Fast Casual Restaurant Outlook
Q2, 2021
Most fast casual restaurant brands evaluated allow online shoppers (desktop, mobile web) to purchase gift cards, but the experience stops there. The in-restaurant experience is fraught with friction, often requiring crew or management to processing gift cards from back of house or needing manager intervention for redemption. Restaurant brands have to think beyond the transaction/purchase and focus on eliminating friction across the entire journey of discovery, purchase, delivery and redemption.
Incisiv
As consumers continue to reshape their expectations,
enterprises must contend with a uniquely challenging landscape.
The consumer technology landscape is forever changing.
From Pinterest to TikTok, WeChat to Instagram, new experiences can rapidly gain consumer adoption and relevance.
From augmented reality to voice, smartwatches to chatbots, consumers are constantly embracing new interaction paradigms.
Commoditized convenience is eroding loyalty and margin.
Consumers expect convenience. If you can't deliver it, they'll go elsewhere - e.g. next day shipping becoming the new standard.
Walmart will reportedly lose USD 1 billion on eCommerce revenue of USD 21 billion this year as it faces challenges in its bid to complete against Amazon – from trouble integrating its DNVB acquisitions to impact on margin from its next-day delivery operations.
Consumers value experiences that are curated to fit their lives better.
They want to engage, be served, and transact at their time, their pace, their place. They have little patience, infinite choice and the freedom to swipe left at the slightest hint of friction.