A major part of our modern, connected world has seen quite a development in the food delivery systems that it uses. Over the past few years, a mind-boggling amount of third-party food delivery applications and websites. Mostly focused on urban areas, these systems give a whole new dimension to the restoration business. I want to give interest to how they function and why they became so popular so fast.

The principle is quite simple, the targeted consumer segments is slightly better-off households and individuals living in urban areas, with either not enough time or no interest in cooking, and who wish to eat at home. This segment being pretty wide, the strength of this business model is its value proposition: making eating out easier and more accessible.

First point of analysis is why the market responds so well. The first main reason is that the consumer have a greatly widened eating options since they now access to smaller restaurants that could not afford a delivery service before, but also to restaurants further away that had a limited delivery service before linking with these systems. The second reason is that it creates very accessible jobs for individuals that have access to a vehicle and wish to boost their finance. These jobs require close to no experience and are extremely flexible since for most of these services the worker checks in whenever they can/want, with no set timetable and a wide selection of work hours 7 days a week. There is also a good reaction from the market since with a larger access to restaurants offering similar cuisine forced some of these restaurants to lower prices, therefore adding even more weight to the accessibility value of this new food delivery system.

Second point of the analysis is why suppliers (restaurants) responded so well and why the firm side engagement developed so fast. This relates to last point I made, about having a wider selection. It works the other way too since when they get access to this delivery systems, most restaurants will widen their client-base since they now reach more customer through a simpler display and search mechanism then what they were used to. Depending on the quality of their product and therefore on their reviews, restaurants will either increase their revenue or fail in that sense, which has pushed a lot of firms to take the bet and invest in this system.

Overall, this new food delivery industry is sustaining improvement in the restoration market and had every reason to succeed in the first place: very low regulations, fairly low investment needed, but mostly a massive amount of demand, and even though consumers overall did not realize they wanted that service, they most certainly did.

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Source: https://mlsdev.com/blog/71-development-of-mobile-apps-for-food-delivery-services

It has been revealed to us during one of our last COMM 101 lessons that word of mouth human interactions are actually much more effective at conveying information about products, brands, and services.

This means that satisfying customers through a thorough study of their needs is extremely important, but an overlooked aspect of this statistic is that a perfect consumer experience can be an important part in the establishment of a consumer relationship that states: we care about our customers, and wish for our values to be aligned with the best possible service they can receive.

 

A company’s value proposition is always made with consideration to the company’s core values and their meaning. It defines the fact that profit is secondary to a list of principles that are directed to a consumer base.

It is possible to see that customer service (through online surveys, 24h phone lines, in-store areas…) is one of the most direct picture of how the company values their consumers. To incorporate the word to mouth aspect of marketing, it appears quite clearly that a polite, well trained, well organized, and well thought service can put a company in a great light.

Even though, to the contrary of the actual product, not every customer will have an encounter with the customer service, it is evident that those who do and find it very helpful, honest, and simple will have an enhanced view of the company, which would then enhance the view of that company of their surroundings. Customer service seems then to have become a part of marketing, making it a key piece of success.

I myself have had a great experience with the Best Buy customer service regarding a refund, and after having enjoyed a problem-free experience, I have found myself to have much more interest into buying electronics from Best Buy than ever before.

Consumers enjoy when they are well-treated, as do all humans, which is why I believe that investing customer service through research and a carefully elaborated service can be very important in the promotion of a company,  whether it is through return policies, or simply with well trained counselors. An extremely well designed customer service in a company that necessitates a lot of customer care could even be a point of differentiation for that company.

Any thoughts?

Feel free to discuss in the comments!

 

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Solomon, M. (2017, October 15). Turn Those Upset Customers Around: Best Practices For Customer Service Recovery. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2017/10/15/bringing-upset-customers-around-best-practices-for-customer-service-recovery/#56c07e6526e2

Mele, C. (2017, June 15). How to Complain and Get Results. Retrieved October 15, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/15/smarter-living/consumer-complaint-writing-letter.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FCustomer Relations