Expanding business for Eat2Eat.com case
Memorandum
To: Vikram Aggarwal
Subject: Expanding business for Eat2Eat.com
Date: Jan 18, 2011
Eat2Eat.com generates two main sources of revenue via its core business: restaurant reservations and advertisements. We will explore the possibilities of increasing revenue from these two sources and from possible other sources.
Restaurant Reservations
One of the issues Eat2Eat has with restaurant reservations is the money collection. Restaurant invoicing should be automated as much as possible. Another hurdle is signing up restaurants as suppliers. A good addition to the web site would be an automated online process to enable restaurants to sign up themselves.
To increase the customer base, Eat2Eat should develop a strategy to reach both individual customers and corporate customers.
Selling restaurant gift cards and/or discount coupons online could generate additional revenue, help to collect money sooner and involve more individual customers.
A relatively simple backend application for sending SMS promotion messages can be implemented to promote utilization of mobile phones in cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
In addition to offering customers a redirection from restaurants’ websites to the Eat2Eat.com booking engine, a simple iFrame or pure JavaScript plug-in could be developed. So the restaurant’s website administrator would be able to easily integrate such a plug-in to their website. This is similar to the way PayPal allows integration of credit card transaction capability into any website.
Additional website localizations (multi-language support) could attract customers that are more comfortable using their local language.
Advertisements
Advertisements on Eat2Eat.com contribute 20% of the company’s revenue. This source of revenue directly depends on the website’s volume of traffic. The site should encourage spending more time on the website. Suggestions may include publishing more content, such as reviews and articles. A professional writer could be hired specifically for this purpose. Adding user reviews, comments and ratings could also increase web-site traffic.
Suggestions for complementary business
Collaboration with travel agencies to include restaurant bookings in their travel packages. This would allow collecting money through travel agencies. Eat2Eat can also analyze customer behavior and monetize it providing reports and information to interested party.