Advice needed!! - awesome mobile technology

[bacaren]

Hey would you guys ever implement a service that allowed customers to pre-order (and pre-pay for) your coffees using their smartphone and enabled you to receive and manage such pre-orders on your own smartphone?For example, a customer places an order, you receive it straight away on your iPhone, you prepare it, then mark the order as complete and the customer is notified on their phone automatically to come and pick it up.I'm thinking customers would love something like this because it would save them so much time (ie avoiding queues etc).A friend of mine was looking to join a platform that offered this exact service and the only cost was a 10% transaction fee per order. He said it seems reasonable because it's the same cost as his standard loyalty program and he might get more customers from it (or at least make the current ones much happier) considering everyone uses their phone for everything these days. You can also promote your products aswell.What are your thoughts on such a service and the fee? Is it worth adopting? Would you adopt it?

 

[eldub]

Sounds like you are already sold on the program. Are you looking for advice or customers?

lw

 

[dstrand]

It sounds like it's a winner. Particularly if he's in a business park, or high tech area. Now, if they could pay with their smart phone (so all they had to do was grab their order and go), that would be great!

 

[CanadianBrian]

Hello Bacaren;
How would this help with avoiding ques? Still have to pay for the item and that is usually done at the same time as ordering. How could you guarantee it would be fresh... not sitting for 10 minutes? 10% seems like alot for the few that would be using and the amount of confusion it would create. If you had a huge customer base that used only this type of ordering then you could set up a seperate till and line. That is the only way I could see this working, and then again the 10% would be too much. Most shops worry about the 0.5% difference on a credit card payment from company to company.
Brian

 

[PinkRose]

So, how would that work?

Someone enters a cafe and places an order using his Smartphone. Then the person behind the counter stops what he (or she) is doing and makes the coffee drink - ahead of customers standing at the counter waiting to place their orders?

Or is there a designated person standing behind the counter keeping a watchful eye on a tiny phone screen waiting for someone to place an order? Is there a separate pickup area for people who place an order with their phones? Or do they stand in line behind the other customers while their drinks get cold? I can't picture it working.

Rose

 

[bacaren]

Thanks for your responses guys.

@eldub, looking for both please.

@dstrand, from what I understand, it already does take care of the payment as soon as the customer places the order. Apparently the customer purchases pre-paid credit, and spends it with any merchant. At the end of each day, the merchant is transferred their respective balance (after the fee has been taken out).

@CanadianBrian and @PinkRose, I'm still learning about this myself but to answer your questions:

- How would it avoid queues? the customer simply just places their order and makes their way immediately to the cafe to pick it up. The order would have already been paid for so there's no need to fiddle around with money upon collection.
- How would you guarantee it would be fresh? guess this would work the same way as a customer placing an order in store then wondering around a shopping centre for 5 to 10mins. It's really based on the customer coming in to pickup the order as soon as possible. The merchant has just been instructed to make the order asap.
- With the 10% thing from what I understand, it's only applicable if you make a sale using the system. If you don't make any sales, you pay nothing. There's no contract or rental fees etc from what I was told.
- I don't think it requires a separate till or line. Customers just proceed to the pickup area and there name is shouted out like everyone else (well, that's how my friend is doing it and it works just fine).

I have the same concerns as Rose. Integrating this system with existing processes seems the challenge. Where do you give the priority (to pre-orders or to those in the store)? Might need one staff monitoring the pre-order queue and processing orders accordingly while the others serve in-store customers. Need to think about that. It just seems like something customers would love. And I have been asked a few times if customers could SMS their orders to me so when I heard about this, I thought, hmmmmm.

 

[tazzadiluna]

I would think you would have to have a separate pick up area for iPhone orders, have a sign that says "Express pick up for iPhone orders here". I would also only take/allow iPhone orders for people who have a prepaid card or use an app that charges using their iPhone so all they have to do is go straight to the pick up area to get their order.

There should also be some type of time limit, for example, iPhone orders will be ready in 15 minutes; so that customers know how far ahead they should submit the order. Or you could say order via iPhone, skip the line and come to the express pick up area and we will make your order when you show up...?

 

[PinkRose]

Hmmmmmmmm........It seems like its an awlful lot of trouble just to accommodate the lazy people who don't want to stand in line to place their orders like everyone else.

Just say'n..

 

[CanadianBrian]

A couple things come to mind. The average charge by a credit card company would be under 2% so you are paying an extra 8% to allow the customer to order and pay by iphone.
I still have a problem with how to give that customer the product in a timely manner. If they order 5 minutes ahead and the next guy orders 10 minutes ahead but gets caught in traffic for 20 minutes then his order would be cold? You now have to remake this for him/her?
You have a line-up of 8 people and they have been waiting and a guy walks in and walks up and goes to grab his coffee and avoids this line-up.....don't think most customers in line would appreciate that.
How many people go to the grocer and get into an express line for up to 8 items and then someone comes with 15 items just ahead of you?

I think that this would only be beneficial if you had enough traffic to have a dedicated line/area just for this.

Just my 3cents worth (inflation)
Brian

 

[tazzadiluna]

I agree, having a dedicated line and the cost would need to be justified for the type of clientele and business model that you have. If one can calculate that it would work for their business and it would be worth the time and effort, I think it would be doable, they can tweak it a bit to customize it to their needs.

I personally probably would not use it unless I have a big order to make, so maybe making a minimum order requirement would work; but if they don't make the minimum order there would be a fee of say, a dollar, for the extra effort you have to put into it. If the time people save is worth the fee they have to pay, they would be willing to pay for the extra service.

 

[canliradyodinle]

Thanks for guys..
- How would it avoid queues? the customer simply just places their order and makes their way immediately to the cafe to pick it up. The order would have already been paid for so there's no need to fiddle around with money upon collection.

 

[PinkRose]

I still can't picture it working. What if the customer gets stuck in traffic, or can't find a parking space?

His drink would get cold, and I bet that would be the last time he uses his phone to place an order.

Rose

 

[CanadianBrian]

I think that this is only viable to a very limited number of shops as far as I can see. The only way to properly do this is to have a dedicated barista/pick-up line to make it work. I think there are to many obstacles (as stated above) to run this in most shops.
Brian

 

[tazzadiluna]

Found this thing called Splick-It

 

[ppkgan]

I think it is a good idea, lots of potential there! Not sure if it would take off but in areas that are saturated with executives it could be a great tool! I like how it makes things exclusive, just needs to be easy!