A 5-Step Easy Guide to Grocery App Development Amid the Pandemic

Grocery App Development: Types and Business Models

The online grocery delivery app development industry is quite competitive. As there are already a number of players in the market – it is crucial that you enter it with full planning and a robust product to get the desired success.

At Apptunix, we have helped 100+ entrepreneurs in launching their on-demand delivery solutions in the last three months and that’s why we know how important it is to plan and strategize your product before you jump into the development.

Everything from how your grocery app works to the subsequent amount of funding it gets and generates revenue will depend on the type of app you are planning to build.

So, it is important that you decide your app’s business model first and then something else. Here is a list of different types of business models using which modern grocery delivery mobile apps operate.

You can choose one out of them depending on your preferences:

1. Aggregator Model

Grocery Apps that follow the Aggregator business model simply list nearby grocery stores at a platform from where users can access the same. To place orders, users of such apps can select their preferred store and buy whatever they want. 

Once the users add everything they want to purchase in the cart – they make payment and wait for the order confirmation. Using this business model, the responsibility of delivery is solely upon the store owners. The aggregator just lists the stores on a platform and acts as a middleman between store owners and customers.

2. Marketplaces Model

A marketplace model for grocery delivery mobile apps is very similar to an aggregator model. However, if you choose this model to run your grocery business you would require your own fleet of delivery drivers. This implies your major task will be to facilitate order placement and deliver grocery to the users using your technology solutions.

Under this model, more responsibilities will be on the grocery delivery platform owner as he needs to manage everything – from orders to tracking, delivery, and much more.

3. Single Store Model

This type of grocery delivery apps are operated by independent stores who want to take their offline stores online. Grocery Delivery brick and mortar stores launch their own mobile apps to serve their users in a specific region. Users request goods online or through the mobile app and the store fulfills the order by delivering the same to the user’s doorsteps.

So, the above three are the options available to you if you want to build and launch a grocery delivery app. Now, you must be wondering about which model will be the best and safest bet for you. Let’s find out the same:

What’s Best For You? 

Well, every type of business model mentioned-above has its own list of advantages and disadvantages. And which one you should choose depends on your business idea and preferences. 

While the aggregator model is easy-to-implement, you risk losing brand reputation if a listed store owner refuses to deliver orders to customers or behaves in a rude manner on your platform.

Whereas marketplaces are a great idea to build brand reputation, the hidden risks are too many and you need to handle everything from order placement to tracking, and delivery. Obviously, the advantage is that you have full control from accepting orders to delivering and collecting payments and users won’t interact with real sellers at all.

So, at last, all you have to do is find an answer to the question “what tasks can you manage in the best possible way.” If you think you can manage deliveries by handling the delivery fleet yourself – the marketplace model will be best for you. 

If you don’t think so – go with the aggregator model and switch to the marketplace later on. On the other hand, if you own a grocery store – a single store model will be best for you. Also, there are other business models as well like grocery shopping list apps, grocery rebate apps, and grocery price comparison apps. Depending upon your app’s idea – you can choose one out of them.

Now that you know all about how grocery apps work – let’s put some spotlight on How you can make money using these apps or what are the monetization strategies that you need to know before you go for grocery app development. 

Step 2: Look For Revenue Generation Methods

How Grocery Delivery Apps Make Money?

According to a survey, one-third of customers in the USA use an app to order groceries. Now imagine the opportunities Grocery App Developers have to grow and scale their platforms – they are limitless.

Also, depending on your chosen business model, the niche provides several channels to make money. Here are some of them:

1. Commission:

This is one of the best ways to earn money using Grocery Delivery Apps. You can charge commissions from store owners on every order they get from your platform. Depending on the demand and supply, you can always charge different commission rates on products and in different locations. 

2. Delivery Fees:

If you choose a marketplace business model, you can charge some amount of delivery fee from users. For example, Instacart delivers orders of $10 or more. But, charges a delivery fee of $7.99 for delivery that is required within an hour and $5.99 for orders that are delivered within two hours or more.

3. Membership:

You can let users purchase memberships in your app that will provide them with added benefits. For example, free delivery, priority delivery, no surged charges, and much-more. Similarly, you can offer membership plans for stores as well to let them sell on your platform for a particular period of time depending on your plans.

4. Surge Pricing:

Just like ride-hailing apps like Uber surge their prices when there is increased demand (say in rainy-seasons or at peak hours) – you too can do the same for your grocery delivery app. For example, Instacart has added a dynamic algorithm to its platform because of which price of certain items automatically increases when there is limited stock or high-demand for that particular product.

5. Subscription:

Let your users subscribe to certain products for regular delivery without placing an order every time they require the same. Products that users use routinely can fit directly into this model. For instance, weekly vegetable supply, daily milk supply, monthly toothbrush supply, etc.

6. Promotions:

Let stores pay an additional charge and get boosted visibility on the landing page or relevant searches. Showing Ad banners to users is also one potential way of monetizing your grocery delivery app.

7. Merchandises:

You can also choose to sell your own product and merchandise, for example, shopping bags, bottles, little kitchen tools, and so on to earn some extra income.

The sole purpose of developing an app is to make money from it. And, luckily once you invest in Grocery Delivery App Development – you have several options to earn money from it. Now that you know many of them – choose your preferred ones and move to the next step.

Step 3: Find a Suitable Grocery Delivery App Development Company

Grocery Delivery App Development: Different Panels and Must-Have Features

Now that you know all about How Grocery Apps work and make money – it’s time for the actual magic. It’s time to develop a powerful, engaging, and robust grocery delivery app that can cater to your customers in the best possible way.

And for this, you will require a Grocery Delivery App Development Company having expertise in developing such apps and the one who knows how to cater to clients and ensure quality in tough times like pandemic. 

Before you finalize any deal with your developers, make sure they deliver you a full-fledged grocery delivery solution for serving all your stakeholders having the following panels:

• Customer Panel
• Driver Panel
• Admin Panel

Yes, that is true! To set up a grocery delivery business, you will require three apps – one for your users (using which they can place orders), one for your drivers (using which they will get to know about deliveries), and one for the admin (using which you can manage and track whether everything is in process or not).

Now, let’s see the must-have features of all these panels separately:

8 Must-Have Features of a Grocery Delivery App (Customer Panel) 

• App On-boarding

This is the first and most important part of grocery app development that decides the first impression of your app on its users. Here, you will design and develop sign in, login, and Profile Management features of your app.

These days, users don’t prefer to fill a large form for registering in an app that asks for all their information. Instead, they prefer to log in using social media accounts such as Facebook. So, you will have to provide them this leverage so that their app onboarding becomes as simple as they desire.

After users log in to the app, they should be able to add their personal details like name, address, age, and more into the app very easily. They should be able to edit these details whenever they desire.

• Product Browsing & Searching

A grocery delivery app should have a number of products so that users can find everything they require. Also, you will have to give them the option of searching a particular product so that instead of browsing through a number of products they can directly search what they want and order the same.

Depending on what they search, you should also list some related products in a small section of your pages to keep them hooked to your application.

• Add to Cart 

When users are done with browsing and searching for products that they want – they should be able to save those products in cart to order at the checkout. You should also give them the option to add products of their choice in the cart to buy them later.

• Multiple Payment Options

The payment system in your app must allow your customers to pay using multiple payment options – it is something that will make the entire experience easy for your app users. You can also let your customers keep some money in your app’s built-in wallet to make the product purchasing experience even more seamless for them.

• Delivery Tracking

When users make an order on grocery delivery apps – they are always curious to get the same. To help them with their curiosity – you should let them track their order in real-time. This feature will have a huge impact on the user engagement of your app and will retain your users in the future.

• Push Notifications

For app marketing, there is no good element than Push Notifications. This feature helps you stay connected with your users. You can always send notifications about discount offers and coupons to your users to keep them engaged and to increase your app’s open rate using push messages.

• Gamification

It is yet another technique for keeping users hooked with your application and a number of brands are using it these days. You can create an offer and discount zone for users in your app where they can find how they can save money. Also, you should keep providing appropriate rewards to your loyal customers to establish a long-term relationship with them.

• Ratings & Review

If you want to keep improving your app in terms of features and functionality – this is a must-have feature. Also, your customers must be allowed to post their experience on the app for others to see.

6 Must-have Features of a Grocery Delivery App (Driver Panel)

• Delivery Request Notification

When the user confirms the order, your nearest delivery person should get the request for grocery deliveries along with all the details mentioned by the user, for example, delivery address, contact number, etc.

• Accept/Reject the Delivery Request

The delivery person should have the option to accept or deny the request if he thinks that the location of users is too far or doesn’t fall within the specified distance on which he should deliver for free.

• Map Integration

This is a must-have feature of the driver’s app for grocery delivery. Using it, your delivery person will be able to find the optimal route using which he can reach the destination within the minimum possible time.

• In-app Calling or Chatting

Your delivery persons and users should be able to communicate with each other in-app via calling and chatting. This feature is helpful for both of your stakeholders as it will clear their small doubts like where is the delivery location exactly or by when the order will get delivered.

• Earning & Reports

Your delivery persons should be able to see the complete report of their earnings in-app. Using it, they will be able to find how much they are earning with every delivery they make and other details.

• Ratings & Reviews

Just like users, your delivery persons should also have an option to rate a trip because accountability should be on both sides. 

5 Must-Have Features of a Grocery Delivery App (Admin Panel)

• Dashboard

For admin, an intuitive dashboard should be there from where he can manage everything easily, track all orders, manage drivers, let users know about discounts, send push notifications, add stores, and perform other business activities swiftly.

• Assign Orders

After receiving a confirmation about an order, the admin should also have an option to assign orders to drivers manually to deliver the order at the specified place and on time.

• User Management

Admin should be able to communicate with all users, delivery persons, and store owners using the application. Moreover, the admin should also have the ability to add or remove any user or store owner from the panel.

• Real-time Analytics

This feature tracks the local grocery buyers and extracts the important information that helps businesses make a strategy and plan on how they can boost their customer experience. Admins should be able to see and track the most successful deals and discount offers that users have consumed to make business choices appropriately to quicken their business growth.

• Payment Management

The feature lets admin manage and see all the transactions that have occurred through/in the application. Likewise, admin can manage and review their tax and commission related information in the grocery application.

Step 4: Get an Estimate On Grocery App Development Cost 

How Much Will Grocery Delivery App Development Cost?

The exact answer to how much it will cost you to develop a grocery app is a figure that we can only find after analyzing all your requirements. However, a rough estimate of the same can be calculated by the help of below-mentioned three factors:

• App complexity
• Choice of Platform 
• Location of Developers

Based on the platform you choose to build your app for, the features you want to integrate into it and your developer’s location – you can get a ball-park estimate on How Much It Will Cost You to Build a Grocery Delivery App. The rate of developers vary depending on their location. For instance, U.S. based developers work for $50 to $250 per hour while you can hire expert grocery app developers in India that work for $20 to $80 per hour.

Similarly, the cost will vary depending on whether you build your app for Android, iOS, or for both the platforms. To give you an estimate, we can say that if you develop an app having all the above-mentioned features for both the platforms, it will cost you somewhere around $30K-$50k.

If you have a budget less than this – you can opt for a cross-platform grocery delivery app with limited features. However, spending around $50k on embedding advanced technologies in your app will ensure that it stands out in the market.

Step 5: Launch Your Grocery Application and Keep Upgrading It

Grocery App Launch, Maintenance, and Updation

Now, if you are done with developing your grocery delivery app – it’s time to launch it.

But, before that, make sure your app complies with all the rules and regulations of app marketplaces to ensure a seamless launch.

While it is easy to launch an app on Google Play Store, it is a bit difficult to get the green light for iOS Apps if it is not developed as per the rules of the app store.

Check out our guide on “How to Get Your App Approved On Apple App Store” to make sure you adhere to the rules and parameters from the very beginning of your app development.

Also, after a successful launch, don’t think that your work is over. You are just halfway there. Make sure you work on your app even after the launch to make it better for your users. If you don’t want to pay heeds to what changes your users require in your app – it won’t make an everlasting impact on the world.

It’s a Wrap

While the COVID 19 pandemic has brought various significant industries around the world to a sudden halt, the online grocery delivery industry has been given a powerful chance to flourish.

As per reports, daily download rates of grocery delivery applications like Walmart Grocery, Instacart, and Shipt have seen a huge surge, since February. It looks like Online Grocery Shopping is not just a trend these days – it is a necessity.

So, if you are planning to develop an app for this niche – don’t wait any longer. Now is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Hit the Ground Running with the help of a Grocery Delivery App. Are you ready?

Let us help!

We are a leading grocery delivery app development company having expertise in navigating entrepreneurs through the path of app development and launch. Have a look at How we help build businesses!