Gone are the days when shopping for grocery was fun. With working hours getting longer, people have only one thing in mind when work is over. Hit home. Spend time with family. After a hard drive in traffic, nobody has the energy to go grocery shopping. There are enough things to attend to on weekends. Like with most other things people like to get grocery delivered at home too.
Building an app for online grocery shop can earn you revenue. The trend for buying things on the internet is increasing for most items. This is true with grocery too. This is found very prominently among the millennials who like to get everything online. But the business comes with its own challenges.
Contents of the article
01. Why Build An Online Grocery App?
02. Challenges With Online Grocery Business
03. Building The Online Grocery App
04. The Customer Panel
05. The Admin Panel
06. Store Manager Panel
07. Additional Features You Must Have
08. Things To Take Care
09. Conclusion
01. Why Build An Online Grocery App?
There are enough reasons to believe that an online grocery app could be a good revenue earner. People are moving from physical shopping to online shopping for almost everything. Shopping is no more an activity that families wish to spend time in. Nobody has the luxury of so much extra time.
An app can give customers a better selection of goods than a brick and mortar shop. It is easier to select items on an online app than searching for them at the shop. There is a better selection of brands in an online shop. An app built by a good mobile app development company can be a good money maker.
Another advantage with an online grocery shop is that people will buy stuff that they wouldn’t have bothered to go and shop. When people are in the mood for trying new foodstuff, they usually do impulsive shopping of many items. This may not happen if they must go out to buy these things.
If you have an excellent tie-up with the local shops, then your app can undoubtedly be a success. You should try and include as many brands as possible. Only this can help you succeed in the business. There are many items you may not be able to add in your app. You should make this up with multiple brands of grocery.
- For the grocery business, an app will give a wider reach of customers
- Customers can save a lot of time. The get delivery at home.
- A marketplace app can offer a lot of brands which a brick and mortar shop cannot.
- A simple menu makes it easy for customers to select items than searching them in a shop.
- You can exploit the impulsive buying habit of the customers
- Getting local grocery shops on board can help make the app profitable.
Also Read: On Demand Best Laundry App Development
02. Challenges With Online Grocery Business
Groceries and vegetables are easily perishable. When you have an online grocery business, you must include perishable items also. If you don’t have these, you could lose customers. They don’t want to go to the shops only to buy those. But this is where the problems start.
- Perishable items cannot be stored for a long time. The storage costs of such things are high.
- People expect online business prices to be lower than shops. You may not be able to always supply at a lower cost.
- Demand for low prices will reduce your profit margins.
- People like to touch and feel vegetables and fruits before they buy them. An online store cannot offer such an experience.
- You will get a lot of urgent delivery requests. Impulsive buying is very high in grocery purchase.
- You will have to stock a lot of items as customer choices keep changing.
- You will have to counter the relationship between the customer and the local grocery shop. Many local grocers deliver too.
- Local grocers may announce sudden discounts on perishable goods. You can’t keep up with those changes.
03. Building The Online Grocery App
Though you can make the app as a stand-alone business, it is better to create a marketplace app. This will help you to give a better selection of products to your customers. This will also solve the problem of finding storage space for the items.
When you create a marketplace like a food delivery app, you can supply the grocery in a short time. You must get the local shops on board. This will shorten the delivery time. Customers will prefer getting these items from familiar shops. There will be no trust issues.
When you are tying up with local grocery shops, you can also include the images of these shops. Your customers will be familiar with the photos. There is nothing like supplying goods from a place that your customers know very well.
When you set up a marketplace, you control the deliveries. You don’t have to depend on the grocery shops to make the delivery. When you manage the delivery system, you can assure your customers of timely delivery. This will keep your app’s credibility intact.
When you build the app, you should be very careful about what you add in the app. You must give the users an excellent experience with the apps. The users must be able to see the advantage of using your app over the other existing apps. You should get a good mobile app development firm to create your app.
Let us now see the different sections that your app should have.
04. The Customer Panel
- Registration /login – The customers can download the app and register themselves. This should be a simple process. Customers must be able to register using email id or social media account. They should feed in their mobile numbers for better coordination during delivery.
- Area Selection – Customers can select the areas in which they live. This will help in showing them the shops that are nearest to them. The delivery can be faster this way.
- List Of Stores – The customer must have the option of selecting the store from where he or she wants to buy goods. You should get photos of these shops to be updated so that customers get a visual experience too.
- List Of Items – There should be a detailed list of items. Wherever possible, you should include the nutritional values of these items. People are very health conscious now. Include ingredient details in readymade food items.
- Easy Search Option – Allow easy search options. They should be able to select the items by just feeding hints in the search box. This will help customers choose the goods fast and place the orders.
- Order History And Re-Order – Customers can easily order their favorite items with this facility. They can also see when they have made their last purchases. It can also help them understand their spending on grocery for a month.
- Tracking The Order – Allow order tracking using GPS. The customer should be able to find out where their items have reached and how long it will take for it to reach them.
- Delivery Scheduling – You can include a feature for customers to schedule their deliveries. This will help the delivery reach them when they are home. This will also assist you in planning your deliveries in a better way.
- Payment Options – Allow customers to have the freedom of using many payment modes. You must allow COD, Cards, net banking or mobile wallets. Make the payment secure.
- Push Notification – Use this feature wisely. Use this to send messages regarding confirmation of goods having left for delivery. You can also use the feature to send messages regarding discounts or offers.
- Reviews And Rating – Customers must be able to rate and review your app and service. All users must be able to see the ratings of all customers. You must also link your app with your social media account to post reviews there. Your mobile application and development team will do this easily for you.
Also Read: Best Food Delivery Apps For Your Business
05. The Admin Panel
- Control Panel – This page must allow you to see all the activities. You should be able to access every feature of the app from this page.
- Managing The Grocery Stores – You should be able to add or remove stores when required. You should regularly check their activities to ensure that your customers remain happy. If you find any store to be deviating, you should remove them.
- Manage Customers – Here you can check customers joining. You can also check the reviews left by them. You should get a history of each customer and how much they have used your app. This will allow you to device rewards programs for your customers.
- Payment Management – You must ensure to send the payments to the stores on time. You can use this page to watch the payments received. You can deduct your commission and pay the stores.
- Store Managers – You can allocate store managers to each of the store registered in the app. This will help smooth operations. All details about each store will be accessible easily.
- Manage Notifications – You should send push notifications when needed. You can use email or SMS to pass various information to your customers or grocery shops.
- Respond To Reviews – You must respond to both positive and negative reviews. This will help maintain good relationships with customers.
- Products Management – When stores are adding products you must review and make sure it is fit to be in your app. You should also add it under the correct category for customers to find it easily.
- Offers And Discounts – Apart from discounts offered by the individual stores, you can also make offers and discounts to get customers to use the app continuously.
- Analytics – Use advanced analytics features to improve your business. This will help in taking timely decisions and ensure the growth of your business.
06. Store Manager Panel
- Locating Stores – Customers can use the store manager to locate their stores. Delivery persons can use this section for finding the stores easily.
- Customer Care – This is a compulsory section. This is required to ensure that your customers remain satisfied.
- Store Selection – Customers must be able to browse through the different stores and select the one they like.
07. Additional Features You Must Have
You can get your mobile application company to add these extra features which will help you give your customers a better experience.
- In-App Chat And Call – This will help your customers directly contact the stores if there is any special request. The feature will also help the delivery persons to talk or chat with customers to get the address right.
- Coupons – Coupons help you a lot to attract customers. You can offer these for various purposes. Those who download the app will get coupons. You can give coupons for customers purchasing above a certain amount in a month. Customers are always attracted to coupons.
- Simple Pricing – Your app must have a very simple pricing structure. The customer must know from the start how much he or she will have to pay. Avoid surprises at the time of checkout.
08. Things To Take Care
People don’t take it easy if the items supplied are of low quality. Food items are easily perishable. Most items have a date after which they cannot be used. You must ensure that the stores supply only quality products. For this, you need to monitor the deliveries now and then.
Keep a close track of the delivery persons. Even if they delay the supply, the blame will be on you as the app owner. Get customer feedback as soon as goods are delivered. You can send a notification asking for customer review once you know the goods have been delivered.
When you design the app, you must make it available both on web and mobile. This will give customers a chance to place orders from home when they are free. Get the app to be developed for both iOS and Android phones. Make sure the app gives the same user experience in all platforms.
Customer satisfaction depends on the variety of products you offer. Ensure to give a good mix of brands. Look at the latest trends and include those items. Organic food is in demand now. Ensure that you have a couple of organic food suppliers in your list.
09. Conclusion
You can get your application development company to develop different types of apps. It can be an aggregator app, a marketplace or a single store app. What you choose will depend on your resources.
An aggregator app doesn’t give you any control. People place orders on the app, and the grocery store sends it through their delivery person. With a marketplace app, you can control the delivery using your delivery people. A single store app will involve storage of goods and supply.
With people getting busier by the day, there is immense scope for an online grocery supply app. What you offer will depend on how successful your app will be. You should also ensure to address the problems inherent with grocery delivery.