Hi Practicum Class! I am very sorry for the late Social
Media Moment, I just got carried away by Thanksgiving break. Anyhow if you are
still interested here is my post!
As I read the article The
End of the Coffee Line in this week’s Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine, it
came to my attention how slick and thoughtful these app developers are getting
to really come up with useful tools for businesses to enhance their customer’s
experience. The OrderAhead app which lets customers choose their order’s pickup
time, lets businesses “address latent demand”, gets a 5-10% cut out of every
transaction and is now making millions. Starbucks is now in the process of
developing their new Starbucks App, which is now being tested in 150 locations
around Portland, Oregon. With this app clients have the ability to select their
item and pick-up location where they later receive an approximate pick-up time
for the order. Customers can pay through a registered account and the app
displays recent orders so customers who tend to buy the same thing can do so
quickly. Chick-Fil-A is in the process of testing out their new app too. By
assigning two or three preferred parking spots, they are now serving mobile
ordered food in seconds. Customers are able to choose payment methods and any
condiments/utensils needed. In the end, mobile order-ahead apps cost stores
about $25,000 to implement but can increase traffic by as much as 30%.
How it works? Well as soon as the person downloading the app
checks the box off acknowledging they are waiving whatever privacy right, they
are exposing their geographic location to the app. This way, new orders coming
into the restaurant through the app do not appear in the restaurant prep queue
until that client is within a certain radius from the restaurant. This way,
fewer people will be returning their orders and customers will be satisfied.
This being said, as most of us have had to reconnect with our venture ideas after having them in the back of our minds for a week or so, I
want you guys to reflect on the following:
1)
As commerce seems to be interrupted by new ways
to interact with customers, should an app of this sort be considered part of
your initial venture expenses?
2)
After the feedback we received in the past week
or so, what “latent demand” have you uncovered for your venture?
3)
How would a user-friendly app help enhance your
venture as a whole? (increase customer base, advertising, shorter wait time,
etc)
1) As commerce seems to be interrupted by new ways to interact with customers, should an app of this sort be considered part of your initial venture expenses?
ReplyDelete-With my groups venture, it is essential to build an application. We are doing something completely different by offering to reserve bottle service at a nightclub. However, we both have the same idea in mind, to save our peoples’ time. I think it really depends on the type of venture that you are starting when determining if this should be apart of my initial venture expenses because if I was making a product that did not require a service as such, I would not utilize this service as we have not even made any type of profit to begin with.
2) After the feedback we received in the past week or so, what “latent demand” have you uncovered for your venture?
-After hearing the judges and class comments and concerns, we have uncovered that there may be a demand for people trying to actually get in the door without buying bottle service. I believe that we are still to early in our venture to determine this because our venture could go anyway. For instance, we may not do well at selling bottle service reservations and we instead may be better at selling reservation services for other markets.
3) How would a user-friendly app help enhance your venture as a whole? (increase customer base, advertising, shorter wait time, etc)
-Again, our venture is already an application but say we went back a couple years to when applications were not a common thing to have for a business. A user-friendly app would definitely enhance our venture instead of using a website, it is more convenient and simple. We would have attracted more people and we could reach more people to advertise on our application and so forth.
- Derek D
Thank you for the heads up on the OrderAhead app Eduardo. I was impressed with the efficient strategy utilized, in the processing of app orders, for product purchases. When you mentioned that the order wasn't filled until the customer was in the targeted boundary I was instantly engaged. The first question that came to my mind was what about the customer's who don't come through with their end of the order and how much time, energy and inventory would be wasted. OrderAhead creators obviously had that same thought in mind by filling orders only when customers GPS signaled the targeted boundary confirmation to complete the order process, awesome. I decided you check out a YouTube video on the OrderAhead app demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WZBjhgjY0g
ReplyDeleteVery impressive demo. With the OrderAhead app, and the utilization of the technology, of the GPS built into your phone, a list of participating locations will pop up for you to order from. The app even keeps track of your past orders and has an option to personalize your order. Your credit card is linked to the app which allows for your purchase to be completed at the same time you place your order. If I was in the restaurant industry, I would definitely consider making this app available to customers. An app like this could easily generate traffic for people on the go looking for convenient options.
To answer your question:
3) How would a user-friendly app help enhance your venture as a whole? (increase customer base, advertising, shorter wait time, etc)
One of the next action steps for eVeterans is to create a user friendly app. The whole concept behind eVeterans is convenience and efficiency. Though eVeterans currently has a mobile view, an app would address the concept of convenience by making it that much easier for the veterans to access our resources. The OrderAhead app, however, would not be necessary for our venture as we are a service based entity.
1. An app of this sort is not part of my venture expenses yet. However, it will be necessary eventually.
ReplyDelete2. After hearing feedback, I know there is a demand for the relaunch of Future Flavas and better way to discover new hip-hop music.
3. A user friendly app would help my venture reach more customers and allow for better interaction. It would also give people access to the show and archives 24/7 from their mobile devices.
- Jeran