What Is Online Ordering System? 10 Features Of Online Ordering System

In today’s world, online ordering systems have become an expectation. Customers expect to be able to order their favorite food and drink items without having to leave their homes. This has resulted in a wide variety of different online ordering systems being developed to suit the needs of the customers. That is why restaurant owners need to know about what is online ordering system. 

Well, an online ordering system is a way for a business to provide the ability for customers to order products from them online. They are the primary way that individuals buy products online, and for this reason, they have become enormously popular. Online ordering systems are a vital part of many businesses. An online ordering system helps businesses automate their operations by connecting them to their customers in new ways. Online ordering systems are the next step in providing customers with convenient and timely delivery of their orders.

What Is Online Ordering System?

An online ordering system is also called virtual ordering or contactless table ordering. An online ordering system is a system that allows customers to order products or services online without having to visit a physical store. This allows customers to place orders and have their items delivered to their homes or offices, saving them time and money. Many online ordering systems use advanced technology to ensure that the best possible experience is provided to customers.

Features Of Online Food Ordering System

An online ordering system refers to a system that allows a business to take orders online. An online ordering system is an important part of a company’s operations. It allows customers to place orders online, which are then delivered to their homes or offices. If you are wondering what features to look for in an online ordering system. Then look at the given features below. It will also help you understand why online ordering system is important.

01. User-Friendly Interface

An online ordering system should always have a user-friendly interface. Whether it's a counter dashboard, kitchen display system, or customer's order placing interface. Customers tend to place more orders when the online ordering system has a user-friendly interface.

02. Budget Friendly

The restaurant business brings a lot of revenue. But it is also expensive when you are starting. Such as rent, decoration cost, employee cost, inventory cost, and many more. So if you are bringing an online ordering system it should be heavy on the bills but budget-friendly. When you are bringing a new online ordering system, make sure it’s budget-friendly.

If you are new to the restaurant business, then read this article and learn how to start a restaurant business with no money.

03. Smooth Billing System

An online ordering system should have a good transaction system. It must be safe and secure. No sensitive information can be leaked from the system. Otherwise, customers can get exploited. Customers can even take legal action against your restaurant. It must be quick at the same time. Customers can get irritated with a slow billing system. A fast and safe billing system ensures customer satisfaction. 

04. Multiple Payment Gateways

Nowadays customers prefer multiple payment gateways to pay their restaurant bills. So make sure your restaurant's online ordering system has multiple payment getaways.

05. Social Media Integration

An online ordering system should have a social media integration process. When you can integrate your social media, you will be able to increase your order rate 10 times more than before.

Read this article to learn about the importance of social media for restaurant business promotion.

06. Contactless Or QR Scanner

Another amazing feature of an online ordering system is a contactless or QR scanner. With the help of a contactless or QR scanner, customers can pay the bill without any hassle quickly.

07. Responsive Device Friendly

Customers are more likely to place orders from mobile phones than from desktops or laptops. Some customers use tablets. So an online ordering system has to be responsive and device friendly. It should give the best experience to all customers regardless of the device the customer is using to place orders.

08. Create A Personalized Look

An online ordering system should give users the option to modify any design to suit their needs. So anyone with no technical knowledge can easily customize it and add business-related information such as logo, theme color, etc to create a personalized look.

09. Location Tracking Engine

An online ordering system should have a location tracking engine to deliver the food properly to the customer's house. It is not a good-to-have feature but a must-have requirement or feature for an online ordering system. 

10. Record Sales History

The best part of having an online ordering system is that it records all the transactions made in the system. You can see the sales history and know how much revenue your restaurant made every day.

How Does Online Ordering System Work?

An online ordering system is a system used to facilitate the purchase of goods and services online. An online ordering system allows customers to browse, place and track their orders online. The system also provides access to information about the status of an order and contact details for the store. The ease of use and convenience of using an online ordering system has made it a popular method of shopping. Let’s look at the steps below to understand how an online ordering system works.

• Step 1

Customers can browse your restaurant's menu from anywhere they want. It doesn't matter if they are at home or office or anywhere else. They can browse your menu on their smartphones or laptops or any other digital device like tablets.

• Step 2

After browsing the menu customers can choose what they want. They can choose a single or multiple food items. Customers can also give meal instructions like less sauce or more spice etc through an online ordering system if they like.

• Step 3

Customers now can choose a payment method. There are a lot of ways to make a transaction with an online ordering system, like cards or mobile banking. Customers can also pay in cash which is called cash on delivery. But if a customer chooses to pay through a card or mobile banking system. Then the customer's sensitive payment details will not be stored anywhere and the transaction will be done securely. 

• Step 4

Customers can pick up the food from the restaurant or choose to get the food delivered to the customer's desired location. If a customer wants to get delivery facilities. Then the customer has to select a location whether it’s the customer's home or office or any location the customer prefers the food to be delivered. Customers can also be instructed to deliver the food while it is hot or within 30 minutes. 

• Step 5

Finally, food delivery is the last step. The food will be delivered to the doorstep of the customer to enjoy it in comfort. The customer only needs to receive it. 

Advantages Of Online Food Ordering System

An online ordering system is a system for delivering products or services to customers over the internet. It allows customers to place orders and have the items delivered to their homes, offices, or other locations. The benefits of online food ordering systems are a lot. The system has several advantages over traditional methods of delivery, such as saving time and money and improving the customer experience. Let’s look at some advantages of online food ordering systems to realize the importance of online food ordering systems.

1. Automation

An online ordering system is automatic. So you don’t need to hire an employee to take orders or look after your accounts. And you can save a good amount of money.

Apart from that, while your employee is busy talking to a customer over the phone about food orders, another customer might be calling your restaurant. And after finding the number of your restaurant busy, the customer might turn to another restaurant. So, there you lost a customer. And all this can be avoided with the help of an online ordering system. 

2. Better Experience

Your customers can get a better experience when your restaurant has an online ordering system. An online ordering system is an easy and hassle-free way to order food. It’s also a secure, fast, and errorless system. So your customers can order food from anywhere and anytime they want with a few clicks. And the food will be at their doorsteps in no time.

3. Better Control

The best part of having an online ordering system is you have the power over it. You can control everything. You can even make the ordering process hard or easy. Study shows, that customers have a tendency which is they don’t place an order if the ordering process is too complex. So if your ordering system is not too complicated but simple. Then customers will surely put an order. 

Another thing is you have the authority to customize the menu. You can add images and ingredient details to the menu to give your customer a better experience. You can see how many sales have already been made. You can keep track of everything going on in the kitchen and the dining hall as well as take away and deliver with the help of an online ordering system.

4. Smooth Restaurant Performance

An online ordering system helps you run your restaurant smoothly. As a result, staff can do the core business work: cooking food, packaging the meal, and then handing the food to the delivery man. And then finally delivering the food to the customer's preferred location is done smoothly.

Now how does an online ordering system do that? An online ordering system reduces the workload of restaurant staff. Customers can place orders online with the help of an online ordering system. So restaurant staff doesn't need to receive customers' phone calls. As the order details are saved correctly in the online ordering system there is no room for error or confusion. So kitchen staff can easily make food according to customer's orders. The online ordering system is a great help for both restaurant staff and customers.

5. Error Free Large Order

Sometimes customers place large orders. And if you don’t have an online ordering system, then many problems can occur. Such as some items can be missed or a lot of confusion can take place. So a lot of errors can happen. But an online ordering system has no room for errors. Even if it is a large order, every order detail is saved on the system. So no mistakes take place. Your kitchen staff can prepare food accordingly. Finally, your restaurant can deliver hundreds of error-free large orders every day.

6. No Fake Order 

Sometimes restaurants get a lot of phone calls where customers place food orders and then when it’s time to deliver the food they just don’t receive calls. A lot of time is wasted and not to mention the food is also wasted. But the raw material to prepare the food cost you a fortune. This is a big problem every restaurant faces when they traditionally take online orders.

But this whole scenario can be changed when you have an online food ordering system. Every need to provide some information before placing an order with an online ordering system including the address. So there is no room for placing an order and disappearing.  

7. Turn Visitors Into Customers

You can connect or integrate an online ordering system with your restaurant's website. This way can make the visitors of your website place orders. Customers can easily place food orders while visiting your website. And you can increase your restaurant's sales.

8. More Sale

Every restaurant has limited seats. But restaurants can make more sales than their capacity to offer seats with the help of an online ordering system. Restaurants can serve people who are dining in as well as those who are not dining in but placing orders from home also. This way restaurants can make large revenue.

If you are a new restaurant owner and confused about, “how do I choose a restaurant menu?”. Then read this article to learn about the best creative restaurant menu design ideas to boost sales.

9. No Cancellations

It is very important to deliver food on time when a customer has placed an order online. Otherwise, customers can become irritated and cancel the order. With the help of an online ordering system, you can keep track of time and see how long you are making a customer wait after they placed an order and work fast to deliver the order on time.

10. View Order Status

An online ordering system is one of the latest technologies with a lot of the latest features. One of the best features of an online ordering system is that customers can see the status of their food order. Such as, pending, cooking, packaging and delivering. When the delivery man is on the way to deliver food, customers can still see how far the delivery man is and how long it will take to deliver the food. You can provide all these facilities to your customers when you have an in-house online ordering system.

Conclusion

In the past, the only way to buy food was to visit a restaurant or grocery store. Today, with the advent of online ordering systems, we have a wide variety of ways to order food, from apps on our smartphones to delivery services. The online ordering system has revolutionized the way businesses operate and has even changed the retail landscape.