The better the quality of your meals and delivery, the more orders. That goes without saying. But that quality is certainly not the only success factor. “Orders don’t just roll in, no matter how good your restaurant is,” says Maurine Alma, CMO. “Marketing is indispensable.”
Marketing is the collective term for all activities that ensure that a product or service is used by as many customers as possible. With the aim of achieving the highest possible turnover, of course. “In our case that means: attracting new customers to Takeaway.com and making sure that existing customers keep coming back”, starts Maurine Alma, Marketing Director at Just Eat Takeaway.com for the past 3 years. “We support restaurants in all kinds of ways. For example, through online and TV advertising.”
When advertising for Takeaway.com, you are effectively advertising for all restaurants. But this is done indirectly…
“That’s right, but the effect is great. By making the brand Takeaway.com known to many people, the chance that they order via the website or app is much greater. We also bring new services to their attention, such as the ‘replacement company canteen’ Takeaway Pay. The more companies participate, the more orders the restaurants receive. Again, we don’t advertise the restaurants directly, but it does give a direct positive effect”.
But Takeaway.com also advertises for individual restaurants.
“Definitely! For example, we make our own Google ad for each restaurant. If someone enters a restaurant name on Google, an advertisement will immediately appear on behalf of Takeaway.com of that same restaurant. This happens because the restaurant is affiliated with Takeaway.com. This way, the chance that one of ‘our’ restaurants is ordered from is as big as possible. When a new restaurant is on Takeaway.com, the online advertisement also goes live. This gives the sales an immediate boost”.
How do you make Takeaway.com stand out as much as possible amongst other platforms?
“We have a separate marketing department that deals with this, that’s how important it is. The Performance marketing department ensures, among other things, a strong link between the search terms people type into search engines and our ordering platform. For example, if someone searches for ‘order pizza’, the local Takeaway.com pizzerias are at the top of the list of results”.
How do you respond to customer preferences?
“We work with smart tools that know exactly where and what a customer ordered from us previously. We promote those restaurants, and other restaurants in the neighbourhood in the newsletters we mail customers. In addition, customers regularly see a Takeaway.com banner online that is tailored to their preferences. For example: ‘ordering Thai in Rotterdam?’ Of course, we don’t force people to order anything, but we make it very easy for them”. Marketing costs a lot of time and money if you want to do it right. We really think about everything. So the restaurants have their hands free to do what they are good at”.
How ‘big’ is the brand Takeaway.com?
“Every month we conduct a survey in which we ask people: ‘When you think of ordering food online, what brand do you think of?’ Takeaway.com is one of the most frequently mentioned brands in all ‘our’ countries. In 5 countries, more than half of the people even mention Takeaway.com first”.
Is that also the reason why Takeaway.com sponsors Euro 2020?
“First of all, we’re sponsors because such a large European event increases and strengthens our brand awareness. The competitions are being watched en masse. By young and old, men and women, families and groups of friends and throughout Europe. So many people see the signs, the field and the other advertising. And that in turn means that even more people are going to order food from Takeaway.com. Besides the visibility during the tournament, we run consumer aimed campaigns before the matches start. There are also special actions where restaurants can participate. Everything to boost the number of orders”.
