It is not a surprise that the world has been slowly but steadily inclining towards total digital transformation. Almost every process that we can think about has its own digital dimension. Some of them have been perceived as industries that might not easily fall into this spiral, but even they have succumbed to the demands of time and consumers.
One such industry is the domain of groceries. People have always associated grocery shopping with a visit to a supermarket or local grocery store. However, in recent times, apps that deliver groceries to your doorstep have become so common and mainstream.
The numbers
The online grocery industry is expected to bring sales worth $30 billion in 2021. An extrapolation of the same data shows that the spending on groceries and other food at home items will breach the $100 billion mark by 2025.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only served as a catalyst for the grocery on-demand industry. Since there are heavy restrictions on people stepping out with their homes and following social distancing, not only the millennials but even the other generations have started to order their grocery online.
The coronavirus crisis might have slowed down a lot of industries, but surely not online grocery and food delivery. The lifestyle change is expected to have its hangover long after the pandemic disappears from the face of the planet.
Therefore, this might be the right time for an aspiring entrepreneur to invest in a grocery delivery app.
Before we embark on the details of the app, let us look at a few advantages that an on-demand grocery delivery app brings to the business and its customers.
The benefits of online grocery delivery
Needless to say, the first and foremost advantage of having your groceries delivered through an on-demand app is that you can order your staples from the comfort and convenience of your home. All you need is an internet connection and a smartphone.
An extension of this convenience is the benefit of flexibility. You can choose the particular time slot in which you would like to have your groceries delivered. You can also place the order in advance if you need it, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on ordering something only to find out that it is already over!
An important asset that people of the current generation have identified is the time. With an online grocery delivery app, you don’t have to spend time commuting from your home to the supermarket and picking up items into the shopping cart, and standing in a long queue to complete the billing process. If you have already decided what to buy, it barely takes five minutes to complete the entire grocery order.
Since you are working on a pre-planned list of items, you are not likely to engage in impulse buying. This means that splurge on unwanted items like chocolates, ice creams, and small sinful treats. When there is so much emphasis on minimizing contact with humans, online grocery delivery also gives you the convenience of making a payment through digital instruments. This includes but is not limited to credit cards, debit cards, internet banking, and wallets.
Getting the process rolling
Different business models that you can consider when you built your on-demand grocery app.
- Marketplace apps have their own fleet of delivery executives, and they take care of not only to facilitate the order but also to have the consignment delivered to the doorstep of the customers.
- Aggregators with local stores only take care to list the local stores on the app. The customers can place the order, and the store is notified of the audit. The responsibility of the delivery falls on the store. One of the most prominent apps that use this method is Instacart.
- There are chain grocery businesses like Walmart that have multiple stores, and users can get the order delivered from the nearest store.
- In addition, there are other business models, like single stores and retailers.
Identifying the business model that you would want your app to follow is one of the most crucial tasks in building your grocery delivery business. Although the marketplace seems like a great idea, the model that Instacart follows is considered to be the most practical and effective.
The technology
Just like any other on-demand app, there are different panels for the customer, the grocery store, the delivery executive, and the administrator. Building a full-fledged app with all the essential features can be a bit of a hassle.
Alternatively, you can make use of an Instacart clone. These white-label solutions are easy to customize and can help you launch your business in the shortest possible time. You can get in touch with Instacart like app development solution providers, and they will take care to understand your business requirement and get your app up and running.
However, the grocery delivery landscape is becoming competitive, and if you need to find your route of success, it is important to distinguish yourself with unique features. This is where there is a high relevance of the innovative Instacart clone app. To make your app future-ready, you can consider implementing a few features like using drones and robots for delivery, facilitating in-store pick up, using artificial intelligence for quality assurance, and a lot more.
The pathways to profit
There are different ways in which a grocery delivery app can make its profit. Some of them include:
- Commissions from the stores that are listed on the app, especially in the case of aggregator and marketplace models.
- Marking up the price of the items on the app so users pay a little bit more than what they would pay when purchasing in store.
- Delivery charges can be collected from customers either as a flat fee or as a factor determined by the distance and the size of the grocery order.
- Advertising either by using the native advertising programs or buy including sponsored listings and other promotional activities.
Conclusion
It is established that online grocery delivery through an on-demand mobile app is all set to be one of the most lucrative business ideas of the current times, and for a considerable stretch into the visible future. Therefore, now is the right time for any entrepreneur to invest in Instacart clone app development.
All you need to do is get in touch with a company that specializes in customizing white label clones. They will take care of not only to build your app and customize it but also to garnish it with all the features that you might need to cater to the demands of the present and the future.
