Online Ordering System Of Dominos Pizza Information Technology Essay

Definition :

Online food ordering services are websites local restaurants and food cooperatives set up for customers to select from the interactive menus provided so as the ordering process can take place. In order for ordering to take place, any sorts of internet capable devices which support complex web pages are used. People normally use computers to access into the food websites and place an order. Similar to ordering consumer goods online, online food ordering services also allows customers to keep accounts with them in order to make frequent ordering convenient. A customer will search for a favourite restaurant, browse from items available, and select delivery or pick-up. Payments could be made via credit card or cash. Partial of the payment will be given to the online food company. While e-commerce has been around for over a decade, closing the gap between food and the Internet has taken longer. The first restaurants to adopt online food ordering services were corporate franchises such as Domino’s and Papa John’s. Other pizza franchises such as Pizza Hut have been quick to adopt online food ordering.

Function:

Food ordering online is becoming a norm for restaurants which offer takeout and delivery orders. Food ordering online is designed as it is cost effective yet an efficient system to satisfy the restaurants needs. The system is also designed for its ultimate flexibility and performance. The customers will be able to access into the company existing website and browse at their menu and select and place their orders on what they desire. Once they have completed their order, the system will either email or fax the customer’s order to the restaurant.

The online ordering system also enables customers to order days beforehand and the system will execute the order at the specified time. The system has been built to handle large amounts of traffic simultaneously to prevent a system overload.

This system is also flexible in a way, whereby customers are able to place online orders quickly, with just a ‘click’ comparing to the tradition where orders were taken through the phone. More time and cost will be saved ordering online as a phone bill is charged according to the time the phone is on the line. The system was used intended to meet the requirements of all of the clients.

With the online order system, the company could save on labour cost as less people are needed in operating the website, instead of people operating a restaurant. With the internet, there will be fewer errors on the orders or miscommunication amongst the customers and the person taking orders. Besides, it provides timely service. The software examines all food orders prior to the completion and corrects human errors.  Also, with this system, the registration of online guests is utilized to create valuable marketing campaigns. 

Internet database

Online ordering is easy and convenient yet they have more to improve on their online ordering system. It is good that online ordering system has linked the customers’ information with the database of the system which facilitates the ordering of customers. In addition, customers’ information could be tracked easily from their database rapidly if they are regular customers.

Advantage

With the escort in of the 21st century, many people have found out that it is basically easier to purchase items online. This depends on the consumers’ preferences. Some people feel unsecure buying items online because they cannot have physical touch or sight with the items they wish to buy. In this case, some people prefer to have the pizza straight from the oven when it is served.

Online purchasing provides additional customer service. They not only provide goods, but also provide extra services, such as delivery to the destination that they have requested for. Online purchasing eliminates order taking errors. Customers can view the entire menu and all special offers via official website though online. The system records customers’ orders when purchasing has taken place. Extra services for example like estimated delivery and carryout times are provided to customers.

When ordering via online, even during a busy period such as lunch or dinner time, customers would not have a problem in contacting them and placing their orders. The customers just need to order via online and the system will automatically generate and put it on queue.

Online ordering records and stores past records of orders made and allows the customers to view them anytime during their online ordering session. These records will store at the database.

The biggest advantage to ordering online, that the customer can save a lot of time and effort. Customers can choose to complete their orders within seconds or take their time and finish when they want. There are no time limits for them to complete their orders, thus, customers can take up any amount of time to order. Instead of planning out time in daily schedule to go out and make a purchase, the consumer can instead go to the web-site when they have a free moment at work or at home late at night, and look up the product that the customers are considering to purchase. They view the full menu and can order any combination of food while the prices are displayed and calculated as they go. It is much easier to make large and complex orders online because they have the ability to be patient, consider their options, and calculate different pricing schemes.

Consequently, a customer can use that to their advantage and only do businesses with sites that will help put their transactions through quickly and thoroughly. Addition to that, the advantage of online purchasing is the ability to look at products late at night. Even though the stores have closed for the night, customers can place orders for the next day while the web-site still remains available to make purchases. This means that even after a long day at work, and coming home to deal with the family, the customer still have time left to go online and look for the product they want to purchase. The Internet is there is open 24 hours 7 days, and is always willing to wait for customer to come make a purchase.

By going online, the customer do not have to worry about the hassles, such as when they decide that it is time to check out, they do not have to waste the extra time queuing in line. By ordering online, the customer can also take advantage of deals that are only offered to online customers, and often find products that wouldn’t be available at a walk in store and special offers are given to online customers.

In addition, online ordering increases customer visiting the Dominos Pizza official website. It also gains customer satisfaction and loyalty throughout the company. Due to its convenience of online purchasing service, customer purchase frequency also may increase . The company eliminated or reduced labor costs associated with manual order taking due to technology computerize replaced labor usage. For the Domino Pizza Company, the online ordering system accepts both online and traditional coupons to attract more customers.

Mackay(2008) claimed that “Customers who order on the web tend to order more because they have a menu in front of them.”

Customers who order online are proven to order more per order because they don’t feel rushed while purchasing, as they often do over the phone.

An Online Ordering website guarantees that the message, promotions and add-on offers are communicated to the customers and rely less on employees. Also, time is saved by not having to key the order into the Point Of Sale System. Between that, fewer mistakes occur during online ordering pizza.

Online Ordering provides the perfect solution for office lunch orders. Orders can be collected around the office and one person can enter the orders into the website without the hassle of calling it in. They can take their time and get it right.

There are several ways in which online food ordering from a restaurant may occur. A restaurant can have its own website with easy features for placing an order for pick-up or delivery. Some add a third option of being able to make reservations. Instead of calling for a delivery, people just access the Internet, head to the restaurant site and make their order.

In financial factor, online ordering system increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the ordering operations. For the advertisement, it can create easily or upload promotions to the online ordering site. For instance, this system can increase the customer’s guest check automatically by customer email by suggesting upcoming sells for additional products. Online ordering increases in sales of goods in the Domino Pizza Company.

Disadvantages

The trend of shopping online, especially ordering pizza online has gradually been significant in the last decade and online sellers are expected to have improvements on the volume of sales after website features and services altered. There is no doubt that the customers can find great deals online and so many different products which may not be even available in regular stores. By the way, there are certain disadvantages of online ordering.

Normally when we shop from a regular store, we can go directly to a sales person face-to-face to enquire and clarify our doubts regarding the food we ordering. It is possible that customers would have a wrong idea of what the products and services is about as the customers and the employee cannot deal face-to-face for a clear explanation.

The chances of mishandling the package are volatile. There is a possibility that shipping abroad will damage the presentation of the food that customers ordered and the customer realize it after opening it when the package was delivered and that the person delivering it has already left as food could be very fragile.

Another disadvantage is that a lot of companies which sells online state that customers have to pay for the shipping and delivery charges depending on the weight of the product the customer orders. Only a few companies with websites offer free shipping services while some companies provides free shipping services only if the customer has a total purchase of prices exceeding a certain amount. The shipment fee charged often is one of the reasons that customers would not like to order goods online as it is more expensive and does not guarantee that the goods delivered will be in good shape.

However, a company must consider on the target market they would like to focus on promoting their products and services to. The elderly are most unlikely to order goods online due to their knowledge of operating a computer. Therefore, if the target market includes the elderly, a traditional service has to be provided to them.

Online connectivity issues are the greatest disadvantage for online ordering. The customers add items in online shopping cart, enter information and press “submit”. The confirmation screen might time out when the internet has an unstable connection. The online customers would not know whether the order has been made or not while reloading the page may cause several billing or several orders.

Moreover, customers may also make human errors, such as ordering the incorrect item. This can occur when the customer attempts to place an order. The customer may have accidentally clicked on the wrong item while placing their orders through the website. Even if the consumer clicks on the correct product and provides an accurate product number there may still be mistake made in the ordering process if there are options associated with the item. This problem can be rather disturbing because the consumer will get agitated when the incorrect item is received and therefore, loses customers’ loyalty towards the company.

Another disadvantage is that purchasing online would mean that personal information has to be given to the company when purchasing is taken place. Some companies take advantage of this feature. By purchasing on the Internet, the customer would have to take the risk of having their information taken by online companies and misused. Though this is a very rare occurrence, it is more likely to happen online, than in person. To avoid personal information from being exposed, customers would usually look for a trustable company to purchase goods from.

More often, what people dislike about online purchasing is that delivery services are only restricted to certain areas. As a result, people living in rural areas are at a disadvantage whereby they will need to go to the destination whereby the company is able to deliver.