MOBILE ORDERING PLATFORMS FOR FOODS AND BEVERAGE SERVICES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY TO INVESTIGATE WHAT KEY FEATURES BUSINESS MANAGERS LOOK FOR PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTATION
Mobile Ordering Platforms for Foods and Beverage Services: An Exploratory Study to Investigate What Key Features Business Managers Look for Prior to Implementation
Literature Review
The necessity to approach marketing as an integrated part of management and not as a separate function has been acknowledged decades ago, when Peter Drucker illustrated that marketing tells businesses how to adjust on meeting changing consumer needs and creating a clientele (Webster, 2009). Consumer needs are ever – changing, as Drucker observed, and they are dependent on social trends that influence their behaviour. The social trends formula actually encompasses more than aspects solely related with social changes, but they refer to the entire external environment that comprises political, economic, socio – cultural, technological, legal or environmental factors (Boyd and Chinyio, 2006).
An important driver of consumer ever – changing needs and wants is technology. With the recent technological developments that have shaped the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century into a Web 2.0 society, customer needs have recognized revolutionary changes. Web 2.0 technology refers to the online technology based on interactivity and user response or user generated content, which enhances the connectivity and communication across various multiple websites and channels (Tella, 2015).
The development of this form of communication has allowed the shaping of new marketing models that maximize the features of Web 2.0. into what is known as marketing 2.0 (Abdulrahman and Bach, 2013). Marketing 2.0 represents “the usage of Web 2.0 technology and the interactive capabilities it provides for the purpose if opening interactive communication channels between consumers and businesses” (Abdulrahman and Bach, 2013, p. 3).
Furthermore, as a result of the increased internet use around the world and the rise of mobile technology, especially the smartphones or tablets, has enabled new consumer needs and wants (Diab, 2016). The technological developments of the recent decades have allowed the creation of mobile marketing suited to meet the consumers’ needs in a mobile society (Chen, Hsu and Wu, 2012). One form of mobile marketing is the mobile application (apps), which represents a set of programming codes organized to fit the mobile devices with the purpose of addressing an identified problem (Zamfiroiu, 2014). Chen, Hsu and Wu (2012) have found that mobile apps have the potential of increasing the business performances, while also enhancing consumer engagement and creating differentiation. More than a classical email communication, the power of mobile apps boosts clients’ responsiveness, as they are more likely to check apps alerts than email notifications while they are not in a business setting (Drew, 2013).
Although the mobile application technology is rather recent, there is an emerging literature that approaches this topic. Drew (2013) offers valuable insights on how to develop and publish mobile apps while avoiding frauds. Chen, Hsu and Wu (2012) look at how major hotel chains use the mobile phone applications as marketing tools for supporting sales. Zamfiroiu (2014) is interested in delineating methods to increase the quality of mobile apps during the development phase, while Yin, Davis and Muzyrya (2014) and Dovaliene, Piligrimiene and Masiulyte (2016) focus on the benefits of updates in engaging and keeping the clients interested in the product.
Looking at apps development from a managerial perspective, the current literature on mobile apps lacks a concern on the features required for developing a successful application. Aligned with the aim of this study, namely to define a framework for developing a successful ordering platform, there will be further outlined specific features and elements that managers would need to consider for designing a mobile app for the hospitality industry in Australia.
Marketing hospitality refers to the marketing activities utilised across various segments of the hospitality industry, hotels, restaurants, etc., for promoting their services, with the purpose of increasing sales (Oh and Pizam, 2008). Tan, Tse and Wong (2009) see hospitality marketing as a unique marketing expression, because it comprises both tangible products, like the food or accommodation, and intangible aspects such as the experience and emotions felt in hospitality or tourism setting.
Organisational Buying Characteristics and Processes
In a business to business buying situation there are several criteria that guide the buying process, such as product performance and durability, price, timely delivery, customer service or return policy (Tanner and Raymond 2012). In reference to the organisational buying process for a mobile platform, some characteristics regarding the price include paying a part of the total amount of the app development upfront, which can and sometimes result in the risk of losing the money with no product delivered (Drew 2013).
The customer service component that Tanner and Raymond (2012) mention as a main component of B2B buying process is visible when companies solicit the development of a mobile platform through the developer’s interest in collaborating with the client for maximizing quality (Zamfiroiu. 2014; Drew 2013). In this sense, the selection of the supplier is also an important characteristic in B2B buying process, upon which depends how the end product will look and perform (Tanner and Raymond 2012). Therefore, the supplier selection will impact the end customer (or user), which implies that the vendor should be selected based on the targeted segments’ characteristics (Drew 2012).
New Product Development
According to the available lectures, in the process of a new product development, managers should take consideration various features in an integrated manner. The first aspect recommended to be considered is the purpose of developing a new product, in this case a mobile ordering platform (Drew, 2013). Next, equally important is to consider what it would be expected for the platform to achieve (in terms of potential revenue) and what the budget for developing this application will be (Chen, Hsu and Wu, 2012; Drew, 2013). Before mentioning some of the main technical features, it is worth indicating that a very important feature of new product development is the language of the mobile application to be developed (Chen, Hsu and Wu, 2012). Aspects regarding the design, functionality, information and content should be customized on the targeted market (Drew, 2013). Zamfiroiu (2014) indicates that the user expectancy is highly important when designing a mobile application, because a low quality falls beyond the expected quality standards, while a too complex application will fail to engage users. RAM memory, hardware memory, CPU processor or battery life are technical aspects that should also be considered when developing a mobile platform (Zamfiroiu, 2014; Chen, Hsu and Wu, 2012).
Another important aspect that should be considered in new product development for mobile application is the compatibility of the application with Google Play and iTunes app stores or Samsung Apps, in order to be able to submit the developed product and to be downloaded from these stores by users (Zamfiroiu, 2014; Drew, 2013). A dynamic code that allows rapid updates or modifications is also desired, in order to keep the users engaged (Zamfiroiu, 2014; Yin, Davis and Muzyrya, 2013).
Marketing Research
There is an increasing number of mobile technologies, especially smart phones around the world (Dovaliene, Piligrimiene and Masiulyte, 2016). An interesting research shows that unlike other developed countries, Australia and New Zealand mobile technology users engage more with tablets than with smartphones, showing their preferences for larger interfaces (Marketing Mag, 2015). Dovaliene et al. (2016) say that the rapid advancement of mobile technology, especially smartphones, motivates companies to develop applications, indicating that the key for an application to be successful is to have the capacity to engage users. Functionality is also an important factor that would make a mobile or e-commerce application successful, as customers seek useful information to find suitable deals according to their needs (Chen et al. 2012). Nevertheless, following a quantitative research, Dovaliene et al. (2016) found that sociability (the apps’ interactivity, sharing, communication with others) and technical convenience (the ease of using the application) are essential in creating user engagement.
Users are curious about new products available on the market, as long as they create a social trend, or it facilitates the opportunity of learning, therefore the product must generate user engagement (Chen et al. 2012). User engagement represents a method of measuring how much time a visitor spends on an application and what types of activities s/he performs using it. It is important for companies because it leads to customer loyalty, hence customer retention and customers who purchase the goods and/or services that the companies promote through their apps (Dovaliene et al. 2016).
Zamfiroiu (2014) and Drew (2013) recommend managers to demand a dynamic code from their app developers, which to permit modifications and changes, aligned with customers ever – changing needs (Drucker in Webster, 2009). In fact, Yin, Davis and Muzyrya (2014) observe that lack of apps updates increases the likelihood to lose users’ interests and the app to slowly fade away and be replaced by others, more sensitive to updates.
Methodology
Primary Research Method – Face to Face Interview
The primary research method is the face to face interview. There are various advantages of using this method in the proposed research. Face to face (ftf) interview allows a direct and not interrupted communication between the interviewer and the interviewee (Opdenakker 2006). Furthermore, during ftf interviews the researcher has the opportunity of recording the social cues, such as tonality, body language, etc., which might be significant for the research (Opdenakker 2006). This type of research permits recording the conversation, but also asking follow-up questions in order to cover a topic that was either planned or not in the research questions (Englander 2012). Ftf interview can be time consuming, because the researcher dedicates time to interrogate each study participant, but the results are accurately reflecting their experiences (Englander 2012). A list of questions that will be addressed is available in Annex 1.
Secondary Research Method – Platform Review
The secondary research method is a desk research, focused on collecting information about existing platforms currently on the market, for identifying their key features and to try to evaluate whether there are any gaps between interviewers’ expectations and what is currently available. The analysis will concentrate upon Cardfree, Revention Inc (Hunger Rush V3.2), Grubhub and Snapfinger organisations, looking at the elements outlined in the literature review as important: language, design, functionality, updates, ease of access, social trends or quality.
Data Analysis
Considering that the proposed research employs mixed research methods, the data analysis process will cumulate the data collected from the face to face interview and the data collected from the platforms review. Each category of data will be separately analysed with content analysis, which implies coding the gathered information and organising so that it corresponds to the research questions (Powell 1997). The coded data will be decoded in the process of interpreting the findings.
References
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Annex 1
What are your business expectations from a mobile platform?
What would you expect the users to download and use this application for?
How often do you plan on sending alerts and notifications?
When you will be initiating your mobile application for your hospitality business, would you reduce marketing communication strategies, maintain them, or totally give up on them to replace them with the app?
Why do you think it is important to develop a mobile platform for your business?
What is it relevant to you that the mobile platform should contain?
How would the mobile platform look like in terms of design? What elements of identity do you intend to promote through this application?
There are many mobile platforms offering similar products that users can access. Why do you think they will choose yours?
How will your mobile platform differentiate from the similar applications existent on the market?
