Grocery Delivery App Development: All-In-One Guide with Tips, Cost & Steps

The online grocery shopping market has started growing with COVID-19 and hasn’t stopped yet. If you decide to build an on-demand delivery app, you’ll invest in a rapidly growing industry.

Grocery delivery apps provide you customers with easy access to your whole product catalog. The development of such an app can help you increase sales and attract new customers.

Customers love food delivery apps as they allow saving time on shopping while getting the best deals without leaving their homes. The most popular apps in the industry generate hundreds of millions of dollars.

HOW DOES AN ON-DEMAND GROCERY DELIVERY APP WORK? 

A grocery delivery application usually consists of an app for end-users, an admin dashboard, and a separate app for couriers.
 Customers may either pay for the order as soon as they place it or when the order is prepared for delivery, depending on your business model. After the order is ready, a driver picks it up and delivers it to the customer. Upon receiving the order, the customer can rate the shopping experience and provide a review.

BUILD A GROCERY DELIVERY APP: KEY APP TYPES

Depending on your business model, you can build different types of grocery delivery applications. Let’s review five of the most widespread types of such apps.

AGGREGATOR APP

The applications of this type connect grocery stores and customers. Buyers can select a store where they want to shop for groceries and place an order. The store carries out order packaging and delivery. Basically, an aggregator app acts as an intermediary between customers and grocery stores.

Best for app owners who want to connect customers with grocery stores without managing product deliveries.

MARKETPLACE APP

This app type is similar to the previous one. The main difference is that the company owning the app manages and performs the delivery of orders.

Best for businesses that want to carry out deliveries from grocery stores they’ve partnered with.

SINGLE STORE APP

If you already have a grocery store and want to expand your business online, grocery delivery app development is the next step in your journey. This type of app is also called a while label grocery delivery app. The business takes care of orders processing, packaging, and orders delivery. It’s also possible to partner with third-party delivery companies for ordered deliveries.

Best for individual grocery stores.

GROCERY CHAIN APP

This app type is similar to the single-store app. The only difference is that a grocery store chain manages the app and orders delivery from the chain of its stores at multiple locations.

Best for grocery store chains.

PERSONALIZED GROCERY APP

Applications of this type are designed to provide customers with the best user experience. Such applications offer all the features for smooth shopping – from the ability to create shopping lists to share them with other users, order fridge-stocking delivery services or subscribe to a regular delivery of specific products.

Best for grocery store owners and for delivery businesses who partner with those stores.

GROCERY DELIVERY APP DEVELOPMENT: STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Grocery delivery app development involves various experts working together to create an application. The process comprises multiple stages and steps to ensure you get an app that meets all your business grocery app requirements. Let’s explore how to make a grocery delivery app from both the business and technical sides.

1. ANALYZE THE MARKET & DEFINE YOUR NICHE

A lot of stages are involved before the actual grocery app development starts. First of all, you need to analyze the situation in the market, identify the best grocery delivery applications, understand your main competitors to find your USP and niche.

The data collected during this stage will help you document the grocery delivery app development strategy. You can organize all the data into a one-page summary – Business Model Canvas – to cover all high-level details of your future strategy.

2. CHOOSE A UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

You might be wondering how to make an app like Instacart while you need to think about how to make your future solution different from existing applications.

Identifying users’ pains will give you a better understanding of the direction you’ll need to move. Don’t try to clone existing solutions. Analyze what they are offering and come up with your unique features to address pain points.

3. FIND A MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

When you understand what app you’re going to develop, it’s time to find a software development company.

There are thousands of companies all over the world providing such services. You can choose a company based on its unique specialization, location, and hourly rate.

European countries stand out thanks to providing development services of outstanding quality at relatively low prices. If you choose a company charging $50 per hour, you’ll be able to save up to 60% of your grocery delivery app development budget.

During the initial project discussion, ask about the company’s experience, how they approach the development process, what services they provide, and so on.

4. GROCERY DELIVERY APP DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN

On-demand grocery delivery app development consists of two major steps: discovery and development.

DISCOVERY STAGE

The main goal of the discovery stage is the finalization of your app idea, preparation of functional specifications, and creation of UX/UI design creation.

When designing the app, concentrate on the user-friendliness of its interface, a great look across all devices and operating systems.

DEVELOPMENT STAGE

Development is the next stage of grocery delivery app development. You can either build an MVP or a full-fledged project. In most cases, companies start with the creation of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) to avoid unnecessary financial risks.

MVP development’s primary goal is testing and verifying an app idea. After the concept is successfully verified, you can start working on some advanced features.

GROCERY STORE DELIVERY APP DEVELOPMENT COST

The cost to build a food delivery app may vary from $50,00 to $160,000. In some cases, $50,000 will be enough to create an MVP for a single operating system – iOS or Android. Sometimes grocery store delivery app development costs can reach $500,000 and even go beyond this number.

A few factors influence the final cost of grocery delivery app development:

Type of team – the decision to hire an in-house development or work with an outsourcing company will influence the final price.

Location – if you decide to work with a vendor, its location will impact the development costs. For example, cooperation with a company in Europe can reduce costs by up to 60%, while development in the USA may be the most expensive option.

App type – you can build a brand grocery delivery app, an on-demand delivery platform, an aggregator solution, etc. The choice you make will impact the final cost you’ll need to pay for grocery delivery app development services. Read more about Grocery delivery app development.