• foremost, the increased reliance on the Internet as a source of information. On average, between January to June 2012, 8.8 new Internet users are added every second worldwide (Internet World Stats, 2012)
1.1 Initial Thoughts
The development of ICT and increased Internet usage have heavily impacted the communication between customers and vendors (Niininen et al., 2007). One area of the hospitality industry particularly affected by this phenomenon is the restaurant sub-sector. Several findings support these claims:
• foremost, the increased reliance on the Internet as a source of information. On average, between January to June 2012, 8.8 new Internet users are added every second worldwide (Internet World Stats, 2012)
• foremost, the increased reliance on the Internet as a source of information. On average, between January to June 2012, 8.8 new Internet users are added every second worldwide (Internet World Stats, 2012)
1.2 e-WOM as a Marketing Tool
User-generated reviews are effortlessly accessible by Internet users. Research indicates that many internet users are believed to participate in one or more online communities either directly or indirectly (
Chan et al., 2011 ). Also, since 2004, there has been an increase in the word-of-mouth (WOM) industry which, inclusive of any e-WOM activity, suggests that the importance of the Internet as a key marketing tool cannot be underestimated (Chan et al., 2011). In other words, significant income can originate from this type of indirect and passive form of marketing.
Existing platforms that dispense this category of information include: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Places, FourSquare, Foodspotting, toptable, Harden's, Zagat and Urbanspoon. A majority of these platforms offer their services in the form of mobile 'apps'. Mobile applications are growing increasingly popular as the method of choice for consumers in providing recommendation services to other guests.
Existing platforms that dispense this category of information include: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Places, FourSquare, Foodspotting, toptable, Harden's, Zagat and Urbanspoon. A majority of these platforms offer their services in the form of mobile 'apps'. Mobile applications are growing increasingly popular as the method of choice for consumers in providing recommendation services to other guests.
1.3 Implications of Social Media
The popularity of this type of applications is partly fuelled by the benefits of social media. According to Melnick, social media has the ability to reach millions of people, engage them, allow them to spend time as a group and be loyal to brands that traditional media—television, newspapers, creative industries—is slowly losing ground on. The speed of the internet in providing “instant gratification” (MacKay, 2011) and the idea of “virality” (Melnick, 2011) are elements that traditional media will never be able to generate.
2.1 The Customer Need
Researchers have indicated that information exchange is an important factor for consumers’ decision making process (Sreenivasan et al., 2012). A Mashable study indicated that 57% of diners do not go out to eat without first consulting recommender system sites such as Yelp, FourSquare and Foodspotting (O’Rourke, 2011). However, despite the abundance of reviews, the ease of access and the general perceived trustworthiness of the sources, one inherent problem with existing food-related social media sites is that the reviews are not current. Post life is long and the distance between access point and the source, in terms of location and time, are still relatively far (Harbison, 2011). Reviews can range from days-old to several years-old.
Due to the nature of the restaurant service being intrinsically intangible and often “difficult to standardise”, it would be beneficial for both parties if first, the customers are able to instantaneously find reviews and engage in a final matching process and second, if restaurants can access these reviews through the same database and have the opportunity to react immediately to any problems and feedback which are addressed by customers or potential customers.
Evidently, there is a need for instant, real-time information. In response to this customer need, a new mobile-optimised micro-blogging platform, Currant, is proposed. At the moment, it is postulated that it will utilise technologies such as LBS, GPS, social networks, Web 2.0 and recommender systems.
Due to the nature of the restaurant service being intrinsically intangible and often “difficult to standardise”, it would be beneficial for both parties if first, the customers are able to instantaneously find reviews and engage in a final matching process and second, if restaurants can access these reviews through the same database and have the opportunity to react immediately to any problems and feedback which are addressed by customers or potential customers.
Evidently, there is a need for instant, real-time information. In response to this customer need, a new mobile-optimised micro-blogging platform, Currant, is proposed. At the moment, it is postulated that it will utilise technologies such as LBS, GPS, social networks, Web 2.0 and recommender systems.
3.1 The Concept and Why It is Innovative
PREFACE
The power of social networking cannot be overlooked as trivial. Social media has brought a new level of transparency into the restaurant industry (Harbison, 2011). Restaurants now need to be more "on guard" with their service. In this age, they must know how to market their brands, connect directly and effectively with their customers and generate buzz in order to gain a larger loyal customer base. Social media is a cost effective method to achieve this (Finch, 2009). For patrons, online collaboration is not only convenient but also advantageous in evaluating, confirming and finalising the decision-making process. Furthermore, restaurants are beginning to realise that online reviews, with virtually no limits as to who can post and view content, if negative, can have detrimental effects on their businesses. Beneficial to the demand side, it is a way to “democratis[e] the landscape” in the service industry (Vardy, 2012), ensuring that everyone is treated equally with the same service.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
The idea of
Currant originates from the above concepts and customer need and attempts to
address some of the issues highlighted thus far. The goal of this mobile
application is to decrease the intangibility of the food and beverage service experience.
Its main purpose is to increase and facilitate the communication between
business owners and patrons by means of providing a medium where loyalty and
trust can be built over a microblogging social network. It is a
location-service-based online platform where time-sensitive user-generated microtext-based content and business specific recommendations is collected in one
central database and displayed in a user-friendly and simple mobile layout. The idea is that it can be accessed by Currant members as
well as restaurant managers that wish to build one-to-one relationships with
loyal clients within a wider community based on “many-to-many”-type communications (Chan
et al., 2011). Managers accessing the database can retrieve first-hand customer
information and feedback that can be beneficial in developing marketing and branding strategies.
Therefore, Currant can also be viewed as a customer relationship management
(CRM) tool as it provides, in principal and in a virtual environment, the opportunity for businesses to “proactive[ly]
seek[…] out customer’s needs” (Martinez-Lopez et al., 2010).
Currant-Specific Lingo
• Pick a Vine: Selecting a 24-hr fresh review thread
• Make a Splash: Making a micro-blog post (140 character limit)
• Re-Splash: Reply to an existing Splash
• Award a Currant: Similar to Likes on Facebook, if a review has been useful, users can award other users with Currants
• Squash a Grape: The opposite of awarding a Currant
• Collect Currants: A system where Currants at be collected to achieve the status of a Vintage user, releasing certain user privileges
• Harvest a Vintage: For Vintage-grade users, redeeming any exclusive promotions and deals sent to mobile devices by businesses
Rules of Currant
THE PROCESS
Currant-Specific Lingo
• Pick a Vine: Selecting a 24-hr fresh review thread
• Make a Splash: Making a micro-blog post (140 character limit)
• Re-Splash: Reply to an existing Splash
• Award a Currant: Similar to Likes on Facebook, if a review has been useful, users can award other users with Currants
• Squash a Grape: The opposite of awarding a Currant
• Collect Currants: A system where Currants at be collected to achieve the status of a Vintage user, releasing certain user privileges
• Harvest a Vintage: For Vintage-grade users, redeeming any exclusive promotions and deals sent to mobile devices by businesses
Rules of Currant
• Access limited to “splashes” posted within the past 24 hours; older posts are archived and can only be made public or accessible if you have collected a certain amount of “currants”
• The number of publicly released “currants” displayed on a user profile has direct impact on the type and quantity of promos, freebies and deals available to the user
• To initiate the Vine, user can only Make a Splash if he or she is within walking distance (2km) of an establishment
• A “splash” is only made available to other users who is within 5 km radius of the posting user; another Currant member can only “re-splash” on an existing vine if he or she is within walking distance (2km) of the establishment
• Users who have accumulated a certain number of “currants” can be upgraded to different “Vintage” grades, where businesses can award exclusive promotions, which are pushed onto mobile phones based on current location of user (when the user is within walking distance of establishment)
• The number of publicly released “currants” displayed on a user profile has direct impact on the type and quantity of promos, freebies and deals available to the user
• To initiate the Vine, user can only Make a Splash if he or she is within walking distance (2km) of an establishment
• A “splash” is only made available to other users who is within 5 km radius of the posting user; another Currant member can only “re-splash” on an existing vine if he or she is within walking distance (2km) of the establishment
• Users who have accumulated a certain number of “currants” can be upgraded to different “Vintage” grades, where businesses can award exclusive promotions, which are pushed onto mobile phones based on current location of user (when the user is within walking distance of establishment)
WHAT MAKES CURRANT BETTER
The
concept’s innovation stems from its goal to benefit demand-side decision making
as well as to expedite the implementation of customer-centric marketing (CCM)
(Niininen et al., 2007) from the perspective of food and beverage businesses,
an issue that is not addressed by any food-related social networking sites out
on the market at the moment. Using an instant-review recommender system, it
benefits customers because it can organise, categorise and analyse personal
information that allows the system (i.e. the database) to fine tune and improve
their profiles as customers, thus “augment[ing] personalisation of [the] web
experience” (Martinez-Lopez et al., 2010). But the more innovative aspect of this
system, and arguably the key interest of this project, is the way that it can
be useful for businesses. It makes it possible for businesses to gather
pertinent marketing information—such as age, gender, social status, values,
dining history, choice-making habits and purchase-motivating factors, and in
this case particularly, other Vines which the user follows—more directly and
efficiently. The marketing process becomes more specific and personalised.
Since businesses are slowly realising the need to connect to customers through
technology, that they are missing out on information regarding their businesses
that could be detrimental to brand image, it will be a true incentive for
businesses to join this network. Therefore, unlike Yelp and FourSquare, two
social networking sites that are oriented to serve the demand side, it can be
said that Currant is an app that builds a relationship of trust between businesses
and patrons which studies show can lead to loyalty (Tran et al., 2012). It is
about linking the customers to customers as well as customers to businesses, a
concept is currently lacking in existing social platforms.
4.1 Technologies Involved
HOW IT WORKS
To lower the “barrier-to-entry” (Mourtzoukos et al., 2011), Currant profiles can be initiated using an existing Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account, allowing users to import friends, business contacts and existing contacts. This not only makes it easier for new users to join the network but it further builds on the “Grapevine Concept” of Currant: the idea of linking reviews through many electronic word-of-mouth sources. Here is an overview of the process:
• Login to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account
• Information (preferences, friends, businesses, existing accounts) retrieved and transferred directly into Currant database
• List of restaurants in vicinity accessed through Currant database
• Users can post micro-blog reviews (limited to 140 characters) about the establishment, similar to Twitter tweets
• History is recorded for personal profiling; after 24 hours, any old “splashes” are removed from interface and can only be accessed and viewed by Vintage users
• User can “Start a Vine” if a Vine does not exist for any establishment, providing he or she is within 2km of the business
• Companies can also “Start a Vine” to market their businesses, adding to the Currant database
• Businesses can access the same public Vines and see all posted reviews and comments; they can instantly reply to comments if necessary
• More importantly, business can gather profiling information entered by users from other accounts as well as Currant account to generate user-specific feedback, promotions and marketing information
THE TECHNOLOGIES THAT MAKE IT WORK
As termed
in the Main Objectives section, Currant is “a location-service-based online
platform where time-sensitive user-generated microtext-based content and
business specific recommendations is collected in one central database and
displayed in a user-friendly and simple mobile layout”. From that definition
and the description of how the process works listed above, it is postulated
that it will primarily utilise technologies such as location-based services (LBS),
global positioning system (GPS), social networks and recommender systems. Other
secondary technologies that might be integrated into the system include
near-field communications (NFC) (O'Rourke, 2011), QR codes, cellular positioning and mashing up
with existing platforms such as Google Maps and Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn. Most
importantly, to incorporate all the elements, technologies and features of this
app, there will need to be a new online database created solely for Currant. The
following explains how these technologies are employed in each stage of the process.
Database
The online database
will use an Input-Process-Output (IPO) method that is organised by Data
Management System (DBMS) (Chan et al., 2011). The DBMS will allow the
information to be stored, modified or retrieved as needed. It will also allow
for the information to be analysed and controlled. The system will consist of
two components (Mourtzoukos et al., 2011). There will be a server backend where all
the information is stored and a moderator interface, where information can be
administered by the implementation of computer programming. The IPO is
comprised of three parts: the input is the sender of the message and the
content of the message. The process is the application programming interface (API)
(Mourtzoukos et al., 2011) where “splashes” are displayed; the output is the receiver
of the messages, either displayed on the interface, or organised and sent to
mobile devices.
Location-Based Services/Global Positioning
System/Cellular Positioning
LBS will be
another layer of computer programing required so the mobile device is able to
detect the locations of users and systematically, through comparison of the
information stored within Currant’s database, allow relevant information
regarding nearby restaurants to be displayed on the user interface of the
mobile device. LBS also has the ability to control time and location variables
of mobile devices. This is useful because Currant posts are time-sensitive and LBS
will only allow devices to locate users within either 2km or 5km of a given establishment
or to other users. The user’s position will have to be triangulated either
through satellites (GPS) or cell towers (cellular positioning when GPS is
unavailable in remote areas).
Social Networking
The
advantages of social media and networking have been analysed in previous
sections. In terms of the technology, microblogs, in specific, is an extremely
suitable way to track rich and diverse content in real-time (Sreenivasan
et al.,
2012). Unique to Currant as a social network, a chatting mechanism is applied (Mourtzoukos et al.,
2011) which enables users to chat one-to-one with other users or the business.
Recommender System
A recommender
system is a filtering process in which huge banks of data with characteristics
of particular interest is organised to provide personalised list
(Martinez-Lopez
et al., 2010). This will be required to provide alternative
suggestions of other nearby establishments to users.
Near-Field Communication
Near-field
technology will allow Splashes which are only within required distances to be
pushed on the mobile devices.
QR Codes
Restaurants
will have individual Currant QR codes posted outside; the scanning of the QR
code will take users straight to the specific Vine page for the restaurant, again
lowering the barrier of access.
Mash-up with Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn
A mash-up
with Google Maps and Google cell base is ideal in providing the information
needed for the use of LBS. For collaboration with other SNS, research indicates
that the integration of Facebook account settings can be done through a set of
authorisation process and codes (Mourtzoukos et al., 2011). Certain privacy and access
protocols are dispatched by Facebook and will be received in the database
system of Currant. The login to Facebook will thus generate account settings and
information to be used in the Currant database. One would hypothesise the process to be similar with Twitter and LinkedIn.
5.1 Reference List
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[Accessed 11 November 2012]
Chan, Y., Ngai, E.W.T. (2011) ‘Conceptualising Electronic
Word of Mouth Activity: An Input-Process-Output Perspective’, Marketing Intelligence & Planning,
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[Accessed 11 November 2012]
Harbison, N. (2011) ‘How Mobile, Apps, and Social Media Have
Changed the Restaurant Industry’ [Online]. The
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[Accessed 13 November 2012]
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[Accessed 12 November 2012]
Martínez-López, F.J., Rodríguez-Ardura, I., Gázquez-Abad, J.C.,
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[Accessed 14 November 2012]
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[Accessed 13 November 2012]
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