The Direct-To-Consumer Shift
What is a Direct-to-Consumer Platform?
“D2C” or Direct-To-Consumer is a way of doing business that does not depend on aggregators. We recommend that restauranteurs and business owners take the time to understand how a Direct-To-Consumer platform can help to grow your business and increase your profitability.
Restaurant staff work extremely hard to create great customer experiences, both at home and in-restaurant. Unfortunately, these hard-worked margins are often taken away by third-party marketplaces like Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Food Panda. Not to worry. If you are frustrated with paying up to 30%, we’ve got an easy solution which allows you to regain control of your business.
TAKING A DEEPER DIVE:
1. Cutting out the third party
However you slice the loaf of bread, someone standing between you and the end customer means losing margin and profit, for you!
Deliveroo, Just-Eat, and Uber-Eats make money by taking your money. It has become a lose, lose, loss situation. The vendor is losing; the customer is losing; and the delivery driver is losing. These companies charge up to 30% commission to vendors and up to 5% to customers. Nothing about this is sustainable or fair.
Enter the Direct-To-Consumer movement. It’s not always recommended to completely cut out the third-party marketplaces, but we highly recommend creating a business model that is less dependent, on aggregators. That way, when you are ready, you will be able to fly independently and start increasing your margins by about 80%.
WHY IS THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY SHIFTING TO A DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER MODEL?
No matter where you are in your life cycle, this is how Direct-To-Consumer technology will help grow your online business and create new sales channels:
Cut out the third party so that you can fulfill orders, from your customers, directly
Build a strong relationship with your customers by owning the customer data
Use your data, to drive your business, by creating the best customer experiences
Understand your inventory and how to make more informed business decisions
Be in control of your business from start to finish
2. Stronger Customer Relationships
Direct-to-Consumer means that you own your service from the kitchen to the plate. This might seem like a daunting task but with the right technology, a Direct-To-Conusmer model can be very straightforward. The right system will allow you to collect and analyze meaningful customer data, that you require, in order to build your relationships and drive more revenue. Whatever you decide, make sure you receive adequate support. Your choice of technology should be easy to use and capable of capturing data!
3. Using your data
As you know, customer data is becoming more important. How are you going to build your brand, without understanding, who your customers are, when they order, and how they order? An effective Direct-To-Consumer platform enables you to capture correct customer insights, which means you can, easily, execute segmented, targeted marketing campaigns.
4. Making more informed business decisions
The front end of the platform, you choose, should be extremely important to you, because this is what the customer uses. Make sure it looks sexy and supports a streamlined and quick checkout experience. Without strong plumbing (the back end), you won’t be able, to properly, manage your inventory. Make sure the platform you choose has automated inventory management. This way, you avoid having customers ordering items that aren’t in stock!
Final thoughts:
As restauranteurs, you work hard for your margins. And, until recently, there has not been an alternative to Just Eat, Deliveroo, Food Panda, or Uber Eats. Thankfully, the consumer mindset is shifting. Eaters are now looking to avoid third-party marketplaces by going, directly to restaurants, takeaways, grocery stores, and delis. Going Direct-To-Consumer might seem like a lot of work, but if you find the right partner, you will start seeing profits, in no time.