Release Notes 56

This release introduces a range of significant improvements to the Playfood software solution, designed to streamline the operations of our food delivery partners, reduce order-related costs, and maximise upselling potential. These updates will significantly improve the efficiency, accuracy and revenue opportunities of your food delivery ecosystem, whether you run a high-volume marketplace, operate a grocery delivery service or manage branded apps for a restaurant chain.

1. Precise Ordering for Weighted Products

Until now, customers could only purchase additional units of a predefined weight. However, with our new weight-based quantity attribute, they can now select the exact number of grams or kilograms they require.

This can be activated in Settings and enabled per item, with a weight step defined (for example: 50 g, 100 g, 250 g). The final price is calculated based on this step, so accurate pricing is essential.

2. Advanced Service Fee & Deposit System

One of the biggest challenges in grocery and fresh-product delivery is the unpredictability of product weight. To address this issue, we have introduced a new deposit fee type designed specifically for weighted items, ensuring that marketplaces never incur losses when the final product weight exceeds expectations.

Here’s how the new deposit system works:

• In the Service Fee settings, you can now select Deposit as the fee type.

• The deposit only applies to weighted products from the filtered list you select.

• You set the deposit amount in the same settings field as a regular service fee.

• When a customer places an order, the system temporarily charges this extra amount as a safety buffer.

• Vendors, pickers and couriers (if order editing is enabled) can update the product weight according to the weight step you defined when the order is collected.

• The order total cannot exceed the charged deposit, ensuring that the marketplace never pays the difference out of pocket.

• If the final weight is higher, but still within the available deposit, the system will only calculate the additional cost for the exact extra grams (e.g. if the weight step is 100 g and the final weight is 452 g, the customer will only pay for the additional 52 g).

• If the deposit (or part of it) is not used, it is automatically refunded to the customer and removed from the final total in the order history.

• No taxes apply to the deposit amount.

This upgrade significantly improves operational stability for businesses working with fresh and variable-weight products. It gives them more predictable margins and a much more reliable fulfilment process.

3. New Payment Gateway: Checkout

Checkout is now available as a fully integrated payment gateway. When used, a customer’s card details are automatically saved to their profile. Although it can be removed manually, adding a new card currently requires placing a new order. This limitation will be improved in future releases.

This feature is particularly valuable in markets where Checkout is the preferred provider and for partners looking to boost conversion rates by facilitating faster repeat payments.

4. Product Recommendations Feature

Vendors can now create recommendation blocks to be displayed at the checkout stage, based either on individual products or entire categories.

Examples:

• For fries: suggest sauces.

• For burgers and mains: suggest drinks.

• For grocery items: suggest complementary goods.

At checkout, customers will see suggestions based on the items they have already added to their basket, maximising the opportunity for upselling at the moment when customers are most likely to convert.

This is perfect for restaurants, dark kitchens and grocery vendors who want to increase basket size without spending more on marketing.

5. Enhanced Preorder Visibility

We’ve added a clean, easy-to-see pre-order sticker to make it easier for vendors to manage orders scheduled for a later date. If the order is for a different date, the exact date also appears.

This feature is invaluable for vendors, couriers and support/call centre teams who are managing high order volumes across multiple time slots.

6. Payment Failure Alerts in Call Center

If there are issues with a card payment, an alert showing the exact reason for the issue is now displayed directly in the order status line on the Call Center panel.

This update is particularly useful for partners using custom payment gateways via our API, as it enables them to detect and resolve issues immediately without having to wait for reports from the Playfood development team.

These updates support dynamic, fast-growing partners who require scalable tools, whether they are operating a standalone restaurant app or a nationwide multi-vendor marketplace.

If you require assistance with enabling or configuring any of these features, please inform your dedicated account manager. We are happy to help.