How Retailers Can Improve Prepared Foods and Deli Sales by Offering Contactless Solutions

Prepared foods and the deli department are two areas of the grocery store that offer customers a welcome convenience—an array of ready-to-eat foods and meals that they can pick up so that dinner can be on the table in mere seconds. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., grocery sales have been up, in part due to restaurant dining rooms shuttering. With those closures came an even greater need for those prepared foods—perfect for feeding the kids between conference calls or getting dinner on the table in a snap after a long workday.

But with restaurant closures across the country, so came closures of hot bars and other prepared foods offerings in grocery stores—in an effort to keep customers as safe as possible, many retailers chose to scale back their ready-made offerings or cease production altogether.

With reopening plans in place, though, retailers may be wondering how they can improve these category sales in a post-pandemic landscape. An increase in contactless and touchless transactions as a result of the pandemic has made it clear what can help—offering contactless ordering for prepared foods and deli items. People have settled into their new normal, and takeout and delivery is here to stay.

By implementing touchless and contactless ordering for prepared foods, such as deli sandwiches, take-and-bake or pre-baked pizzas, build-your-own bowl meals and more, retailers can position themselves as convenience leaders as well as safe alternatives to local restaurants. And customers can keep enjoying the convenient, tasty meals they know and love.

With platforms such as Packyge, retailers have it easy—Packyge offers retailers the option to sell their prepared foods online or via an app, and orders can be classified as pickup orders (perfect for curbside or contactless grocery pickup) or delivery. This way, consumers don’t have to turn to restaurants when they want convenient and customized pre-made meals.

Packyge also enables retailers to handle all of the orders in an organized way, which helps ensure consumer satisfaction. Late orders, missed deliveries and waiting too long in the parking lot for pickup can all sour a customer’s experience with online grocery ordering, but Packyge’s comprehensive platform ensures orders are listed in order of when they need to be prepared, packaged and delivered or brought to the curbside pickup location.

By using software that not only enables customers to order the exact meal or dish they want, but also ensures they get it exactly when they need it, retailers can not only keep existing customers satisfied, but also increase sales of prepared foods. Once customers are aware they can safely order their favorite foods, grocery stores can expect sales of these items to bounce back to pre-COVID levels—or higher!

To learn more about how comprehensive contactless ordering software can help increase prepared foods sales, visit www.packyge.com/prepared-foods/.