The online food ordering industry is on a massive boom in India. The months of COVID lockdown have further accelerated this growth. The online food ordering market in India is expected to show an annual growth rate of 13.23% (CAGR 2021-2025), according to Statista.
And a not-so-surprising fact is that Zomato and Swiggy are the key market players in this segment. In 2020, they both alone have contributed to more than 60% of the online orders placed in India (source: Statista).
This showcases that the online food delivery business is a great way to increase brand popularity, drive sales, and get higher restaurant revenues.
But the biggest headache of any restaurateur is:
- How can they capitalize on this boom and stay on top of the game?
- How can they, as a restaurant, stand out among the plethora of restaurants competing with each other on these food aggregator portals?
Well, we are here to give you some happy and helpful answers.
Table of Contents
Use these marketing hacks to easily maximize your restaurant sales on Zomato and Swiggy:
1. We Love Discounts
This is the most tested and effective marketing strategy for restaurants. We, as consumers, love getting our food and commodities at discounted prices. You can easily attract more orders by giving some juicy discounts, but make sure that you offer something new and unique than your competitors.
You can put up some lucrative deals like, get dessert free on orders above Rs.300, or can give discounts like, get 20% off on orders above Rs.150.
2. Food Pictures are a Major Hit
We are living in an age of Internet & Social media. Here, drool worthy and Instragammable pictures are an instant eye-catch.
The correct food pictures in your menu creates a visual appeal for the customers and most of the time people order a dish because it seems very tempting from the pictures. So, you can use this philosophy to your advantage by including pictures of your food dishes in the menu on Zomato and Swiggy.
3. Optimize your Menu
Nobody likes to scroll endlessly to find their favourite dish. Keep your menu short, concise and neatly categorized, to help the customers.
Also, make sure you have all the keywords in your menu that people generally search for. Words like burger, pizza, cake, coffee, biryani, etc, are some examples. Clearly define your food dish names and categories so that you rank higher in search results on any aggregator platform.
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Food Delivery War: Which is Better, Zomato or Swiggy?
4. Highlight your Bestsellers
Almost half the majority of people who order online are in some sort of rush. They do not have time to browse through your whole menu.
Instead, if you give them a separate category of Bestsellers or Chef’s recommended, then there are high chances that your customers will order directly from those dishes. Keep such categories in the top section of your online restaurant menu for easy accessibility. If you have any combos or thalis, then make sure to also include them in the top section of your menu.
5. Good Packaging + Good Service = Good Reviews
If any online customer is thinking of ordering from your restaurant for the first time, then they are surely going to decide on that after reading the restaurant reviews. Your restaurant’s rating and reviews are very crucial in retaining as well as attracting more customers.
Two major factors that influence the reviews if online orders are packaging and fulfilling any customer request. A durable and spill-proof packaging ensures a happy delivery to your customers. People like to tell their friends or audience (in case of Influerncers) about any unique food packaging they receive, and this encourages others to also order from you.
At times customers put in a special request along with their orders, like no tomatoes, make it extra spicy, give 2 spoons, etc.
If you make sure to fulfill such requests then it definitely puts a smile on your customer’s face and they are more likely to order from you again.
6. Advertisements on Zomato and Swiggy
Zomato and Swiggy have been driving the online food delivery business for quite a while. They continuously make efforts to attract more users to their platform and also help the restaurants in getting better visibility.
These platforms offer various advertisement and listing options to the restaurants. You can host banner ads, promote your offers, list restaurant under categories like ‘trending’ or ‘popular near you’.
Many restaurants have tried these tricks and gotten impressive results.
Now it’s your turn to implement these marketing strategies on Zomato and Swiggy to successfully boost customer orders for your restaurant.
