The world has been changed to a digital era and those days are gone when people used to prepare the long grocery list of their required products and visit departmental stores to buy certain things. Nowadays, people just download an application, select stuff online by searching and place an order easily with a few taps on the phone screen. Moreover, most of the applications accept online payment methods so that you can have a hassle-free online grocery shopping.

In the contemporary era, it has been observed that the number of users installing grocery ordering apps in their smartphones is continuously rising and will continue to rise in the future because for people who are working the whole day, finds it difficult to rush to the departmental centres to buy groceries. They prefer to shop online where they get every desired item with ease.

Why the on-demand industry is rising?

The answer to the above question can be found in the behaviours of the customers only. Not only grocery delivery, but other services like food delivery, spa, salon are also growing with time. Moreover in the future, the online industry will be prevalent in all parts of the world and the entrepreneurs entering the online market now will earn high profits in the coming years. Online grocery business caught up in the storm of technology where exciting features are added in the applications and websites which provides utmost convenience to its customers. With technology expanding its reach, starting an uber for grocery delivery app can be a gold rush as its making a prominent drift in the virtual world. Let us see some of the features which can be added in the application in order to grow. Basically, there are three different panels which include:

• Customer panel

• Store manager

• Admin panel

For customer app: To cater the growing needs of E-commerce and online platforms, a separate customer app is made in which all the important features are added to make online grocery shopping more hassle-free and easy.

• Easy registration

• Browse products

• Multiple payment options

• Filtering and search option

• Schedule delivery

• Re-order

• Payment and order history

• Real-time order tracking

• Offers and discounts

• Notifications and alerts

For store manager: An application is made for a departmental store through which the manager can add or remove any item and update the customers about the same. He is solely responsible for managing all the aspects of the store.

• Store locator

• Web order

• Store pickup

• Manage profile

• Live to track

• Accept or reject orders

• Manage inventory

• Update products

• Manage reviews and ratings

For admin: Admin panel has an ability to manage everything from one single place. Multiple stores can be added in the admin panel. This is a supervisory panel which coordinates with the stores and taking necessary actions for the smooth running of the business.

• Reports and analytics

• Manage stores

• Coordination with managers

• Can remove any store easily

• Manage product list

• Order tracking

• Manage customers

• Manage payments

• Discounts and offers

• Feedbacks

Using a grocery delivery application is easier than you think. Grocery delivery applications have made lives much simple and hassle-free because people no longer need to go anywhere, they can order desired items by sitting at their comfort. One just have to download an application in a smartphone. After that, there are certain steps to follow. They are listed below:

• User sign-up with proper necessary details

• Login with E-mail ID and password

• Browse the product from smart search

• Select and add the product in the cart. Do the same process for adding additional products

• Add address details where you want your order to be delivered

• Order confirmation by the user after doing online payment

• Order request received by admin and he forwards the request to store

• The store manager then acts on the request by declining or accepting the order. In case you order is being rejected, all your money will be refunded into the wallet or bank.

• If approved, the store manager sends the verification message and generate order to collect stuff.

• The store manager can connect with the customer if the need arises.

• Update admin that driver has collected the order

• Order successfully delivers to the customer

• Driver update to admin

• Admin sends alerts to the customers.

One should have a fair idea about how to start a grocery delivery business to run it properly. Online business is all about sourcing and delivering within the shortest time possible to gain the trust of the customers. If you want to start an online grocery delivery business, you need to carefully study and analyse the buying pattern and habits of a geographical area you intend to serve. There are many things you need to keep in mind while starting a business like taking the license and approval from the government. Earlier, entrepreneurs had to search for a location to start a business but with the advent of technology, they can easily set up their business online with less investment but with great marketing strategies.

If we talk about the cost of developing an application, it varies between $3k to $25k depending upon the needs and requirements and various other factors like location of the company, the number of developers working to build your application and time taken by them etc. More features you want to add in your application, more will be the cost and vice versa. You need to decide that on how many platforms your application will work, more the platforms, higher will be the cost. 

Conclusion: 

All in all, we can say that online grocery delivery business is already increasing and will grow in the future as well because it is in the development phase. Entrepreneurs entering the online industry now will generate high revenues in the future. All businesses need patience and hard work. Online business doesn’t need much investment but marketing strategies should be perfect in order to attract people towards the business model.