True value of Menulog
I would like to talk about the true value of online food ordering platform — Menulog by comparing it with etsy.com which is operating a similar business for creators.
Basically any aggregation platform provides distribution for the products the constituents are making. In the case of Menulog it is bringing in new customers for the restaurants and in the case of etsy.com, it is bringing in new buyers for the crafts the creators are making.
Distribution is the true value of any platform and this is the only reason why anyone should partner up with such platforms
In the case of etsy.com, the creator doesn’t have any other choice but to work with the platform in order to find an audience for themselves. While any of them directly set up a shop using shopify and try to directly reach the audience, it is very unlikely that the shop would be discovered by potential customers and if an individual shop could ever have enough marketing budget to outsmart etsy.com.
At least in the case of etsy.com, it is justifiable because there is no lasting relationship between a creator and the customer
Even if a customer buys once, there is no need for the customer to come back to make another purchase because every time the needs are going to be different and a individual creator cannot have a huge selection of products to run an independent store, so in this instance etsy.com is providing real value by bringing together creators and the customers.
On the other hand, take an example of a restaurant listed on Menulog, I do agree that Menulog brings in new customers at times, but most of these customers are locals and once they place an order, there is definitely a huge opportunity for the restaurant to establish relationship with the customer, so in an ideal situation a restaurant should try to acquire new customers via this platforms and actively try to convert them into directs.
But in reality the exact opposite is happening, the platforms are grabbing the existing customer base and selling it back to the restaurants for a huge commission
From this point of view, Menulog adds little to no value to the restaurants. This has to change and that’s why we created Zagl — a commission free online ordering app, that let’s restaurant owners build their community and engage with it using push notifications. On top of it, restaurant owners could also run their own Loyalty program which works well for retaining customers there by adding further value to the restaurant.
If you are a restaurant owner, check out Zagl today to save a ton of money on commissions and to start building your customer database. For more information please write to us at support@zagl.app
