The modern, gig economy has made it easier for restaurants of any size to provide delivery service. Because the driver is paid by the app they use, restaurants can offer delivery without increasing their employment costs. Consumers are flocking to these new services to have something delicious and different delivered to their doors. Google is launching a new feature that will let some restaurants sell food directly from Google.
A central tenet of good e-commerce is that the fewer steps to complete a transaction, the better. If consumers have to go through a long process to complete an order, there’s a good chance that people will fall out of the sales funnel before they complete the purchase. The same is true for restaurants and delivery services. If it takes a long time to order food online, there’s a chance that some people will decide to skip the process and make a sandwich.
Google will make it easier than ever to order food from restaurants that use delivery services instead of dedicated delivery employees. Google has already partnered with several food delivery services to create a system where customers can order items and schedule delivery, right from Google services like Google Search, Google Maps, and even Google Assistant.
As the company explained in a post announcing the new feature, “Now you can use Google Search, Maps or the Assistant to order food from services like DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice, and ChowNow, with Zuppler and others coming soon.”
Restaurants that have accounts with the delivery services that Google has partnered with can have their menus available to customers on Google. Participating restaurants will have an “Order Online” button in Search and Maps that will show when a customer searches for a restaurant or a type of cuisine near them. Diners make their selections with just a few taps. They can schedule a delivery or pickup time, then checkout securely using Google Pay.
This partnership with delivery services is a game-changer for local restaurants. A business can significantly increase the range of their market since delivery service drivers will go farther than traditional employee drivers to deliver food. And for specialty food makers, they could conceivably get orders from all over the city. If a business is the only place in town that makes a delicious [insert food item], when people find their restaurant in searches, they will get all the orders.
Having the option to order through Google will be a good marketing point for businesses. It’s something they can mention in local advertisements. If all people have to do is Google a business name, and they can order in a few taps, it’s selling point to hungry people on the go.
A restaurant that has the “Order Online” option in Google Search or Google Maps will be at an advantage compared to other restaurants. Since consumers will know that the process for ordering online with Google will be easy and fast, the restaurants that provide the option will get looked at first. If you can effectively browse and order through Google, there’s no need to click to a restaurant website or call a location to get more information.
The current crop of delivery partners is missing some key players, like UberEats, but it’s likely that more delivery services will sign up for the program in time. For more recent news about Google changes that help local businesses, read this article on a recent update to Google My Business.
