How a mobile-first approach is helping foodpanda achieve its goals

When foodpanda started out three years ago, it faced a perception issue. What was it really? Some said it was a delivery company, others thought it was a restaurant or food supplier for the zoo. Three years later, it now has a presence in 40 countries.What did it do raise its awareness and set the perception right? A well-thought mobile-led marketing strategy, explained Chinmay Malaviya, vice president business development, global, foodpanda at Marketing’s Shopper Marketing conference 2015.Read Also: All about Shopper Marketing 2015 [GALLERY]He shared how foodpanda has shifted from a primarily desktop service to mobile, capitalising on the smartphone penetration boom, adding that: “Loyalty on mobile is three times more than on the web and eight times more than phone.”According to Malaviya, “A person who has ordered on foodpanda is more likely to use the app again and order the same meal again within the next 14 days, as compared to someone to who didn’t use the app.”Quoting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, he said: “It's not about mobile its about mobility,” explaining that it’s not about what you have, it’s about what you do with it.Time spent on mobile is skyrocketing but what marketers should not forget is that consumers may download many apps, but only spend a bulk of their time on a few of them.“Creating and maintaing apps can have a large upfront expense, and be a resource drain to keep updated. But if you have a sound business reason behind your development it will be easier to measure your success,” he added.On average, UK and US consumers use an average of 24 apps per month, but each person spends more than 80% of their time on just five apps. In the US, the top five apps represent 28% of time spent on all apps.* Time spent on mobile apps is concentrated among few apps, skewing massively toward messaging and social media apps — not gaming, as is commonly assumed.Therefore, a smart way of using apps is to borrow their way to their customers’ home screens by partnering with the few apps that command the majority of consumers’ mobile prime time.To acquire customers on mobile, the company also worked with telco and chat app companies to increase brand presence. It also did splash page marketing for its app and used CRM tools to launch SMS campaigns featuring foodpanda offers.“For us, in fact, we don’t make money when a customer orders once or twice due to marketing costs. We only start to make money when the customer comes back for the fourth time onwards. So it’s crucial for us to not only acquire, but keep our customers engaged,” he added.As for overcoming the challenge of keeping mobile customers for the long run, Malaviya gave a few tips.Be more than an app- foodpanda is synonymous to food, fun, family, weekend, party - lifestyle choiceTransition from performance marketing to brand marketing – leverage social media and focus on content rather than reach.Use push notifications but do not become the noiseLeverage reviews and user generated contentInnovate constantlyKeep reading the customer journey and delight the customerCommit to highest service levels to win in the long runAnother speaker at the event, Roger Yuen, CEO and founder, concurred with this view. He said the use of technology must emulate real life. “We can’t change user behaviour, so instead we should use technology to extend and enhance the existing behaviour.”To succeed in shopper marketing, brands must provide and share experiences that resonate with its customers. “Don’t sell to millennial, instead, connect and engage with them,” Yuen said.For instance, Clozette created a wedding channel to engage its audience and encourage its users to actively share their experiences with other users on the platform. This is part of the e-commerce’s approach in converting a “fan” into a follower and a real advocate for the Clozette brand, echoing some of foodpanda’s strategy in producing more user-generated content.