The pandemic accelerated a lot of buying trends that have been gradually on the rise over the past decade. Online shopping has been a thing for a while, but the invention of apps such as UberEATS and DoorDash has completely changed the game when it comes to ordering takeout.
Before these apps, small businesses would have to invest thousands to create an app or some type of delivery infrastructure. However, these apps have made it very easy for businesses to connect with drivers & customers with just a few clicks. If you think online ordering was just a by product of the pandemic and that “things will go back to normal”, you are sadly mistaken. Online ordering and contactless delivery are here to stay, and the wise entrepreneur will make sure that their business is set up for success by offering these options going forward.
If you still haven’t made the transition to online ordering, here are a few more examples of why you should take the leap and begin researching options to better support your customers’ needs.
(1) Easily Collect Payments
If your business runs on sending/receiving invoices in order for you to get paid, I highly recommend that you implement an online ordering process. Even if you don’t have a standard menu of products that are available throughout the week, you can use these as an option to collect your standard fee to reserve an event date. Platforms such as Square and Shopify are great places to start when it comes to setting up an online store. We’ll talk more about product offerings in point #2, but just think how easy it would be the next time a customer calls about ordering a basic item and you could just send them to the website to pay! How much time do you spend sending invoices, following up on unpaid items, and reconfirming dates? All of that administrative back and forth can be dramatically reduced if you had an online store that served as a payment portal for your customers.
(2) Standardize Your Menu
Do you have a menu of items that are always available in your business? If not, do you have a list of items that you can easily keep on hand? If so, an online store would be great for you. Items such as a dozen cupcakes or cookies in a standard flavor would be a great fit for an online store. You could even offer general one tier cakes in a standard size (i.e. 6 inch or 8 inch) and standard vanilla or chocolate for easy purchase online and provide an option for a topper to match a few of the most popular occasions, such as birthday, anniversary, etc. Don’t feel the need to offer all of your flavors, but think to the items that are most frequently requested by your customers. Then, make those items available online for easy purchase.
(3) Reduce Mistakes
Every time that you add a human element to a process, you increase the likelihood of mistakes. This is true in any and every process. When you take an order over the phone, it’s likely that you will mishear the spelling of a name. When you receive an order via email, it’s likely that you will not receive all of the required information from the customer. The more you can standardize the ordering process the less likely you are to have errors with an order. Placing the online ordering process into the hands of the customer will both reduce the likelihood of errors and also cutdown on your administrative tasks.
In summary...
We all know that time equals money. The longer a process takes the more money it costs to produce the item. So any reduction in time will equal a reduction in cost and an increase in profits. Therefore, adding an online store to your business will lead to an increase in profits if it’s implemented correctly. You will cut down on administrative time, you will collect money faster and you will reduce the chances of human error.
The pandemic may have accelerated the need for adding an online order process, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is here to stay. Stop trying to convince yourself that you don’t need to add an online ordering option for your customers because things will go back to normal soon. Instead, embrace the change. Standardize your menu options, and give the customers what they’re looking for. I promise you’ll be happy that you added it sooner rather than later!
Cyd N. Mitchell
Business Blogger, Retail Bakers of America
Cydni N. Mitchell (aka Cyd) is a Bakery Consultant and the Sweet Business Coach behind Sweet Fest®. Based in Atlanta, GA, Sweet Fest® is an online company that supports the business needs of the Sweet Community in the areas of professional development, marketing, branding and web design.
By trade, Cyd is an accountant & financial analyst with a Masters from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the Founder of the Sugar Coin Academy, an online business academy for business owners in the baking and sweets industry, and she is also the organizer of The Ultimate Sugar Show, Georgia’s Largest Annual Baking and Sweets Expo in Atlanta. She is also the Business Blogger for the Retail Bakers of America.
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