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4 Ways to Keep Up with the Restaurant Industry Trends

The restaurant industry is becoming more and more competitive day by day. The only way to stand out in the market is to keep up with industry trends. Keep an eye on market changes, customers, technology, and more. keeping up with industry trends can help you to plan and forecast. So its time to discuss how to keep up with the restaurant industry trends

1. Read restaurant industry blogs

Reading industry blogs is a great source of knowledge gaining. there are so many blogs consistently writing about the restaurant industry. you will get everything to run your business. new market trends, strategies tips, and more.

Just google “restaurant industry trend” and you can find so many blogs. to know what’s happening in your industry this is a great source.

You can also subscribe to a newsletter, so you will get industry news instantly through emails. this is one of the simplest ways to keep up with trends.

2. Research on social media

Analyzing your competitor is the best way to keep up with the current trend. you can use social media for that.

Your competitors or industry leaders are active on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and more. analyze what technology, and trends they use. stay updated with your competitor.

This platform is also helpful to show customers that you are on the trend.

3. Talk to other restaurant owners, managers community

To grow in any industry community are helpful. for example, as a content writer, we have a WhatsApp community

Growing up in any industry community is helpful. For example, as content writers, we have a WhatsApp community. that helps us to grow our careers. we ask about our doubts, share thoughts, and more.

There are a lot of restaurant community groups on Facebook, and WhatsApp. join that community, and share thoughts and doubts with experienced industry experts.

4. Set Google alerts for your industry updations

Google Alerts is a free service offered by Google. you can set a specific keyword as an alert. whenever someone mentions the subject of the notice you entered, the service will send a mail with the specific link to your email address.

For example, you can set Google alerts with the keyword “Restaurant industry Trend”. If someone wrote a blog including that specific keyword, Google Alerts will send you an email containing that blog link.

It helps you to keep up with restaurant industry trends. set google alerts within one minute.

  • Go to http://www.google.com/alerts
  • Choose how often you want to receive updates (as-it-happens, once a day, or once a week).
  • Type in the search query you want to get an alert.
  • Choose results you want to follow (everything, news, blogs, video, discussions, or books).
  • Select the language and Region you want alerts from
  • Choose if you want “Only the best results” or “All results.”
  • Give the email address you want your alerts sent to, or create a feed.
  • Click “Create Alert.”

Some restaurant industry trends

  • Facilitates better customer engagement through personalization.
  • Automation is permanent in the restaurant industry trends.
  • Building a community and maintaining relationships are more crucial than ever.
  • Data is needed for optimal customer retention.
  • Technology relieves workers’ stress.
  • Online presence is more important.
  • Ghost Kitchen grows.
  • Contactless ordering

Frequently asked questions

How to keep up with the restaurant industry trends?

  • Read restaurant industry blogs
  • Research on social media
  • Talk to other restaurant owners, managers community
  • Set Google alerts for your industry updations

Is the Restaurant Industry Growing?

Between 2017 and 2022, the US chain restaurant’s market size increased by an average of 2.2 percent a year. so yes restaurant industry is growing.

Why the restaurant industry fails

Not every startup fails. the reason for failing a restaurant there is a lot of reasons such as management, marketing, service, technology, capital and location, and more…

Is the online presence of a restaurant important?

Yes, it is. There has been a huge increase in internet usage since the pandemic. The customer like to order online. they look online platforms for suggestions before buying a product.

Related blog: How to Survive the restaurant labor shortage

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All-time customer retention techniques

Acquiring new customers costs more than retaining the existing ones. targeting your existing customers is simple and more powerful. they know about your brand and experience your service or product. behind every customer retention technique, there will be a winning strategy.

Customer behavior (it keeps changing)

Customer behavior

Consumer behavior is constantly changing. If you look at their 5-year purchasing history you can see that a lot has changed. But it has not completely changed.

Let me explain…

Technology has changed a lot. the buying behavior of people also changed. they always looking for something to experience. we can see that there is a huge growth in online delivery. people would like to purchase and pay online.

Customer buying behavior has changed but the marketing strategies still work. for example, giving offers and rewards are all-time strategies, and so many businesses are using those techniques.

We can confirm that such strategies are very effective in infiltrating digital platforms in marketing. now we can target customers more strategically.

11 Customer retention techniques

So, stop wasting your time on building customer retention techniques. here are all-time customer retention strategies that work.

Customer retention technique
  • Send them educational emails
  • Loyalty Rewards Program
  • Customer Service
  • Incentivize Referrals
  • Customer Experience
  • Feedback
  • Email Campaigns
  • Social Media
  • Advice
  • Push notification
  • SMS discounts and offers

1. Send them educational emails

Email is a loyalty loop. sending educational emails after purchase helps to maintain customer-business relationships.

Teach them to use your product for a better experience. make them satisfied. it helps to build relationships and trust.

for example, if you are selling cosmetic products. you can educate your customers about grooming and style tips. advising makes you an industry expert from a customer perspective.

You can also increase sales of new products. Linking your new products in those emails leads customers to your sales page. Teach them why new products, their features, benefits, and how to use them.

2. Loyalty Rewards Program

Giving customers points for each purchase can encourage customer loyalty and spending more. this is an all-time customer retention strategy.

Rewards attract customers to buy again. They expect it. Find your loyal customers using POS software based on their buying behavior. let customers feel that they have special consideration.

3. Customer Service

Premium customer service is the key to success. 94% of customers are likely to make repeated purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service.

focus on customers, and make sure your product or services satisfy their needs. ask them what they need and ensure to meet their expectations. collect and respond to the feedback.

Let them speak, and do not be afraid to admit when you make a mistake. make sure that this does not happen again.

Customers always looking for better service. you need to satisfy their expectations.

4. Incentivize Referrals

Incentivize Referrals | Customer retention technique

Referrals always make results. when buying a product 84% of people seek recommendations from friends and family. references build trust in the customer’s mind.

Incentivize is a good strategy to encourage referrals. Offer attractive store discounts to customers who refer your business. it not only helps you gain new customers, but it also helps you retain customers.

5. Customer Experience

Personalization getting more and more important. Personalize their experience in marketing and communication based on a customer’s purchase history.

Track customers using point of sale (POS) software. it tracks every purchase and customer. you can manage customers’ data from this platform. because POS collects customer contact information it is more simple to personalize in marketing and communications.

It’s more personal when you send an SMS starting with their name instead of calling the Sir or Mrs. it helps to build a good relationship with the business and that relationship will bring them back into your business.

6. Feedback

Collect customer feedback and recommendations. prove to your customers that you are listening to them. list all the recommendations and find the solutions for them.

Next time they visit your store, they have to feel you are considering their recommendations. so they feel more attached to your company. this is the best way to enhance your customer experience. and this is an all-time customer retention technique.

7. Email Campaigns

Email Campaigns | Customer retention technique

Emails are a great way to maintain relationships. email campaigns are a proven customer retention technique. stay connected with customers all the time.

Emails are also a good platform for marketing. Offer discounts to customers via email coupons or discount codes to make them feel appreciated. Encourage them to come back.

8. Social Media

Nowadays, connecting customers through social media is important (Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Tiktok). this platform helps you to engage with your customers more personally. building relationships, trust, and offering accessible customer services are simple here.

Introduce your new products, offers, and more. this is a cost-effective way to market.

9. Advice

Become an industry leader. Share recommendations, experiences, and advice about your products and industry. The customer will feel that you are the leading brand. this will encourage your customer to approach you when they need help.

10. Push notification

If you are providing online ordering and have a mobile app. if the user didn’t open it for a long time, you can send a push notification. they will more likely to click the notification and start using it again.

For example, you can send an offer as a push notification. Users will click on it and use your app again. These retention techniques are used by many businesses.

11. SMS discounts and offers

After customer purchase, you can collect customer contact information (that we discussed earlier). sending SMS as offering discounts is an all-time customer retention technique.

As I mentioned earlier you can send more personalized SMS with the help of POS software. the strategy is less expensive and highly conversational. give a link to your website or app on the SMS.

For example:

The offer is clear and click-worthy. The landing page goes to their product page. the deals and offers via SMS will prompt your customer to visit your business again.

Conclusion

You can also go for paid marketing options. you can remarket your store visitors, website, and app visitors to encourage them to purchase. the growth of internet users, this is also a good customer retention technique.

Above discussed all strategies can be done via digital marketing tactics. because customers purchasing behavior has changed, but the tactics can be used with the help of digital advertising.

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How to Use Instagram for Restaurant Marketing

There will be 4.41 billion social network users in 2025. can you imagine that half of the worldwide population uses social networks? we can use these networks for business opportunities. from large organizations to local businesses that are using these platforms. Let’s take restaurants as an example, using social media for restaurants helps to build a brand, trust, sales, and also customer loyalty.

“86% of Millennials will try a new restaurant after seeing food-related content online”

Social media has the influential power in users to make decisions. you can interact and encourage them to take action. but before that, you need a strategy. a proper strategy can bring more sales. you cannot increase sales just by posting images on social media. It makes no sense.

We have some tips to share with you about restaurant marketing on Instagram, keep reading…

Instagram for your restaurants

The Instagram app has more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide. the user spends an average of 29 minutes a day on this platform. it is one of the largest photo and video-sharing social networks.

This platform can be used for business purposes. there are 200 million business profiles on Instagram. it is a great place to find your customers.

Instagram is a great platform for promoting your restaurant. it helps them build brands and trust, reach new customers, build relationships with existing customers, and also increase sales.

Tips for Improving Instagram Restaurant Marketing

Without the right strategy, your Instagram marketing efforts will fail. It all depends on how you influence your customers. Let’s discuss some restaurant marketing on Instagram tips.

1. Complete your bio

Add something special about the restaurant to your Instagram bio. it could be your business achievements, uniqueness, and more. The bio tells all about your restaurant.

restaurant marketing on Instagram | bio tip

Take an example sweetgreen. their bio is more eye-catchy.

Include these in your restaurant Instagram bio

  • Name and user name
  • Highlight your brand voice
  • Include relevant hashtags
  • Use emojis
  • call to action
  • website
  • WhatsApp link

2. Take advantage of analytics

restaurant marketing on Instagram | analytics tips

On Instagram, there is an insight feature. it will help you analyze your performance, account reach, interactions, and followers based on specific dates. you can also see each post’s performance.

Analyzing your performance will give you better insights. It’s useful to know when and what kind of posts and hashtags are working. analyzing has a vital role in restaurant marketing

3. Regular posting

Consistency is a high priority for your Instagram growth. schedule your daily posts(recommended). it helps you gain brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and also conversions.

4. No compromise in quality

Quality content is always king. use high-quality images and videos. post content like creative food photos, user-generated content, and engaging content.

Visit Classic Foods UK where they are using user-generated content. it builds their credibility and trust.

5. Test test test

Post different types of content and find out what works and what does not. also, test various time posts and it will help you find the most engaging time.

For example, you can post a delicious food photo or video with a call to action at lunchtime(12 pm to 1 pm). there is a possibility of getting a conversion.

because 12 pm to 1 pm is mostly starving time. users are more likely to convert when they see your post.

Keep testing and find opportunities.

6. Collaborating with food bloggers

Collaborating with food bloggers is a great way to maximize your reach on Instagram. influencer marketing is highly recommended. not only for brand awareness but also to help build trust. many are using this tactic in their restaurant marketing on Instagram.

restaurant marketing on Instagram | Collaborating with food bloggers tip

Labbaik_pune shared a reel collaborating with marathifoodblogger. this helps them get more engagement and sales.

7. Use the Facebook ad library for competitor analysis

restaurant marketing on Instagram | Facebook ad library tip

Running Instagram ads helps you get more reach and conversions. for getting better ROI you need a proper strategy. building a winning strategy is very simple. find your industry-leading competitors and study them.

Use the Facebook ad library, you can find all your competitor ads from there. analyze what kind of ads they are running, their call to action, offerings, landing pages, etc.

Find long-running active ads. that will be their most effective ad. build a strategy that beats your competitors.

8. Use more Instagram Reels

The Instagram reel is more effective at reaching out and engaging. It has 22% more engagement compared to a normal video. make more reels, that are engaging and informational.

restaurant marketing on Instagram | reels tip

Crafians on Instagram share so many types of reels. They are properly utilizing it. They’re getting thousands of views from reels. take them as an example.

Some Instagram Reel ideas for your restaurant

  • Follow your employees and show their work-life and efforts
  • Tour of your kitchen
  • Timelaps for your kitchen
  • Mistakes to avoid in the Restaurant Industry
  • Before starting your business and after
  • Motivational videos
  • User-generated content
  • Give cooking tips
  • Show your online ordering platforms. how to use it and new updates
  • Promote special offers
  • Introduce and describe all your menu items

9. Use stories

restaurant marketing on Instagram | stories tip

Instagram stories are highly powerful. use various polls to engage your followers. give them two options and let them choose. understand their behavior and preferences and create content based on that.

Here is an example of using stories as you can see in the above picture. Subway asks a question and their followers can select their answers.

10. Let them speak

Let your customer speak. studies show that content like the user speaks is more powerful. it has more engagement and reaches. ask them their thoughts and experiences based on a specific subject.

For example, ask your followers to comment, “What is the most delicious meal you have ever eaten?”

This is a great way to bring more engagement to your page. It helps to build a strong relationship with followers.

11. Tag them for your post

Loyalty is everything. customer interaction helps to build strong loyalty. capture memorable experiences with your customers on camera. upload it on Instagram and tag your customers.

It will also help to connect with customers from outside of business as well. this will build a strong relationship with your customers.

12. Followed by celebrities

People always like recommendations. not only from friends and family but also from celebrities and influencers. Celebrities and influencers help build trust in businesses. on Instagram you can collaborate with them.

But more than that, you can ask them to follow your page. when a user reaches your page they feel something they trust and will likely convert.

restaurant marketing on Instagram | Followed by celebrity tips

For example, Hard Rock Cafe has a paid partnership with Lionel Messi. He also follows them. It enhances the brand identity of Hard Rock Cafe.

13. Use Facebook ad lookalike audience

Facebook lookalike audience for restaurant marketing on Instagram

You can run Instagram ads using the Facebook ads manager. Lookalike audiences are a golden feature of Facebook ads. You can create similar audiences for your existing customers and run ads targeting them.

Collect customer data such as names, mobile numbers, and emails. Upload it to Facebook Ads and run targeted ads. You can also create a Lookalike audience from that customer list.

It also enables you to run low-cost ads and reach the right targeted audience.

Conclusion

Nowadays, it is very important to use Instagram for restaurant marketing. It helps to build a brand, conversion, and also customer retention. reaching customers with Instagram has no limits and you can always stay in touch with them. Instagram has become the number one part of your online presence.

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How To Increase Coffee Shop Sales (6 Successful strategies)

The coffee production industry is worth $11.6bn by 2022 in the US. It’s been shown that the coffee production industry is growing faster than the manufacturing industry.

The rise of the coffee shop industry also makes high competition. It can be challenging to run a successful coffee shop in this market condition.

The coffee shop business failure rate is 80% within 2 years. lack of a marketing plan or strategy is one of the reasons to face failure. A good strategy makes you successful. In a coffee shop, all activities influence sales.

How to increase sales in a coffee shop

As I said, every activity in your coffee shop influences sales. It’s something that affects your brand. The goal is not only to make a profit but also to build a brand.

People are always looking to interact with trustworthy businesses. Turning your business into a well-known brand will definitely help you get more sales.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to increasing your coffee shop sales.

Healthy and Hygiene atmosphere

Health and hygiene are compulsory for all food and drink businesses. Make sure you comply with relevant health and hygiene requirements.

In this situation where the corona pandemic exists, you need to be able to address the worries that consumers may have.

Make sure the tables are properly sanitized and that staff wear masks and gloves.

Customers will have more trust in such a coffee shop. Trust helps you to build your brand.

Here are some tips to increase sales by giving more health and hygiene precautions

  • Wear mask, gloves and face shield
  • QR code ordering
  • Table reservation system
  • QR code payment
  • Provide a counter outside of the coffee shop or pick-up window services

Customer Loyalty program

The customer loyalty program can increase sales. a great strategy to bring customers back. A loyalty program can increase your customer base by giving them the incentive to buy again and again.

Use point of sale (POS) software to track your customers and identify the most loyal customers. Use this data for various advertising activities.

When a transaction is done, POS software creates a profile for every customer. It records every transaction the customer makes. You can analyze and find out who your most loyal customers are and their purchase history, contact info, etc

One way to encourage customers is by implementing offers that give them a reason to come back and visit the store. This can lead to more opportunities for loyalty, repeat purchases opening up, and customer satisfaction.

Build strategies and get more sales

Digital Marketing

Do you know how important digital marketing is for a business?

56.8% of the population use social networks – Out of 7.87 billion people in the world.

This is a great opportunity not only to sell but also to build your brand.

Nowadays it’s important to engage with customers outside of the business. How will you interact with them? Social media like Facebook and Instagram is an opportunity to engage with your customers.

Are you struggling to promote your coffee shop on social media?

Study industry-leading brands, what they post on Instagram, how they engage customers, their ads, etc.

For example visit coffeestanza Instagram page, in their bio

“A place to read, study, and work while enjoying thoughtful conversations, coffee, and food! Home to @albaicinbs”

It is attractive, right? Speak about who you are, and how you are different from others? Complete your bio.

Post high-quality photos and videos and make creative reels. Reach more people. You can use content that targets your specific customers. Introduce your new items.

Use stories for different polls and quizzes, and engage your followers.

Run ads

Run Facebook ads to reach more people. Building a Facebook ads strategy will help you get better results.

Run location-based ads

Target your audience based on your location. Use images or videos for the ads and circulate creative content

Some ideas

  • Brand Awareness ads
  • Introduce your special drinks
  • Provide online ordering
  • Offer promo code only for social media

Increase traffic to your website, video, etc. Through ads. Use that audience for remarketing. When someone sees your video ad or visits your website. Target them for remarketing.

Technology

Technology has an important role in every business. To run your coffee shop business efficiently, you need to rely on technology.

Businesses are closing down due to a lack of proper management or reports. For example, managing inventory is a headache. You cannot control it manually and it will also increase your expenses.

you have a variety of inventory management software available. Automate your inventory with software and make your business efficient.

By automating your coffee shop things will be easier. You can manage your whole business from anywhere.

When you are not in the cafe, with the help of an internet connection, you can access real-time data and manage everything from there. It helps you control your expenses and increase your sales and profits.

Loyal employees

Employees have a vital role in making a business successful. When hiring employees consider their skills and behavior. Because they are the one who interacting with your customer.

A good smile may be enough to make your customer a regular customer. People are always looking for the best service. If you can not handle it, you will not succeed.

Behavior of your employees are very crucial in increasing your sales. Customers may be of different natures. Your employees should be able to treat them with dignity and listen to their problems and find solutions. Give employee proper training to anchorage them to offer quality service

Get customer attention to your coffee shop

How do you get customer attention for your business? it is a common question for every business owner.

Customer attention not only means eye-catching storefront. But yes, it is a fact that grabs customer`s attention.

Don’t stop there… I mean that’s not enough. let me explain

As I said earlier, your customers are online and you can grab their attention using online platforms.

Social media is a great platform for keeping your online presence. Upload your menu, creative photos, dishes, special offers, etc.

Make sure your targeted location users are engaging with your social media page. You can also run paid ads by targeting your service locations

But not only on social media, but also on other internet platforms. For example, you can use google my business, website, etc. When a customer searches google “best cafe near me” you can be visible.

Visibility helps you to get more attention. This will increase your coffee shop sales and brand awareness.

Related: How to become successful in restaurant businesses

How to increase sales using LithosPOS

We asked a few of our coffee shop clients what is the biggest problem they are faced before they using LithosPOS. and we found 3 major problems. We realized that was the main reason why the restaurant business was failing.

  • Inventory management
  • Poor customer experience
  • High Cost

Inventory management

Do you think you can manually manage your inventory? if you manage it manually, then you can’t focus on other functions of your business.

Our client is saying that before they approached us, they were operating everything manually. There is no proper management or control over stock and cost.

With the use of lithosPOS, things became automatic. Inventory became efficient and was able to reduce large amounts of costs, which, basically, improved the overall performance of the business.

Customer experience

Poor customer experience is another problem faced by coffee shop owners. It is important how you satisfy your customers. A small reduction in service is enough to make a negative impact on the customer.

For example, you provide an online delivery service. When a customer orders an item and selects an online payment option. He is trying to get the GPay option. However, you are not integrated with GPay and customers are more likely to abandon their cart.

I mean you need to give the customer what they need. One of our client is saying “when we started using LithosPOS integrated payment feature, we got more orders online and offline” as a matter of fact lithosPOS will help you work faster and smarter and win more customers.

Improve customer experience and increase coffee shop sales.

High Cost

The food business is expensive. The main reason is that you do not have proper management. Understand where the high cost to you is and focus and take action. But how do you identify that?

Our client says “without POS software we can’t identify which business functions have a high cost”

Lithospos gives you all the reports to manage and grow your business. Identify your most selling and lowest selling dishes, on which dates which item increases the cost. This more insight will help you make better decisions with confidance.

Lithospos gives everything to increase your coffee shop sales. View your current business statistics based on detailed reports and make a business plan for the future.

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How to Start an Online Retail Business

This is the age of online business. The online retail business has great potential. It’s a must-have for any retailer. In 2021, all e-commerce sales increased by 13.2%. Surprisingly, in 2023, e-commerce sales are expected to reach 22%. That’s a huge growth, isn’t it?

Many retail business owners have realized the need for online businesses in the context of the Corona Pandemic. from small businesses to large organizations expanding their business online. No matter what you sell, online business is a great opportunity to increase sales and expand your retail business.

The buying behavior of customers is changing day by day. Today, customers are more likely to purchase online. 95% of all purchases projected this year were done via e-commerce. Here’s a checklist that will make you a professional online retail business owner…

Top 09 e-commerce platforms

Various e-commerce platforms are available such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce.

  • Shopify
  • WooCommerce
  • BigCommerce
  • 3DCart
  • Wix
  • Squarespace
  • Volusion
  • Quick e selling
  • Prestashop

Let’s get started with the online retail business

Step by step to become an online retail business owner.

Business plan and model

The first step to build a business is to plan what you are going to sell, your target market, competition, etc. The e-commerce business will not succeed unless you have a strong plan like your brick-and-mortar store.

Choose your product

What type of product category are you planning to sell? does your targeted location have enough customers? their lifestyle, their buying behavior, and more. You need to know everything about your product, including the price also.

For example, if you are selling a seasonal product, the sales will fluctuate in seasonal and nonseasonal times. So you can choose the products in a way that makes the sale all the time.

Choose a medium to sell

You need a platform to sell your products. You can do this through your website or e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify.

Consider this when choosing an e-commerce platform

  • Pricing and payment
  • SEO Friendliness
  • Integrations
  • User friendly
  • Customer support
  • Security
  • Scalable

Upload your product and start selling

Once you have selected your e-Commerce platform, you can add each product and its details to it.

moreover marketing is essential for an eCommerce business to thrive. identify your customer journey, what are they searching on google, which social media they are using, and what kind of content they like, their engagements on social media, and their comments below your competitor’s post.

in addition Sales can be increased through several marketing activities such as social media, paid advertising, and SEO.

Manage eCommerce, brick-and-mortar stores

Managing your physical retail store and online store can be very difficult. Of course, you can only focus on one business. especially inventory, order management, reporting, analytics, etc

That’s where the need for integrated point of sale (POS) software comes in. by integrating POS with e-commerce platforms, you can easily manage your entire business.

LithosPOS with WooCommerce integration

Lithospos with WooCommerce integration

Are you using the WooCommerce platform – by integrating with LithosPOS software you can manage your whole business using one software. it helps you to manage inventory, reporting, analytics, etc.

If you have e-commerce and physical retail stores. when a purchase happens in your physical store, you also need to manually change the stock on the e-commerce platform as well.

It’s hard, right?

Let’s get it automated. Using lithosPOS software, when a purchase happens in your WooCommerce store, that stock automatically reduces from store inventory. So you don’t want to make any manual stock adjustments. Because everything is automated your efforts and time can be saved and you can focus on business growth.

Other benefits of using LithosPOS – WooCommerce integration

Faster shipping

You can offer speedy delivery option to your customers. when a customer places an order, the order oprtations will be automatically process. payments, invoice and other inventory operations will be simple and fast.

Better customer experience

Customer satisfaction is really important in businesses. you can ensure premium customer experience by automating your delivery transactions.

The LithosPOS tracks all your product on inventory. you can identify your top selling items by analyzing your inventory reports.

The biggest advantage is that you can distinguish between offline and online sales and data. This will help you understand the performance of your brick-and-mortar and e-Commerce store.

Identify your loyal customers and use loyalty techniques

Identifying your loyal customers is very important. Keeping track of each customer’s purchase history helps you identify your loyal customers.

LithosPOS creates a profile for each customer, records each customer’s purchases, and helps identify your loyal customers.

You can use loyalty techniques for both online and offline purchases such as offers, coupons, and gift cards to target your loyal customers.

Better reporting and analytics

It is important to be able to distinguish between offline and online businesses. you will have to make many decisions in the business based on the data of each day, month, and year.

After multiple purchases, you can assume the purchase frequency of each customer. You can market them more personalized.

For example, a customer purchased peanut butter from your online store on 23-January. after one month on 24-February, the same customer again purchased the same product. You can assume that his purchase frequency is one month.

You can target and remind him when it’s time to next purchase (March-22) using various platforms such as google ads, social media ads, or push notifications.

lastly, Integration with LithosPOS-WooCommerce makes it easy to get profit data for your brick & mortar store and e-Commerce Store, as well as purchase reports, sales reports, tax reports, Etc.

Conclusion

It is difficult to run both online stores and brick-and-mortar shops at the same time. But with lithosPOS, it is much easier. You can handle both platforms equally and utilize online business opportunities. Start your online retail business now. To get started with e-commerce integrated POS

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Why restaurants fail: Make sure you do not make these 38 mistakes

It’s easy to feel discouraged when something doesn’t work out, but if you take a step back and analyze the reasons for your failure, you can start again with a fresh perspective. Why do restaurants fail?

Around 63% of restaurants close within their first year and 85% don’t last more than five years

This sounds like the thing that’s stopping you from getting into the restaurant business, but maybe it’ll be easier than you think. Larger restaurant chains such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, Subway, and Yum China are examples of how successful the restaurant business is.

5 Largest Fast Food Chains and Revenue (USD billions) | Lithospos
5 Largest Fast Food Chains and Revenue (USD billions) | Lithospos

However, we see the restaurant business stopping for several reasons, such as a lack of clear planning or bad service, and more…
The purpose of this blog is to explain, “Why do restaurants fail?”. We want to make you aware of what causes a restaurant to fail and provide solutions.

There is a lot to know. Continue reading…

Why Restaurants Fail: Avoid These Mistakes

It has been said before that restaurants fail for many reasons, and can be categorized as:

ManagementMarketingServiceTechnologyCapital and Location
No precise planningLack of digital marketingCustomers are not preferredNot having inventory softwareNot enough capital for the initial stage
Bad Management TeamNot using all social media platformsNot listening to customersReporting and analyticsNot a financial source
Lack of good managementLack of traditional marketingNot responding to customersNot using integrated paymentNot enough customers
InexperienceNot following your customerLack of employee trainingNo parking facility
Ignorance of food licensesLack of competitive analysisEmployees not getting bonuses or complimentsNot for a family restaurant
No customer satisfaction strategyThe customer has not trackedComplex menuNot a healthy atmosphere
Afraid to take risksNot asking for feedbackNot a child-friendly restaurant
Not using restaurant management softwareNot focusing on repeat customersHigh rent
Not hiring good employeesNo visual experience
Not focusing on your uniqueness
Employees not getting bonuses or compliments
Online ordering
Why Restaurants Fail: Avoid These Mistakes | Lithospos

Management

Management is an important part of a business. Businesses can never survive without good management. One of the main reasons why restaurants fail is the inadequacy of proper management. They have a lot of responsibilities for the business in terms of management. Everything from managing the business to increasing sales comes under management.

Restaurant Manager Duties
  • Ensuring Best Customer Service
  • Management of Vendors, Inventory, and Equipment
  • HR Objectives
  • Marketing
  • Planning menu
  • Health and safety standards
  • Managing costs

Many factors that can cause restaurant management to go unnoticed or overlooked can lead to a restaurant’s defeat. Some of them are:

No precise planning
Bad Management Team
Inexperience
Afraid to take the risk
Customer satisfaction strategy
Ignorance of food licenses
Why do restaurants fail- Management issues and solution | Lithospos

No Precise Planning

Planning is an important responsibility of any restaurant management. The mission and vision of the business should be clear. As a growing brand, management needs to have an understanding of what to achieve in the future and where to take the business from.

Many restaurants do business without a clear goal and fail. So make sure your business is well planned.

Bad Management Team

As you know, a bad management team is the main reason for restaurant failure. Good management is essential not only for restaurants but for all businesses. Inefficient activities between team leaders, supervisors, and managers can lead to a bad team.

Unwillingness to Cooperate with the team, Bad Attitude, Poor Communication, Infighting, and Conflict are the main signs of a poor management team.

A good management team includes:

  • Open and honest communication,
  • Clear direction,
  • Mutually accountable,
  • Support risk-taking and change,
  • Common goals,
  • Encourage differences in opinions,
  • Collaboration,
  • Team trust.

One of the most important skills for a manager is being able to skillfully build a good team.

Inexperience

Management must have a clear plan on how to manage a good team and move them forward. Management skills are essential for a good manager. But that kind of skill will come from their own experience. Make sure your manager has enough experience in the restaurant business.

Afraid to Take the Risk

As we discussed earlier, good restaurant management should be prepared to take risks. They need to be ready to bring new ideas into the business and add new dishes to the menu. Often, the growth of a business involves risks. Restaurants often fail because restaurant managers do not make the right decisions at the right time.

Not Having a Customer Satisfaction Strategy

You cannot succeed without a proper customer satisfaction strategy. plan what you can do to engage them. You need to understand their pain points and provide a solution for them. As a manager, his job is to come up with new customer satisfaction strategies.

The lack of a customer satisfaction strategy is often a major reason for restaurant failure. Many businesses do nothing to satisfy their customers.

Ignorance of Food Licenses

Many businesses only think about legal procedures when legal issues arise. however Many restaurant closures are also caused by legal issues. Make sure your restaurant has all the licenses that are shown below.

licenses for restaurant | avoid restaurant failiuer | Lithospos
licenses for restaurant | Lithospos
  • FSSAI License
  • Shop and Establish Licenses
  • Eating house license
  • Liquor license
  • Health/Trade license
  • Lift license
  • Signage license
  • Fire Safety License
  • Environmental clearance license
  • GST Registration
  • Insurance
  • Music license

Marketing

Marketing plays an important role in every business. You cannot succeed without a proper marketing plan. The truth is that many restaurants do not pay enough attention to marketing. Some people think that marketing is just about spending money.

Once Henry Ford said, “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time”

There are so many social media and other online platforms to promote your restaurant. you can share photos, videos, and other customer reviews. You can also go for paid marketing such as google ads, Facebook, and other social media.

Some online platforms to promote your restaurant

  • Directories
  • Social media
  • Restaurant listing apps
  • Google my business
  • Email newsletter
  • Start a blog
Responsibilities of Marketing Departments
  • Listen to customer needs
  • Track trends and monitor competition
  • Jobs and brand values
  • Look for new (helpful) marketing tools
  • Coordinate efforts with the company’s marketing partners
  • Bring updates
  • Communicate with the rest of the company
  • Help improve sales processes and customer
  • Estimated Marketing Budgets & Calculate the ROI of a company’s operations
  • Define strategic marketing plans

Remember money is not the issue, business cannot succeed without marketing. One of the main reasons most restaurants crash is the lack of proper marketing.

Common Mistakes When Marketing Restaurants:

Lack of digital marketing
Not using all social media platforms
Lack of traditional marketing
Not following your customer
Lack of competitive analysis
The customer has not tracked
Why do restaurants fail – Marketing issues | Lithospos

Digital Marketing

This is the age of online business. Almost 62% of the global population used the internet in October 2021. Of course, a large percentage of customers are also active on online platforms. That is why digital marketing has potential.

Digital Marketing uses different online techniques to help brands grow using the internet and other forms of digital communication.

Social media usage now exceeds 4.55 billion. Facebook has become a popular social platform with 2895 million MAU (monthly active users). The average person now spends an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes a day on social media. Instagram has 1393 million MAU.

You can enhance your social media presence with the help of organic digital marketing techniques. use marketing methods like social media paid adsSMMSEOcontent marketingInfluencer marketing, etc.

92% of restaurants use Facebook marketing for their branding purposes.

Online platforms influence customer decisions. They want to be part of an innovative and growing business. One of the major drawbacks is that online platforms are not properly used by restaurants.

You can approach a digital marketing agency or hire an expert to manage your digital presence.

Not Using All Social Media Platforms

As mentioned earlier, the use of social media is increasing day by day. The major social media platforms are FacebookInstagramYouTubeSnapchat Twitter, etc. Restaurant businesses, their targeted customers are active on all of these platforms.

Your presence is a must on every social media platform. Brand awareness and being able to follow customers outside of the business also build customer trust.

There are many ways on each social media platform to grow the business and become more engaged with the customer.

Instagram and Facebook: Instagram is a great option to engage your audience. Use Instagram posts, reels, IGTV, Instagram stories, etc. You can increase your followers and reach more customers.

YouTube: YouTube is one of the main social media sites typically used for video uploading and sharing. You can share videos related to your business. Lots of content like food recipes can be uploaded on YouTube. You can also make money by qualifying for YouTube monetization.

Some youtube content ideas

  • Introduce your chefs, and staff through a video
  • Share employee thoughts and experiences
  • Show technologies that are you using
  • Introduce your new outlets, partners, and customer
  • Be an industry leader. Share your experiences in the restaurant industry
  • Introduce your menu
  • Transparent business – Shoot a video about your ingredients. Take the camera to the market and introduce your purchases.

It is compulsory to be active on all social media by 2022. 86% of customers view food-related content online and try new restaurants. So keep your online presence a priority.

Lack of Traditional Marketing

Traditional Marketing is an important aspect of reaching a local audience. Consumers want to choose businesses that interact more with them. Traditional marketing deals more with customers on an individual level.

Traditional marketing includes

  • Print 
  • Broadcast
  • Direct mail
  • Phone
  • Outdoor advertising like billboards, etc.

In the absence of traditional marketing, you are losing a large section of the audience.

Not Following Your Customer

It is essential to follow the customer when marketing. You need to know which area to focus on, who the customers are, their tastes, and their lifestyle.

The main reason many restaurants fail is that they do not follow the customers. Your goal should be to understand the changing customer tastes and move the business forward accordingly.

Lack of Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is an important part of marketing. By analyzing your competitors you can understand their marketing strategy, menu, pricing, and business practices. It will be easier for you to apply marketing strategies accordingly.

Include these in your competitor analysis

  • Competitor features
  • Market share
  • Pricing
  • Marketing
  • Differentiators
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Geography
  • Culture 
  • Customer reviews

You can know the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent through the analysis of opponents. This will help you to improve your business strategy.

The customer has not tracked

By customer tracking, you can know who your loyal customers are, their favorite dishes, the day they visit the restaurant, the ordering value, etc.

For example, a customer named Jack likes Beef curry, If he mostly orders that item you can use platforms like social media, email, and SMS to Market to him other beef-related dishes. Of course, Jack is more likely to order and try it

You can also use a lot of loyalty techniques by understanding your loyal customers. You can focus on more personalized marketing.

Service

In this 2022, businesses need to place a lot of emphasis on customer service. Evaluate quality restaurant service not only based on your menu. Every service you provide must be customer-satisfying.

Treat the customer as if you are the customer

Bad service is often the main reason why restaurants fail. No business can succeed without satisfying their customer.

The most common service problems in a restaurant
  • Food and beverages served at an unsuitable temperature
  • Unclean utensils or a soiled table
  • Restrooms that are unclean or ill-equipped
  • distractive and noisy ambiance
  • Tables that are too close together aren’t a good idea.
  • Before the customer finishes, the server removes your plate or beverage.
  • Servers with a sloppy appearance or poor hygiene
  • Impolite and condescending servers
  • Food does not look or taste as described in the menu
  • Not enough nutritional information is available
  • Inaccurate calculation of checks by server
  • Servers don’t bring water until asked
  • Diners nearby talking loudly
  • Meals are not what you ordered
  • Server confusion about who gets which meal
  • Poorly situated table (near door, kitchen, etc.)
  • Table not ready more than 15 minutes past the reservation time

Let’s take a look at the problems with restaurant services and how to protect your business from them.

Consumers are not preferred
Not listening to customers
Not responding to customers
Employees are not properly trained
Employees not getting bonuses or compliments
complex menu
Not asking for feedback
Not hiring good employees
Does not focus on your uniqueness
Not providing online delivery
Why do restaurants fail – service issue | LithosPOS

Consumers are Not Preferred

Consumers should be given priority. The customer is always king. Make sure you focus on your customers. Then give solutions to their pain points. There should be a reason why customers choose you.

Build strong relationships with your customers. Identify what you can offer more than your competitors.

Not Listening to Customers

As I said earlier, customers are the priority. Listen to what they say, what do they want? What do they expect from your business? Businesses need to find answers to many questions.

It is imperative to know the tastes of your customers. Listen carefully to their complaints. Find a solution for it. Remember that a good customer experience comes from better service.

Not Responding to Customers

Many restaurants often do not respond to customer messages from social media or other online platforms. They do not even think that Inquiries will come from those online platforms.

Online platforms need to be addressed in this digital age. You will get a lot of queries through Google My Business, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media. It is important to respond at the right time otherwise they will rely on your competitors.

Employees are Not Properly Trained

The restaurant industry employs 15.1 million people in the United States.

Employees play an important role in providing a premium service. They face customers directly. Customers may have different personalities. Hence managing those customers is crucial. but if anything negatively happens, it will affect your restaurant business.

They must be prepared to treat customers with any kind of personality with dignity. You can train your employees for that. train them to manage difficult situations.

Employees Not Getting Bonuses or Compliments

Good employees are the asset of any business. The quality of work depends on how happy they are with the work they do.

You can encourage them with a bonus and reinforce the praise for their work. make a better working environment and give them opportunities for growth.

The best employee can be selected based on job performance. and may give them rewards. This will inspire other employees as well. In addition, it enhances the quality of your service.

Complex Menu

The restaurant menu should be simple and descriptive. In addition to printed menus, digital menus are reluctant to be used by many restaurants today. Digital Menus have several benefits when compared to printed menus.

It is very difficult to print menus due to changing menu items. In addition, the printing charge and the designing charge are much higher.

In the case of a digital menu, you can make changes to the menu anytime, anywhere in real-time. It’s just that you need a browser and internet access to the cloud.

This will reduce the interaction between the customer and the staff in pandemic situations and give the customer a better experience.

The quality of the printed menus is likely to be lost as the menu touches everyone. But in the case of a digital menu, each customer scans the QR code with their phone. So the contactless ordering system has no such problem.

You need to make small changes in the business and turn it into an innovative or technologically advanced business. Keep in mind that customer tastes are changing day by day.

Not Asking for Feedback

Based on what, determine if your current service is good or bad. Of course, you need to check if the customer is satisfied with your service. It’s important for business growth.

Collect customer feedback and make changes to the business accordingly. This is the best way to find out what the customer expects. One of the reasons many restaurants fail is because they do not collect feedback and use it properly.

Not Hiring Good Employees

As mentioned earlier, you need to have a clear idea of who the employees of your restaurant are. How skilled are they and Do they need employee training? Make sure everything is perfect.

It is important to hire good employees. When you have a highly skilled chef you will have fans for the meal.

Related blog: How to Survive the restaurant labor shortage

Not Focusing on Your Uniqueness

One of the reasons many restaurants fail is because they do not understand their uniqueness. In a restaurant business, you have to be different from your competitor. Why should the customer choose you if you only offer services or dishes provided by your competitor?

Find uniqueness that others do not have but is present in your business. It can sometimes be a dish, a service, and so on.

Not Providing Online Ordering

Online Ordering benefits | avoid restaurant failiuer | Lithospos
Online Ordering benefits Lithospos

46% percent of diners have ordered from a restaurant’s website or mobile app.

Online ordering has become very common today. Online delivery services have helped so many restaurant owners in the pandemic situation.

Customers will have a higher likelihood of purchasing from you if they have the option for delivery or curbside pickup. 67% of Millennials also choose restaurants that offer delivery options.

You can scale your online business by integrating with third-party online platforms such as Uber Eats, Zomato, Swiggy, etc, or your website. For that, you can use integrated POS software.

A customer relying on your competitor because you don’t provide a service (even if it’s a small one) can lead to the defeat of the restaurant.

Technology

The significance of technology in the restaurant business is increasing day by day. As mentioned earlier, customers want it too. in fact Managing restaurant operations is a huge task.

But an integrated POS software can make difficult tasks easier. You can manage your entire business from anywhere using POS software.

POS software allows you to easily manage activities such as inventory management, employee management, report & analysis, and payment. You cannot manually manage your entire business operations.

With the help of technology, operations like expenses‌ can be reduced, which can be a huge boon for restaurants. The reason many restaurants fail is because of unrecognizable expenses.

Not having inventory management software
Reporting and analytics
Types of payment methods
Why do restaurants fail – technology issues | Lithospos

Not Having Inventory Management Software

Inventory management is one of the most important aspects of the restaurant business. Restaurant service is often affected by the inefficient inventory management.

If you invest in inventory management software, you can track the stock of products and their components.

Stop the constant hassle of ordering more products or worrying that you have too much on hand. If the preset level reorder points are set, you do not have to worry about stock shortages again.

In short, the entire inventory can be managed with the help of software.

Reporting and Analytics

Data is essential for the growth of your business. you can analyze the current performance of your business. you can identify your best and worst selling items by analyzing your sales report. It will help you to manage expenses and food waste.

With the help of POS software, you can track each of your items and identify the most popular and non-popular items.

Data can be checked with the help of a browser and the Internet, even when you are not at the restaurant. It also has the advantage of being able to easily manage tax reports, sales, and purchase reports.

Types of Payment Methods

Digital payment system users in us | avoid restaurant failiuer | Lithospos
Digital payment system users in us| Lithospos

As mentioned earlier, customer satisfaction plays an important role in the success of a business.

“82% of Americans use digital payments. The widespread use of digital payments in the United States is a testament to how easy and convenient they are.

Mobile wallets are very useful for hotels and restaurants that want to introduce mobile payments to customers. By using already existing popular systems like Apple Pay or Android Pay, businesses do not have to develop their apps which can be costly and time-consuming.

You need to be able to provide payment methods such as UPI, card, and QR code when requested by the customer.

Location

Choosing a location for your business should be considered carefully.

Not enough customers
no parking facility
Not for a family or kid-friendly restaurant
Not a healthy atmosphere
High rent
Food Waste Management
No visual experience
Why do restaurants fail – location issue | Lithospos

Not Enough Customers

When stepping into a business you have to do proper research. The study should include what location you choose to target and whether there are enough customers there.

Many restaurants fail because they do not have enough customers. Initially, it was a huge success but later the restaurants were closing down. Therefore, the business location should be chosen very carefully.

No Parking Facility

According to the statista Number of motor vehicles registered in the United States from 1990 to 2020 | Lithospos
According to the statista Number of motor vehicles registered in the United States from 1990 to 2020

Some 276 million vehicles were registered in the US in2020. moreover most customers want to travel in their vehicle. Therefore, adequate parking space is inevitable for restaurants.

Of course, businesses that do not have adequate parking facilities will not be selected by consumers. One of the reasons many restaurants fail is the lack of parking facilities.

Not for a Family or Kid-Friendly Restaurant

“According to FMI, 84% of parents agreed that family dinner was important, but only 50% of family dinners were eaten together.”

The restaurant should offer table-side servicing and dishes that can’t be disposed of easily, but still, keep the menu affordable. The atmosphere of a family restaurant can make for a more comfortable and inviting experience.

Many families choose Kid-Friendly Restaurants. In fact kid, friendly restaurants are very lucrative.

Children can play an important role in parents’ purchasing decisions. Children have more freedom in choosing the food they like. Therefore, you can include the following foods on the menu.

  • Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
  • Pizza
  • Macaroni and Cheese
  • Chicken Nuggets
  • Hamburgers
  • Hot Dogs
  • Grilled Cheese
  • Chicken Noodle Soup

Also include various offers, High chairs & booster seats, Charging rooms (Rest Rooms), and play areas & arcade rooms (entertainment options). This will help a lot to get the attention of the parents.

Not a Healthy Atmosphere

Creating a healthy atmosphere is important for a restaurant. In food-related businesses, consumers always want hygiene. But the condition of most restaurants is deplorable.

Lots of problems like dirty restrooms, dirty tables or utensils, server unhygienic can be found in many restaurants. You need to be able to give customers healthy food and a good atmosphere.

Personal Hygiene For Food Safety
  • Avoid slippers and bare feet – Wear clogs and safety shoes
  • Don’t wear torn clothes – The clothes should be repaired or replaced
  • Long and painted nails – Nails should be short and clean
  • Opening and bleeding wounds – Cover all wounds
  • Dirty clothes – wear neat and clean clothes
  • Hair coming outside the cap – Hair should be properly tucked inside the cap

High Rent

High rent is a major issue facing many businesses today. Rent is the main consideration when choosing a location.

Having to pay more rent than your business can afford can lead to loss

Rent is not the only problem, it is also important to approach a good building owner. While the Corona Pandemic caused losses to many businesses, many building and landowners reduced their rent by half. So rent plays an important role in all restaurants.

Food Waste Management

Food waste is one of the biggest problems facing restaurants today. the food waste is exacerbated mainly due to various factors such as bad weather, processing problems, overproduction, and volatile markets.

Avoiding food waste can prevent an environmental disaster. Food waste deposited at the landfill site will decompose and release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Ways to reduce food waste
  • Use POS software – With POS software analyze which product is most popular and how much sales you are getting on each product, prepare food accordingly, and reduce food waste.
  • Use the self-ordering system – Give customers complete freedom to order food and the order will go directly to POS and KDS. So there is no possibility of misunderstanding (use self-ordering KIOSK)
  • Buy only what you require.
  • Food that is about to expire should be used as soon as possible
  • Make a grocery list and a menu together
  • Control and monitor the temperature in the refrigerator
  • Changes to Digital – Use Digital KOT and Receipts (minimize paper waste)
  • Compost food waste

Many restaurants are subject to various complaints and closures due to a lack of space to deposit food waste.

No Visual Experience

For a restaurant to not only provide their customers with good food but also to provide an unforgettable experience.

That’s where a restaurant becomes successful. Decorate the walls with dynamic digital screens and encourage guests to share photos of their food. Share and curate user-created content, and capture customers’ attention with a good ambiance, ambient lighting, utensils, and music.

93% said the right song has the power to change their mood or make their day.

Why not try something like that? 83% of customers are likely to return if there is live music.

Why do restaurants fail: The answer to the question ends here. Businesses cannot be broken if they can capture the mind of the customer. Remember that you may fail but take it as a Stepping Stone to Success.

GOOD LUCK…

Related: How to become successful in restaurant businesses

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How Payment Integrated POS Helps You Become a Successful Retail Owner

All businesses are starting to bring innovations according to the convenience of the customers. Your strategy is sure to be successful if you can provide a better experience to the customer. Customer comfort should be considered not only in the products purchased but also in the services. If a retail store is taken as an example, their customers want payment operations to be fast and secure. This has prompted retail businesses to consider various payment integration possibilities. Standard payment integrated POS allows you to increase sales and envision efficient and fast operations.

Payment integrated POS will help you attract more satisfied customers to your retail store.

In this blog we mention the need for Payment integrated POS and the problems faced by retail businesses in the absence of Payment integrated POS and their solutions.

What is an integrated payment?

An integrated payment system lets your merchants accept credit card payments directly within their existing software by automating payment acceptance. Integrated Payments Enables manual and time-consuming payment and accounting processes to work together.

What is an integrated pos system?

The Integrated POS System is a combination of software and hardware (such as LithosPOS) that helps businesses process sales and handle payments. It also manages inventory, employees, and customers to relieve the burden of administration.

What is the payment integrated POS?

Data flows efficiently from one platform to another when the POS system is connected to a payment processor. The concept of payment integration means deploying platforms and systems to facilitate the payment segment of the business.

Problems faced by retailers due to the absence of payment integrated POS

Retailers face many problems due to a lack of payment integrated POS. Let’s see what they are.

Time wasting

For a retail company, many operations need to be automated. Employees must manually match all transaction data. It’s a waste of time and money. This is very difficult for the retail business.

Possibility of theft and fraud

Without payment integrated POS the potential for theft and fraud is high. Cash flow cannot be tracked without clear payment reports. Failure to detect employee fraud in the payments section will lead to serious problems.

Without accurate insight and reporting

Businesses need the right insight and reporting features to plan. When the payment processor and a POS system work together, you get all the data you need to grow your business into the future. Its absence is a huge loss to your business, especially a vital one like payment data.

Consumer dissatisfaction

One of the things that influence customer satisfaction is the experience provided in the Checkouts section. Waiting too long in the queue will make them dissatisfied as they want to pay and check out faster.

Mistakes can happen

Mistakes are common. But financial mistakes can lead to huge losses for a busy retail store, you need to be very careful when dealing with payment transactions with customers. integrated payment service will help you accept all forms of payments in seconds without making error.

Benefits of payment integrated POS

Take a look at how Payment Integrated POS can increase sales for your retail business

Better customer experience

Achieving customer satisfaction is one of the most important steps in establishing success in your business. Offering a variety of payment options gives people better options for buying from you.

Imagine that your customer John buys a product and wants to make a card payment, but you do not accept card payments or online payments. For John, it would cause a great deal of dissatisfaction. He likely to find another store than search for an atm counter.

Retail Payment Options

Here are some payment options you can offer:

  • Cash Payments
  • Credit and Debit Card Payments
  • Gift Cards
  • Loyalty Rewards Payments
  • Mobile or Smartphone Payments
  • Custom Payment Arrangements
  • Online Payments for Retail Services
  • Contactless payments
  • Split payment, etc.

Saves time

You know how important time is. Pos with payment integration is a golden egg that can help save you time and money. You don’t need to manually enter every payment transaction, instead, all transaction details are automatically recorded into a POS. Systems like “Tap & Go” save time and give customers a better shopping experience.

Reduce human errors

Errors are more likely to occur when a person is handling payment transactions. This error data may have been entered incorrectly or applied to the wrong account.

An integrated payment system eliminates those problems. all data from the point of transaction is transferred to the ledger or immediately credited against an invoice.

Reduce labor costs

You can reduce costs with integrated payments. As you know, the cost of labor today is very high. How does POS with integrated payments help you? This eliminates the need for an employee to work on a manual ledger entry. All financial transactions will be recorded in the ledger automatically. In addition, it is easier and cheaper for employees to learn about the system.

Increase cash flow

Proper cash-flow knowledge is a key element for any small business. Without an accurate understanding of the flow, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with transactions and bills. No business can function without enough cash on hand to meet operational expenses, pay employee salaries, tax payments, and other commitments.

There was a time when it took weeks for invoices to be paid and at the same time have the data from those transactions integrated directly into your general ledger or ERP software. These days, with electronic payments and real-time data processing in place, businesses can process and assess electronic and paper invoices within less time.

Efficient payment processing is very important for businesses. Not only does it give you reliable and easy-to-understand reports of how much money you have available at the end of each day, but it also makes your life easier by enabling you to pay vendors and meet payroll on time.

Choose from a variety of payment partners based on your country

With the lithospos payment integration system, you can choose a range of different payment partners based on your country’s specifications such as:

square, PayPal, SumUp, Stripe, PhonePe, Mosambee, UPI Payments, Pine Labs, mSwipe, MTN Momo, Fatoora (Saudi e-Invoice Integration), SAT (Guatemala e-Invoice Integration), etc.

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Grow your business with the reporting and analytics features of a restaurant management system.

If you want to grow your restaurant business, a management system with reporting and analytics is a good solution for you. Businesses can only succeed if they can adapt to changing market trends. But in the absence of a good restaurant management system, it is impossible to be consistent in understanding trends and your popular items.

Also, it is very helpful to get difficult processes like tax reports and sales reports in one click. The reporting and analytics feature of the restaurant management system provides all kinds of reports.

LithosPOS’ restaurant management system provides all the reports and analyzing that will help you run your restaurant successfully. This will help you to understand the performance of the business in a single view.

8 Types of Reports and Analytics: How It Can Help You Grow Your Business

Technology has transformed the restaurant industry. Businesses have also been able to adapt to changing consumer behavior. It is helpful to have a clear overview of the business as the software tracks each item daily. Understand why you need reports and analysis and see how it helps your business.

1. Real-time reporting

Real-time reporting is a type of business intelligence that involves capturing real-time data and communicating it to users as it happens. One of the advantages of the LithosPOS restaurant management system is that reports can be accessed at any time. Live data can be checked from anywhere with the help of a smartphone.

As mentioned earlier, any business needs to be able to identify the current sales trends of the business and move forward with it. You know the importance of a sales trend when identifying business trends. Therefore, advanced data needs to be analyzed to understand sales trends. The reporting and analytics features of LithosPOS Restaurant Management System will help you understand your sales trends.

By understanding the daily weekly and monthly sales you can anticipate the upcoming sales trends and make changes in the business accordingly.

As we discussed above the sales trend, the identification of popular items is also important. Think about it, if you take a big restaurant with thousands of items as an example, It is difficult to identify the items that make up their popular sales.

Understand the best-selling products and stock up on what you need. LithosPOS restaurant management systems help you find your most popular items. In addition to solving the out-of-stock problem, it also eliminates the possibility of losses.

4. Shifts

Loyal employees are the foundation of every business. It is very important to track them. LithosPOS restaurant management systems help to track the accuracy or inaccuracy of employees. This will help identify cash shortages at the end of the shift. It also encourages employees not to make mistakes.

5. Financial Report

The tax report is very time-consuming but very important. Completed tax reports can be easily obtained using the LithosPOS restaurant management system. This will save you time and allow you to concentrate more on your business.

6. Inventory Reports

Inventory reports are very important. It help you to optimize your stock. moreover inventory reports provide information on which items are most likely to cause losses and which items are likely to make a profit. you can track what product and services are driving revenue and which one is tying up your cash. Use LithosPOS inventory management software and seamlessly maintain your inventory and optimize your stock level

7. Sales Report

Employees play a big role in making any business successful. It is essential to find your loyal employees and give them compliments. Based on sales and shift reports, the LithosPOS restaurant management system helps to identify which employees make the best use of the resources needed for business growth. understand which employees make more sales and who makes the worst sales, and give proper training to them to maximize their productivity.

8. Know your loyal customer

Loyal customers are just as important as loyal employees. Based on their purchasing history you can easily find your loyal customers. LithosPOS restaurant management system keeps track of each customer. Understand how many loyalty points each customer has earned. based on their purchase history you can run a targeted marketing campaign to increase the repurchase. understand customer buying behavior and use it to build a customer satisfaction strategy

Related: Become successful in restaurant businesses

conclusion

The LithosPOS Report and Analytics feature provide everything a restaurant business needs to run successfully. Saving data in the clouds. Data can be accessed and managed at any time with the help of the Internet.

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Ways to collect customer feedback in 2022

All businesses depend on customers. No business can succeed without customers. That is why the customer is called the King. Successful businesses are born out of good customer satisfaction. It is important to know who your customer is, what their needs are, and what types of products and services they expect. In the case of the retail and restaurant industry, we need to look at what can be done to attract customers. From there, the right customer satisfaction strategy is essential. Collecting customer feedback allows you to ask customers directly about their tastes, their needs, and the changes you need to make to the service and product.

Effective ways to collect customer feedback

Let’s see how we can collect customer feedback online.

Simple Ways to Collect Customer Feedback Through Online

Customer feedback can be collected through online sources. Reports indicate that more than 4.55 billion people are active online. So the best way to gather feedback is to get your audience to social media, websites and many other online sources..

Q&A and polls on social media

Q&A and polls on social media to collect customer feedback | Lithospos
Q&A and polls on social media to collect customer feedback | Lithospos

Start a page for your business on Instagram and other social media platforms and have better interactions with your audience. use organic tactics to engage your customers and build strong relationships with them. Instagram stories, posts, IGTV, reels are a great option.

You can ask your followers and conduct various polls on Instagram stories. Your customers who follow you can easily interact with the story. You will get valuable customer feedback based on their responses to the story and user interaction.

In addition to Instagram, social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter can also be used for Feedback collection. It will also help you to increase your online precence.

Online Customer Survey

Online Customer Survey to collect customer feedback | Lithospos
Online Customer Survey to collect customer feedback | Lithospos

Websites are a great option for collecting customer feedback. This feedback option helps to improve the user experience of your website.

For example, a reader reading your blog may be given a comment box to record their valuable comments and share points to add to the blog. So you will get the most valuable suggestions to improve your writing.

The website feedback option is very helpful to easily understand the needs of the customer. If you are a content writer, this is also a great way to get the content ideas that people are looking for or want to know.

Emails are really important

Emails to collect customer feedback | Lithospos
customer feedback through Emails | Lithospos

Emails are the most important part of loyalty techniques. Ask the customer for feedback about the service or product they received. It helps to strengthen customer relationships. and it is a great option in loyalty loops

Customers can send their comments and suggestions as an email reply. Note the changes that need to be made to the Services with the help of email feedback.

Feedback after the live chat conversation

live chat conversation | Lithospos
live chat conversation | Lithospos

After a live chat conversation, you can ask for feedback on how your customer care service was. Feedback after live chat support can help improve the quality of service that the customer expects.

This can be done through a chatbot on the website or through social media. AI chatbots can provide chat support in all the situations you need. They also provide feedback options that you can use to enhance customer service.

Use Google My Business

GMB | Lithospos
GMB | Lithospos

Google My Business is a new way businesses can connect with their customers. Via this platform, you can list your business, post photos, and customer reviews. Everyone can see every review. It also allows your business to appear on Google Search and Google Maps. This will help you measure the quality of your service.

Encourage for feedback

Offer gifts or rewards as an incentive for those who pass the time to provide comprehensive feedback. it is a good technique for customer retention.

How to deal with negative customer feedback

Don’t take anything too seriously!

The first thing to remember when receiving negative feedback is that it is not about you. People have different tastes in products/services that are not always the same as yours.

Listen carefully to their suggestions and ask for an explanation before choosing to respond.

for example, if you receive spam feedback from Google My Business, there is no deleting option. you can report that review by contacting google.

However, some reviews can be managed by giving refunds or compensation. by replying to the review on Google My Business Other visitors can also see that. and that will increase the trust in customers.

So it is an intelligent solution to meet bad reviews.

Always respond

As you know, negative customer feedback is part of the business. Actually you can use it to improve your efficiency.

No matter how busy you are – always respond and make your disgruntled customers happy. Embrace the competitive environment and take your business to the next level. Remember that don’t make any wrong decisions, it will affect your goodwill. When it’s loose, it’s hard to overcome from that.

Cares

Let them know that you value your customer feedback and that you will act accordingly. Customers expect that you will consider their suggestions, so let them know that you appreciate their feedback and that you will work to improve things in line with their feedback.

Let them know

Feedback is not always positive. It may be negative, but it does not diminish the significance. It is imperative to convince them that their point of view is being taken into consideration.

Be responsible

Blaming other people is not an effective way to handle customer complaints. Your response will say more about your business than the negative reviews it received. Admit when you make a mistake and offer a solution. The only thing the customer cares about is recovering what they lost. They don’t care why it happened, which person was responsible or whether anybody was allowed to make it. Tell them that we take these things very seriously.

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Self-ordering kiosk for restaurants and how it works

A restaurant POS system can be integrated with a self-ordering kiosk to streamline the operations of your restaurant business. Nowadays customers have changed a lot. As a result, they like to interact with businesses that offer something to experience. Technology plays a crucial role in customer experience. For a restaurant business, the self-ordering kiosk is the best option to give a better customer experience.

Besides giving customers complete freedom to place orders and pay, restaurants can provide a new level of customer experience.

It allows customers to access the digital menu. and orders can be placed directly in the point of sale (POS) and kitchen, without the assistance of waiters.

What is restaurant kiosk software?

Kiosk software is the operating system that is used in Kiosk hardware.

LithosPOS is the leading Kiosk software provider. Not only transfers orders to POS and the kitchen but also collects customer data and other various business needs. LithosPOS pays special attention to a user-friendly interface that is visually appealing and easy to use.

LithosPOS is highly hardware compatible, it can be used in most of the leading hardware. So you don’t need to change your existing hardware because of changing the software.

Why you need to use technology in your business

Technology has become an important part of every business. 70% of small businesses adopted new digital tools in the last 12 months.

The reason every restaurant business needs to invest in online ordering

Businesses are undergoing many changes. Customers are tech-savvy and want to experience digital experience. The changing consumer behavior should be understood at the right time and appropriate decisions should be taken.

Consumers want self-sufficiency. moreover, they want to use systems like self-ordering devices. Kiosks are helpful in giving them complete freedom in their orders.

Installing self-service ordering kiosks in your restaurant can streamline many operations in your business. And it makes your jobs easier. besides It helps the employees to perform their duties efficiently.

How self-ordering kiosks important for customer experience

How self-ordering kiosks affect the customer experience | Lithospos

The best experience comes from the best service. A restaurant needs to satisfy customers with their service. Self-ordering kiosks not only give your customers the next level of experience but also add a lot of benefits to your business.

Let’s see how self-ordering kiosks affect the customer experience…

Better Customer Experience

firstly, Customers expect more innovation and technology in every business. Restaurant business self-ordering kiosks are one of the technological innovations. In previous years, the customer had to wait long to place orders.

But today, with the help of technology like iPad kiosks, Android kiosks food can be ordered without the help of a waiter. This makes it easy and convenient for the customer. In short, modern and user-friendly self-ordering kiosk software empowers customers to personalize their orders.

Reduce Customer Wait Time

Secondly, Quick-service restaurants require a particularly efficient ordering system. Self-ordering kiosks can prevent customers from standing in long queues. In fact, the customer needs it. Furthermore, Customers can order and pay for food through the electronic kiosk from the table. This allows customers to get the food they want according to their preferences, no matter how busy the restaurant is.

Order Accuracy

Many believe that the biggest drawback in the restaurant business is the misunderstanding between the server and the customer. Problems are exacerbated when another item is placed contrary to the item ordered by the customer. This could be due to a communication problem or a typo in the KOT that may occur while ordering. Whatever it is, it causes customer dissatisfaction

But self-ordering kiosks are the solution to all these problems. There is no possibility of misunderstanding as the customer is ordering himself. They can view the digital menu and read about each item.

There is no chance of any kind of error as the food ordered by the customer is directly transferred to the POS and kitchen.

Secure Payment Transaction

Self-service kiosks allow customers to make payments without the help of a cashier. The customer can pay from the table without having to wait at the billing counter.

Changes in Restaurant Performance Using the Self-Ordering Kiosk

Research & Markets predict that the automated kiosk segment will be worth $34 billion by 2023. If you look at the need for restaurants to implement self-service technology, you can see restaurants like McDonald’s installing interactive kiosks in most of their locations. A company like McDonald’s uses that technology because it understands that it is profitable and conducive to efficient restaurant operations and that it greatly influences customer excellence.

In the case of the COVID pandemic, consumer safety is paramount. A self-ordering kiosk can help you manage restaurant traffic and minimize interactions with servers.

Let us discuss the benefits of restaurants through the implementation of self-ordering kiosks…

Increase in Ordering Value

Self-service customers order more quantity of food compared to regular food ordering. Customers can order any item when your employees place an order. They don’t want the waiter to stay with them too long. Customers place their orders, so they have complete freedom with each order. Also, this will increase your profit

Reduce Labor Costs

Self-ordering kiosks help solve the problem of rising labor costs. Customers place their orders without the help of a server. This will help reduce labor expenses to some extent. It also helps to solve the labor shortage problem.

Menu Update 

Printed menus have several drawbacks. Modifying the printed menu to accommodate changes in the menu can be very difficult and expensive. Also, sudden changes, for example when an item runs out, can make updating the menu difficult.

Since kiosks are digital menus, you can update the menu live. This will help the customer to learn more about each product and provide a better graphical experience.

QR Code menu

How does a self-ordering kiosk work?

Let us see how the self-serve ordering system works.

How does a self-ordering kiosk work? | LithosPOS
How does a self-ordering kiosk work? | LithosPOS
  • Place self-serving kiosks on the table or next to a restaurant.
  • Accessing to digital menu using a customer-interactive kiosk.
  • Adding items to the cart
  • Then press done button. and the orders are playing to the kitchen and POS.
  • Customers can choose cash on hand or any other online payment options.
  • The servers deliver the food to the diners or the customer receives orders himself.

Guide to know all about kiosk system

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