You order food using one of your food tech apps. It displays the estimated delivery time for your order. You can see the delivery man’s location on the phone and how far he is from your house. You know exactly when he is going to ring the bell. While all this happens automatically on the phone, you can be engaged with your routine life without having to follow-up.
Technology has redefined the customer experience with respect to food ordering by leveraging the power of the internet and mobile devices. This has been made possible because the experiences are personalized for you in terms of discovery (what to order), ordering, delivery, and payments.
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Also Read: Will technology shape the future of the Food Retail Industry?
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The Personalized Customer Experience
The customer today enjoys the experience of their food apps because of the personalized experiences in terms of recommendations, and the service. Let’s look at a few key personalization ideas employed by the food tech apps:
Push Notification
Push notification enables the food tech app to alert the customer about the latest offerings on their favourite cuisine. Backed by data from the customer about his favourite cuisine and the restaurants that he frequents, very curated push notifications can be used to enhance the customer journey and induce a buy through the app.
Curated in-App Offers
Based on their preferences, the food tech company can show curated in-app offers which would be a mix of their favourite food type – starters, main-course items, desserts, and the favourite outlets.
Customized Interface
With food tech apps, now the customers can also customize and curate the offerings they want to order in by selecting their favourite food, restaurant type, etc. as per their preferences.
AI Integration
With Artificial Intelligence (AI), the food tech apps can create the next level of curated experiences for the customer. For example: If the data says that the customer orders a Starbucks coffee every morning at 8.30 a.m., then the AI and machine learning algorithms can enable the food tech apps to pop up an in-app message or send a notification to re-order at around the same time every day.
The food tech app can also use the data from the cities to create a food tech heat map. It can thus understand that people from a certain city may prefer ‘Biryani’ for dinner and use this insight for planning activities. Such data also enables restaurants to predict what they must stock and prepare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Some key trends to watch out
With the advancements in technology, food tech companies are experimenting with drones which will safely fly to the customer’s address and then enable the customer to unlock it through an OTP and claim his order. This can help the food tech companies to cut through traffic, reduce costs per delivery and ensure that the delivery is done seamlessly.
Another innovative approach is a use a parachute which requires the customer to stand at a designated location at a specified time and the food packet gets dropped off to them directly.
Food delivery apps are now also innovating based on the type of foods to create mini-apps or dedicated apps based on eating habits. For example: Apps are being created only to cater to vegans, vegetarians, or a combination of ‘vegetarian + alternate meat’ etc.
Food tech companies are also trying to analyse data and strategically place cloud kitchens to run their operations better.
Conclusion
With further advancements in technology, the food tech industry will create further disruptions in terms of discovery, delivery, payments, and personalization. Are you ready to relish these experiences?
