New Normal Operations in Restaurants and Retail to Create Opportunity for CPE and Hardware

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on almost every aspect of life, forcing consumers and businesses to adapt to new ways of learning, working, and running businesses. Restaurants and services are among the industries that have been hit by the pandemic the hardest. In order to help restaurants reopen their businesses with minimal risk, GoZone WiFi, a Wi-Fi analytics and marketing company based in Florida, launched a Touchless Menu in mid-May 2020. Touchless Menu is a digital menu that can be delivered directly to customers’ phones to replace physical menus in restaurants. GoZone WiFi has been providing advertising and marketing solutions to industries in education, retail, hospitality, restaurants, events and entertainment, and smart cities. GoZone WiFi provides Touchless Menu starting at US$149 per year. Enterprise technology platform Presto also recently launched a contactless dining kit for restaurants that enables guests to scan Near-Field Communication (NFC) tabs and QR codes at restaurants to view digital menus, place orders, and make payments with their phones.

Many digital menus deployed in restaurants use dedicated handheld devices to place orders. For online orders, users usually need to go through a process of user account registration or app installation. Handheld devices provided by the restaurants may no longer be the best option after the pandemic, as consumers are concerned for their safety. For some consumers, app installation is not a very attractive option either. A system that adds or changes normal operations, without adding additional points of frustration for users, is rare. By reducing these frustration points in app installation and network connection, usage will be straightforward and value should be easily recognized. This has the dual positive impact of keeping workers and customers safer while also improving customer retention and attracting concerned customers. 

GoZone’s Touchless Menu solution includes a Wi-Fi router and GoZone WiFi’s cloud-based online service, where restaurant operators can quickly upload and update menus by using a simple drag-and-drop menu editor. The pre-configured router in the restaurant creates guest Wi-Fi access. Once the guest network is set up, customers can access the cloud-based menu using their personal Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Unlike many existing digital menu solutions, Touchless Menu enables customers to access menus without following complicated instructions or installing an app on their devices. The solution doesn’t integrate placing order and payment yet; however, it does provide an optional solution for restaurant operators to collect email and user information to develop loyalty programs. A version that enables that user information collection costs US$299 annually.

As governments in many markets plan to release virus control restrictions and gradually reopen their economies, businesses need to adopt technologies that help them run their businesses safely. Even though restaurants are planning to reopen soon, consumers still have concerns regarding the possibility of virus transmission there.

Touchless solutions are not limited to restaurants. Retail is another major segment that will need to implement touchless solutions going forward. Mobile ordering is becoming a primary way of ordering since the pandemic hit and it is likely to remain important as businesses reopen. Reliable connectivity in restaurants and retail stores will become a critical requirement for the ability to operate businesses. Connectivity downturn results in the loss of sales, revenue, and ultimately loss of customers to competitors. This will boost demand for reliable broadband access and Customer-Premises Equipment (CPE). Restaurants are expected to have more drive-through orders even once distancing measures are implemented in the restaurants. Outdoor Wi-Fi access and touchless menus integrated with order placing systems and mobile payment solutions can cut wait time for drive-through customers. Similar applications can be set up for retail segments where door-to-door delivery a couple days after placing an order is not very practical; for example, consumers expect to receive grocery items instantly and it has been painful with long waits in the line to get into the stores.

These changing practices in retail and services create opportunity for broadband service providers, CPE makers, and as software solution providers. While fixed broadband connectivity is widely available in many mature markets, fixed wireless broadband can be an option to provide broadband access to businesses in emerging markets without reliable fixed broadband. Service providers and CPE makers need to implement ways to supply products and solutions within reasonable deployment costs for businesses. Both hardware and software solutions need to be simple and quick to deploy, allowing business operators to make changes such as inventory, pricing, and promotion easily and quickly. Network security and Wi-Fi data analytics solutions to support marketing and loyalty programs will also play important roles in optimizing efficiency and monetization opportunities for businesses. A cohesive package of these solutions will streamline implementation and quicken Time-to-Market (TTM), which has always been a positive differentiator but is even more impactful today.