More often than not, when we think about grocery shopping, we have still not got away from the idea of going out, getting to a supermarket, picking up the grocery items that we need, checking out, and returning home with a bag laden with all the grocery items. However, today the landscape has drastically changed – the only thing that has survived the test of time is the shopping cart. Even the shopping cart is not a physical entity anymore but rather a digital entity. The transformation of the grocery shopping landscape, especially towards the end of this decade, has to be attributed to the on-demand grocery delivery apps.

The advantages that grocery shopping apps bring

No new application will find its relevance without solving real problems that people face, and the online grocery delivery app is not an exception to this holy grail of business. Grocery shopping applications present users with a host of advantages:

Grocery shopping apps let you compare prices quite easily. Rather than looking at the label and searching through the vast information for the price, all you need to do is just add the item to the cart, and the price is automatically updated.

Grocery shopping online lets you maintain your budget because as and when you keep adding items to the God, the price to pay keeps getting updated as well! However, in the case of classical shopping, you might not know how much to pay until you reach the billing counter. At that time, it might be difficult for you to decide what to discard in addition to the embarrassment that you might face.

How often have you ended up buying things that you did not have in the first place on your shopping list when you go for grocery shopping? It might include a piece of chocolate, but it still counts! With online grocery shopping or when buying using applications, the possibility of unnecessary buying is considerably eliminated because you might not even see the items that you do not want to buy!

Comparing reviews is one of the greatest advantages that online grocery shopping brings. There might be something new in the market, but you might not know whether or not to purchase it because you do not have a chance to find out what buyers like you think about the product. However, with grocery shopping online, you not only have reviews but even the star rating. The reviews help you find out what exactly is the issue with the product, and if it gives good value for money for you, then you might consider purchasing the product.

The most obvious advantage that grocery shopping brings about is saving in terms of time and frustration. More often than not, the billing aisles are crowded, and it might take as much time to bill as it takes to shop. With grocery shopping apps, you can avoid the queue completely. Yes, online grocery shopping might not be the place for you to buy things instantly and make it available within 10 or 15 minutes of something being needed. However, in most cases, shopping for groceries is well-planned and might not fall into the category of impulse buying.

Some interesting statistics

• Online grocery shopping has been growing steadily, and it is expected to reach close to $30 billion by 2021.
• 54% of grocery retailers have been considering integrating online grocery shopping using mobile applications.
• The percentage of shoppers in the US who had shopped online grew from 3.9% in 2007 to 23.4% in 2017.

The different types of grocery shopping apps

Grocery shopping applications are far from being monotonous. There are different kinds of grocery apps that you can create based on your requirements. Given the possibility of steady growth, it makes a lot of business sense for an aspiring entrepreneur to create a grocery shopping app.

The best part is that you do not even have to build the app from scratch by using a cumbersome coding process or by hiring a team of expensive developers. All you need to do is get in touch with an app development company that specializes in Instacart clone applications. They will take care to understand your requirements and create the perfect grocery shopping app for you.

There are grocery delivery apps that cater to a single store. This app is, in essence, a digital representation of your store. You will need to constantly update the online grocery items available on the store and deliver it to your customers. In short, you will need to manage it like your store has a new branch – the updating of the inventory, the management of the delivery, the billing management, and the quality control will all fall into your hands.

There are aggregators who just provide a platform for all the grocery stores that are available in the vicinity of a user period; this is quite similar to a shopping mall-just that instead of a variety of shops, it will only be grocery shops! What you do is enable a platform for the stores to execute orders. It is the responsibility of the store to have the orders delivered to the customer. Both customers and stores can sign up with your app and its services.

Market places are quite similar to aggregators, but the responsibility of delivery falls on the app platform. This presents one of the most lucrative start-up ideas both for users, stores, and even freelance delivery executives because it provides a symbiotic situation for all the parties involved. For example, the stores do not have to care about appointing delivery executives – it creates an extra financial and management burden. There are a lot of workers who are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to earn money, and this business model opens up new opportunities for them. Customers, on the other hand, do not have to wait for the grocery store to make the delivery executive and send it to their homes – the gig workers can execute the task faster, enabling quicker turnaround times for the customer.

Essential features of a grocery delivery app

The grocery delivery app needs to have separate apps for different sets of users.

The customer app should enable easy registration for the customers by using an email address or phone number, or legacy login credentials like Google and Facebook. They should be easily able to browse items through a search function that helps them get to the desired grocery item as quickly as possible. They should also be able to track the orders and get an estimate of the delivery time. Above everything, they should be able to make payments using multiple payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, and internet banking. They should be able to rate the experience with the store and the delivery. To keep them hooked to your app, constant discounts and offers need to be provided to entice the customer.

The store manager application should have a provision to manage customers and their stores. They should also be able to manage the listings on the app, so they do not end up with a bad customer experience of listing something and not having it available for delivery. They should be provided with a dashboard that gives them complete reports on the activities, the revenue, and the sale of items. They should be able to quickly transfer their earnings to their bank account.

The delivery executive application should have the same features as the user but with an enhanced degree of accuracy and authenticity. They should be able to sign up for the services easily and should be able to provide details on the delivery for the customer to have live tracking.

Above everyone, there should be an administrator who takes care of all the activities of the app, managers users, stores,  delivery executives, and keeps a check on the general health of the app. They are responsible for managing the sanity and sanctity of the app, and they should have complete information on all the statistics of the app, including but not limited to usage and revenue.

Conclusion

As discussed earlier, one of the best ways that you can embark on the journey of making a profit from these grocery delivery applications is to make use of an Instacart clone app. This online grocery delivery app will be available to you that the earliest because creating an on-demand grocery delivery app from a clone does not take a lot of time or money!

All you need to do is get in touch with one of the app development companies, and they will take it to understand your requirement and also deliver the app for you!