Online Ordering Trends 2024: Consolidating Tech for Efficiency and Guest Engagement

As inflation pushes businesses everywhere to tighten budgets and double down on successful strategy, restaurant and convenience store operators are reviewing their tech stacks with an eye toward streamlining and simplification. 

At Paytronix, we’ve been tracking heavy tech consolidation activity in 2022 and 2023, and we expect to see the trend continue. In any market conditions, simplifying your tech stack can lead to greater operational efficiency and reduced complexity which produces cost savings, better data analysis, improved customer experiences, and enhanced training and support processes. 

Optimized technology is arguably even more important today, as restaurants and c-stores deal with macroeconomic challenges like inflation, supply chain delays, staffing shortages, and changing guest habits. Simplifying your c-store or restaurant tech stack will go a long way toward freeing up staff for high-value activities and empowering better guest experiences at every touchpoint.

where are you with your tech stack?

As you can see from the chart above, technology impacts every touchpoint of the guest experience—from guest-facing solutions that include online ordering, loyalty, and gift cards to back-of-house (BOH) accounting, campaign design, and operational tools like inventory management software. 

While the ideal tech stack is as simple as possible, many operators have complicated the issue by cobbling together solutions from different vendors to stay on top of changing consumer preferences. In 2024, those operators face the operational and financial challenges associated with managing such a complex tech stack. 

Taking an inventory of your current systems will help you determine what you don’t use anymore and the gaps you need to fill to reduce your organization’s “tech debt” as much as possible. Tech debt refers to the costs required to manage your organization’s technology over time—and complex, legacy systems gradually get more expensive. 

Streamlining your tech stack pays dividends for everyone who interacts with the technology, from your staff and guests to your internal operations and marketing teams. If you choose a single-vendor platform that’s powered by intelligent customer insights and sophisticated marketing automation, you’ll enjoy many benefits that drive efficiency and growth: 

• Reduced cost of ownership: By consolidating your technological solutions, you eliminate redundant systems and reduce overall associated costs. 
• Reduced technology management: Managing multiple solutions and vendors is a time-consuming and complex ordeal. By consolidating your tech stack, you reduce the burden on your IT team and end users. 
• Better guest experiences: A simplified tech stack results in more seamless guest interactions across channels. With all your systems working together efficiently, you’re able to provide smoother transactions, faster service, and personalized guest experiences.      
• Connections to other platforms: Tight integrations allow for seamless data sharing between systems, enabling improved operational efficiency and decision-making.    
• Centralized insights and reporting: Having a consolidated tech stack enables you to access real-time insights and analytics from all your systems, providing a comprehensive view of your business performance. 
• Reduced time to innovation: By eliminating complexities and streamlining processes, you can respond quickly to market trends and guest demands. 

The advantages of integrated guest engagement platforms

Many operators are simplifying their tech stacks by choosing advanced, first-party guest engagement platforms that bundle different services, such as online ordering, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and reviews, while offering flawless integration with delivery services, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and other guest engagement solutions. 

Bringing these related services together cuts costs, deepens guest relationships, and generates insights operators can use to make better decisions around menus, personalized offers, and guest segmentation. 

first-party ordering improves your profitability

While third-party marketplaces will continue to play a role in guest acquisition, they’re typically expensive and cumbersome to maintain over time. Third-party marketplaces can take anywhere from 15 to 30% off the top of your revenue and do not provide avenues to encourage repeat business with your establishment. The goal for operators is to move guests from third-party to first-party online ordering, to maximize profits and build lasting relationships with guests.   
 
With a robust first-party ordering platform as your foundation, you can still capture orders from third-party aggregators directly into your POS system for a single source of online ordering truth. This capability reduces errors associated with re-entering orders and simplifies reporting, while keeping menus in sync and kitchens on track.  
 
Technology is making it easier for brands to integrate first-party guest engagement solutions, like loyalty and gift, with third parties. A new integration with DoorDash, for example, enables guests using Storefront or Bbot to pay with gift cards during checkout. 

mobile integrations meet guests where they are

A first-party online ordering solution is a powerful tool on the desktop, but it’s even more effective when made available through your mobile app. 

For guests, mobile apps are the most popular and convenient way to place orders (60% of customers use mobile [Lavu]), track fulfillment status, and make payments. For employees, a mobile app eliminates the need to wait by the phone or tend to impatient customers. Incoming orders are queued automatically and accurately, resulting in more efficient and stress-free fulfillment.   

Over time, mobile apps improve relationships with guests who love ordering when they’re on the go and receiving location-based offer notifications and updates. And the apps are even more powerful when they offer points and rewards management for your most loyal guests.

loyalty integrations attract and keep more guests

Time and again, we see loyalty programs grow rapidly when they’re integrated with first-party online ordering platforms. One large sandwich chain, for example, reported that 53% of new loyalty members came from online ordering. Dutch Bros gained 1.4 million loyalty members in one month after going digital.  

This is important because loyal guests are your best guests. People who sign up for loyalty programs order more frequently, order more items each time, are quick to jump on promotions, and tip better than guests who aren’t loyalty program members. 

Data integrations give you the insights you need

Your first-party guest engagement platform can be your central hub for data around payments, as well as guest preferences, ordering patterns, and trends. With more complete analytics at your fingertips, you can make better decisions about menu items, offers, and other strategies to best serve high-value guests and meet customer demands.

payment integrations increase profits and improve accuracy

The ability to feed online orders directly from your first-party platform to your POS and Kitchen Display System can help you reduce errors and sync menus across all platforms, including third party. 

With a custom menu builder and centralized menu management, operators can make changes once to give all guests the most accurate prices and item availability in real time. Gone are the days of contacting third-party vendors with your edits.

delivery integrations provide on-demand access to local drivers

Built-in delivery has long been part of the appeal of third-party marketplaces, but now delivery service has been decoupled from online ordering. 

Operators with first-party guest engagement platforms can easily integrate delivery services that provide on-demand access to local drivers, delivery zone customization, and the ability to absorb fees or pass them on to guests depending on order size and loyalty status. 

survey integrations make you more responsive to guests

Adding a feedback tool to your purchasing process is one of the most important tech integrations you can implement. These solutions have been shown to repair strained guest relationships, even increasing visit frequency of those initially dissatisfied with their experience. 

Mr. Pickle’s --which was named among the fastest-growing emerging restaurants in the US by Nation’s Restaurant News--has been using Paytronix guest surveys to increase orders by 23% and automated apology and offer combinations to improve ratings by 22%. 

pull it all together with paytronix

A first-party guest engagement platform with integrated services gives operators complete control over ordering and guest retention processes, empowering them to optimize operations, enhance the guest experience, and drive loyalty, while gaining valuable insights for future growth and innovation.  

In today’s dynamic and competitive landscape, restaurants and c-stores can no longer afford to maintain and support disparate legacy systems, manage multiple vendor relationships, and make sense of siloed data sets. The best approach is to consolidate all your guest engagement programs with a partner who can manage updates for you and scale with you as your needs evolve. 

Uno Pizzeria & Grill, for example, streamlined its tech stack in just 18 months with the full Paytronix guest engagement platform, including Online Ordering, Loyalty, CRM, and Data Insights. Almost immediately, the operator saw increased online order totals, loyalty program growth, greater operational awareness, and reduced food and labor costs. 

Technology is mandatory for delivering guest-centric experiences. And with reduced complexity in your tech stack, you can deliver the services guests demand while creating valuable efficiencies for your team. 

With more than 450 integrations, including 40-plus integrations with POS systems alone, the Paytronix platform expands your ability to surprise and delight your customers. To learn how to make Paytronix the foundation of your guest engagement tech stack, contact us or book a demo now.