Technology has revolutionized the restaurant industry, and not just for owners. According to the National Restaurant Association, most clients these days enjoy ordering and paying tableside via tablet. At cafes, 70% of customers place orders via smartphone app.
Is it time to add ecommerce functionality to your brick-and-mortar restaurant? Learn whether platforms like Shopify are good for restaurants and how using the right apps can help you grow your business.
Why Is Shopify Good for Restaurants?
Shopify is a powerful tool for restaurant owners who want to build an online presence without the need for coding skills. Whether you’re creating a website that reflects your restaurant’s unique atmosphere or setting up an easy online ordering system, Shopify’s simple interface makes the process straightforward. You can choose a beautiful theme, customize your menu, and set prices without being a tech expert.
State-of-the-Art Customizability
Shopify offers a high level of customizability, allowing you to create a website that truly matches your restaurant’s voice and vibe. You don’t need to be a web designer to build a site that feels authentic to your brand. Shopify’s themes are fully customizable, so you can adjust the look and feel to match your restaurant’s atmosphere, whether you’re going for an elegant fine dining experience or a fun, casual vibe.
Third-party Shopify apps can drastically change how your business functions, such as letting customers order ahead. Plug-and-play functionality means you use the tools you want and drop the ones you don’t.
Convenience for Customers
Shopify makes it easier for your customers to interact with your restaurant, offering convenience that fits their lifestyle. With features like mobile ordering, local delivery, and curbside pickup, your customers can enjoy a seamless experience from browsing your menu to receiving their order. This flexibility ensures that no matter how they want to dine, whether from home or picking up an order to-go, they’ll have a smooth, hassle-free experience.
Valuable Customer Insights
Shopify’s customer relationship management (CRM) data can be a game-changer for restaurants that don’t have an effective method set up yet. Using Shopify to track sales data can help you deliver better customer experiences. Instead of viewing success as a guessing game, you can track key statistics like:
- Customer Demographics: Understand which customer groups frequent your restaurant most often, helping you tailor marketing and offerings.
- Top-Spending Customers: Identify your highest-spending customers and create personalized offers or loyalty programs to keep them coming back.
- Peak Dining Times: Track when your restaurant experiences the most traffic to optimize staffing, menu specials, and promotions during those busy times.
- Online Orders vs. In-Store Traffic: See how much of your business comes from online orders and where your web traffic originates to refine your digital marketing strategy.
- Effective Advertising Channels: Determine which advertising channels (social media, search engine ads, etc.) are driving the most traffic and adjust your strategy accordingly.
With high-quality customer insights, you can set more effective goals. Finding the right ways to use this data can provide great opportunities for increasing sales.
Easier Online Marketing
Shopify’s marketing tools simplify your efforts and help you reach a wider audience without the need for expensive advertising. With free integrations like Shopify Email and Google Shopping, you can manage email marketing and local search optimization all from one dashboard. Additionally, you can sync your social media accounts with your Shopify site, turning engaging Instagram posts and promotions into real online traffic.
The Shopify App Store
One of the biggest draws of using Shopify for restaurants is its extensive app store, which allows you to customize your store with almost any feature you can imagine. Whether you need tools for managing inventory, offering online reservations, or providing loyalty rewards, there’s an app for nearly every need. This flexibility is a major advantage for restaurants that need specialized features but don’t have the resources to create them from scratch.
StayTuned Digital offers powerful third-party apps designed to enhance your Shopify store’s performance. One such app is the Automatic Discounts & Upsells app, which helps restaurant owners drive additional sales by automatically applying discounts and suggesting relevant upsells during the checkout process.
Does Shopify Have Any Downsides for Restaurants?
While Shopify is a powerful platform for many businesses, it naturally doesn’t handle every aspect of restaurant management. Shopify is designed to be accessible to a wide range of industries, which means it doesn’t specialize in the complex and fast-paced needs of restaurant operations.
Restaurant Hardware
Shopify does offer POS systems, but they’re not tailored specifically to restaurants. While they work well for basic transactions, they lack the specialized features of dedicated restaurant POS systems, which are designed to manage things like high-speed kitchen orders, real-time inventory, and split checks. When it comes to optimizing your restaurant’s day-to-day operations, nothing beats a POS system built specifically for that purpose.
Shopify Integration
Additionally, integrating Shopify into an existing restaurant system can be challenging. If you’re already using a restaurant-specific POS or other tools to manage your operations, connecting Shopify with those systems may require extra time, effort, or even third-party apps.
Additional Costs
The subscription fees for Shopify can vary depending on the plan you choose, with higher-tier plans offering more features and capabilities. Additionally, many restaurants find that third-party apps are necessary to fully customize their Shopify store for restaurant-specific needs. These apps often come with their own subscription fees, adding to the overall cost of running your online system.
Is Shopify a Good Fit for Your Restaurant?
Shopify is good for restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, bakeries, and boutiques because it gives them accessible tools to improve their sales and service. With the right app integrations, you can streamline operations, grow your brand, and create a seamless customer experience. Ready to scale your business faster? Start by unlocking the power of the best Shopify apps today.