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Whose Restaurant Can You Find Online?Copyright © 2007-2008 Rudy VenerHave you seen the latest Pizza Hut commercial? This is the one where they show four 20 something guys chowing down on their version of a calzone stuffed with over a pound of cheese and other fillings. The closing words of the commercial say: "Order online: pizzahut.com." Why is Pizza Hut using their air time to tell you to order online? Television commercials are so expensive that every second, every word has to count. Ending their commercial this way tells us that Pizza Hut thinks online ordering is very, very important. And it is not just Pizza Hut. A visit to Domino's or Papa John's websites tells the same story. Look at any of their websites and the first thing you see is an online ordering button. The big pizza companies get a lot of sales from online ordering. According to Papa John's spokesman Chris Sternberg, his company has had more than 25 million online orders since it was launched in 2001. So why do the big pizza companies like online ordering? Reasons include customer convenience and cost savings. Customers see online ordering as a convenience and typically spend 15% more when they order online than when they order by phone. Every online order is one that the customer creates and controls themselves. The restaurant doesn't need to answer the phone or spend time taking down the order. They just read the fax or printout and make the food. The savings in time and labor and increased profits must be enormous. Small wonder the big pizza companies are trying to get more of their customers to order online. Not that they have to try very hard. The Internet is becoming more popular every day. Teens and young adults in their 20's have grown up with email, web browsing and instant messaging. Some of them live online for hours a day. Many of them use the Internet far more than the telephone. It's not just the younger crowd either. Office workers in their 30's and 40's have been using desktop computers for all or most of their professional life. Businesses routinely use email and the Internet for communications and research. According to Neilson Netratings, about 70% of the U.S. population has access to the Internet. Savvy Internet users find it natural to locate businesses online, browse menus and catalogs online and order goods and services online. Pizza Hut and its competitors want to be where their customers live, work and play. This means putting themselves on the Internet and doing business there. This trend will grow as time goes by. If your restaurant does any takeout or delivery business, it's a good idea to make yourself available online and reap the same competitive advantages that the big chains enjoy. Luckily for independent restaurants, the Internet is just as affordable to small businesses as it is to big chains. The big companies achieved the benefits of online ordering and Internet marketing by investing large amounts of time, money and resources into developing their private online ordering systems. But now independent restaurants can get the same benefits as the big chains by using a service which specializes in restaurant online ordering. For a low monthly fee, a small restaurant can have a website with an online ordering system, send its customers notices and reminders by email and even use online coupons and online loyalty programs. An online ordering system can be aded to any existing website, or bundled with a new website. Customers browse the online order menu from the convenience of their home or office computers, and the orders arrive by fax, email or printer. As people make greater use of the Internet, restaurants who are online will have a decided advantage. A restaurant that wants to thrive in the ever more Internet oriented marketplace of tomorrow had better consider going online today. About The Author:
*** Digital Reprint Rights *** *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Rudy Vener can be reached at: tpw.articles@pizzagalaxy.com *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: tpw.articles@pizzagalaxy.com
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