported that 53 percent of the adults between the age of 18 and 29 years stated that they ordered food online or through an app from a local restaurant during the coronavirus pandemic.

4. Accepting the growing reality of food Delivery apps

4. Accepting the growing reality of food Delivery apps

“You don’t order food. You make a reservation for it.”
Food delivery apps have certainly changed the way a business is conducted. From selling delectable food items and sumptuous delicacies through traditional brick and mortar stores to delivering it to consumers through widespread online presence of several restaurants and food joints, the restaurant industry, in the recent few years, has witnessed some serious changes. Perhaps, changes that have come as a boon to many aspiring and future oriented businesses. Technology and the use of it has certainly helped many businesses scale up their processes and operations.
Companies working on food delivery apps and promising quick food delivery app solutions have not just simplified the process of online ordering but they have facilitated online ordering to a significant extent, too. Imagine ordering food online, without the use of technology and digitalization; you will find it to be an idea of no-good use. Perhaps an idea which is apparently absurd. And rightly so. The use of internet, technology and digitalization has become so ingrained and business-obvious that business processes would remain incomplete and inefficient without them, especially the restaurant industry.
It is the result of digitalization and technology incorporated processes that the global restaurant industry has transformed a lot over the past decade and food businesses have flourished enormously, courtesy to a number of food delivery apps and increasing sedentary consumer buying habits. Were there no food delivery app development services and software to satisfy the food cravings, restaurant industry, in this twenty first century would have traversed a very different path, albeit a difficult one.
Companies offering food delivery app solutions are on the rise more than ever. More and more restaurant businesses are seeking food delivery solutions in order to scale up their business and increase possibilities of generating sales and gaining profit. So much has been the reach and impact of online foo delivery that it is not just eating into the market share of traditional dine-in restaurants but is also replacing home cooking. People, in every country, more or less are frequently opting for online food delivery solutions/restaurant delivery solutions over and above traditional home cooking practices.
After all,
“Choosing online food delivery over cooking is choosing to spend more time with your family.”
Multi Vendor Ecommerce Marketplace Software
Majority of food businesses too, are embracing technological advancements and digitalization to meet consumer demands more efficiently on a large scale. In view of this, a good restaurant delivery management software provides feasible food delivery app solutions to many businesses. In fact, many software development companies have made their delivery apps so robust and efficient, that several leading food joints and restaurants are left with little choice not to partner with them. Such has been the global spread and impact of food delivery apps.
Digitalization in restaurants can be witnessed in both, physical spaces and the online world. Moving with the flow of technology and adopting it has helped many restaurants run their physical spaces more efficiently. One of the ways is by using self-ordering kiosks, which can gather useful customer data, reduce labor costs, and lower the number of incorrect orders.
In 2020, the global interactive kiosk market value reached 26.63 billion U.S. dollars, a figure that was predicted to grow in the future years. This feature of restaurant services became important especially during the pandemic of covid due to health and hygiene concerns, making personal interaction between restaurant workers and customers less possible.
The same can be said for the use of contactless payments. The largest regional segment of the contactless payment market value worldwide was held by the Far East and China, which accounted for around half of the entire industry. The next highest market share was held by North America, followed by Europe.

5. Effect of digitalization on the food and restaurant industry: Knowing the figure

5. Effect of digitalization on the food and restaurant industry: Knowing the figure

Online food ordering has witnessed a big growth around the globe, ever since the pandemic of covid hit the world. If the statistics are to be believed, the market size of the global online food delivery sector reached around 107.44 billion US dollars in the year 2019.
The global online food delivery market size reached 111.32 billion U.S dollars in the year 2020.
The market size of the global online food delivery sector was predicted to rise to as much as 154.34 billion by the end of the year 2023.
Moreover, as a leading contributor to the global restaurant market, the United States quick service restaurant (QSR) industry’s output has increased significantly by over 50 percent since 2007, thereby reaching an all-time high of more or less 283 billion US dollars in 2020.
Delving into the names of the biggest players and one of the most prominent ones in the online food delivery market worldwide, Chinese service -Meituan Waimai was reported to be the firm leader with revenues nearing 14 billion US dollars in 2020. The list of such prominent online food delivery players also includes the likes of Grub Hub, Delivery Hero and Uber Eats.
Moreover, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Door Dash reported a massive acceleration in orders between the month of February and March, 2020 as the entire world went into lockdown. Now with the effect of covid gradually waning in several parts of the world, the surge in online food demand still doesn’t seem to cool off. Online food ordering is here to stay.

6. Increasing Popularity of cloud kitchens

Also known as a ‘virtual kitchen’ or a ‘ghost kitchen’, a cloud kitchen is a kitchen space for commercial purpose that offers food businesses the facilities and services needed to prepare menu items for take-out and delivery. In stark contrast to traditional brick and mortar locations, cloud kitchens allow food businesses to create and deliver food products with minimal overhead.
Data from recent studies indicate that meal delivery orders increased by more than 150 percent from 2019 to 2020- and the food delivery market is anticipated to increase roughly ten times over a ten-year period from $35 billion per year to $365 billion.
What’s more interesting about ‘virtual kitchens’ is the fact that there are delivery optimized ‘cloud kitchens’ which allow businesses to accommodate orders without any hassles or unnecessary overheads. Restaurants that are cloud kitchen based generally use online food delivery platforms to source orders thereby facilitating delivery orders, and finding easy food delivery app solutions.
Because the food delivery business is witnessing a meteoric rise, cloud kitchens, regardless of any regional or country specific reservations, are quickly gaining popularity among futuristic businesses.
The response of global consumers to such virtual kitchens has been pretty positive and encouraging. As a matter of fact, increasing number of food entrepreneurs and restaurant owners, both new and well-established ones around the world are resorting to cloud kitchens as an ideal business solution to capture this phenomenal increase in food delivery demand. In fact, many restaurants have turned to cloud kitchens as a low cost and low risk way to satisfy this galloping food demand.
Fasoos by Rebel Foods, Biryani by Kilo, and Freshmenu are some of the most popular cloud kitchen chains which are operating in this segment. In order to meet and cater to an increasing number of delivery orders, restaurant chains worldwide are appearing more inclined towards cloud kitchen outlets than dine-in outlets. In fact, they are picking up on this trend pretty fast.
Now, as the hunger for food overwhelms the dining experience, restaurants and food joints are changing their way of operations too. The food ordering and delivery app Swiggy, launched shared cloud kitchen spaces called Swiggy Access and enabled new and existing restaurants to operate delivery-only operations from these kitchen spaces.
Bar graph - How Food Delivery Apps Have Changed the Shape of the Restaurant Industry?
Number of Cloud Kitchen in selected countries,2020
All in all, the idea of a virtual kitchen is getting a wide acknowledgement from businesses globally, which is further leading to increased use of food delivery apps, thereby resulting in more online food deliveries placed every single minute around the world.
The following data and statistics provide a clear idea as to how big the online food delivery market is. As far as the food delivery revenues of countries are concerned, China topped the list at $27.3 billion as of the year 2021. It is worth mentioning that Meituan contributed near about $15 billion to China’s revenue, as the largest food delivery app in the world by revenue and usage. China was followed by the US at $22.4 billion. Then came Europe, UK, etc. in the list.
Statistics giving food delivery revenue of countries
Seeing the whopping adoption rate of food delivery apps by different countries, the numbers and statistics to arrive appear pretty promising. A statistic in point, given below lets us know as to how big the food delivery market size around the world can be in the years to follow.
If research studies and projections are to be believed, the food delivery market size is expected to grow to $250 billion by the year 2027 and to a humongous $320 billion by 2029.

7. Few recent developments

  • In 2021, Delivery Hero went on to acquire Hugo’s food and grocery delivery verticals and expanded its footprint in Central America and the Caribbean.
  • In 2021, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab Holdings announced a merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. valued at USD 40 billion.
  • In 2021, Uber Technologies Inc. completed its acquisition of Drizly, and the two companies will begin integrating their complementary delivery apps and services. The purchase consideration was near around USD 1.1 billion, consisting of roughly 18.7 million newly issued shares of Uber common stock plus cash.

8. Making your business decode the meaning of such whopping statistics

8. Making your business decode the meaning of such whopping statistics

Making out from such statistics and seeing the developments the industry is making, the restaurant business is in for a big game. Or isn’t it?

Are food delivery apps the future of food and restaurant industry?

Is the future that is, only for food delivery app development companies?

Are restaurant management software companies the best destination for food businesses, whether new or established?

Are delivery optimized cloud kitchens going to stay competitive, upfront and for long?

Or, Are digitalized food businesses the future of the restaurant industry?

The answers to such questions should be immediately found and acted upon by prudent concerns, because given the pace of growth of the online food delivery businesses, a minute of delay can render your business to become a market laggard from being a market leader; a position a hard-working and prudent business wouldn’t ever like to get into.
So, is your business rightly software enabled and app ready to seek seamless food delivery app solutions and deliver easy and quick restaurant delivery solutions to customers that are looking for one or the other lip-smacking food item 24*7, in some part of this vast business world, or who knows pretty much near you.
The question here is, Can your food business satisfy their hunger pangs and capitalize on their hunger need? Afterall, online food delivery might just be the best and the most satisfying thing about living in the modern world.

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How to scale your hyperlocal marketplace?

How to scale your hyperlocal marketplace?

Table of Content

1. introduction

2. Knowing The Basics Of A Hyperlocal Marketplace

3. What Is Meant By Hyperlocal Marketing?

4. Hyperlocal Marketplace: Knowing Step By How It Works

5. Factors That Have Contributed To The Growing Hyperlocal Culture

6. SWOT Strategy Into Action To Help Businesses Upscale

7. Hyperlocal Marketplace: Exploring The Scaling Possibilities & Future

1. introduction

1. introduction

“Sell the problem you solve, not the product.”
With the coming into being of technology and a rapid adoption of new channels of communication, the classical approach to marketing various merchandise and services at a local level has undergone a big paradigm change. From the age of small print ads, inserts and banners, etc. the world has found itself greatly exposed to the likes of digital marketing mediums and hyperlocal marketing techniques.
Without an iota of doubt, hyperlocal marketplaces, with the help of a multivendor marketplace software, have almost everything of need that they can offer to their customers and they are already solving many of their problems in today’s times.
Moreover, due to the increasing proliferation of e-commerce platforms, online marketplaces, and delivery-based enterprises, the expectations and needs of the consumers are increasing, too. Companies that deliver faster than their competitors naturally tend to attract more customers. So, it would not be wrong to assert that the hyperlocal delivery model, in today’s competitive era, does open up a slew of opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-ups.
In point of fact, increasingly well-funded start-ups, nicely curated products and services, and rapid on-demand delivery have contributed to hyperlocal e-commerce’s popularity. Their success has led to interest and participation by some of the large business houses and online giants, lately.
But what is a hyperlocal marketplace that a vast majority of prudent businesses are wanting to cater to, so desperately? And, what is hyperlocal marketing that contemporary businesses are rushing for and resorting to, so often?

2. Knowing the basics of a hyperlocal marketplace

2. Knowing the basics of a hyperlocal marketplace

The hyperlocal marketplace can be defined as a marketplace that helps in catering to the needs of a set geographical area of customers. In a hyperlocal marketplace environment, users can simply figure out the products and services on their own, offering them exactly more of their requirements. On-demand food delivery app-based services, personal care services, house care services, on-demand groceries’ delivery, etc. all are part of the hyperlocal marketplace.
All of us, at least once, if not more than that, have availed the services of Amazon, Flipkart or Myntra. Very much like them, a hyperlocal marketplace is an online multivendor place in that it caters to a limited or a predefined geographic area. The predominant feature of a hyperlocal marketplace is that the entire supply chain is located pretty close to the buyers as well as the sellers. In fact, just because the retailers, delivery drivers and customers are present physically close enough, a hyperlocal delivery is a matter of a few minutes. There you order, here it arrives at your doorstep. Ding dong!
So, does a hyperlocal marketplace really solve a customers’ myriad problems? Yes, it certainly does.
My Kirana is a popular hyperlocal marketplace app wherein you can conveniently order groceries or personal care products or avail other essential commodities of need. They have shops for different locations listed on their app and the products available in these stores. For instance, if you live in location ‘X’, the app would not show you shops of location ‘Y’ or ‘Z’. This makes the whole process of delivery easy and quick. Moreover, such a hyperlocal marketplace gives the consumers the convenience of relaxing at home and ordering while saving a lot of time and buying effort that could have been wasted, had they themselves moved out of their homes to get the food they ordered online.
Read more about how to start a hyperlocal delivery marketplace

3. What is meant by hyperlocal marketing?

3. What is meant by hyperlocal marketing?

Hyperlocal marketing is a technique of focusing your marketing and advertising efforts to a specific geographic location with the intention of targeting people conducting ‘near me’ searches on their mobile phones on a real time basis.
In other words, it is the process of targeting the prospective customers in a highly specific and geographically restricted area so as to lure them into visiting and buying from the website or app more often.
This blog, therefore, is centered around discussing precise location targeting through sharply defined marketing techniques called hyperlocal marketing and the ways of scaling a hyperlocal business in today’s fiercely growing hyperlocal marketplace.
NOTE: It was revealed through a research that the global hyperlocal service market size was worth $1714 billion in the year 2020 and is expected to grow to a whopping $5188 billion by the year 2030, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9 % from 2021 to 2030.
Source: Allied Market Research
Hyperlocal marketing is strictly purpose driven. Its fundamental purpose is to capitalize on the ‘near me’ searches made by the customers. In fact, as per a published article, ‘near me’ searches have become extremely popular in the recent years among customers among the users. Data from Google indicates that ‘near me’ searches grew in volume by 130% year over year between 2014 and 2015 alone, and since then, Google users are using ‘near me’ searches to find everything from post offices in San Francisco to dispensaries in Los Angeles, to Chinese restaurants in Washington D.C and what not.
In tandem with the increase in near me searches during the last few years, the popularity of hyperlocal marketing has risen by leaps and bounds.

4. Hyperlocal marketplace: Knowing step by how it works

4. Hyperlocal marketplace: Knowing step by how it works

The working of a hyperlocal marketplace is simple. Here is how it works
  • Sellers and retail outlets (restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.) upload their inventory on the marketplace website/app.
  • Customers browse the items they want & add them to the cart so as to place an order.
  • The customers make payment either via online modes or choose to pay via cash-on-delivery mode.
  • Seller receives the order on its marketplace website/app.
  • The seller accepts the order.
  • They pack the order to avoid any shipping and transportation damage and in order to make the delivery convenient.
  • Delivery agent visits the store and picks up the order for delivery.
  • Customers’ order is eventually delivered to his doorstep.
Future is hyperlocal
The simplicity of the working of a hyperlocal marketplace and the benefits associated with it make it one of the most sought-after destinations to consider for entrepreneurs and start-ups. Be it food, grocery, medicines or other household essentials, hyperlocal marketplaces are undoubtedly witnessing a surge in customer demand.
It would not be too far fetched to assert that hyperlocal businesses and their marketplaces have come a long way in their pursuit of attracting a greater number of customers with each passing day.
But, have you ever wondered what connects the sellers, customers and the delivery drivers?
The above step by step model may appear to be simple but there is a lot going on in the back end. A team of dedicated software developers who continuously keep an eye on what changes are needed in a hyperlocal business software, as per the growing trend or how often customer preferences or their choices are witnessing a shift so as to be tapped accordingly.
Also, why hyperlocal businesses are gaining momentum and attracting a quick sight of the global customers and therefore, are scaling like anything?

5. Factors that have contributed to the growing hyperlocal culture

5. Factors that have contributed to the growing hyperlocal culture

Following are the few factors that have actively contributed to their phenomenal rise.
  • Growing number of mobile internet users
  • Increasing rate of smartphone adoption and its penetration
  • Growing sense of urbanization among the customers
  • A call for bettered standard of living and improved lifestyle
  • Changing consumer preferences
  • Improvement in logistics infrastructure
  • Increase in business digitalization
  • High funding for e-commerce businesses
Taking due heed of the above-mentioned factors that have over the last few years significantly contributed to the whopping growth of the hyperlocal industry, one can learn about the path a business takes in its pursuit of economic prosperity and growth.
But, to be able to scale the business splendidly where every competing business is trying really hard to supersede the other, one needs to capitalize and make the most of a few of these factors, if not all.

6. The TOWS matrix: Learning to put a SWOT strategy into action to help businesses upscale

6. The TOWS matrix: Learning to put a SWOT strategy into action to help businesses upscale

A SWOT analysis of the business is often very handy and can lead to significant gains; and if carried out strategically, it can help you scale your hyperlocal marketplace in quick time.
While strengths and weaknesses are internal to an organization, opportunities and threats are always present in the external environment. It is true that there can be several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats concerning a business, but it is even truer that many businesses are not aware of it. Only those who are, get to succeed.
The below provided image gives a vivid insight into some probable forms of S,W,O,T that can concern a business.

Strengths

  • Capabilities
  • Competitive advantages
  • Resources, assets and people
  • Experience, knowledge, & data
  • Financial reserves, returns
  • Marketing, reach
  • Innovative aspects
  • Location, geographical
  • Price, value and quality
  • Advantages of proposition

Opportunity

  • Market development
  • Industry or life style trends
  • Innovation & Technology
  • Global influences
  • Market dimensions
  • Target markets
  • Geographical import, export
  • Major contracts
  • Tactics and surprises
  • Product development

Weaknesses

  • Lack of capabilities
  • Gap in competitive strengths
  • Reputation, presence & reach
  • Timescales, deadline
  • Financial
  • Cashflow, cash drain
  • Continuity, supply chain
  • Effect on core activities
  • Reliability of data
  • Management cover

Threats

  • Polotical effects
  • Legislative effects
  • Environmental effects
  • Competitve intentions
  • Market demand
  • Innovation in technologies
  • Services & ideas
  • New contracts
  • Loss of resources
  • Poor Management strategies
Prudent businesses of modern era are highly attentive and careful about the deployment of the right set of strategies in today’s fiercely placed hyperlocal marketplace, one of which is the application of SWOT.
To conduct an exhaustive SWOT analysis, following steps must be taken due care of-
  1. Make yourself familiar with the internal and external environment of your hyperlocal business.
  2. List your hyperlocal business’s strengths and weaknesses and its opportunities and threats.
  3. Divide your strengths into two groups:
    1. Those that can help you take advantage of opportunities concerning your business
    2. And, those that can help you head off potential threats
  4. Now, classify your weaknesses into two groups:
    1. Those that require improvement before you can take advantage of the present opportunities.
    2. And, those that you need to completely and quickly overhaul and convert into strengths in order to avert any potential threats that may affect your business.
  5. Use your lists as you make decisions that contribute to your business plan.
Develop strategies and actions for capitalizing on opportunities and create plans for countering the external threats and overcome weaknesses that could threaten the future of your hyperlocal business.
There are few possible strategic combinations of SWOT that hyperlocal businesses can work upon and upscale themselves. Let us have a look at them.

TOWS MATRIX

  • SO Strategy: This set of strategy is aimed at capturing the market opportunities present externally by making a good and impeccable use of your inherent strengths. In the context of a hyperlocal marketplace, an example of an opportunity can be growing internet usage among the worldwide users, which can be timely captured by efficiently working on your strength of already being a strong contender in that space, to make your marketplace presence more prominent. Running blitzkrieg advertising campaigns or sales offers can also be used in order to tap into the opportunity and scale your hyperlocal marketplace.
  • WO Strategy: This is aimed at overcoming inherently present weaknesses by exploiting the external opportunities. For instance, your weakness could be the absence of skilled technical people who can help you upscale the technical front of your business in the hyperlocal marketplace; but there is an opportunity in the form of people wanting more and more hyperlocal services in your area. In such a case, your business can allocate resources towards employing such technical people so as to develop the required technical knowhow or let’s say digital aspect of marketing and promoting its business and thus overcome its weakness.
  • ST Strategy: This strategy is about countering the threats present in the external environment with the help of your internal strengths. For instance, the hyperlocal marketplace is getting fierce with each passing day. The threat is the presence of potential competitors that may destabilize you from your competitive position. Adopting ST strategy, your business can ramp up its marketing efforts and come up with irresistible offers so as to outcompete your counterparts or it can work on its speedy delivery model and introduce drone deliveries so as to carve a delivery niche for itself and thence outpace other businesses.
  • WT Strategy: The aim of WT strategy is to minimize both weaknesses and threats. A company faced with external threats and internal weaknesses may indeed be in a precarious position. In the hyperlocal marketplace context, a weakness can be a restaurant’s inability to come up with food offerings of customer’s liking in a hyperlocal food delivery environment where competing restaurant players have a lot to offer to their customers, which is a potential threat. In such a scenario, weaknesses need to be overcome by prioritizing things of concern and thereby save oneself from the prevailing threats.

7. Hyperlocal marketplace: Exploring the scaling possibilities and the future that lies therein

7. Hyperlocal marketplace: Exploring the scaling possibilities and the future that lies therein

It is noteworthy that growing number of mobile internet users is seen as a potential opportunity by businesses wanting to grow and expand. By partnering with a company that provides a wide range of hyperlocal services through its e-commerce marketplace software and making your website or app attractive and more utility driven, your business can easily lure the users into using your website/app more often. The greater number of users turn up to your app, increased is the likelihood to generate sales and profits.
Once sales start to pick up, the chances of your business getting more visible among the users increases by leaps and bounds. This is what is known as increased brand visibility. But to be able to sustain that brand visibility in a highly fierce hyperlocal marketplace can be pretty challenging unless you couple it with the right set of marketing and advertising tactics and strategies. By smartly working on your online/digital presence, your business can easily create a hyperlocal presence for itself, which is what every business wants.
Besides this, your hyperlocal marketplace can be scaled by building and sustaining relationships and expanding your hyperlocal network by partnering with local stores, shops, vendors, delivery agents, etc
With the boom of information technology and the growing usage of internet, one thing which is evident is that the consumers are liking and moving towards effortless buying options and the hyperlocal model is enabling just that. With hyperlocal deliveries getting prevalent day by day, entrepreneurs and businesses can capitalize on customer loyalty and experience.
What makes a hyperlocal marketplace more interesting and intriguing a place is the fact that it has a lot of scope and it is a world full of infinite possibilities for aspiring businesses. It is more so with the coming into being of artificial intelligence, robotics and drone deliveries that renders the marketplace worth being into.
With everything considered, your hyperlocal marketplace could be scaled and made more competitive, with the right set of tools and tactics. While the right set of tactics through proper marketing strategies and plans need to be employed carefully from time to time, the former part (i.e., tools) is something which we at Hyperzod can promise to provide you.
From helping to place quick orders to real time monitoring of them and from live GPS tracking to having an elaborate dashboard for all the statistics your business may require, Hyperzod’s robust software capabilities may be something you need to put your faith into and it may be the jackpot you just need to hit.
Owning a software that has a bird’s eye view of the entire platform your business works upon is after all a business distinction in itself. Our software’s immaculate capabilities are a thing ‘to die for’, for many businesses who are going to flourish and prosper in a short span of time from now. And it doesn’t cost you a fortune, too.
Owning a software that has a bird’s eye view of the entire platform your business works upon is after all a business distinction in itself. Our software’s immaculate capabilities are a thing ‘to die for’, for many businesses who are going to flourish and prosper in a short span of time from now. And it doesn’t cost you a fortune, too.
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Grow Your Sales Guides Latest Articles

How an online ordering system can drive new sales and improve your profit?

How an online ordering system can drive new sales and improve your profit?

Table of Content

1. Background About The Changing Business Landscape

2. Knowing About The Online System And Learning About SAAS

3. Knowing The Statistics Of Online Ordering Systems

4. Benefits Of An Online Ordering System Or SAAS For A Business

5. Can Your Business Avail The Above-Mention Benefits?

Table of Content

1. Background About The Changing Business Landscape

2. Knowing About The Online System And Learning About SAAS

3. Knowing The Statistics Of Online Ordering Systems

4. Benefits Of An Online Ordering System Or SAAS For A Business

5. Can Your Business Avail The Above-Mention Benefits?

1. Background about the changing business landscape

1. Background about the changing business landscape

The business landscape has changed significantly in the previous few years. Technology is taking over a lot of elements of a business. In fact, the evolution in technology is turning out to be a great way for business owners and modern-day entrepreneurs to manage and maneuver an increasingly complex business landscape.
As a result of such phenomenal growth, ways of conducting a business have evolved significantly. A prime example of this is the shift in the way consumers have started to buy products; and so have the businesses changed their processes of selling and luring customers into buying it. As and buy consumers have eagerly started to push for more online buying and ordering experiences, so are businesses coming up with distinguished online ordering systems and newer ways of satisfying their needs.
“In the words of Bill Gates- ‘Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.”
Widespread demand and availability of on-demand delivery services, increasing number of consumers going digital and chunk of businesses getting their processes automated, all, in part or whole, have contributed substantially to the growth in online ordering systems across the globe. Through this, not just customers are benefitted and their needs met, but the fact cannot be denied that businesses too are having a good time dealing with online ordering systems.

2. Knowing about the online system and learning about SAAS

2. Knowing about the online system and learning about SAAS

An online ordering system helps a business drive new sales and improve its profit. But there is a lot of hard work involved. Easy as it may apparently sound, challenging it is to build sales and generate profits in an industry which is highly competitive and shows frequent signs of intense rivalry. Having said this, we cannot make an exception in the case of online food ordering industry.
With consumers worldwide wanting convenience of the next level, businesses having online ordering processes appear to be going a long way in the competitive run.
With the coming into being of online ordering management systems and businesses preferring to use SaaS (software as a service) more often than not, technology has made things easier for food businesses and restaurant owners. Food businesses which were capable of cooking and offering sumptuous delicacies but somehow, for one reason or the other, lacked on the serving part of it, have too, found a great business ally in companies offering SaaS, dealing with online ordering system and providing online ordering services.
“The way to a person’s heart is through his stomach, and your food business can ‘reach’ a thousand hearts through a restaurant delivery software. For this, you can have any food delivery software of your choice. But, for your business to not just ‘reach’ but ‘touch’ and ‘dwell’ in their hearts, hyperzod’s unparalleled online restaurant delivery software can be all that you could ask for.”

3. Knowing the existing statistics and figures characteristic of online ordering systems

3. Knowing the existing statistics and figures characteristic of online ordering systems

Due to massive surge in online ordering systems around the globe, several food businesses and restaurants are now willing to spend almost 70% to 80% of their budget to set an efficient online food ordering system to drive up their sales and improve subsequent profits.
But on the contrary, there have been businesses who are struggling to keep up with the changing pace of ordering trend and associated business processes. For instance, as per an article published in January 2020, Kraft Heinz, an American food company’s market cap has fallen by around 50 percent over the past twelve months, and the company’s inability to keep pace with changing consumer tastes is largely to blame.
A survey of over 200 major companies revealed that Kraft Heinz is not the only one to suffer. While a majority of firms believe that they are “picking up on signals of change” that might disrupt their usual line of business, fewer than half (around 42%) admitted that they are “unable to act on those signals.”
In the words of John Chambers, chairman of Cisco, “At least 40 percent of all businesses will die in the next 10 years, if they do not figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”
So, which side would you want your business to be on; the evolving businesses who are willing to spend and allocate resources to online ordering systems or the ones which are unable to respond to changing signals and adapt?
Industry understanding and business prudence says you stick with the former case. Below are a few statistics and data that narrate the entire story about the whopping growth of online ordering system over the previous few years.
The NPD Group through one of its analysis reported that delivery and drive-through orders had taken hold, making carrying out the less convenient service mode.
From February 2020 to February 2022, digital and non-digital carry out restaurant orders declined by 2%, while delivery increased by humongous 116% and drive-through orders grew by 20%. Digital ordering grew by a banging 117% in two years and contributed to the delivery and drive-through growth.
As per another data from NPD, the number of restaurant visits reserved and paid via smartphone in the United States (US) increased by 50% from the year 2017 to 2018.
By possessing a food ordering and delivery application, businesses can reach new sets of customers and thereby process greater number of orders. Starbucks is a proof of that. Their Mobile and Pay app is largely responsible for 13% of annual U.S transactions, thereby driving a major part of its revenues and profits.
But in order for businesses to successfully capture and dominate the online ordering and delivery market, they ought to know their target market. A deeper understanding of their target audience and their needs and choices helps businesses cater more comprehensively and flexibly, in such evolving times.
A complete demographic profile and a track of changing behavioral habits of the target audience, aids businesses define the style of their marketing activities and also further helps to develop the right functionality.
For instance, the following data of different country markets can serve as a big basis for businesses to chalk out a neat plan and a well-drafted strategy pertaining to online ordering system and delivery.
Companies by working to create a personalized and an interactive user experience, can draw inwards a lot of customers.
Similarly, China with a banging global user penetration rate of roughly 34.2%- almost one third of its humongous population, actively uses online delivery services. This overwhelming figure of the Chinese market is followed by country markets of Netherlands, UK, US and Canada in the same order, thereby putting in front seamless scaling opportunities for global online food ordering and delivery companies.
In fact, so massive is the scale of possibilities for businesses that online ordering systems and applications have lately proved to be a boon for businesses and are largely benefitting. It relieves the business of many commitments and obligations and saves time for other important activities. An efficient online ordering system and a consummate online delivery app owned by a futuristic company will surely provide your business, chances a plenty.
A far-sighted online ordering and delivery company also ensures that it just does not limits itself to satisfying the basic needs and preferences of users, but, acknowledging the super quick growth of competition and rivalry among businesses, it also works hard to disrupt the market with its rapid-fire innovative technologies.
All in all, a good food management and online ordering system learns quickly and more often the newer ways of optimizing business related activities.

4. Benefits of an online ordering system or SAAS for a business

4. Benefits of an online ordering system or SAAS for a business

Let us read on and find out the array of benefits of an online ordering system or SaaS (software as a service) for a business. These benefits are, perhaps, the major reasons as to how online ordering system or SaaS enables businesses in improving their sales and generating profits.

a. Ease of use

When businesses use software as a service for the purpose of taking orders and ensuring deliveries, they have somehow already incorporated a system which has neatly and brilliantly baked-in practices. This results in great ease of use and it further helps in bringing a greater number of users and possibility of new sales for the business.

b. Enables businesses to offer a customer-oriented platform

A good online ordering system cum app makes it a point that its customers are dearly valued and their need and preferences are successfully met. An online food ordering management system cum app should be so developed that it is easier for its users to skim through effortlessly and order things of their liking from the comfort of their homes. If the platform is customer oriented, it goes without saying that it will produce happy and satisfied customers which would further lead to increase in sales and profits for the business.

c. Enables utmost convenience

By providing an online ordering app for all the needs of a business, software companies silently provide great convenience to the customers. A user, if offered convenience through such apps, ends up looking for the same platform time and again, as and when the need to order arises.

d. Increased customer interaction

Online ordering and delivery systems make great allowance for customers to directly interact with the restaurant or food joint and demand things of their choice. The restaurant/food joint then easily and quickly learns as to which meals are the most sought after in their menu and which one is the least ordered. The result of this is it gives a valuable insight on what the customers are preferring more and getting inclined towards and what they are liking less or disliking about their products and offerings. This sort of customer interaction and engagement is vital in today’s competitive era for drawing in more customers, increasing the sales figures, building brand loyalty and in improving the customer base of the restaurant so concerned.

e. Well monitored sales data

In comparison to traditional brick and mortar stores or an in-store delivery system, an online food ordering system helps businesses save a lot of money by offering customers the freedom and convenience to choose online, and then get it delivered to their doorsteps. A similar offline or a physical setup could cost many a business their fortune.

f. Saves a lot of monetary resource

In comparison to traditional brick and mortar stores or an in-store delivery system, an online food ordering system helps businesses save a lot of money by offering customers the freedom and convenience to choose online, and then get it delivered to their doorsteps. A similar offline or a physical setup could cost many a business their fortune.

g. Greater scalability

An online ordering app offers businesses numerous possibilities. These possibilities if taken care of well, undoubtedly enables businesses to scale up their level of operations. Since such apps are in great demand, they bear a likelihood of having an increased visibility. This increased visibility leads to greater scalability for the business in the form of better sales and increased profits.

h. Timely upgrades

By enabling software as a service (SaaS) for a business, the provider upgrades, as and when due, the online ordering system and it becomes available to their customers. Such a feature keeps the customers updated and businesses upfront. Due to such frequent and timely upgrades, customers worldwide are more in awe of such apps thereby increasing the likelihood of generating new sales and subsequent profits for the business.

5. Can your business Avail the above-mention benefits to its advantage?

5. Can your business Avail the above-mention benefits to its advantage?

Having put forth some of the likely merits of an online food ordering system, it should be kept in mind that such systems offer a plethora of benefits to the business, regardless of its size or customer base.
Rather, a great online ordering system would let no opportunity pass over. By virtue of its competitive and continuously evolving character, it will surely work upon increasing the customer base of its partnering business and its subsequent size.
From having an online presence to staying on top of your sales and profits and to leading the industry, there are a number of ways to enrich your business and improve your profits via an online ordering system or the so-called online food ordering system.
All products
Does Hyperzod supports Stripe and PayPal?

Yes, Hyperzod is integrated with Stripe, Paypal and several other payment gateways from around the world.

Does Hyperzod supports Stuart as third party delivery party?

Yes, Hyperzod is integrated with Stuarts as third party delivery.

Can I run loyalty program using Hyperzod?

Yes, with Hyperzod you can easily run loyalty program.

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Grow Your Sales Latest Articles

Benefits of an online ordering and delivery software

Benefits of an online ordering and delivery software

“Everything is online. And you can be everything.”

The Internet is a great equalizer. It sanctions a level playing field for all the business concerns. Not limiting itself to any particular area of business operation, a sensible concern, without exceptions should strive to go online, for what ‘goes online, goes miles’ in today’s world. online ordering and delivery software

Practically, online buying is geographically widespread and its world has become pretty big. The pressing need for an on-demand ordering and delivery software is on the high. Or in other words, it can be said that the on-demand delivery culture has gained immense pace, lately. Customers, by and large, are not just expecting but exploring ordering and delivery options that fit their fast-paced lifestyle.

Therefore, for businesses to meet these needs and expectations, it becomes imperative to go online.

“While offline businesses just walk, Online ones walk all over.”

Online ordering is a common practice in the twenty-first century and it is gaining immense pace with each passing day. The practice of online ordering continues to touch the rural sections of the population to a measurable extent, let alone the urban areas which have been impacted on a large scale.

There is no denying the fact that more people than ever from diverse backgrounds across the globe are shopping online. From ordering fast food items like Pizza or Thai cuisine to pet food items like dog food, etc., and from clothes to stationery to high-end tech products, there isn’t much you cannot buy via the internet in today’s technology-intensive age.

Ever wondered, what has made online buying so frequent and placing orders so common among global consumers?

An increasing number of firms resorting to software adoption for their business purposes can be viewed as one of the many reasons that have resulted in this phenomenal transition of buying/purchasing habits. Since human needs continually evolve, and as and by, the global consumer continues to spend on smartphones and the internet, the online shopping trend, as statistics suggest, would continue to grow.

Table of Content

1. Online buying statistics: Sensing the phenomenal shopping trend

2. How monumental is the world of online shopping?

3. A good software, like wine, takes time.

    1. So, how armed is your business with the right software and associated artillery?

4. Online ordering and delivery software: Decrypting the benefits

1. Online buying statistics: Sensing the phenomenal shopping trend

1. Online buying statistics: Sensing the phenomenal shopping trend

Making business gains becomes a lot easier if you analyze data by studying consumer buying patterns and associated statistics. Online ordering/shopping is steadily on the rise and so is the business need to familiarize yourself with such data. The statistics to follow are indeed interesting and reflect the humongous growth in the e-commerce industry and the probability of how big it can be in the future.

Online shopping is galloping at an unprecedented pace, so much so that the global online shopping market size nearly hit 4 trillion in 2020. And in the United States of America (USA) alone, is expected to have 300 million shoppers by the year 2023.

It is 91% of the current American population. Unimaginable. No?

The USA is no exception to the growing online ordering/shopping trend. There are more countries on the list. According to Invesp, the countries with the leading average e-commerce revenue per shopper are

Country Average revenue per online shopper
United States
$1,804
United Kingdom
$1,629
Sweden
$1,446
France
$1,228
Germany
$1,064
Japan
$968
Spain
$849
China
$626
Russia
$396
Brazil
$350

2. How monumental is the world of online shopping?

2. How monumental is the world of online shopping?

Keeping e-commerce figures in close sight, year 2021 saw interesting times. The annual retail e-commerce sales crossed $4.9 trillion worldwide. Furthermore, eMarketer predicts that it will grow to over $5.5 trillion by the end of year 2022. That’s more than the GDP of Germany (approximately $4.2 trillion in 2021) and Japan (approximately $5.1 trillion in 2021)
Technology, in the form of computers, tablets, smartphones and other hardware, requires the necessary formats and software without which it would be of no use for a business. As a matter of fact, investing in a superior quality of hyperlocal delivery software/pick-up and delivery software/on-demand ordering software is one of the best ways to improve operations.

So, sensing the revolution there is, and understanding the whopping figures and acknowledging the fact that buying habits are rapidly getting transformed from traditional physical buying to online buying/ordering/shopping, would you as a business not want to make use of this opportune time by picking up on an on-demand ordering software that lends great ease of use to the customers?

Would you think twice about buying software that is attractive enough to lure customers?

Would you not want to lay your hands on software that allows hassle-free ordering and smooth delivery services?

Or would you not want your business to go hyperlocal via software that continues to deliver seamlessly and instantly?

“Software is the magic thing whose importance only goes up over time”.
– Bill Gates

Courtesy of flawless delivery services and easy customer reach of businesses, everything else has become secondary. Convenience has certainly become the most important and sought-after thing. And when convenience takes precedence over prices in the consumer mindset, it is time for businesses to come forward and make economic gains. Into that thing, boom goes the dynamite.

So, being a business, have you ever thought of providing convenience to your customers?

Or are you the one following the chunk of businesses fighting it out just for finding ways to reduce prices or some other futile business exercise?

Have you ever thought of an effective way to provide convenience to customers?

Do you know that good software can bring great convenience not just for businesses but for customers, too?

Being a business, can you boast of software that is customer-friendly?

Or are you wondering if the use of online ordering and delivery software can seriously pave way for your business?

To make your business run smoothly, a consummate software is truly a game changer in this era of internet. As is the pace of technological adoption, so is the business craze and inclination towards getting appeared on the internet via a software that provides an enriching experience to its users. It is unparalleled if your business can provide convenience to your users, while simultaneously providing them prompt and instant delivery solutions. online ordering and delivery software

Increased automation is compelling businesses, whether large or micro, to rest their businesses progress on such software of technological mettle. This surely means going online.

So, be it ordering a food item or any other deliverable good, viz a viz grocery, bakery products, pet food, bouquets, accessory items, clothing, beverages or medicines, corporates of today are meaning strict business when they go online via the use of a software. The software functionality in turn provides great ease in its operation, namely in things like manufacturing, selling, communicating and in expanding consumer reach and improving engagement with them.

Following few aspects of hyperlocal delivery software must be touched upon by futuristic businesses in order to stay upfront in the world of online ordering and delivering, thereby generating increased sales and revenues for the firm.

Is product delivery software robust enough to do all the hard work for you?

Is your software capable of catering to hyperlocal needs and choices?

Is it reliable?

To what extent is it impeccable?

Is it customer-friendly?

Does it provide ease of use?

What integrity does it have in the online business market?

Is your online ordering and delivery software capable of providing business solutions and driving revenues?

Does your software provide real-time visibility regardless of where from customers choose to shop?

Does your software offer the privilege of delighting your customers by accelerating the speed of delivery?

What unique selling proposition (USP) does the software have so as to provide your business that differentiation?

Besides others, these few questions in this dominating age of technology are gravely thought over by a business which intends to incorporate the role of software into its systemic chain of business activities.

Owning consummate software is highly characteristic of prudent and futuristic businesses. And you can be the one. Such software not only promises economic gains for a firm but it also elevates the level at which a business operates.

It increases trust and reliability among the clients and their respective customer groups. More so, state-of-the-art delivery management software improves delivery efficiency to a considerable extent and also results in increased productivity.

Having said this, it must be borne in the conscious minds of wise businesses that the ‘function of a good software is to make the complex appear to be simple.’ The simpler the use of a software, the greater is its acceptance. It enriches the user experience and opens seamless possibilities for a business.

3. A good software, like wine, takes time.

A perceptive software company, doesn’t bother to spend that time and resources to come up with a software that has the potential to transform the business world.

‘Ours is one such company that can boast of its software being robust, productive, smart, efficient and customer-friendly.’

Likewise, a good business must not fail or falter in finding that right software for itself because a good and robust software is “nothing short of a weapon in the businesses’ armory” that helps it gain a competitive edge over its rival businesses.

3.1. So, how armed is your business with the right software and associated artillery?

3.1. So, how armed is your business with the right software and associated artillery?

Before discussing the benefits, let us see the characteristics of a good software so as to arm our business with the required qualities of a software, and not fall prey to those that are either fundamentally weak or technologically inept.

  • Reliability: It is the ability of a software to provide desired functionality under a given set of conditions.
  • Functionality: It defines the degree of performance of the software against its intended purpose.
  • Usability: Considered to be one of the most important aspects, it refers to the degree of ease of use a software brings for its user
  • Efficiency: It refers to the ability of the software to use system resources in the most effective and efficient manner
  • Robustness: It denotes the degree to which the software can continue to function without any lags or difficulties, despite it being provided with invalid data
  • Integrity: It is the extent to which an access to the software or data by unauthorized persons can be prevented or controlled
  • Maintainability: It refers to how easily a software can be maintained. Or in other words, it is the ease with which the required modifications can be made in a software system to extend its functionality, improve its performance or correct any errors or lags
  • Portability: It denotes the ability of a software to function properly and without any hassles on different hardware and software platforms, without making much changes in it.

Ensuring that your hyperlocal order and delivery software just about meets all the above-mentioned properties, it is time to focus on the possible benefits it can bring for your business. online ordering and delivery software

4. Online ordering and delivery software: Decrypting the benefits

4. Online ordering and delivery software: Decrypting the benefits

  • Reduced costs: A good software saves money in the long run and proves economical. It cut costs on an unnecessary wage of an employee by automatically entering each order into the system, instead of it being done manually.
  • Free from human errors: Increased use of a good software in organizations significantly reduces chances of human error. The more automated the processes are and the more software-enabled a business is, greater is its chance of being free from human faults and errors.
  • Saves time and effort: A good software by virtue of its inherent efficient nature saves a lot of time and business effort by easing up the process of business operations.
  • Owns responsibility: A great delivery management software duly takes care of all the business work and behaves responsibly. In such an event, business and its employees can focus on other important aspects of their work.
  • Increased customer engagement and communication: By choosing a great software for your business, you are well able to keep the customers in the communication loop. A good business software is really quick in engaging with its customers. It helps businesses in providing their customers with instant notifications about their order and delivery. Moreover, businesses, through this software, receive a prompt and direct feedback which enables customers to feel happy and heard. In a nutshell, such a software provides accessible avenues for communication.
  • Easy tracking: A profound benefit of a good hyperlocal delivery software is it arms you with the capability to obtain real-time information on your drivers’ exact location. Once integrated into the software, the advanced GPS tracker allows access to each worker’s location which further helps in detecting any possible issues and problems. Not just this, a consummate software let customers track the delivery persons and also get accurate waiting time for their deliveries.
  • Optimized routes for delivery: A great delivery management software helps ascertain the most efficient routes, i.e., finding routes to destination that will consume less time to deliver. By incorporating precisely accurate algorithms, a good software ensures that your product delivery is done in the least amount of time. A software effectively gets so succinctly right by checking on the driver availability for a particular order, determining the location proximity and ascertaining the delivery traffic conditions.
  • Increased customer satisfaction: A specialized delivery management software gives customers hassle free ordering and delivery and seamless checkout options thereby providing an enriching experience to them. The better the user experience, greater is the customer satisfaction. This customer satisfaction leads to customer retention for businesses.
  • Greater outreach: The boundaries of a good hyperlocal delivery/delivery management software are limitless. Its online presence and business efficiency know no bounds. It attracts a substantial number of customers globally, which further increases the outreach of businesses.
  • Customer relationship management (CRM): A good company, owning a great delivery software, doesn’t merely deliver products. It establishes a good customer connect by successfully satisfying their needs and preferences instantly. Businesses through this software, get acquainted of their consumers’ buying habits/purchasing styles as it supplies them with insightful data, reporting and analytics. This further helps in strengthening relationship with customers.

Drawing immediate heed from the above listed points and given statistics what is your business still waiting for? If you still haven’t acted upon or incorporated this software, you are missing out upon the yielding journey that futuristic businesses embark upon.

Make your business well-equipped with a modern pick-up and delivery management software, so that you gain automatic yet valuable foresights and a comprehensive overview of your business through predictive analytics and real-time reporting.

There would come no other opportune time than this. As the competition is intensifying and the markets are rapidly evolving, the need for such an ordering and delivery software is beyond doubt on the rise. And with each passing day, it is becoming dearer.

So, do you vow to get rid of redundant or banal business processes and make your operations as effective, smooth and as reliable as possible? Or is your business the one which is going to lose out on an otherwise significant market gain?