How to create a successful restaurant e-commerce in 8 steps?
Saber How to create an ecommerce success is, without a doubt, a challenge for many restaurant owners. Because when you present yourself on the web in the best possible way, you can increase your restaurant's chances of success.
We know that owning and running a restaurant is hard work. Not only should food and customer service be impeccable, but customers also expect a strong online presence. This is where the Your restaurant's ecommerce.
Learn in this article how to create a successful ecommerce for your restaurant in 7 steps.
What is ecommerce and how does it work for restaurants?
You have to differentiate the web presence in your restaurant with your ecommerce. The web presence of your restaurant brand is the set of communication channels on the web, where your restaurant is present.
For example, if you have a Facebook page, an Instagram profile, a website, a list on Google my Business and a profile on Tripadvisor... This is your current web presence.
Within your web presence, your restaurant's e-commerce represents a strategic piece. Your ecommerce is the digital headquarters of your restaurant.
If your restaurant has an attractive, fast, functional website that is highly visible locally on Google, then it will be easier to acquire new customers on a continuous basis.
A successful E-Commerce has its channels well established to optimize its processes.
How to create a successful ecommerce for restaurants?
Even if it's well designed and implemented, just being online with your new ecommerce doesn't guarantee visibility and attracting new customers.
A well-designed site is a great starting point for attracting more customers to your restaurant. With these 7 steps, learn how to create a successful ecommerce:
1. Choice of hosting
The domain is the name of the page and hosting is the place on the Internet where the files that make up your website will be hosted. As a general rule, the domain should be linked to the name of your restaurant. Even if they are available, they should be the same.
Regarding hosting, keep in mind where you are, that is, if your restaurant is in Ecuador, it is best to look for hosting in Ecuador. This way, the person looking for you will travel faster to the restaurant's website.
2. Selecting the domain for your website.
The web domain is the unique and unrepeatable name that a website receives on the internet.
Choosing the hosting where your website will be hosted and registering your restaurant's domain on the internet are the first steps to having a presence on the web.
When searching for your domain, you should keep in mind that it's much easier for your customers to find you on the internet, if you choose a domain with the following characteristics:
- According to your brand, what you offer and/or who you are
- Differentiator
- Concise
- Easy to pronounce, write and remember
- That communicates something
3. Choice of the platform on which to develop e-commerce
An e-commerce platform is a software that allows you to create your ecommerce and manage your business. It offers the tools to create and manage your site, including products and daily operations.
To create an e-commerce site, you must first identify the software with which to develop your online restaurant.
There are multiple options to choose from. Analyze their strengths, costs and unique characteristics and choose the one that provides the most benefits to your restaurant.
4. Attractive audiovisual content
An aspect of great importance for a successful e-commerce is the audiovisual content it has.
With ecommerce, you have the advantage of including videos of your restaurant, which makes customers feel attracted even before going to your business.
Use quality and above all real photos and videos. That is, authentic to your place and your dishes. This points to success, since reality instills trust in customers and transmits your passion for what you do.
5. Integration of management tools
When creating your e-commerce, it is crucial for your success that you integrate management tools.
With a site where everything is properly integrated into the platform, the user experience is satisfactory, and it contributes to an increase in your sales.
CRM: The CRM or customer relationship manager is a software that helps you store, categorize and make the most of your customer data. This allows you to maintain constant and targeted communication with restaurant customers and obtain better results with your marketing strategies.
Payments: Offering a convenient payment method to your customers, integrated into the platform, means increasing your competitiveness in the market. In addition, it helps you build customer loyalty when it allows them to register their preferred payment method and speed up recurring purchases, both in person and online.
Logistics: Meeting customer needs through the best experience in delivery logistics is one of the objectives of ecommerce.
Integrate into your site the tools of logistics, such as Picker, to boost your business and offer a better service to your customers. This way you can easily manage your customers' orders with multiple delivery fleets.
6. Online Advertising Strategy
Developing an effective marketing strategy in the restaurant industry doesn't mean simply creating a few posts on FB or Instagram.
Digital marketing in the gastronomy sector means structuring an online presence that integrates perfectly with the work and initiatives carried out within the restaurant.
In addition, you should keep in mind that social networks, such as Instagram, for example, have enormous potential for restaurants, so you can use it to increase the promotion of your dishes.
However, for the result on this network to be ideal, the images you publish must be of high quality, so that they stand out in the face of so much competition on this social network.
7. Customer Retention Strategy
Finding new customers can be exhausting and costly. Retaining your customers is much easier and cheaper.
A successful customer retention strategy addresses their needs, makes them feel important, memorizes their tastes and favorite dishes, remembers their birthday...
A loyal customer is a customer who will be happy to return to your restaurant and will want their friends to return to your restaurant as well.
Integrate programs into your ecommerce that store the data of your customers, their tastes and preferences so that you can use that information to increase your sales and reputation.
8. Content Strategy
Creating a content strategy on your ecommerce blog is something you can't ignore. With the right strategy, you can attract more traffic to your site. Share recipes, cooking tips, little tricks, write stories about you and your restaurant, as well as announce events.
This way you gain online authority in the restaurant industry so that you are recognized in the gastronomic sector so that more people want to visit your restaurant.
Picker, a great ally for your ecommerce
With Picker you can connect our API to your ecommerce, app or other type of system. This way you optimize and enhance your site, providing your customers with a comfortable and satisfying experience.
You also offer safe and reliable delivery, with a reduction in logistics costs and a shorter delivery time.
By integrating your site with Picker, your customers will receive a notification via SMS/email/WhatsApp and in this way they can track orders.
Conclusion
Knowing how to create the perfect ecommerce for your restaurant is a great opportunity to build a loyal fan base and increase sales.
An attractive and well-structured ecommerce is able to make life easier for users. Follow all the steps described here and be sure that the ecommerce for your restaurant will be a success.
