Why you need to digitalize your restaurant ?

Restaurants in France: Challenges and issues

In 2015, restaurants and accommodations accounted for over 280,000 businesses throughout France. Yet, this figure is only 6% of all companies.

In fact, according to a study by Inkidata in 2015, France has around 180,000 restaurants, where 10% are located in Paris.

In 2016, the French restaurants’ evolution was low with 7%. As a result, the restaurant sector was ranked 5th in terms of importance of evolution compared to other sectors.

This is due to various economic difficulties which led to a 4.5% decline in restaurant activity compared to 2015.

40% of restaurateurs reported that their revenues decreased compared to the previous year. But only 25% of restaurants had a higher turnover than in 2014.

According to Inkitada, most restaurants have indicated that tax burden is the most significant obstacle to income declines.

Then, we find the regulatory barriers that prevent restaurateurs from ensuring the desired development on the market.

In other respects, 77% of restaurateurs revealed that the lack of customers is a threat to their business.

In fact, the ongoing search to get a new clientele while keeping the current clientele is a daily challenge for restaurant owners.

The difficulty of this challenge is due to increased competition in the sector, and to the low financial capacity of entrepreneurs.

With all its difficulties, entrepreneurs in the catering sector are always looking for practical and inexpensive solutions. They are looking to keep their financial stability as a first step, and to develop the business second.

Despite this sector’s importance, the restaurant is in a vicious circle:

The question then for restaurants, is how to find the balance between a low investment and a bigger return on investment to generate more traffic towards the restaurant?

The answer is digital.

It’s vague, yes! But it’s the real answer.

To begin, you must have visibility on the Internet. In fact, it should be noted that customer behavior has transformed because of the Internet.

Most consumers do their research on the web to learn about a brand, consult reviews to make their decision.

The Internet user is spending more time between websites and social networks, especially with the increasing use of smartphones to connect.

By improving your web presence, users become familiar with your brand, and interact with your content.

This behavior creates opportunities for your brand at the level of customer acquisition and retention.

The visibility of your restaurant on the Internet can take many forms such as through a website, in specialized directories or on social networks.

To understand how you can manage your presence across these three channels, we have prepared an article to explain each channel. You need to optimize your web presence to generate more traffic to your restaurant with a low investment.

It should be noted that to reach the effective level of visibility, you must combine these three channels.

Conclusion

The first step in developing your restaurant brand is identifying the brakes and challenges that come your way. Then, you must act on the points you can change.

According to studies on the catering sector in France, we find that the financial constraints, the increased competition and the difficulty of generating traffic are the common problems for the restaurant owners.

For this, digital presents an effective opportunity to face these challenges.

How to choose a web agency for your web projects

How to choose a web agency for your web projects with minimum risks?

Well, I thought about this situation and this is how you figure out your best next agency:

Here are 8 secrets to help you choose a web agency and realize your projects with a satisfactory output assurance.

How to choose your web agency

Visit the agency website

Your perfect tools to search for a web agency are search engines like Google and social Medias.

You need to consult the different agencies’ websites. An agency’s website gives the first impression about the values and brand of the agency itself, the different services that it provides as well as their competence in managing web projects. You should analyze the different aspects of the agency’s website: the presentation, their services, contact details …

The agency’s website is their first showcase. If it’s not good as it should be, then do not waste your time with them.

Consult their references

Each business is proud of its achievements, customers and its references. That’s why you find a specific section for the references on the majority of the agencies’ websites to assure website visitors, and to give them a reason to trust them.

You need to consult the various agencies references, read the description of each project and learn about the technologies used. This can give you an idea about the projects that the agency has already done. You can also visit their clients’ websites, to see the final results provided. If you find out that the agency is able to deliver a great service, you can move on to the next step.

Technological mastery of proposed solutions

When you consult the agencies’ references, you should probably look for web projects done by technologies that you need to use for your web project. If you don’t have an idea about it, try to learn more about it through the internet, so you will be able to ask specific questions about the technology needed. If you didn’t find what you are looking for in their website, contact them and ask if they have ever used it before and if so, ask them if you can see their final result.

Can you always reach the agency?

A reachable agency is your key to a successful web project. You can make sure if agencies reachable or not during the first contact. Whatever your contact tool, you need to measure agency responsiveness at your request.

If you made your first contact by phone, you need first to make sure that your call is made during their working hour. If your contact request was made by email, the agency’s response should not exceed 24 business hours.

You should probably drop the agency and look for others if it takes it too long to respond to your first contact request.

The agency’s professionalism

To avoid the headaches when carrying out your web project, you should make sure that the contacted agency is a professional one. This can be sensed since your first contact. In fact, you can notice the professionalism of the agency from the speech communicated during your first contact, with the formulas used, the hierarchy in the agency …

You can also notice the agency’s professionalism from their social Medias, the type of sent emails and the way of direct contact (phone, conference or face to face).

You should remember that choosing an agency is not intuitive, you need to contact the agency at least 3 times before moving to the quote request. Generally, this can give you an idea the agency’s professionalism as the team as well.

Agency’s engagement

In this part, you should learn about the agency’s responsibilities if it will be in charge of your web project. Generally, you should find in the footer of their website the general conditions. On this page, the agency specifies its responsibilities and the responsibilities of their client when carrying out a project.

You need to check out the different points to avoid surprises after your choice. If you don’t find this page on their website, ask the agency to send you a copy of their terms and their conditions. If you want to be more specific, you can ask for the “Scope Of Work” which is usually known as SOW.

We advise you to move on to another agency to ensure that your project is carried out under specific conditions if the agency has not provided that document.

Make sure that the agency is in your budget

To start your project, consulting quotes is a crucial step. In the web business, quotes are very different from one agency to another because of several factors. To minimize discrepancies between quotes and avoid a confusion situation, you need to develop your specifications in the first place.

Check out our article how to develop your website in two steps to complete how to elaborate your specifications.

After the development of your specifications, you need to send your quote request to the agency and attach your specifications with your email. This helps you to get a comprehensive and real quote.

After receiving quotes, skip off-budget quotes and focus on the agencies that have the closest quotes to your budget.

Select at least 10 agencies

When you search for a web agency for starting your web project (webdites or others), apply the tips we have developed in this article to select a dozen agencies that meet your needs. In fact, the response rate of web agencies does not exceed 80% at best.

After the filters that you will apply according to your needs and your perception of your project, you will get 5 web agencies at least, which means 5 quotes.

That should be enough to select the web agency that would take in charge your web project.

Conclusion

The purpose of this article is to help you how to choose a web agency for your web project. According to our observation, we have drawn up this list of 8 secrets to choose a web agency.

So, this is what you should keep in mind:

  • Visit the agency website
  • Consult their references
  • Technological mastery of proposed solutions
  • Can you always reach the agency?
  • The agency’s professionalism
  • Agency’s engagement
  • Make sure that the agency is in your budget
  • Select at least 10 agencies

So here is how to choose a web agency. We hope this article would help you with selecting the perfect web agency for you.

How much developing a website cost in Tunisia VS Europe in 2021?

After setting your goals for creating a website, the second question is “how much does a website cost? “

If you’ve already looked at some quotes, you’ve definitely noticed the difference between the prices for your website. For this, here is an article to grant you the basics to establish the price of your website.

First of all, the price of a website depends on several factors such as:

  • The type of your website: Corporate Website, e-commerce site, portal …
  • The features of your website
  • The number of pages of your website
  • The design of your website.

In order to be able to conclude your website price properly, you must draw up your specifications.

How much does a website cost?

According to our observations on the market, prices of professional websites start from 1000 € and increase according to the need of your company and your objectives. In some cases, a website can exceed 100,000 € for complex solutions. And as we mentioned in the beginning, the website price depends on the various desired elements and the work provided by the agency.

For this, it is very important to develop your specifications to determine exactly the elements of your website and the work requested by the web agency.

How much does a corporate website cost?

A website showcase (corporate web site) is your showcase, as the name suggests, on the internet. It facilitates customer access to your brand.

The cost of a showcase website depends primarily on the degree of customization you want to have. And so, prices can take off easily.

Indeed, according to the factory of the net, a showcase site can be:

A basic showcase site

which usually has a reduced number of pages. Its main function is to put online the essential information of a company such as the presentation of the company, products and or services, portfolio, contact…

An advanced showcase site

as its name suggests, it is a showcase site that better expresses the company’s identity, especially in terms of digital communication and design. In fact, it is an effective tool for building your web marketing strategy, increasing your profit and generating new qualified leads or leads. It helps you deliver a unique digital experience for your prospects and leads to strengthen your brand image.

To gain more success for your site, some integrations of marketing tools will be essential such as google analytics, online chat, etc…

Generally, a showcase website costs between € 1,700 and € 7,500 at web agencies in Europe. While in Tunisia a showcase site can save you 70%.

Basic showcase website Custom showcase website
Web agency in Europe From 1700 € to 3400 € From 3400€ to 7500€
Web agency in Tunisia Less than 50% Up to 70% savings
Table 1 : Showcase website Price

How much does an e-commerce website cost?

An e-commerce website is your best tool for selling your products online. Whether it’s in the context of developing your physical trading business, or launching your online sales business, the e-commerce site is essential for you!

But, let’s put in your minds that ‘we must never believe that an e-commerce site is a showcase site with a module of purchase and payment! It’s more complex than that. Merchant or e-commerce sites are among the most complex sites in terms of development and require longer working hours than other sites. Indeed, several elements must be taken into consideration when developing this type of site. Your e-commerce site must be secure in order to manage online payments; you must also add a module for inventory management, billing and a connection module for your customers.

In addition, your e-commerce site must be robust and efficient so that the user can easily navigate between the different pages of your site. If not, the bounce rate will be high and this negatively impacts your online sales.

All its complexities justify the high price of e-commerce sites. In fact, if you want to make an e-commerce site yourself, there are solutions online and we recommend Shopify. But be aware that online solutions should be paid monthly, and your bill increases for each option to add to your site. This can lead to expensive prices per month.

In addition, with its online solutions, you can neither customize your design, nor obtain options specific to your business. You always stay limited by the available options, which prevents you from creating your added value as a brand compared to your competitors.

The price of an e-commerce site usually costs between 4,200€ and 34,000€ for SMEs and can reach up to € 100,000. In Tunisia, prices are reduced by at least 40%.

Country or region Cost of website
e-commerce website in Europe From 4200€ to 34000€
e-commerce website in Tunisia 40% Less
Table 2 : e-commerce website price

How much does a custom website cost?

A tailor-made website is simply a website that represents a precise and unique solution your business related problem. We usually refer to this type of site as a web application.

Web applications are typically specific creative solutions that represent start-ups for some entrepreneurs, or business management solutions to facilitate internal procedures and workflow management via web interfaces.

You can integrate anything you want into your bespoke site, and any feature! This is the literal realization of your creative ideas by translating them into code. Whether it’s a dating site, an e-learning site, an e-health site, an e-tourism site, a nutrition site … The examples tend towards the infinite, everything is feasible…

Given that the website is tailor-made, you will find that the price varies in term of a few thousand euros from 8400 € and can even reach 37500 €. So, let’s not forget to elaborate your specifications to get a quote closer to your needs. In Tunisia, the price of custom websites can decrease to more than 60%.

Country or region Cost of website
Custom website in Europe From 8400€ up to 37500 €
Custom website in Tunisia 60% Less
Table 3: Custom website price

Additional costs

Developing a website involve additional services to make your investment profitable. These costs can be paid once, monthly or annually.

Here are some examples of additional costs:

  • Domain name.
  • Website hosting.
  • Website maintenance.
  • SEO
  • Web marketing strategy.
  • Content creation.
  • Online ads …

Consider service’s quality!

To conclude, the price of a website depends on your specifications prepared in advance, and also from one agency to another. To have a website that fulfills your needs in order to achieve your goals, you should look for an agency that delivers a service of superb quality in the different aspects of your website.

Why choose Tunisia?

We compared prices generally between agencies in Europe and Tunisia.

The prices of websites in Tunisia are way cheaper than in Europe. This is due in fact to the rate of currency conversion between the euro and the Tunisian Dinars on one hand, and the cost of labor which is considered lower compared to Europe on the other hand.
But low cost is not the only factor to choose Tunisia as a provider of web business. The quality of services and the experience of Tunisian engineers and marketers are also key factors in choosing a Tunisian agency. In fact, Tunisia is considered the new technological hub of the MENA region.

That’s why choosing a Tunisian agency for building your website might be a great idea.