Three Things Location Intelligence Can Do for Food Delivery Businesses

The image is a courtesy of DALL-E. Thanks, mate!

Location, location, location! Every day, we’re presented with situations where we must search for the right direction. It could be as simple as finding the best route from your home to a restaurant you’ve never been to. Most of us look up Google Maps or a similar app, input the information, and start the search. This is the most basic form of location intelligence.

But how can location intelligence be helpful for businesses? Finding the right location is a problem most businesses are confronted with daily. For instance, you own a pop-up coffee van business, and you're now looking for the next location to set up shop. Knowing where your potential customers live will be crucial in making that decision. Similarly, utilizing effective geomarketing and tailoring the products you offer to your potential customer base can significantly contribute to your business expanding in the right areas. To explain location intelligence in more detail, let's start with a definition. Location intelligence exploits spatial data and obtains meaningful insights to solve particular location-specific problems. The most general of these problems is usually connected with finding the right place. In other words, answering any question that starts with the word WHERE.

Let's take a food delivery business as an example. This business depends greatly on knowing where its target customers are, and location intelligence can contribute in multiple ways.

A Hungry Vegan at 9 pm is an Opportunity

Food delivery businesses usually deliver to addresses where their customers live or work. Therefore, one of the most important things for the customer is knowing which types of cuisine are available in given areas of the city and at what times. Take Linda, the hungry vegan. It's 9 pm, it's been a long day, and she's had no time to cook. So she wants a takeaway. The only thing is there's no vegan restaurant in her area. However, a food delivery outlet that changes its delivery parameters, such as delivering vegan cuisine at the right time to Linda's home, can make a huge difference. A case like this also represents a prime opportunity for growth.

Insights and Context = Satisfied Customer

Every business needs to extract actionable insights from its data to act wisely. Location-specific data is no different. Knowing exactly which areas of the city your customers live in helps you get the most out of your business and provides you with greater context. Similarly, obtaining detailed customer knowledge allows you to prioritise particular areas and improve your marketing efforts.

Where do your most valuable customers live? Filtering customers by the number of orders they have made.

Having information about, let's say, areas that have experienced delayed orders or being able to filter customer satisfaction ratings via maps will inevitably enhance your business and give you more satisfied customers.

Customer satisfaction order ratings for particular restaurants.

Map of delayed orders in general and for specific restaurants.

Up to Speed on Delivery Zones?

One of the more obvious but nonetheless crucial aspects of the food delivery business is delivery zones. As shown in the map view below, delivery zones can be analyzed and overlaid from different points of view. The graphic shows different delivery prices for different areas, which can lead to better planning decisions when combined with turnover-based location performance.

Map of delivery zones set up by delivery prices.

Location intelligence streamlines the way businesses process information. Graphs and charts are all very well, but visualising that data on maps gives you a completely different perspective. The many variables businesses have to contend with can sometimes seem overwhelming. However, acting strategically and making more informed decisions only happen when you get the right answers.