The progression of online ordering systems in NZ

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The progression with online ordering continues to make the customer experience easier and easier with the development of design and experience technologies. Having been in the online ordering space for years, we share our thoughts on what we’ve learnt, and where we see the important areas your business could focus on. 

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For Host, we started as On the Go app in 2017, continually growing and adapting the software to a system that works best for our partners. With the development of self service kiosks, our little app platform became Host, which we believe will give you a better ability to Host the modern customer. 

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Online ordering remains a key part of takeaway food in New Zealand and customers now expect that aspect of order placing to be available. Over the last few years, we’ve identified key themes through business and customers experiences using our products: 

• Visually bias. A picture paints a 1000 words and when customers have the option to view a photographed menu versus a text menu, their engagement with your offering now leverages how they ‘feel’ and what they’re craving. 
• Longer menu viewing. Customers that can view your menu remotely in their own time spend five times longer viewing your menu, rather than just reading it. Again, linked with great menu images, customers have been known to spend up to 30 minutes deciding what they want to order. 
• Naturally upselling. Following on from the above points, customers will naturally upsell themselves and order more when your products speak to their cravings. Customers also feel more comfortable choosing to upsell themselves, rather than being asked by a person. It’s part of our kiwi psychology to object to being sold something we may, or may not want (especially from a human). But the results differ when we can make the decision by ourselves. 
• Your digital business. Just like your venue has a store front, a wonderful layout and a stylish menu, your online ordering system should be an extension of your brand. When customers walk into your store, you can gauge the body language, answer their questions and generally get a feel for how the customer interacts with your menu. So how do you know what’s happening with your online store? Choosing a good online ordering system in NZ is important, and you want to ask these types of questions to the provider up front. 

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Online food ordering systems in NZ

There are dozens of online food ordering systems in NZ, some from overseas companies but many made right here in NZ. When choosing a provider that's right for you, we recommend asking these critical questions: 

1. What is their technical support service plan?
2. What are their company values? 
3. What’s their development roadmap? Where are they taking the platform and how will they continue to benefit you as a customer? 

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Host provides an online food ordering system for fast casual formats across NZ. As part of our service, we meet with business owners to understand their needs from an online ordering system and ensure their account, design and setup are optimised for their workflow. All partnerships with us have responsive technical support with ongoing maintenance and we go through your offering to make it stand out for customers online. 

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What makes Host stand out from the others is your ability to have a self service kiosk, QR code table ordering, online food ordering and Point of Sale all centralised in the one system. Our partner integrations continue to expand so at the time of this reading, check out our latest integration partners list. 

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If you have any questions or want to find out more information on how Host could compliment your business, please fill in our contact form and we’ll reach out to you within one business day.

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