Over the last 7 months, the team at APP4 have experienced some very big changes in the way we operate as a business, where we work and indeed, which customers have made the decision to allow us to produce them a website and/or bespoke app for their businesses.

Right from the beginning of lockdown, just like the rest of the UK, we were sent home and had to adapt very quickly to work remotely. With the support of the board of directors, we were able to ensure that we really kept the flow of new and existing businesses open and help them through the difficult and uncharted shopping behaviours that have been forced upon every age group, every product and across every hour in some cities.

 We, as a business, have invested heavily into our team, resulting in 10 new hires since February this year. This increase of people has meant we have seen a change of performance, a change of process and indeed, the DNA of the business has also changed as we move to our goals of growth in customers as well as reach across the UK and beyond.

Our product has improved significantly, as a result of constant enhancements to ensure that we are not only ahead of our competitors, but also not moving away from the core benefits of our systems for all our customers to use.

In terms of new customers, we have seen growth in excess of 62%, based on the numbers at the beginning of the year to the middle of October and these new customers have come from a much more diverse customer base that we have had before. This is the wanted view of most hospitality business owners, now moving to an app-based ordering system, either online from home, Click and Collect and indeed, Order to Table.

Let me give you some statistics around what we have completed for businesses that work with us:

• In 2020, we have handled so far, over £26m worth of orders via our apps and websites

• In August & Sept, App4 customers generated over £760K in revenue via the table order function

• The average basket spend on App4 Apps is around the £22 mark, versus the national online average of around £16

The above stats allow you to see the impact of the ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ incentive on sales numbers where we tracked the orders across the month and the switch from Monday – Wednesday trade from the traditional Thursday – Sunday trade. Also, having your own app increases the average spend, per customer, by £6. Put this with the ZERO Commission, it means that across a year, with a business that does 250 orders per week, App4 is saving each restaurant £8.40 per order and encouraging an increased spend.

APP4 simply offers one app for your business. One app that can cover online ordering, click and collect with order volume management, order to table and marketing, together with saving you £1000’s per year in commission.  For example, why would you just have online ordering via Just Eat, with no order to table.

By making the switch from online providers and being one of many restaurants in a post code, our customers can market directly to customers, new and old, save more money and be in control of their customer database. We can integrate with various EPOS providers or we can supply our own equipment to receive the orders. 

Our prices have remained at a level where we as a business need to operate, but also is competitive with the market at this moment in time. We also do not over sell or over complicate and we are very keen to ensure that, the customer making the decision to utilise our expertise and products, has a positive, professional and smooth experience.

With some key people changes, comes key process changes and we can now turn around a project in half the time, using internal KPI’s and measurements to ensure our number one goal is the customer getting value for money from day 1. Day 1 for APP4 is the moment the customers invests time into us by speaking to the sales team, not when the app goes live. We also charge what we quote. There are no hidden fees. We charge a fixed fee per month and this is not linked to order volume.

We have to constantly evolve our product and pricing mix, all whilst keeping an eye on the competition, of which has increased 10-fold over the lockdown period.  Steve Knight, Sales Director for APP4 states, “We welcome competition, but from a customer perspective you have to look at the history of the business, the support functions available and indeed the quality of the product. We are confident in all of these areas, which is why we offer a 100% money back guarantee”.

Finally, in terms of what we are doing to help our new customers, we want to help with the age-old objection of price. We have to charge our customers, but we have a great deal that has not been seen in 2020 from APP4. And that is a bespoke app, starting at just £3.30 per day. That’s correct, we can offer a fully functional app from £99 plus vat, per month. For a fixed fee, APP4 can provide your business with an all-in-one app that covers everything you need to run a successful, more profitable business, in and beyond 2020.