Online ordering at the petrol station and in the kiosk

The sales are already there. They are just locked to the counter

In practice, a petrol station or a kiosk is already a small takeaway. Coffee is brewed, hot dogs are heated, sandwiches are made and breakfast rolls are baked, and next to them are soft drinks, sweets, snacks and groceries. The limitation is that the customer has to be in the shop to buy any of it.

Online ordering of food to go and convenience goods does not move the shop, but it opens it up to customers who have not yet come through the door: the commuter on the way to work, or the family that needs something for the evening.

What online ordering changes in practice

Online ordering covers three ways of shopping, and you do not need to start with all of them.

• Pre-ordering: the customer orders from home or on the way and chooses a time. The order is ready when the customer arrives.
• Click and collect: the customer pays online and collects at the counter without queuing. It is the simplest place for a kiosk to start, because there is no delivery to organise.
• Delivery: food, soft drinks, sweets and groceries in the same basket, delivered from the nearest shop. This is where delivery of convenience goods really gains a new channel.

Which products suit a webshop for the kiosk?

Not everything on the shelves needs to go online from day one. Start with products that are easy to pack, have a stable stock level and make sense to buy without seeing them first.

• Food to go: hot dogs, burgers, sandwiches, toasties and breakfast, ideally with add-ons such as extra filling or dressing.
• Coffee and hot drinks, especially as pre-orders in the morning.
• Soft drinks, energy drinks, water and snacks, which are often bought together with the food.
• Sweets and ice cream, which fit well in a delivery basket in the evening and at the weekend.
• Selected groceries such as milk, bread and staples that can save dinner.

Be careful with products whose stock level changes quickly. A product that shows as available online but is sold out in the shop costs more in trust than it brings in sales. Age-restricted products require an age check at handover, so only add them once that process is in place.

Pre-ordering takes the edge off the busy periods

Most shops know their peak times: the morning coffee before work, lunch in the middle of the day and the afternoon, when people drive home. This is when the queue gets long, and some customers give up and drive on.

Pre-ordering of morning coffee, breakfast and lunch moves part of the work to before the customer arrives. Set a realistic collection window, and plan how many orders the kitchen and the coffee machine can handle in the busiest quarter-hours. It is better to show a later time than to leave the customer waiting at the counter.

A loyalty club for coffee gives people a reason to come back

Coffee is a habit, and habits are exactly what a loyalty club is good at rewarding. Points on every purchase, a free cup after a number of purchases or an offer on their birthday give the customer a reason to choose you again tomorrow.

When the loyalty club is linked to online ordering, the customer is recognised every time without a stamp card, and you can send relevant offers to those who have given their consent.

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Upselling: coffee and a croissant belong together

In the shop, staff might ask whether the customer would like something with their coffee. Online, that question has to be built into the ordering. Suggest the obvious combinations: a croissant with the coffee, a soft drink with the burger and crisps with the evening delivery.

Keep the suggestions few and relevant: one good suggestion in the basket is worth more than a long list.

Campaigns for commuters and regular customers

Online ordering makes it possible to target offers by time and habit rather than only putting up a sign by the pumps: a morning offer on coffee and a pastry for commuters, a weekday lunch menu or a snack bundle for the weekend.

Give every campaign an end date, and take it down again when it expires. That way you know what worked, and customers learn that an offer is worth acting on.

How a chain rolls it out

The biggest pitfall for a chain is building a webshop for each shop by hand, because prices, images and range quickly drift apart. The better model is one central product catalogue that every shop sells from.

• The chain decides the range, prices, images and campaigns in one place and pushes them out to every shop at once.
• Each shop manages its own sold-out items, opening hours and delivery area, because these are local conditions only the shop knows.
• Start with a few shops with different profiles, learn from them, and then roll out to the rest.

That way the customer finds the same products everywhere, and the individual shop does not have to wait for head office to mark that the hot dog buns have run out. See how chain management works →

Integration with the POS system

Online orders should not live in a system alongside the shop's operations. When the order lands in the POS system the shop uses today, sales, stock and accounts stay connected. So always ask how an online ordering solution talks to your POS system and product catalogue before you choose.

Staff also need to see the order straight away, for example on an order screen or as a receipt on the printer, so online orders can be handled side by side with the customers at the counter.

What you should measure

Measure from day one, so you can see what works and where to adjust.

• Number of online orders and revenue per shop and for the whole chain.
• The split between collection, pre-ordering and delivery.
• Busy periods and waiting time from order to handover.
• Repeat purchases: how many customers order again, and how often.
• Average order value, and whether the upsell suggestions are being chosen.
• The effect of each campaign compared with the period before.
• Products that often show as sold out online.

How WalletPlus helps

The Kiosk and petrol station module gives every shop its own webshop with collection, pre-ordering, delivery, a loyalty club and campaigns. WalletPlus does not replace your POS system: we sit on top of the one you use today and build the integration. In a chain, the range is managed centrally, while each shop manages sold-out items and opening hours locally.

See the Kiosk and petrol station module →