Mobile Ordering: Don't Leave Home Without It Mobile ordering is at the heart of mobile commerce. Consequently, making it very easy to order thru mobile should be a priority for businesses seeking to improve their sales.

By - Phil Talbot – go to guy | mobile ordering | Saavi

Get mobile

There are two ways you can get mobile ordering for your business:

Get a mobile app (either native for the different mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Kindle Fire, etc, or HTML5 apps which run on any supporting browser);

Get a mobile ordering website (which, aside from scaling nicely to smaller screens, allows easy navigation of contents, browsing, selecting and checking out); or you can get both.

A few years back, you’d only get an online ordering site. Not anymore. People are now taking their smartphones with them anywhere and, with it, the Internet. So now the Internet is always there for people with smartphones — even while they sleep. Don’t you just love to get a share of that accessibility?

Domino’s Pizza — one of the biggest pizza delivery businesses — covered all bases: mobile ordering apps in English or Spanish versions covering all mobile platforms (iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones, even Kindle e-readers) and a dedicated mobile ordering site.

Not all mobile apps have a mobile ordering component. And some businesses are almost reluctant to have their customers order online. Fine dining restaurants for example don’t have the kind of mobile ordering fast-food restaurants have (select dishes and additions, pay online, wait for delivery or go to nearest restaurant branch for takeout). According to a December survey by Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, only fast-casual and quick service restaurants (70 percent) offered online food ordering, which is what mobile ordering is about — still online, but mobile.

Fine dining restaurants do allow you to pay online and search their menu — online reservations: mobile ordering without the rush. And that’s fine for businesses whose clientele are never hurried.

Get connected

Whether fast or relaxed, they’re still mobile ordering though, and the market is growing. Not just for restaurants. eBay CEO John Donahoe says they bet on mobile early (and heavily), even if most people didn’t see the mobile revolution coming. eBay was one of the first to offer a mobile ordering app at the Apple App Store in 2008. eBay is now reaping the rewards of that shrewd move — their mobile ordering apps are expected to do $10 billion (and growing) in commerce this year. Donahoe says mobile has allowed eBay’s market to change from being ecommerce ($500 billion) to simply ‘commerce,’ worth $10 trillion. And they got there by going where people were moving to: online.

Should you need help in getting a slice of that market, mobile ordering app developers like SAAVI can help you.

About Author - Phil Talbot is founder of the Mobile Ordering specialists and the resident expert in mobile ordering systems.