Change is the only constant or so goes the saying and surely enough the world has changed a lot. In fact it is changing continuously and rapidly. The use of Technology and the advancement of Technology has been changing and transforming nearly every aspect of our day to day live. Even the industries and the way they did their business has also been positively affected by the invention of new improved techniques. Introduction of Technology into businesses are delivering unpredictably good results and growth to most of them.

Adding new improved technologies and techniques add ease of use, increases the cost-effectiveness and enhances the quality of the services and products. The use of Technology has transformed the way every sector performs in the market.

Nowadays, getting services and products like food, apparels, medicines, furniture, clothing as well as daily necessities etc. can be delivered to one’s doorsteps. All that one needs to do is pick up their phones and click a few times, that’s how easy things have become nowadays.

The industry that seems to have made the most of these new mobile technologies. It has affected the food businesses like no other and they have been able to get the most benefits out of these new technologies. This is pretty much clear from the very fact that the food market has been shifting from the dining out to home deliveries, all the more so after the COVID–19 pandemic struck.

However nothing comes without their own set of problems. Every sector and industry has its own set of challenges that the users must be ready to face to be able to keep fighting in the highly transforming market. The Online Marketing domain also has its own set of disadvantages that a business must take care of before switching over to the online market.

Let’s have a look upon few of those challenges that the restaurants / eateries generally have to face while crossing over to the online domain:

Unstable Customer Base :The food Delivery Apps have slowly been gaining popularity ever since their advent into the market. These apps have been continuously inducing new customers each day, thus increasing the market base and sales of the restaurants. Needless to say, a large number of restaurants / eateries have entered into this market to give their business a greater push. This in turn is making the market place more competitive and challenging with every passing day.

The major reason behind more customers opting for the food Delivery Apps is to get great food at cheap prices and needless to say, without hassle. The competition between the markets players have already become so cut throat that customers are already spoilt with the cheapest ad yet the best services from almost all of them.

With all the restaurant serving more or less the same things, it has now come down to which restaurant can offer better value for money. The customers now know that they can get similar items at a lower price from a different restaurant / eatery and surely enough many restaurants are actually selling stuff at unbelievably low prices just to grab the market. This has made the customer base of the restaurants much more volatile. Many of the Online Food Delivery businesses are finding it very difficult to manage their brand’s loyalty factor and have finally started taking cognizance of it.

Unstable & Unpredictable Market Prices :Speaking of instability, not only the customer base but also the market prices are highly unstable. There are a number of factors that affect the prices in the food industry. The competition is so cut throat that organizations are having a tough time in keeping up with the effective prices of the market and having to continuously strive for being able to guess the right amount.

Unlike the earlier times when the restaurants only had to fight with inflation and rising prices of food items, they are now having to focus even upon the offensive or defensive pricing models being used by their competitors in the market in order to minimize losses.

Unpredictable Food Quality :With the rise is competition and the increasing amount of peer pressure in the market, the restaurants are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the quality of their food. With the utmost quality at the doorsteps far away from the place it is being prepared.

The time in getting the food delivered also plays a very crucial role. It makes a huge difference in the food that is served at the outlet and the one that is delivered at the customer’s doorsteps. For example some items are supposed to be consumed when steaming hot to get the best flavor and taste but due to delayed delivery the food might turn cold thereby making the taste change to a huge extent. This is a major drawback that the many organizations are struggling to overcome.

Unsure About the Demand :Every business wants to grow and increase its market and hence its profits continuously but the race to capture bigger market share is not easy, especially with more and more competitors joining in every day. The only to ensure a smooth and upward moving profit graph for your company is to ensure a proper understanding and maintenance of the demand and supply chain. For businesses, especially for the restaurant businesses understanding and estimating the demand is very crucial. Depending on the demand and supply estimation the restaurants can plan on how much stocks they should they buy and keep with themselves at all times to ensure a smooth flow of business every day.

Getting the demand estimation wrong would lead to a massive loss both in terms of money and raw materials, as the raw materials used in the food industry are highly prone to rotting if not stored properly or if stored for to many days. Special attention should thus be given to the storage of the materials and above all the demand must be estimated properly to reduce unwanted losses.

The Bigger Name Steals the Game :As discussed earlier the Online Food Delivery App market is a place of cut throat competition. There a number of players, all striving hard towards the same goal, grabbing the biggest market share. However, some of the contenders – the bigger players, have an added advantage of being known / famous for a longer period of time as compared to the others.

Such famous brands take the advantage of knowing the ins and outs of the market and an already established brand name. It makes the race easier for them but at the same time, makes the same race utterly difficult for the other restaurants who do not have the advantage of having an established brand name.

Competing with an already established and traditional brand is always an uphill task. All the more so for the newly joined businesses who are yet to get familiar with all these new technological, app oriented, business platforms.

The Online Food Delivery industry is thus bound to keep growing at a similar pace if not faster and with the advancement of Delivery Apps going at the pace at which it is going now, one can only expect the number of Delivery Apps to be increasing steadily in the coming decades. In fact, according to many market experts, this sector is expected to grow into roughly a $200B industry by the end of the year 2025.

With the technological inventions and experiments going on every single day, a number of new technical tools are bound to come into the market in the near future. These new tools and technologies will definitely increase the overall efficiency of the businesses. These tech tools are obviously being developed to make things easier even further. This will hopefully solve the few problems that the food Delivery Apps and the systems face in the market in today’s date. It will make the restaurants more capable and able to serve a bigger share of the market with much lesser efforts.

Whatever be the future of the Online Food Delivery system, it is bound to be brighter than it is in the present. The pace at which the online ordering systems are already evolving are at least showing so. The online market is thus going to become more ferocious in the future and thus the Delivery Apps have to keep up their game in the market and keep a track and be ready for adapting to all the upcoming changes and developments.

Whatever be the case, the final aim of the online services providers must always be on providing better services, hassle free experience, and utmost customer satisfaction. The competitors must remember that this industry is completely dependent on the quality of the services and the ones who delivers them. In the Online Delivery market the organization whose services and food items both are equally good will be the one which will ultimately have the better prospects of winning.