July 2022
I was asked by a prospect this week about the difference between their customers having their own app to order their goods or using an ordering portal and below is what I found online and came up with through my own experience.
Firstly, what is an ordering portal?
The Order Portal is an interface that allows customers to make orders. It simplifies the ordering process, receives and shows invoices, shows order confirmations, and more. Usually web-based and better accessed using a laptop.
What is an ordering app?
All of the above plus much more. An app is also an interface that allows customers to make orders and can achieve all of the above results along with making it far more engaging and an overall nicer experience for your customers. Can work offline and is used on the go on a mobile phone.
Research:
In the age-old days or marketing and selling, portals were a rage on the Internet as they offered users, easy access to the Web through various software. People and businesses were easily attracted to them because of their easy access to the Web, organization, interaction, and the use of keywords to find things. Because of their user-friendly nature, they were also called as ‘Internet training wheels’ because they actually worked as a Web within the World Wide Web. And although the online restaurant industry was thriving on online ordering portals, there came a time when people realized the importance of having websites of their own or even making ordering apps to cater to a wide range of customers.
These days, websites & apps have become much more popular, no matter what. Online ordering portals are now a thing of the past. The restaurant industry has finally found its’ match in websites of their own and ordering apps and the advantages are too many to be named.
Almost every website for online ordering of restaurants has portal functionality also. Along with that, websites and apps also offer features like ‘attractive’ home pages to entice customers, mouthwatering images of food, offers and discounts, etc.
DueTrade customer experience:
One of our customers also has a portal which we integrated with the app, and they have found that customers use the app 4x more than they use the portal. This is due to the convenience and ease of it being on a mobile phone. The main functionality they used the portal for was to see invoices and previous trades, but this is now possible on their app. They can just pull their phone out of their pocket wherever they are instead of waiting to get onto their laptop.
DueTrade’s opinion Pro & Cons (Apps):
App Pros
· Better and easier overall experience.
· More secure.
· Can send notifications (promotions) directly to customers' fingertips to help improve sales.
· Allows customers to make a decision in fewer clicks. Like an amazon buying experience. App Cons
· Development costs are more expensive.
· Needs approval from app stores.
· Encouraging customers to log on can initially take time.
· Portals are more well known in the industry at the moment.
DueTrade’s opinion Pro & Cons (Portal):
Portal Pro’s
· Cheaper.
· More competitors use portals at the moment
· Some portals already integrate with existing back-end systems rather than building an API. Portal Cons
· less engaging.
· Can’t send push notifications.
· considered a thing of the past. Find out more on www.duetrade.co.uk Get in touch on: sales@duetrade.co.uk
