Online Ordering What’s Working

 

What does your brand stand for?  How relevant is your brand in the minds-eye of an online shopper? When consumers are looking for dinner do they think your brand as the first solutions? Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® believes all food retailers need to drive digital relevance and meal period relevance with branded messaging.

We ran across some new research on digital marketing, particularly when launching a new proprietary online ordering and delivery service, Vroom Delivery ran a study across hundreds of delivery stores around the U.S.

The study showed that in the first three month of launching a new delivery program, 61% of customers find the service through organic search traffic and digital marketing through platforms such as Google, Facebook and Instagram. Only 4% of this early traffic comes from the retailers’ apps as customers are not yet familiar with their digital offerings.

The study found that as a delivery program matures and customers become accustomed to using the service, those customers begin to seek out the retailer directly through its proprietary channels. Chains using Vroom that have been offering proprietary e-commerce for over 12 months see 65% of orders come through their own websites or native app, with only 23% coming from new search traffic or digital marketing.

It is clear that this suggests that online ordering is a major driver of retailer app downloads as well as customers seeking out the retailers’ brands specifically, rather than searching for a specific product across other e-commerce providers.

Jeff Nelson, chief technology officer of Vroom Delivery, stated, “We’ve found that search engine optimization is a big predictor of the early success of a new online ordering program,” … “By passing Google and other search engines locality and SKU data on behalf of our retail partners, we can ensure that when customers Google ‘Red Bull Delivery Near Me,’ their stores quickly move to the top of the organic results. Over time, most of these customers transition to utilizing the retailer-branded sales channels such as proprietary apps or websites.”

In case you did not know in an earlier study by Vroom Delivery showed that over 80% of online delivery orders were from customers who would not have otherwise made a purchase at that store had online ordering and delivery not been available. When paired with this new data, it demonstrates that through the right combination of delivery, online ordering, SEO and a strong website and mobile app, retailers can both strengthen their brand and attract new customers.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869