Cafe Coffee Day to launch mobile app to allow pre-orders
2 min read 21 Dec 2015, 09:40 PM ISTThe mobile phone app, to be launched in early 2016, will allow customers to pre-order beverages before reaching cafes and pay through mobile wallets
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Bengaluru: Cafe Coffee Day will launch a new mobile phone app next year that will allow customers to pre-order beverages before reaching cafes and pay through mobile wallets, said a top executive at India’s largest cafe chain, outlining its digital plans for the new year.
“Not just us, technology disruption is coming to every aspect of a consumer’s life", said Bidisha Nagaraj, group president, marketing at the Bengaluru-based chain.
The app will be launched in early 2016, as the coffee chain looks to make greater use of digital technology, nearly two decades after it opened its coffee chain.
Digital investments for the cafe chain that recently raised funds through an initial public offering (IPO) are not about advertisements on the Internet but using smartphones to deliver orders.
The new year will be about the mobile device, said Nagaraj. “You have to give consumers more incentives to come to the café."
The chain recently tied up with food services company Swiggy to initiate home deliveries. “We’re all about the cafe experience; so we didn’t venture into home deliveries until now," she added.
FourthLion, a Bengaluru-based technology and data analytics company will develop Cafe Coffee Day’s mobile app. The company has previously helped build tools and applications for Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s political campaigns.
The retailer will now be able to filter through data, and equipped to make personalized offer.
The idea, “is to move away from generalized offers where personalized offers will be a big thing," said Nagaraj, who has previously worked with technology bluechips such as Intel and Google.
This isn’t the first time that CCD is experimenting with technology. Last year, it used technology to read customer behaviour, tracking their mobile device movement and triggering offers to people crossing CCD cafes. It also ran pilots with mobile advertising company InMobi.
“Once the mobile app is launched, we will look at such integrations," Nagaraj said, adding the company has always been trying out new ideas around technology. “We even tried digitized tables to let customers order while on their seats, but consumers weren’t exactly ready then. We feel they are far more used to technology today. Technology is the base-level expectation that consumers have of you today."
The thoughts are echoed by the promoter of Coffee Day Enterprises, the listed entity.
In a September interview, V.G Siddhartha, chairman, Coffee Day Enterprises, said the integration of technology within cafes would ensure better engagement with consumers.
“These would make order-supply smoother, better offers for the consumers ensuring better services. We would like to offer better connectivity at CCD, much better than what we offer today," he added.
