How to Create a Grocery App in 4 Steps

As smartphone adoption is growing worldwide, simultaneously with cashless and contactless payments, and consumers are more demanding than ever, the decision to create a grocery delivery app or another solution catering to their needs can become a game-changer for your business.

 

For example, a grocery app built by Onix for Fayno Market helped increase sales by UAH 1 billion in a year!

 

Intuitive mobile applications facilitate delightful customer experiences, increase business efficiency, create new jobs, help businesses reach new audiences, and facilitate highly accurate targeting, boosting sales and revenue.

 

British supermarkets that invested in online ordering software reportedly also saw increased brand recognition!

 

Whether a small store, a supermarket chain, or a tech startup — all can benefit from grocery mobile app development. This article unpacks the process in lay terms, lists the features your app may have, and gives an idea of the approximate cost.

 

High Time to Build Grocery Apps

eGrocery market size across Southeast Asia is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16% and approach $17 billion by 2026. Indonesia’s market will likely grow the fastest, although other countries are forecast to at least double theirs from 2021 to 2026.

 

For example, in Vietnam, whose digital economy is experiencing the most rapid growth in the region, 85% of urban digital users were using online grocery services in 2022 and intended to maintain or increase their use of eCommerce apps.

 

71% of Americans already shop for groceries online. Digital grocery sales are projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.7% and increase their share of total grocery spending from 11.2% in 2022 to 13.6% in 2027.

 

Particularly, online sales with pick-up from a store are expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.6% in 2022-2027, surpassing options with delivery (with 10.8%) and ship-to-home (8%). Pick-up should see the highest growth of average order (6.4%, inclusive of inflation) and order frequency among active users (3.3%).

 

Pick-up’s share of online grocery sales can thus expand from 45.4% in 2022 to 50.3% by 2027 as many grocers are rolling out pick-up services across their stores. The home delivery segment is already saturated, with most customers able to choose among multiple delivery options and often preferring pick-up.

 

According to a report that studied the grocery retail sector in several European countries, online grocery shopping sales there may more than double by 2030.

 

The surveyed consumers stressed that they expect quick and easy shopping and flexible fulfillment options. They indicated eco-friendly shopping and personalized offerings as desirable options and even mentioned advanced virtual reality offerings.

 

Retailers that wish to keep or grow their market share must offer hybrid services. Moreover, they need to roll out online shopping solutions as soon as possible to resolve new technology-related problems quickly and gain the necessary expertise and a competitive edge.

 

In the UK, 60% of consumers buy groceries online at least sometimes, and 16% shop primarily or exclusively online. They spend a third of their food budgets on online orders and prefer home delivery (23.7%) to pick-up (6.6%).

 

Even more important is that consumers worldwide continue shifting toward buying through mobile apps. Over 60% of online grocery orders are made on mobile devices already.

 

Use Cases for Grocery Mobile App Development

The most common grocery shopping app business models include the following:

 

1. Apps for small grocery chains and independent stores

The primary motives behind small grocery store app development are customer retention and enhanced in-store experience. Their apps can be simpler, with small feature sets. For example, an app can enable customers to:

 

• check the price and availability of an item in the nearby shop, product listings, current discounts, and possibly additional information
• view coupons, deals, and weekly circulars online
• make shopping lists
• receive notifications, e.g., weekly promotions, when their favorite products are available in the nearest store, etc.
• join a loyalty program, track bonus points, and pay with accumulated bonuses
• order home delivery

 

On-demand grocery app development may be of interest even to small local chains. An app can significantly enhance their appeal and reputation by adding delivery to their services and employing youth part-time to collect and deliver orders. 

 

For example, Onix built a mobile app for a local chain that positions itself as “grocery stores next door.” Fayno Market app supports the company in: 

 

• going green
• digitizing and streamlining processes
• meeting social responsibility commitments
• engaging more customers in the loyalty program
• adaptation to the changing market using consumer activity analysis
• gaining a competitive advantage in marketing

 

Onix delivered one solution for customers and another for the grocery store employees. The consumers’ app enables them to:

 

• choose the nearby grocery as their home grocery store
• learn news and view special offers in the home grocery or other Fayno Market stores
• use their virtual loyalty card to accrue bonuses and display it while shopping to apply discounts
• view their purchase history
• evaluate their shopping experiences
• contact Fayno Market’s support team, and more

 

In the app for employees, users can:

 

• view their work schedule
• receive and send push notifications, e.g., to call an employee or employees to a specific workstation
• view their loyalty program details and special offers
• use the loyalty card at the check-out point

 

 

2. Supermarket chain apps

More ambitious business goals and larger scales require more complex and feature-rich solutions. Besides all of the above functions, a supermarket mobile app can help customers:

 

• find the chain’s stores using geolocation and check their opening hours  

 

• receive promotions depending on the user’s location and highly personalized offers based on their online and in-store purchase history and other data

 

• create and edit shopping lists, share them with contacts, save lists for future use, and easily convert them to the shopping cart

 

• add products to favorites

 

• receive notifications when their favorite, frequently purchased, or items on their list are available at a discount

 

• store gift cards electronically

 

• quickly find items in a particular store using a store map, barcode search, or voice assistant

 

• receive cashback on certain products

 

• order products online with options such as pick-up, home delivery, schedule the pick-up or delivery, track orders in real time, and cancel orders

 

• pay with the mobile phone easily and securely

 

• find the pick-up point using a map with geolocation tracking

 

• tip the courier via the app

 

• deal with refunds and replacements

 

• subscribe for free delivery, extra promotions, and other privileges available to members

 

… or anything supermarkets can offer to attract new audiences, increase customer engagement, and stand out among the competitors.

 

Walmart’s mobile app is an excellent example of grocery ordering app development. In three years after launching it, Walmart observed that app users were shopping with Walmart twice as often and spending 40% more than customers who didn’t use the app.

 

Currently, the app enables users to:

 

• order and collect their order curbside or have it delivered by FedEx or UPS within two days or as little as one hour
• reorder frequently purchased items
• subscribe to thousands of everyday essential products at regular prices which will be automatically delivered on their preferred cadence
• refill and manage family prescriptions
• scan items’ barcodes to check prices and build lists
• stay on budget while shopping (when they select an item, the total order cost is shown with tax)
• check out contact-free
• see how furniture and other items will look in their home, and more. 

 

Read also: Augmented reality in retail & shopping: benefits and use cases

 

METRO UA is an example of supermarket app development by Onix. The mobile app was designed to make shopping more convenient and digitize some offline customer processes at the Ukrainian branch of METRO C&C, an international wholesale grocery retailer.  

 

 

The app’s functionalities currently include:

 

• Electronic METRO customer card that substitutes the physical card. The cashier would scan the customer card screen at check-out to award or spend loyalty bonuses.

 

• Barcode scanner for checking a product’s current price. The app conveniently keeps all scanned items in a carousel and updates the prices every time the user opens the app.

 

• Electronic promotional brochures relevant to a specific store.

 

• Creating shareable shopping lists manually, via scanning, and from an online catalog. The app automatically groups the items by categories corresponding to the physical store’s departments to help shoppers move through a huge store purposefully.

 

• Map of all METRO stores and their hours of work. 

 

• METRO loyalty program, where users can choose the type of reward (bonuses or discounts), accrue bonuses upon each purchase, generate vouchers during subsequent purchases, and level up their membership. 

 

3. Aggregator/intermediary grocery mobile apps

These apps act as a middle-man between multiple stores and online shoppers. Users can order groceries from a store without downloading its app.

 

They would typically place an order with a nearby store and choose either a pick-up or delivery option. Grocery marketplaces may rely on a supermarket’s delivery service or have their own pool of drivers.

 

An aggregator app thus should feature:

 

• advanced search and filters
• unified product listings so users can order from different supermarkets
• search results not from a selected store but all stores in the neighborhood
• recommendation engine suggesting products similar to search results, based on previous purchases, or what other users order
• ability to track the order on the map and receive push notifications
• ability to leave reviews about purchased products and rate the store
• live chat with courier during shopping
• multiple payment options, including mobile payments, cash, credit card, or QR code payment

Intermediaries that create grocery apps typically earn money by charging a fee for each order either to the merchant or the consumer (commission on the order or delivery service fee). They can generate additional revenue through partner supermarkets and third-party ads.

 

Learn more: Monetization models for free mobile apps

 

Those looking to create grocery delivery apps may draw inspiration from Instacart. An estimated 13.7 million customers shop online for food, fresh produce, drinks, snacks, alcohol, and household essentials at 80K retail locations across the US, with curbside pick-up and same-day delivery options. Some 600K shoppers pick up and deliver orders to customers.

 

Instacart allows users to:

 

• view nutritional information and filter groceries according to their dietary requirements
• find exclusive deals and coupons
• use Group Carts to shop together with friends, family, and neighbors
• chat with the shopper and select replacements when needed

 

BigBasket is an example of successful grocery delivery app development in India. In 2022, the country’s largest online food and grocery store served 8.5 million households in 300+ cities and towns with the help of 35K delivery partners.

 

The app conveniently serves a diverse clientele in seven regional languages and facilitates search via barcode scans and voice commands.

 

Customers can choose from 40K+ products, including fresh produce, rice, dals, meats, spices, seasonings, beverages, household essentials, pet and personal care products, and have their orders delivered in 15-30 minutes.

 

BigBasket offers discounts, bundle pack offerings, promotions, and fast and secure payments by UPI, net-banking, credit and debit cards, and e-wallets.

 

4. Courier apps

These apps enable users to hire a personal shopper who will buy the ordered groceries from a store or food market and promptly deliver them. If an app has a contract with a particular store or chain, it would charge a commission on every order. Otherwise, it charges a service fee to the customers.

 

Another interface enables the delivery staff to receive, view, and manage orders, turn their availability on and off, etc.

 

HappyFresh is Indonesia’s leading online grocery delivery service. Millions of users shop from 600+ online supermarkets, specialty stores, and fresh marts.

 

An AI-powered personalization engine helps customers save time by suggesting products they buy often, and discounts, deals, exclusive daily vouchers, promotions, and loyalty points help save money.

 

The company’s quality control team ensures a high standard of the goods, trained shoppers handpick the best items, and riders deliver them to the customer’s home or office within an hour.

 

Read also: How artificial intelligence will transform your business

 

How to Make a Grocery App in 4 Steps

The process of grocery mobile app development can be divided into the following stages:

 

1. Research and project planning.

Firstly, you need to understand your business goals, customers’ needs, and the market. After identifying the unique business problems to solve and the customers’ pain points, you should come up with a better solution than your competitors offer. 

 

Research your target audience, demand, trends, competitors’ mobile apps, business models, and possible marketing strategies.

 

It’s reasonable to start by investigating the best practices established by national and global industry leaders. Then, identify competitors in your niche, analyze their advantages and shortcomings, and try to figure out what improvements can help you beat them.

 

It would be best to end this stage by documenting the project requirements and creating basic wireframes. These will facilitate budget planning and communication with software developers.

  

If you don’t have the time or confidence for these tasks, you can delegate them to an agency like Onix.

 

Experts can help prioritize the desired app features, suggest solutions, recommend optimal technologies, verify your idea viability early on, estimate the project cost, identify possible risks, and help organize timely product development.

 

 

Experts often recommend starting with a minimum viable product (MVP) to save time and budget and reduce risks. An MVP includes only the essential grocery app features.

 

After the MVP is launched, obtains a user base, and collects feedback from the first users and investors, the company can gradually add more advanced features.

 

Certain functionalities are likely to be found in any mobile grocery app:

 

• Registration with as few text fields as possible

 

• Log in with a password and email address, phone number, or social media profile

 

• Personal profile with information about a user, including their name, phone number, email, address, favorite grocery store, etc., with general account management options and app settings

 

• Marketing information on sales, discounts, promotions, coupons, etc. 

 

• A quick and easy search that can be facilitated by product categories and filters, predictive search, and favorites lists

 

• Product listings, including at least the product name, pictures, and price, and possibly comprehensive nutrition and allergens information, rating, reviews, details for vegans, religious groups, etc.

 

• Digital loyalty card with a barcode or QR code and features related to bonuses, rewards, redeeming points, etc.

 

• Shopping list

 

• Push notifications, including order status updates, location-based information about offers, current sales or promotions at nearest stores, discounts on items they buy often, availability of favorite goods, abandoned shopping cart reminders, company news, etc.

 

However, different use cases require different feature sets. For example, if you have a pick-up option, you might add the customer’s location tracking and QR-code system to identify customers at pick-up points.

 

If your app offers delivery services, you need to provide multiple payment options and an interface for drivers and couriers.

 

Additionally, you may add to the MVP or subsequent versions of your mobile app:

 

• prices comparison
• voice search
• chatbot that can answer generic questions on products, delivery statuses, etc.
• recipe recommendations based on the food items bought previously
• forming a shopping cart based on a particular recipe…

 

… or any features that can make your app more useful, competitive, and unique. The features must be valuable for your business and your customers.

 

Remember that along with a grocery shopping app, you will also need an admin panel for managing all in-app processes. These functions are usually realized through a web application. For example, a grocery delivery app’s admin panel for managers and administrators may include an interface and features for:

 

• order management and tracking
• tracking payments 
• real-time inventory management
• in-app content management
• running promotions, offers, rewards, etc.
• creating, sending, and automating push notifications
• keeping track of courier working hours
• managing consumers and other app users
• providing support for consumers and stores and handling returns and refunds
• keeping track of various statistics, such as monthly, weekly, and daily users, most and least popular products, in-store purchases/pick-up/home delivery numbers, days with more and fewer sales, most popular payment methods and price range for customers, most and least used app features, etc.

 

2. Assembling a grocery app development team.

Entrepreneurs can build the mobile grocery app in-house, hire freelancers or an external dedicated team, or outsource the job to an offshore software developer like Onix for greater savings.

 

Your minimal app development team is likely to include:

 

• Project manager
• Mobile app designer
• Android developer and/or iOS developer
• Back-end developer
• Web developer
• 2-3 quality assurance (QA) specialists

 

When recruiting grocery app developers, look for specialists in the following technologies:

 

For the app’s back-end development:

Programming languages: JavaScript, Python, or PHP

 

Frameworks:

 

• JavaScript: Angular, Ember.js, Meteor, React, Vue.js
• Node.js: Express.js, Nest.js
• PHP: CakePHP, Laravel, Symfony
• Python: Django, Flask

 

Database: MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL

 

Caching tool: Redis or Memcached

 

Server: Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean Cloud Services, Linode, Microsoft Azure, Vultr 

 

Web server software: Apache HTTP Server, Nginx

 

For the mobile app development:

Native mobile apps: Kotlin (Android), Swift (iOS)

 

Cross-platform mobile app: Flutter, React.js + React Native

 

Global payment s: Braintree, Stripe, PayPal

 

For the web admin panel development:

Programming languages: CSS, HTML, JavaScript, TypeScript

 

3. Grocery app design.

The primary goal of grocery mobile app design is convenience. A practical, intuitive, and visually appealing solution will nurture customer loyalty and garner positive reviews and recommendations. Quality grocery app design implies:

 

• a smart user experience (UX) design that will make the purchase journey as short and smooth as possible

 

• minimalistic and clean user interfaces (UI) for customers, couriers, and other users

 

• brand design that vividly delivers the company’s message and distinguishes the app from the competitors

 

Below you can see an example of grocery mobile app design for Onix’s client Fayno Market.

Here are several UX tips from Onix’s experience, including our work for Fayno Market and METRO UA:

 

• Minimize the users’ need to search for anything. Discounted products should be the first thing shoppers see on the home screen. It should list the most popular products first.

 

• Department categories and subcategories can be neatly placed in a drop-down menu.

 

• Customers must be able to save and easily return to their cart-in-progress. Consider including a progress indicator for users to know where they are in the check-out process and create a solid and clear call-to-action.

 

The eCommerce UX/UI design best practices also apply to online grocery marketplaces.

 

 

 

4. Mobile and web apps development and testing.

Every project starts with fixing a technical base for further operations. Then, the web and mobile developers implement the designed interfaces. At the same time, the back-end developers build databases and implement APIs, various services, and libraries for the system’s inner workings.

 

Learn more: How to integrate third-party APIs into your mobile app

 

The app has to be coded to meet all applicable requirements and go through

 

• functional testing
• usability testing
• interface testing
• performance testing
• security testing

 

It is essential to check whether the mobile app runs equally well on different devices, debug the entire code, and remove all issues before deployment. However, error elimination and maintenance will continue long after the app is released to Apple’s App Store or Google Play. 

 

How Much Does Grocery App Development Cost?

The main factors that determine grocery app development cost are:

 

• the app complexity and the number of features
• for which platforms it is being developed
• the choice of technologies and third-party services, such as payment gateways
• the app developers’ salaries or hourly rates, which differ from country to country and from company to company

 

For example, the first factor directly impacts the number of man/hours necessary for grocery shopping app development:

 

 

You can roughly calculate the cost by multiplying the development time by the specialists’ hourly rate. By outsourcing the development to countries with a lower cost of living, such as Eastern Europe or the Indian subcontinent, you can negotiate lower rates and save up to half of your budget.

 

For example, with Onix’s average rate of $50/hour, the above project time estimate translates into $61K-$72K.  

 

Onix’s Expertise and Experience in Grocery Store App Development

For METRO C&C, an international wholesale grocery retail company, Onix developed branded mobile apps for the iOS and Android platforms.

 

The project supports METRO’s long-term strategy to:

 

• digitize the current offline customer processes
• facilitate shopping at physical METRO stores
• pave the way for future online sales

 

Onix’s team joined the project after the specification and design for the minimum viable product were developed. They started with an audit of the UI/UX design, made some recommendations, and had the app design adjusted.

 

 

The MVP’s functionalities — registration, customer card, METRO stores list, and advertising brochures — were developed in close cooperation with the client.

 

The loyalty program launch was a milestone in the development of METRO UA wholesale shopping apps. Eventually, Onix’s developers implemented the product barcode scanner, shopping list, linking stores, push notifications, vouchers, and the product catalog.

 

The supermarket applications have had 650K+ downloads already and serve 130K active users monthly. 24% use the iOS app and 76% the Android app. Onix’s team will soon be adding new functionality to the apps.

Fayno Market, a Ukrainian chain of grocery stores, intended to use promotions and bonus programs to convert mobile app users to active shoppers at their physical stores.

 

Onix’s specialists had to build a solution from scratch in a very short time, so it wasn’t feasible to implement all of the client’s ideas in the first version of the app.

 

Together, we reviewed, discussed, and approved the proposed app features and software requirements again, reducing the task to building an MVP. Nevertheless, it included:

 

• a native iOS application
• an Android app
• a database for the marketing department

 

The latter enables marketers, for example, to personalize special offers based on the analysis of the most frequently viewed products, popular purchases, and other customer activity data.

 

One of the biggest challenges was to generate tailored offers considering numerous parameters. It also took significant effort to build a DB management system in such a way as to speed up the request-response flow.

 

Onix’s specialists chose PHP-based back-end development and other technologies that promote app functionality customization, massive database integration, and content management.

 

The Fayno Market team didn’t want to use an admin panel, so we built a tool allowing them to administrate the database. The integration with their custom enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems was challenging, but we worked out an architecture that perfectly met the client’s needs.

 

Although not responsible for the app’s visual design initially, Onix’s designers created some parts of the application and modified the design as the developers introduced new functionalities.

 

In the first year of its operation, the mobile app helped Fayno Market to raise

 

• the number of receipts by 6.6 million
• accrued bonuses by 7 million and withdrawn bonuses by 7.3 million
• the sales by 1 billion UAH

 

Currently, the app serves 26K users daily and 97K monthly. 81% use the Android version, and 19% use the iOS app. 89K new users were added in 2022, and the app enjoys an excellent Day 1 retention rate of 39.7%.

 

Onix’s specialists are currently working on the app’s new functionalities and design.

 

To Recap

As more and more grocery shopping occurs online, grocery app development becomes a vital move for businesses and an appealing option for tech companies. 

 

Now more than ever, grocery businesses need to strengthen the customer experience to protect their base business and improve the online channel profitability. To this end, they are recommended to:

 

• Use the knowledge of their customers and the value provided to them to deliver a more personalized, consistent, and smooth brand experience;

 

• Improve margins by offering lower-cost pick-up services, partnering with multiple third-party delivery services, and leveraging first-party retail media to offset the cost of serving online customers.

 

A custom mobile app can improve customer experience, increase sales, and provide timely and accurate customer insights.

 

Are you ready to make your own grocery delivery app or another solution for grocery eCommerce? Do you need to enrich your customer experience with novel features or updated interface design? If yes, Onix is at your service!

 

 

FAQ

 

What businesses should build grocery delivery apps?

 

• Big supermarket chains
• Tech companies that act as a middle-man between stores, delivery companies, and online shoppers
• Delivery and courier companies
• Small grocery chains

 

How to create a grocery delivery app?

We can break down grocery delivery application development into the following steps:

 

1. Determine your business goals, vision, and problems the app should solve. Research the target audience, demand, and competition.

 

2. Select the essential app features and prepare a technical specification. (It would be best to engage software developers at this stage: they can advise you on the features and technology and estimate your grocery delivery app cost).

 

3. Hire experts who know how to develop a grocery delivery app according to your specifications.

 

4. Have the app’s user experience, interfaces, and branding designed. 

 

5. Have the grocery mobile app’s front-end and back-end programmed and thoroughly tested before publication.

 

Can Onix set up a dedicated team to build a grocery delivery app for me?

Yes. Our company offers a variety of experts that can make an excellent dedicated team. In particular, they have considerable experience building eCommerce solutions for the web and mobile devices.

 

You can count on Onix’s vast and unique technical expertise. Over 24 years, our software engineers have worked on hundreds of diverse projects in various industries, developing flexibility and out-of-the-box thinking and creating impressive libraries of solutions and methods.

 

Our seasoned designers, programmers, experts in test automation, QA and DevOps engineers, and PMs are accustomed to rapid delivery under the pressure of deadlines, Agile development practices, and frequent changes on projects.