The Covid-19 pandemic has no doubt changed our world in numerous ways, forcing businesses to find strategic ways to stay afloat in this new economy plagued with increasing costs, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. Customer expectations are constantly changing and to remain successful, businesses must learn to adapt and evolve to meet those expectations.
A self-ordering kiosk is an easy-to-use interface that displays the restaurant’s menu, allowing for prompts, upsell/cross-sells, and puts the powers of ordering and paying into the hands of the customer. Self-ordering kiosks are a cost-effective solution for restaurants to reduce wait times, increase order accuracy, and improve the overall customer experience.
With the labor shortages we are currently seeing, kiosk platforms are the solution to that problem. These kiosks allow the customer to go through the entire ordering process without the assistance of an employee. Also, kiosks aren’t just for restaurants, the service industry, in general, can benefit from them.
Self-ordering kiosks takes the customer’s order digitally, then sends it to your existing point-of-sale system. It can even process payments through an existing merchant processor. You can have this all-in-one technology that allows you to compete with big brands at a price for your budget. This is an affordable solution to a digital cashier for contactless on-site ordering.
Let’s delve into some of the benefits kiosks provide to help you better determine if this is a worthy investment for your company.
Increased Revenue
Did you know kiosks increase the average order size a customer places, in turn increasing revenue for businesses? Since the menu is literally in the hands of customers, they have full control of adding and editing their orders as they want. This makes it more likely for them to revel in special promotions and add-ons, which is a great opportunity to use cross-selling and up-selling techniques. It also reduces any pressure they may feel of being judged by the cashier for what they order, allowing them to order whatever size or quantity of items they desire without feeling shamed.
Decreased labor and time cost
With staffing shortages all around the US, restaurants must think of ways to fix this issue while still meeting the needs of customers. Self-ordering kiosks help address the problem while even helping businesses save money on labor costs. You can reduce your front-of-house labor costs by over 85% with self-ordering digital kiosks. Kiosks offer flexibility on staffing issues by allowing cashiers to be moved to different areas as needed since customers will now be able to place their orders. This can also mean that you won’t need as many employees on shift as you did previously, reducing labor costs.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 1.5 million unfulfilled positions in the hospitality industry. What we’re looking at, from a value comparison, is if you have a $15 an hour employee that is working full-time, you’re talking about $2400 a month. For one-sixth of the cost for an employee, you can have a self-serve kiosk that never calls in sick and doesn’t require health insurance.
Improved customer experiences
Most customers are looking for more tech-related solutions that make browsing, ordering, and paying easier than ever, especially the younger generation who prefer to order on kiosks than to order face-to-face. Using technology like kiosks allows the company to update their menus, promotions, and nutrition information at any time without having to re-print menus. Customers are looking for more details to be provided about nutrition, ingredients, and allergens which are easier to be displayed on a kiosk and help improve the customer experience. Another benefit to using kiosks is that sometimes employees can be fickle and have off days causing customers to have subpar experiences, however, kiosks give a consistent top-of-the-line customer experience to everyone.
Order accuracy
Let’s face it, human errors can happen regardless of how much we try to prevent them, self-ordering kiosks allow the customer to place the order exactly as they want. It also gives customers a chance to review the order themselves before it’s placed and sent back to the kitchen. A kiosk with a visual menu is especially valuable in reducing any mix-ups so customers can know exactly what they’re ordering. Increased order accuracy will also save you a ton of money by not having to waste time and products on re-making an incorrect order. In turn, this also reduces the blame placed on businesses and employees, lessening the cause of error and disappointment a customer may feel from receiving an incorrect order.
Reduced wait times
An obvious benefit to using kiosks is the reduced wait times that they offer. No customer enjoys waiting, and the longer the wait time, the more increased their frustration becomes. This can cause them to begin searching for other alternatives with your competitors. A study showed that 75% of customers would choose to order from a kiosk if the cashier line was longer than 5 people. Self-ordering kiosks allow customers to bypass the wait and build their order and pay all at once. Data has also shown that kiosks have reduced the total order time by nearly 40% which is a huge benefit.
Digital Signage
Another added benefit of self-ordering kiosks is that when it’s not in use it still brings value to your business as a digital signage tool. You can use it to display and market your products, brand, promotions, and more. Using kiosks for digital advertisements can help to attract customers to certain products or promotions as soon as they walk through the door, it also can be used to entice customers that have already ordered to order more. For example, a customer is sitting at their table eating when a display of dessert options pops up on the kiosk, and the customer is persuaded by the advertisement to go back and order dessert.
Customers are wanting more convenience and control during their restaurant experience. As society moves into more of a technology-based era, it’s going to be vital for businesses to give guests the technology to fulfill their needs.
From reducing labor costs and customer wait times to improving order accuracy and increasing revenue along with many additional benefits, it’s safe to say that the data speaks for itself. In conclusion, self-ordering kiosks are indeed a worthy investment for your business to make.
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