OPINION
Why the hospitality industry is going to change significantly
The hospitality industry has for years lacked the focus that retail has had on digital innovation and technology, says Gavin Peters (pictured), chief marketing and strategy officer at Wi5 (a UK tech start-up that says it’s on a mission to save the hospitality industry). MOBILE ORDERING SURGE My assertion is not meant as a criticism, but rather, a fair reflection of what the hospitality industry is designed for – great, physical connections with people, food and drink. But post-Covid-19, that is all about to change. Necessity breeds innovation, and with some of those physical connections needing a little paring back for a while, we’ll now see tech step in to help solve some of those issues. The biggest and most obvious change in customer behaviour will be a surge in mobile ordering. As operators have had to find ways to enable social distancing and remove physical menus and cash, almost every major operator has invested in mobile ordering solutions. It will now become the normal way to order and pay for customers in-venue as well as for takeaway and delivery. Customers will avoid queuing near other customers or making 60
any unnecessary contact with waiters, preferring to order and pay from their own devices. And whereas previously, mobile ordering has never really gained truly mainstream traction, the vast improvements in the technology in recent years means that’s now set to change. Customers no longer need to get frustrated waiting for an app to download, or registering for multiple wallets. Orders and payments can be completed in just a few simple clicks. The post-pandemic environment is likely to see customers flock to mobile out of necessity, and stick around due to the perhaps unexpectedly superior experience. DATA And with that change in ordering, hospitality operators will finally see one major benefit that it’s never really had the luxury of benefiting from - deep customer data.
Data has been described for years as ‘potentially the most valuable commodity in commerce’, but due to technology not being core to the experience, it’s fair to say that in hospitality, that potential has yet to be realised. Yes, many operators now know much more about their customers than ever before, and we’ve come a long way since the idea of sending a customer a greeting on their birthday was seen as real innovation, but in terms of commercialising real insight, we’re only just scratching the surface. With the majority of customers now set to shift away from ordering anonymously at the till or via kiosks, and towards their own devices, hospitality will take a leap into the e-commerce revolution from within bricks-and-mortar venues. So what will this shift towards technology and data mean for operators, and how will they benefit? July 2020
