Defend Your Turf
Portals are popping up all over the country. Seamless Web has a stranglehold in New York and has made inroads in other major metropolitan areas. Grubhub has made inroads in Chicago and others like Campusfood.com and Delivery.com have changed the way consumers order food for pickup and delivery from traditional restaurants.
Online ordering is here to stay, however before you rush in to sign up with portals, understand what it means for you and your business.
Using the portals as a customer acquisition mechanism justifies their higher costs and draconian demands (No Information about the customer is shared / Keeping the float for Credit Card Orders …etc.) however, using them for serving your repeat customer is about as smart as shopping at 711 for your regular groceries!
Letting your REPEAT customers order from these portals is a big mistake! When they order at these portals you pay higher processing fees, your customer may decide to order from someone else, and even though they ordered from you none of the data(email address) is given to you. YOU MUST OPEN YOUR OWN WEBSITE TO ONLINE ORDERING.
Filed under: Authors, David Litchman, Portals