I have an account on Otlob since 2001 and make all my orders through it in Egypt. But using Otlob in KSA is a problem, all the restaurants are closing between 30 to 60 minutes for praying four times a day and you cannot place an order and you have to wait all this time - And you will not see a message when actually your order will be delivered - currently it is 40 minutes fixed- which is the same if you are going to make your order and eat in the restaurant.
Another problems that is facing me while using Otlob web site in KSA is the address, as still in KSA there is no accurate addresses in many places, and for each address I want the food to be delivered to I have to make a profile, while in some places I don’t know what is the address but I can just describe it.
A lot of people come to KSA to do some tasks and then return back to their countries, and those are the most people whose needs to order fast foods, they did not have time, and they may not have any internet access to browse the Otlob website.
A mobile application (not a mobile website) is a good idea for this scenario, the user will download the application from the net, and he can select which restaurants he wants to download its menus. He can check this menu while he is in the taxi and offline for example.
He can also just check for the menu and go directly to the restaurant, but he knows already what the menu is and what are the prices, he may select to “prepare the order for me” service, to be able to go and eat it before the prayer time. He can also pass through and take it home.
For the addresses, GPS became available in every mobile, so the user can set an order and select to receive it in the location where he is now. He doesn’t need to make a new profile for these addressees, as he may be today in Riyadh and tomorrow in Jeddah and so on.
Preferred orders, will be much easier, as the mobile will display a reminder “Do you want to make the order now? It will be delivered after one hour”, he can select “Just prepare it for me, I’ll be there before the prayer time to take it home.”
Just ideas. And that is what I want from a mobile application.
What do you think? any ideas?
3 comments:
I don't think a mobile application would be the perfect solutions as restaurants update their menus frequently. Users would be asked to download updates every now and then to get the latest menus. Also if users are using the application while being offline, they might be viewing an outdated version of the menu without knowing that.
The idea of selecting the address through GPS is nice, but GPS will only determine your location with coordinates and not a real address, so maybe it would be better to use a map (Google Maps for example) to select the location where you want your order to be delivered, and make this feature available on the website too.
I think an app for a smartphone would indeed be very helpful and practical. Including a google maps location feature is very useful indeed.
You can now download the application from apple store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/otlob/id394805452?mt=8
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