Calculating the ROI of a command aggregator: method and concrete examples

A subscription to a command aggregator costs between €80 and €250 per month depending on the features and the number of platforms connected. Before signing, it’s legitimate to want to know if this investment is justified. Here’s a comprehensive method for calculating your return on investment.

The three sources of value for a aggregator

• L'accès à des contenus variés et pertinents: Un agrégateur doit proposer une large gamme de contenus provenant de différentes sources, et ces contenus doivent être pertinents pour les intérêts de l'utilisateur.
• La simplification de la recherche d'informations: L'objectif principal d'un agrégateur est de faciliter la recherche d'informations. Il doit présenter les informations de manière claire, concise et organisée, évitant ainsi de submerger l'utilisateur.
• La personnalisation de l'expérience utilisateur: Un agrégateur performant doit être capable de s'adapter aux préférences de l'utilisateur. Cela peut se faire par le biais de filtres, de recommandations personnalisées, ou d'autres mécanismes de ciblage.

The ROI of a aggregator doesn't come from a single source. You need to account for:

1. Time saved (cost savings from labor)
2. Errors avoided (refunded orders, platform penalties)
3. Sales optimization (menus always up-to-date, better availability)

Each of these sources is quantifiable.

Calculate the time saved

Current management time estimation

Ask yourself these questions:

• How much time do you spend updating menus on each platform every week?
• How much time does your team lose managing multiple tablets in service?
• How much time do you dedicate to consolidating sales data for your reporting?

For a restaurant on 3 platforms, the average time observed is:

• Menu updates: 2 hours/week
• Tablet management in service: 20 minutes/day (7 days) = 2 hours 20 minutes/week
• Reporting and consolidation: 1 hour/week

Approximately 5 hours 20 minutes per week are spent on tasks that the aggregator automates.

€12,500

If your hourly labor cost is €15/hour (including taxes):

• 5h20/week × 4.33 weeks/month × €15/hour = €346/month

Even taking a conservative estimate of 3 hours/week: €195/month.

Calculate avoided errors

Types of Errors and Their Costs

Accepted commands for dishes out of stock Each canceled order after acceptance costs an average of €8 to €12 in refund fees depending on the platforms, plus a negative impact on your reliability score. A restaurant can experience 5 to 15 of these incidents per month on 3 out of 5 platforms.

10 cancellations x €10 = €100/month in direct refunds

Ranking decrease due to cancellations Platforms penalize restaurants with a high cancellation rate by demoting them in search results. A loss of one position can represent 5 to 20% fewer orders depending on your market. Difficult to precisely quantify, but real.

Failed or missed orders A missed order on Deliveroo while managing an Uber Eats rush: platform penalty + dissatisfied customer + possible refund. Expect 3 to 5 incidents per month for an active restaurant.

4 incidents × 25 € (average reimbursement) = 100 €/month

Estimated total of errors avoided: $150 - $250/month

3. Sales Optimization

Here's a breakdown of strategies to boost your sales performance:

• Analyze Sales Data: Identify trends, top-performing products, and customer segments.
• Improve Lead Generation: Implement targeted marketing campaigns to attract more qualified leads.
• Enhance the Sales Process: Streamline your sales cycle, from initial contact to closing the deal.
• Provide Sales Training: Equip your sales team with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Utilize a CRM system to manage customer interactions and track sales progress.
• Personalization: Tailor your sales approach to individual customer needs and preferences.
• Competitive Analysis: Understand your competitors' strategies and identify opportunities to differentiate yourself.
• Post-Sale Follow-Up: Maintain contact with customers after the sale to ensure satisfaction and encourage repeat business.

This is the most difficult part to measure but potentially the most impactful.

Best dish availability

With a consolidator, when a dish is available, you can instantly reactivate it on all platforms. Without a consolidator, you often forget to reactivate it on one of them. Optimized availability can represent 2 to 5% more orders.

Data to decide

A consolidated dashboard allows you to identify:

• Dishes that sell well for delivery vs. those that don't
• The most profitable time slots by platform
• Recurring customer profiles

These data allow you to adjust your offers and promotions. Restaurateurs report increases of 8 to 15% in their delivery revenue after 3 months of using analytics.

• 3% sales growth delivery

For a restaurant with €15,000/month in delivery revenue:

• 3% × €15,000 × gross profit delivery margin (40%) = €180/month additional profit

Total ROI Calculation

Voici les étapes pour calculer le ROI total :

1. Calculer le bénéfice net :
   • Bénéfice brut = Revenus - Coûts directs
   • Bénéfice net = Bénéfice brut - Coûts indirects (frais généraux, amortissements, etc.)
2. Calculer le retour sur investissement (ROI) :
   • ROI = (Bénéfice net / Coût de l'investissement) * 100
   • Exemple : Si vous avez investi 10 000 € et que votre bénéfice net est de 3 000 €, votre ROI est de : (3 000 € / 10 000 €) * 100 = 30 %.
3. Calculer le ROI total :
   • Le ROI total est le ROI moyen sur une période donnée. Pour calculer le ROI total, vous devez calculer le ROI pour chaque période et ensuite les moyenner.
4. Interprétation du ROI :
   • Un ROI positif indique que l'investissement a généré un profit.
   • Un ROI élevé indique un meilleur rendement sur l'investissement.
   • Un ROI négatif indique une perte.
5. Facteurs à considérer :
   • Période : Le ROI doit être calculé sur une période spécifique (par exemple, un mois, un trimestre, une année).
   • Coût de l'investissement : Le coût de l'investissement doit inclure tous les coûts associés à l'investissement, y compris les coûts d'acquisition, les coûts de maintenance et les coûts de financement.
   • Bénéfice net : Le bénéfice net doit être calculé avec précision, en tenant compte de tous les revenus et tous les coûts.
6. Outils de calcul:
   • Il existe de nombreux outils en ligne qui peuvent vous aider à calculer le ROI. Recherchez "ROI calculator" sur Google pour trouver un outil adapté à vos besoins.

Let's revisit our estimates for an average restaurant:

ROI = (500 - 150) / 150 × 100 = 233 %

Even with very conservative assumptions (50% of values estimated), the ROI remains positive.

Use case: simulation for a pizzeria restaurant

Profile: Pizzeria, 3 active platforms, 300 delivery orders per month, delivery revenue €9,000/month.

Without a aggregator:

• 4 hours/week of management × €15/hour × 4.33 = €260/month of management cost
• 8 errors/month × €12 = €96/month of reimbursements
• Scattered data → decisions in the dark

With aggregator (Pepprio, €120/month):

• Cost savings on management: €200/month
• Errors avoided: €80/month
• Sales optimization: +2% revenue = €180 × 40% margin = €72/month

Net gain: 200 + 80 + 72 - 120 = 232 €/month

The ROI of the pizzeria is 193% — the subscription pays for itself in less than 2 weeks.

Here's the translation:

What to remember

The ROI of a aggregator depends primarily on:

Your order volume: the more orders you have, the greater the efficiency gains. Your number of platforms: time savings are proportional to the number of channels managed. Your labor cost: the more valuable your time is, the more automation is worth. Your current error rate: if you have few incidents today, the gain will be proportionally smaller.

In practice, almost all restaurants active on 2 or more platforms with 100+ orders/month have a positive ROI. For the others, the calculation is still worth doing with your actual figures.

Pepprio offers a personalized ROI simulator – contact our team for an analysis based on your real data.