Restaurants that highlight the convenience and control of online-ordering systems, while heightening their interactivity, will best tap into the technology’s full sales potential, according to a new Cornell University report. 


Though nearly half of respondents said they have used restaurants’ online-ordering systems, the majority said they still avoided ordering that way for a variety of reasons, including a desire to interact with a person instead of a computer and concerns about order accuracy and credit card security.


By making online-ordering systems more interactive, accessible and easy to use for these reluctant users, restaurants can take advantage of a growing online-ordering market, the report said.


The report is part of a series on online ordering by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research and is based on an online survey of 470 consumers in January. The study’s author, professor Sheryl E. Kimes, also published a report in March in which she said the online-ordering market remains largely untapped. 


“Electronic ordering offers great potential for the restaurant industry — and almost certainly will become a feature that most customers expect to have available to them,” Kimes wrote in March. “Over 40 percent of U.S. adults have ordered food online, and restaurants using electronic ordering report increases in both average check and order frequency.”


The most recent study, which focused on consumer perceptions, paints a picture of the type of customer currently using online-ordering systems — as well as who isn’t.


Nearly half of respondents, or 48.5 percent, said they had ordered meals online, either through websites, text messaging or mobile apps. These consumers tended to be younger and more tech-savvy, and were more likely than nonusers to say the online-ordering experience was convenient and put them in control.


While approximately 70 percent to 78 percent of respondents ages 18 to 34 had used electronic ordering, the percentage fell rapidly as age went up, with usage rates of about 55 percent among respondents ages 35 to 49, and 21 percent for respondents 65 years and older, the research found.


In addition, younger respondents reported significantly higher perceived control and convenience than did older respondents.


Kimes said the group that has used online-ordering systems skewed to women over men, with 51.9 percent of female respondents having used such technology, compared with 45 percent of male respondents. Women also reported significantly higher scores for perceived control and perceived convenience when ordering online than did men, the research said.


Usage rates were higher among suburban and urban dwellers than rural area and small town residents, Kimes noted.


Consumers ordering online were also heavier users of technology and digital media in general.


“With the exception of e-mail, [users of online-
ordering systems] used Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and mobile apps significantly more than nonusers,” Kimes said. 


The nonusers were generally much more uncomfortable with technology and craved personal contact with restaurant workers.


Of the respondents who had not used online-ordering systems for takeout or delivery meals, 69.4 percent said they preferred to talk with a person, 43.8 percent said they felt their order accuracy would be better if they spoke to a person, and 33.5 percent said they preferred to have a personal connection with the restaurant.


“Nonusers [of online ordering] had a significantly higher need for [personal] interaction and had significantly more technology anxiety,” Kimes reported. “While there were no significant differences by gender, older respondents had a significantly higher need for interaction.”


She recommended that restaurateurs trying to increase usage of online systems address nonusers’ needs for interaction and their technology anxiety.


For instance, she said, some restaurateurs may want to emphasize that guests who are having problems placing an order can quickly get assistance by e-mailing or calling a restaurant representative. Kimes said operators might also want to consider adding live Internet chat capabilities to their online-ordering systems to help anxious online-order placers. 


“One other approach might be to set up a [computer] kiosk in the restaurant where an employee helps people try out the ordering site so that they can see how it works and how easy it is,” she added.


To reach nonusers who say they would feel a lack of control in the online-ordering experience, Kimes suggests offering choices and important details. She suggested that operators make it easy for customers to:


• Customize and review their orders and receive post-order e-mails or text confirmations of the items involved in the transaction.

• Choose their payment methods and understand the payment card security measures in place.

• Determine their pickup and delivery options and receive an accurate estimate of when their order will be available for pickup or delivered. 


Even among existing users there is opportunity for growth, Kimes said. Promotions of online ordering targeting younger customers, particularly those between 25 and 39, will not only resonate with a group that includes a high percentage of users today, but will offer compound benefits in the years ahead, Kimes said. Any such messages, she noted, should be presented in a manner preferred by that age group, including use of text messages and mobile coupons.


In promotions aimed at women, operators should emphasize the control and choices that they will have if they use online or mobile ordering, and underscore the speed at which they can get on with their busy lives, Kimes said.


Kimes noted that a limitation of her consumer survey is that it involved only Internet users, who may have systematic differences from restaurant customers who do not use the Internet. Still, she said, even among that Web-savvy group, fewer than half of the respondents are ordering meals online. 


The bottom line, Kimes said, is that “the potential for online or mobile ordering has barely been tapped.”

Copies of the full report can be downloaded at: www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/abstract-15521.html

Contact Alan J. Liddle at alan.liddle@penton.com.