Technology: Revolutionizing Food Delivery Business

Imagine a reality! It is midnight and you are hungry. You cannot find anything interesting to munch on in the kitchen. What would you do? Living in the 21t century with the benefit of technology, you would hunt down your cravings on the food delivery app. Now, imagine a situation, what if we did not have these apps and such amazing technology? Can you imagine such a life?

With modern smart devices and food distribution businesses, consumer demand has spiked exponentially. Consumers lookout for a better option in terms of providing delicious food cheaper, faster, and better customer experience and that’s where competition arises.  

How Consumer Behavior in the Food Industry is Transforming? 

E-commerce has brought a dramatic change in consumer behavior as far as the food and beverage industry is concerned. Here are some aspects in which the industry has seen a change.

1. Consumers are now preferring a more organic approach to their food choices while moving toward a digitalized dining experience.


2. Restaurant recommendation and knowledge-sharing apps are broadening options throughout the food industry.


3. The rise of online subscription boxes and meal kits has significantly changed the industry, as these kits eliminate the need to go to a physical supermarket, moreover, they increase the ease of meal planning for busy families.


4. The food industry is constantly advancing, including voice-enabled assistants from tech giants such as Amazon and Google.


5. Food waste is also getting remodeled, credits to e-commerce. Food waste is now being repurposed and reinvented into further by-products.

Rise of Food delivery Apps 

According to a recent study, food delivery services experienced a 512% growth as of March 2020. Following the mandate to stay indoors, consumer practice changed significantly, and the food delivery business further grew exponentially.

Consumers are now moving towards the convenience, user-friendly, and hassle-free approach of online food ordering technology. More and more restaurants have begun partnering with food delivery services or wish to build a food delivery mobile app to serve their routine customers.

The following millennials' food delivery apps have contributed to entirely changed the way we consume food.

Freshly: It delivers ready-to-serve meals to consumers across the United States. It became the number one food company after partnering with FedEx for home deliveries.

UberEats: Allows customers to customize their preferences and offers recommendations for their nearby deliveries, favorite foods, and quick meals. This filter has gathered a lot of attention amongst the foodies. It was launched in 2014.

Zomato: Zomato is an Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company founded in 2008. This app not only provides information, menus, and user reviews of restaurants but food delivery options from partner restaurants in select cities as well.  

Swiggy: Swiggy is India's leading online food ordering and delivery platform, founded in 2014.

Above all, the food delivery apps give the privilege of Convenience to order food on the go

Convenience and quality are the two aspects leading the consumers to want to use the food delivery app. The above-mentioned food delivery apps have opened up a new horizon to the food industry, serving consumers and restaurants. From takeaways to home delivery and presently from ordering from phone to ordering from the mobile app, consumers have always appreciated the convenience and hassle-free services. Ordering from mobile apps is now a significant trend for food delivery services.

Pro Tip!

As these food apps are now a huge part of our daily lives as they gain the loyalty of consumers, and thus, there comes the role of a personalized approach that every business stepping into the online food delivery industry should keep in mind. With a personalized plan, the customers can trace their food right from the delivery, following the delivery boy and even call him through the app.

Although, it looks simple, knowing the time of the food delivery and the person delivering the food makes a significantly better impact and earns customer loyalty. Following are a few types of personalized approaches that can be adopted for a food delivery app:

1. Push notification: Right on the notification bar of the consumer’s phone makes an appreciably positive impact and makes the app stand out.


2. Personalized message: Creating an individualized message based on the consumer’s previous purchases, thus helping the business to enhance decision making.


3. Customized interface: Let the users modify their preferences according to their tastes, favorite food, and restaurant.

AI integration

Artificial intelligence (AI) is steadily being welcomed by food delivery platforms due to the changing behavior of their customers in recent years. By integrating AI and machine learning techniques, they can minimize any potential errors and enhance the user experience. AI can be highly beneficial not only for restaurants for displaying food but also in creating an unforgettable customer experience.

1. AI can be used by restaurants to forecast further food demands based on input data.  


2. They manage to deliver a more personalized experience with the help of AI.


3. AI has enhanced decision-making and provided quick order decisions.

Conclusion 

The online food delivery industry is finding its thrill that customers are hungry for such services. Industry growth rates have also been high as millions of customers are willing to make a few taps on their smartphones rather than going out. Thus, online food delivery also possesses a significant impact on the lifestyle and ordering psychology of the consumers.