Food, shelter, and clothing are and will remain the most imperative things to survive. In the recent pandemic time, all of us had to put all efforts to collect life-saving essentials amid the lockdown-like situation. It has made one thing clear- life can exist without luxury, but not without food, grocery, or milk.
Let’s take a real-life example. People tend to stand in a long queue waiting for their turn while maintaining social distance for buying groceries and food items during the lockdown. The brick-and-mortar grocery shop owners find it increasingly difficult to provide groceries to all customers while following the same rules. Also, they have to deal with the situation that arises due to reduced staff. Here, technology comes into the picture.
In this mobile-driven age, customized grocery delivery apps can work wonders and people can easily give online orders from the comfort of their home. The on-demand grocery app development can take care of every aspect related to grocery delivery, and grocers can easily deliver necessary items at the customer’s doorstep.
In the recent turbulent time, Instacart, Walmart Grocery, and Shipt have set the new records of daily downloads with an increase of 218%, 160%, and 124% respectively. This rise is because of the on-demand grocery app’s characteristics of removing middlemen and enhancing convenience for customers. As per the App Annie survey, Walmart Grocery app has already surpassed Amazon in the app’s chart with the highest number of downloads.
There is no exaggeration in mentioning that the pandemic will have a lasting impact on our lifestyle and we witness many changes even in the post-pandemic age. Customers’ dependency on the on-demand grocery delivery app will increase because it provides the safest and most convenient way to purchase groceries. Statista has predicted that by the end of the year 2022, more than 30000 million users will use grocery applications in the US alone.
The reasons for the growing popularity of on-demand apps grocery delivery apps are convenience, timely delivery, affordability, and cost-effectiveness. The grocery app is a technological boon that has made our lives easy with the availability of necessary goods or products with few clicks. Simply put, dedicated and feature-rich grocery apps are gradually replacing the conventional way of shopping.
Millennials, urban households, and young adults prefer this way of grocery delivery as early adopters of the new-age, mobile app-based technology. People look for saving time and effort while giving an order for essential items. Grocery apps enable users to serve these objectives while facilitating them to avoid crowded places and get the products they have ordered at the doorstep.
Prevalent Types of Grocery Apps
- Aggregator Apps
These apps involve multiple stores for providing groceries at competitive rates to users. An aggregator app shows super and departmental stores that are associated with the app. Users can select the store, book their order, make payments, and checkout with ease. The aggregator app offers a smooth and convenient shopping experience to customers.
- Grocery Chain Apps
Walmart Grocery app is an example of a grocery chain app. Here a single store has a chain of stores. The single store manages orders, requests, payments, and delivery while professionally serving the customers. Here, the chain of a single store can connect aggregators to facilitate the delivery of groceries on time.
- Marketplace Apps
The marketplace app works exactly the same as a traditional marketplace. Here, sellers can list grocery products, and customers or buyers can place an order for buying particular items. The marketplace owner or administrator then facilitates a delivery executive or delivery person to deliver the grocery from the seller to the buyer.
- Grocery Mobile Apps
These are customized apps that give more freedom and personalized experience to the users. Be it a listing of new products, setting reminders, or tracking spending, the on-demand grocery delivery apps have features to make the buying experience more pleasant.
How On-demand Grocery Apps take on Challenges of Brick-and-Mortar Grocery Retailers?
Perishable items like fruits, vegetables, and milk pose a great challenge for any brick-and-mortar grocery store. Retailers need a huge space and proper conditions for storing them. If for some reason, the demand for any of these items is decreased, then the grocer’s overheads can increase significantly. There, on-demand grocery apps can lend a helping hand and enable retailers to focus on the timely delivery of online orders.
When your customers get farm-fresh products at their doorsteps, they will certainly repeat orders frequently. It results in increased turnover and you can easily maintain the supply chain. Also, the on-demand grocery delivery apps can reduce the chances of wrong deliveries that further enhances the trust among your customers.
The second challenge is thin profit margins. These days, people want to get the best deal on almost every product while purchasing through mobile phones. Talking about groceries, you cannot offer more discounts in your brick-and-mortar store because of some limitations. But, the on-demand grocery app facilitates you to sell more platforms on a single platform while assisting you to save operating costs. As a result, you can offer discounts on certain products in app-based grocery shopping.
Increased online sales enable you to cope up with thin profit margins and you can get a loyal customer base thanks to the grocery delivery app.
You may raise a question here- how can we address the ever-changing expectations and needs of customers? As a shop owner, you can identify your customers’ shopping behavior by no means. You can also fail to cope with their changing demands that lead to either a no-stock or an overstock situation in your store. These situations cause you a loss of money and reputation. The grocery delivery app enables you to avoid these situations. Let’s understand it now.
The grocery delivery app collects the customer’s behavioral data and provides real-time reports. Based on these reports and analysis, you can make informed decisions to maintain the demand and supply chain while managing the delivery network. What’s more, the mobile app development company can integrate advanced features like social media sharing and voice search to make your grocery app more appealing.
It is fair to mention that the on-demand grocery delivery app not only helps brick-and-mortar grocers deliver necessary goods to customers’ doorsteps but also assists them to maintain the subtle balance between demand and supply. Technological advancements in the app also enable retailers to build a brand by having many loyal customers.