Case Study: Coffeehouse Chain Adds Convenience With On-Demand Delivery
Merchant: Tom N Toms
Location: Worldwide
Size: 500+ retail outlets
Platforms: RushOrder
Bottom Line: Offering on-demand delivery is a way for businesses to increase the convenience factor and satisfy customer demand.
When it comes to coffee, Tom N Toms is a global competitor. The multinational coffeehouse chain — dubbed the “Korean Version of Starbucks” — has more than 500 stores worldwide, with many in central Asia. But it’s still growing its presence in the U.S. market, with less than a dozen Tom N Toms locations in the U.S., limited for the time being exclusively to the Los Angeles area. In an effort to expand its footprint and satisfy customer demand for added convenience, Tom N Toms recently started offering an on-demand delivery option at selected California locations.
“We had been thinking about this idea for quite awhile and enjoyed the convenience of ordering food items online, especially when we are busy,” said William Lee, a supervisor at Tom N Toms USA. “When RushOrder approached us, we thought this was our chance to provide this same service and allow everyone to enjoy our quality coffee conveniently.”
Tom N Toms isn’t the first coffee chain to offer on-demand delivery. Starbucks began working with Postmates for on-demand delivery in Seattle last year, and Dunkin Donuts has partnered with DoorDash and Favor in a number of markets throughout the U.S. These partnerships have led to a change in consumer expectations, and Lee said Tom N Toms was largely responding to consumer demand when it decided start offering mobile delivery options.
“We had received many calls from our customers asking if we deliver, or if we take orders for take-out,” he says.
Tom N Toms customers can now order menu items for take-out or delivery through RushOrder’s mobile apps. Deliveries are handled by RushOrder’s drivers, and payments are processed through the mobile app. Customers can watch on their phones for real-time updates on the progress of their orders, as well. Lee says that Tom N Toms is working together with RushOrder to get the word out to consumers about the new mobile ordering options, mainly through various online and in-store ads.
When he’s evaluating different on-demand delivery providers, Lee says he looks at it from both the consumer’s perspective and the stores. Tom N Toms opted to work with RushOrder because executives at the company liked the customization options that RushOrder provided—for example, businesses have the option to create their own ordering processes, rather than being stuck with a pre-configured workflow—as well as the intuitive way the mobile app was setup.
“They also made it very easy for us, setting everything up for us and providing us with whatever we needed in terms of starting the service which was incredibly helpful since this was our first time providing a service like this,” he said.
Mobile ordering is also about convenience. Although Tom N Toms is known as a coffee shop where people can get together and hang out, Lee says there are still times when people can’t get out of the office and they want their favorite coffee or their favorite menu items delivered right to their door, and the company wanted a better way to meet those needs without necessarily changing the way its business is structured.
“Although we pride ourselves in providing an environment in our stores as a place for our customers to come to with friends or family to unwind, we recognized that some customers could appreciate the fact that we can now provide a delivery service through RushOrder so that they can enjoy our quality coffee at their own convenience,” he says.
In addition to increasing sales with added take-out and mobile ordering options, Lee is also hoping that on-demand delivery will help to organically bolster Tom N Toms’s presence on social media and mobile channels.
“We’ve always wanted to have a stronger online and mobile presence, and have recently begun promoting some of our products on various social media sites and apps,” he says. “[We] hope that partnering with RushOrder will only strengthen our presence.”
Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.
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