According to Statista, the online food delivery market is projected to surpass US$474.30 Billion by 2026. That’s an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.38% in just a time span of three years. The truth is several factors are propelling the growth of online food delivery applications.
But, the extra comfort of doorstep delivery is what makes customers choose online food delivery over going out for dining. This increased reliance on food delivery applications has also made the market more competitive and made it challenging for many food delivery startups to gain the required exposure.
That’s why many entrepreneurs are seeking to incorporate new technologies so that they can stand apart in the crowd and build unique food delivery solutions. One such technology is Artificial Intelligence (AI). With AI, food delivery businesses can improve their customer service and uplift the customer retention rate more conveniently. According to a professional cross-platform app development company, Artificial Intelligence can help food delivery businesses grow their customer base and provide better customer support.
In this brief guide, we’ll explore a few of the benefits of incorporating artificial intelligence into food delivery applications and how it can aid the growth of food delivery businesses.
So, without any further ado, let’s dive in.
Advantages of Integrating AI in Food Delivery Solutions
1. Instant Doorstep Deliveries
There’s no arguing the fact that the primary objective of any food delivery business is to deliver the food to customers’ doorstep when it’s hot and fresh. No one likes delayed deliveries and it can affect the restaurant’s as well as food delivery service’s reputation.
Well, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can make it much easier to process multiple orders simultaneously and assign the most suitable delivery partners to ensure the food gets delivered on time.
With smart AI algorithms, a food delivery application can run different analysis to not only find the nearby delivery partners but choose the ones who are most likely to deliver the order quickly.
This can be done by validating the delivery partner’s past reviews and their overall score. Based on the results, the AI algorithm can instantly make the right decisions and assign the most competent delivery partner to process the order more rapidly.
2. Customised Recommendations
Here’s the deal; each individual has different food preferences. Some people like to eat healthy vegan salads whereas others want to chug beer with a bucket of chicken nuggets. As a food delivery business, your objective should be to customise the food suggestions to match the customers’ personal preferences.
So, if someone enjoys vegan meals, they should see a list of all the nearby restaurants with the best vegan menus. Again, AI algorithms are great at analysing customer preferences and displaying customised suggestions accordingly. These personalised suggestions can result in better sales and increase the customer repetition rate.
3. Chatbot Integration for Better Customer Support
Chatbots are a great real-time application of AI that can uplift the overall user experience for the end customers. With chatbots, you can provide real-time support to your customers and assist them with food ordering more conveniently.
Chatbots are basically AI-powered programs that are capable of simulating real conversations. These programs analyse the users’ text messages and utilise algorithms to reply with one of the pre-set answers. With advanced AI algorithms, food delivery businesses can also incorporate AI-powered voice assistants to assist customers more effectively.
Industry leaders like Burger King and Uber Eats are already relying on chatbots to provide better customer support. If you also want to expand your food delivery business and maximise customer engagement, it would be crucial to integrate chatbots into your food delivery app as well.
4. Auto-Approval for New Restaurants
For aggregator food delivery applications, it’s always a hassle to analyse new restaurant applications and approve them to get listed on the platform. Smart AI algorithms can help food delivery entrepreneurs automatically analyse new applications and validate them by analysing various factors. This will reduce the hassle and allow food aggregators to automatically list more and more restaurants.
How to Incorporate AI into Your Food Delivery Applications?
So, now that you’re familiar with the potential benefits of AI in food delivery, let’s understand what you can do to integrate AI functionality into your application. It’s worth understanding that building AI-powered mobile applications isn’t a straightforward process.
Due to the high complexity of AI development and machine learning, you would have to hire experts who are familiar with the essential technologies to develop powerful AI algorithms. To do this, you can either recruit developers on your own or reach out to a third-party cross-platform app development company.
Both these options come with their own baggage of benefits and drawbacks. The idea is to analyse your business requirements and then make the right decision accordingly.
Ideally, you would have to consider factors like budget, expected project delivery, and the overall complexity of your food delivery application. Here are a few golden rules that’ll help you compare different AI experts and hire the right tech teams for incorporating AI into your food delivery solution.
- It’s always a good strategy to partner with developers who have built similar products in the past. Such developers are most likely to be familiar with the required development technologies to devise powerful algorithms.
- If you are on a tight budget and don’t have the resources to manage an in-house development team, it would be a great choice to partner with offshore developers.
- Due to economical differences, third-party development firms working offshore have relatively lower development rates. It means the cost to build your food delivery application will be pretty affordable.
- Communication is one of the most crucial factors in working with any development team. As a food delivery entrepreneur, you would want to partner with developers who follow a transparent development process and keep the clients up-to-date with the entire development cycle.
- Finally, if you get a chance, make sure to get in touch with the previous clients who have worked with your preferred development team. Despite being your direct competition, these clients will give you an insight into the expertise of the developers, making it much easier to make your final decision.
The Bottom Line
In the past few years, AI has evolved from a science-fiction concept to a real-life technology with advanced applications in different fields. For the on-demand food delivery industry, Artificial Intelligence can be one of the most effective tools to engage customers and enhance customer repetitiveness. Entrepreneurs can hire expert developers to devise advanced AI algorithms for their food delivery platforms and ensure they deliver a remarkable user experience.
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