SMEs have experienced a staggering 300 per cent growth: Sokrati

Sokrati, one of India’s leading ad technology and Analytics Company has unveiled interesting insights on the changing food ordering trends.

The spending patterns are shifting significantly as discretionary purchase captures a majority of consumer spending. The food order and delivery segment has seen a surge in demand over the years in tandem with the change in consumer food habits. The tastes and food preferences have evolved overtime as Indians today have become more experimental towards different cuisines.

Sokrati conducted the analytics on the basis of 70 restaurants across India. The results show that in a span of just four months, there was an increase of 300 per cent in the number of food orders generated.

The research showed some very unique patterns in the demand for the type of cuisines. Indian cuisine topped demand chart with 21.07 per cent of the overall orders placed. This was closely followed by the demand for specific food items ordered such as Biryani with 20.58 per cent and Pizza’s with 20.1 per cent.

Food Ordering – Distribution by Cuisine Type

With this changing lifestyle there is an increased preference seen for convenience. More than 60 per cent of the orders are placed with restaurants can be categorized as serving Indian Food, Biriyani or Pizza.

While on Sunday and Friday, customers placed equal number of orders for all 3 types of cuisines, on Saturday people prefer Indian and Biriyani over Pizza. Biriyani is clearly a weekend favourite. Orders for Biriyani stoop down on Monday and recover on weekends.  While Indian Cuisine shows a similar pattern like Biriyani, number of orders for Pizza does not show much fluctuation, except on Sunday.

Even though more orders are placed on Sunday, sales are highest for Saturday. It was observed that 30% of sales revenue for orders comes from Saturday only stating the Average Order Value to be the highest on Saturday and lowest on Thursday.

The analytics also consisted of keywords often used to search for restaurants. It was observed that people used terms like Best, Restaurant, Online and Home very frequently. This showcases a transformation in the consumption pattern including food habits of consumers.

Taking a glance at customer acquisition, the results by Sokrati conclude that ‘New Customers’ have 15 per cent higher average order value than ‘Repeat Customers’.

The results also showcase interesting insights basis days of the week wherein, theaverage order value for new customers is the highest on Friday and Saturday. For restaurant owners, these are good days to focus on new customer acquisition and rolling out newdisplay campaigns and offers. For repeat customers, it's the highest on Tuesdays and Saturdays and hence positive for SME’s in restaurant business to push remarketing campaigns on these days.

“The restaurant business is growing significantly owing to the increased number of consumers coming in with varied demands. Our analytics help restaurants to connect with their audience at the right places on the vast digital platform. The digital marketing space is dynamic where one size doesn’t fit all. The insights gathered have helped us in understanding how customers search for restaurants and, provide our restaurant partners with tailor-made strategies. With over 300% growth in number of orders in just 3 months, we believe we are on the right track and work towards escalating the growth further,” said, Santosh Gannavarapu, Co-Founder & CTO, Sokrati.