Although COVID-19 vaccination is here and most have received vaccination shots, the pandemic is not quite over yet. It seems that every couple of months, a new wave of coronavirus with a new variant unleashes itself on a global scale.
This has left businesses, especially the food and hospitality industry, in constant struggle with their existing business model. From contactless ordering to contactless payment, restaurant owners are looking for every possible solution to bring some kind of normal into their daily operations.
The demand for contactless ordering has dramatically increased in popularity since the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, customers spent approximately $435 billion on online home food delivery in 2020 alone.
The pandemic has forced many restaurants without a contactless system to implement contactless payment safety measures for the employees and customers alike. However, experts say that contactless ordering and payment are here to stay.
How Contactless Payment Provides a Measure of Safety for Consumers
While the benefits of contactless payment are far spread, here are the four most prominent benefits of contactless payments for consumers.
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Faster and Safer Transactions
Retail transactions are generally slower, but you can maximize their efficiency through contactless ordering and payment services. In this scenario, the customer does not need to be physically present at the terminal to make a payment.
According to a Fiserv Study, 68% of customers believe that efficiency and speed are vital when it comes to deciding how they would like to pay.
Whether you wish to look at it from an identity theft perspective or a credit card scam, a physical credit card transaction is always prone to fraud as there are no verification methods apart from a chip and pin.
However, a customer making an online payment has to mostly go through two-factor authentication (2FA) in order to verify a legit transaction. Therefore, a contactless payment interface will ensure that your business does not have to reverse transactions as this will cost you additional money.
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Flexibility Offers Convenience
As contactless payment offers an alternative to traditional payment methods, restaurants are supporting and adapting this solution to reap the benefits of contactless payment safety. This contactless mode makes both staff and customers feel more comfortable by maintaining social distancing at all times.
According to the survey, 97% of customers reported backing out of making a payment that was too inconvenient for them to complete the transaction. Therefore, if you are a restaurateur, enabling touchless or mobile wallet payment will offer a great level of convenience to your diners.
Customers now expect or even demand convenient and speedy transactions from most service providers. Therefore, you must consider implementing contactless self-order kiosks in your restaurant.
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Customer Safety
If customers do not feel safe ordering, they are less likely to give you any business. Younger, healthy customers may not pay much attention to the safety implications of going to restaurants during the pandemic. However, over 16% of the U.S. population, i.e., over 52 million people, are 65 or older, putting them at higher risk of COVID-19 complications.
According to the AARP, restaurants are among the most germ-contaminated public places. Therefore, many older adults will think twice before visiting your restaurant to eat. Giving them the option of contactless ordering through a curbside ordering system or a self-ordering kiosk can help older customers feel safer and stay safer by keeping their contact with employees to a minimum.
With traditional ordering methods, customers stand somewhat close to an employee to tell them their order. Even when that isn’t an issue (such as in the drive-thru, where customers can order over the intercom), normal payment methods require the customer to either handle cash and receive change or give the employee their payment card and then take it back. Several parts of the traditional ordering process require unnecessary, as well as unsafe, contact.
The Benefits of Contactless Payment Extends to Businesses Too
Apart from all the benefits for customers, here are the top benefits of contactless payment for businesses.
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Employees’ Safety
Like any other employer, the safety of your employees should be your top priority. Another benefit of contactless payment is that it makes your employees feel comfortable and safe when serving your customers.
Restaurant employees, especially those that take orders and work the register, can serve dozens or even hundreds of customers each day. McDonald’s alone serves 68 million customers every day. With so much exposure to customers, front-of-house employees may feel unsafe and vulnerable to catching diseases like COVID-19.
By using contactless ordering, employees can spare themselves hundreds of close interactions per shift and drastically reduce their chances of catching any diseases, giving them peace of mind and body.
Incidents of bad customer behavior during the pandemic have been a concern for many restaurants. Adoption of contactless payments not only ensures limited exposure to COVID-19 but also protection from incidents of bad customer behavior that have been on the rise during the pandemic.
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Secure Transactions
Contactless ordering makes your entire business more secure and efficient. Your cashiers can make mistakes when inputting orders or taking payments that can end up costing your business money. Contactless ordering means the customer can directly communicate their order to the kitchen and use their preferred payment method. This nearly eliminates any chances of mistakes or payment mishandling.
Furthermore, contactless ordering just makes for better business. Your staff does not need to take orders in the front-of-house anymore. This makes your operations more efficient with fewer errors.
Implementing contactless ordering and payment into your restaurant’s business model helps your establishment stay modern and competitive, ensuring a thriving business for years to come.
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Comprehensive Integration
As you digitalize and move to contactless ordering to reap the benefits of contactless payment, you are going to tap into additional perks of technological integration within your existing operations. So, whatever the reasons that you wish to implement contactless ordering into your restaurant operations, it will improve your existing technical infrastructure.
For instance, you can use contactless self-ordering kiosks even to run location-based and customer-centric marketing to offer promotions and deals. With contactless ordering, you can create a more personalized and positive experience to gain customers’ loyalty.
Contactless Payment Solutions with GRUBBRR
All of these safety benefits to contactless ordering and payment systems mean that there’s practically no downside to implementing it. It is something that many customers have come to expect every restaurant to have throughout the pandemic, and they’re not likely to stop using it anytime soon.
Contactless ordering gives you the chance to keep your customers and staff safe and the opportunity helps boost your business’s revenue. We at GRUBBRR offer some of the smartest contactless ordering and kitchen management solutions. Speak to our team today to discuss your needs!
