Category: Grocery

Are you looking to start your own grocery delivery business? Or want to develop a grocery delivery application? No doubt, the scope of the grocery business is good for the future.

In fact, according to GrandViewResearch, the global B2C eCommerce market revenue is projected to be USD 7.6 trillion by 2028.

This brings a great opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to invest in the grocery eCommerce market. So, if you are looking for grocery app development, we have written this blog post.

We are going to discuss the following information in the blog.

• Why invest in online grocery stores?
• How to start an online grocery store?
• What are the benefits of a grocery store?
• What are the points to keep in mind before creating a grocery store?

Let’s get into each section in detail. Firstly, let’s discuss the importance of online grocery stores.

Why Start an Online Grocery Store?

The answer is simple: grocery is the basic necessity of any family. People are going to continuously invest in the grocery stores for buying and needing the groceries. What if you can make the process of buying more efficient and less time-consuming via a mobile application? Also, creating an on-demand grocery application can help you in various ways, such as

• Makes the grocery buying process less hectic and easier
• Get the ordered grocery delivered within a limited time
• Increases the purchasing power of users with coupons and discounts

So, all these are the reasons why you need to invest in the online grocery business. Now, let’s check what are the benefits that an online grocery application brings to your business?

What are the Benefits of an Online Grocery Platform?

• It reduces the time spent by people purchasing groceries at physical stores.
• It allows people to get groceries on an urgent basis within a limited time.
• It offers discounts to users for purchasing groceries online.
• Customers get a variety of products within a few clicks.
• Customers get personalised product suggestions to make purchases.

Things to Keep In Mind Before You Start Your eCommerce Store

To create a successful eCommerce business, you have to keep the following points in your mind.

• Select a proper business model
• Follow the proper guidelines of Covid-19 in your application
• Define a particular target audience for your business
• Competitors’ analysis of your application
• Create a proper business strategy for your eCommerce app
• Setup a proper delivery channel for your business

Moreover, check out the complete guide on things to take care of before developing a grocery app solution.

Next, let’s check the process of creating an online grocery business.

How to Start an Online Grocery Business?

For creating your online grocery business, you need to focus on some things.

Step 1. Understand Your Business Requirements

At this stage, identify the target audience of your grocery business. This will help you to decide the category of your application. You would be able to decide whether you want to sell the majority of grocery products or want to get into a niche category.

Step 2. Choose a Business Model

Depending upon your target audience, you need to rectify the business model that is most suitable for your grocery business. Remember, when you choose a business model, try to identify the points that are helpful for your business. This will help you in selecting one business model. There are various business models available in the grocery business-like

• Inventory Business Model
• Multi-Vendor Marketplace Business Model
• Shopping Business Model
• Hyper-local Business Model
• Online-selling Business Model

So, accordingly, as you want to make your grocery mobile app, you need to choose your business model.

Step 3. Choose an eCommerce Platform

When you are ready to create your own eCommerce platform, you need to choose an eCommerce platform that is suitable or within your budget.

Your eCommerce platform should be attractive and easy to navigate for users. Because your eCommerce app is the first impression for your business. Users are going to interact with your first then they are likely to buy anything from it.

So, to create your custom eCommerce platform, you have to go through various eCommerce platforms. Then you need to select anyone from them. Check each of the eCommerce platforms, their functionalities, and what they offer to its users.

Check whether these platforms offer necessary functionalities like product management, payment gateway integration, social media integration, and digital platform tracking too. All these functionalities are essential for any eCommerce application.

This is quite a long process and tiring too. Either way for you is to MobiCommerce eCommerce solution provider. We have helped several businesses by creating scalable and fast eCommerce web and mobile app solutions.

Step 4. List Down the Products and Categories You Want

The most crucial task is to start an eCommerce business. It is a key factor to decide the products and categories you want to include in your eCommerce application.
While your eCommerce app development process, you need to provide the details of products and categories that are a must for your app.

Deciding the products and categories helps you to choose the inventory management tools. Selecting a proper inventory is done based on your products. So, integration of the right inventory management tool allows you to easily manage your grocery business.

Step 5. Prepare a Proper Delivery Channels

The delivery channel is an integral part of your eCommerce business. While creating your grocery app with the help of a grocery mobile app developer, you need to help him/her on a selected delivery channel.

Your grocery business and customers are connected with the delivery channels. Your eCommerce application must-have features that update users as soon as the product is delivered.
Make sure your grocery application is secure and ensures the delivery of essential food items on time as well as with proper packaging.

This is all about the process of creating a grocery business.
Want to know about the latest trends in the grocery retail industry? Read our guide grocery trends in UAE.

Conclusion
In this blog, we have discussed the process of grocery app development, why to invest in an online grocery business, the benefits, and the important points to take care of before making your custom eCommerce application.
If you are looking to develop an eCommerce mobile website or application, then get in touch with us. We have a professional team consisting of an eCommerce website developer, designer, and QA. Having years of experience we provide eCommerce development services around the world. Contact us to convert your idea into a running business.

The grocery app delivery solution is believed to have revolutionized online grocery shopping taking it to the next level. Grocery mobile app development trends are shaping the online grocery shopping experience to a large extent. The focus is more now on online ordering rather than visiting the stores. Besides, the payment options for consumers have been increased by a handful. This will help consumers of every type make a purchase. It is believed that by the end of 2021, about 70% or more ecommerce transactions would take place using mobile devices.

These trends show the increasing demand for online grocery stores worldwide and the scope of such businesses. With the intervention of several entrepreneurs in this industry, the development and technological improvements have no boundaries.

Native Grocery App Market Growing Rapidly

The market for online grocery app has increased tremendously. There is a sudden climb in the market value exceeding 100.7 billion, which is remarkable. The total percentage of consumers that have adopted online grocery shopping has risen to 10%, which is a significant climb. Though the percentage is small, it is believed that the on-demand grocery app solution is the future. Due to the pandemic, there are now more customers who prefer shopping online for their grocery requirements. The statistics above show the popularity of online grocery stores and what is its scope in the future.

Other reports show that the market keeps growing at a rapid pace. This has triggered many entrepreneurs worldwide who are looking forward to building their grocery apps. However, the grocery delivery app development cost should be considered before opting to invest in this industry.

The demand for this sector has witnessed a sudden growth amid the pandemic, as more and more people are now embracing the online shopping trends. The grocery industry is destined to rise, adding around 20 million new consumers.

How to Build The Perfect Grocery App Development?

Building a perfect mobile app is challenging, especially when you do not have a proper plan. However, grocery app development is an essential factor for the success of any app, and to ensure everything goes perfectly well, one should follow the steps mentioned below.

The Operational Model Of The Grocery App:

The initial step to a robust and scalable mobile app for grocery businesses is to detail the product into the document. When putting forward the operational model, it is essential to be as detailed as possible for the best results. First, decide which operational model you would opt for and the demand for the same in the market. The operational model plays a vital role and should be focused on for the best results.

The Right Tech Stack Required to Build The Grocery App:

One of the most challenging decisions is to select the right tech stack to build a robust grocery app. A Tech stack is a set of frameworks, tools, and databases used to create an app. It includes:

• Database
• Backend and frontend development
• Android development
• iOS app
• Hybrid mobile app

The project you are working on should fulfill the minimum requirements for the best results. The right tech stack should be determined, keeping the products and users’ needs in mind—the security and safety measures to play a vital role in keeping the app smooth and virus-free.

Magento is a very productive tool to create an app. Several features make Magento unique and the best.

• Offers analytics and reporting features
• Customer accounts management
• Payment and shipping features
• Order management
• Product browsing tool with enhanced features
• Search engine optimized
• Marketing and promotional tools

Consolidation Strategy:

To consolidate all the information successfully, it is essential to make a robust consolidation strategy for the best results. Consider the existing architect used in the application to derive conclusions besides the budget and capital required for the project. All the factors determining the consolidation strategy include the IT infrastructure, including applications, email, and database. This helps to keep the consolidation of information on the right path.

Include Striking Feature in the app:

Several features have made online grocery shopping a pleasure for many consumers. Mentioned below are some exciting features that can give your app a boost.

• Voice input: The voice input technology equipped in the app allow consumers to order through voice input, making the entire process hassle-free
• Recording: The recording features introduced can make the shopping experience easy for your consumers. Consumers record their requirements and share them with the suppliers for instant delivery. Recording features are very beneficial for on-the-go orders.
• Barcode scanning: Barcode scanning is an innovative feature that helps you scan the barcode of the products in your home to order them online. Users can scan the barcode of products they are looking forward to ordering.
• Shopping List: Adding a shopping list feature to the home screen would allow consumers to check out quickly. The shopping list feature helps users to add products to their list whenever they want and process them further to the app.
• Menu display: The menu displayed on the consumer’s screen gives them a traditional feel of shopping in a store, which is remarkable. The menu display offers a standard format to browse from the various offering the store has on display. The menu system makes it easy for users to navigate.
• Delivery Guy’s contact: Sometimes, the delivery guy gets stuck in the traffic and is late for delivering goods to the customers’ address. Sometimes, the customer is not home to receive the order. In such cases, they can contact the delivery guy through the grocery app and schedule the delivery according to their convenience.

Deployment:

The final stage of creating an app is the deployment stage. This development process helps you get your app live on the app store for consumers to experience. Before deployment, ensure that the app is fully functional for end-users. Besides, keep an eye that the app is performing well and there are no crashes. Several tools and software can be used to protect your app from crashing. Before launching the app, it has to go through the requirements mentioned by the app store.

It is essential to comply with the norms mentioned by the app stores, or else the app has a chance of being rejected. In addition, the development methods can influence the way your app will be deployed so that it provides the best results. Services that can help you build the app you are looking for requires several mobile app developments.

Conclusion:

The Native Grocery App Delivery Solution has been a blessing in disguise for many people, especially during the pandemic. Seeing the rise in native grocery app demands, many entrepreneurs are now launching their app services specially designed for grocery delivery. In addition, the online market has increased tremendously in recent years giving rise to online shopping. The grocery app delivery solution development process mentioned above would help you create a robust app that functions smoothly.

The UAE is undergoing a once in a generation shift that is affecting how retailers operate. A country that is always hustling and bustling found it hindering when lockdowns were imposed which led to digital adoption and transformation. Retailers are quickly adapting to it to survive and thrive in a market highly driven by consumers undergoing a lifestyle evolution.

Before the pandemic, essential stores had underdeveloped e-commerce, and that is the reason why traditional grocery retailers registered a decline in the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, grocers were quick to turn to digitalisation.

During the lockdown, retailers began approaching grocery delivery app development company in the Middle East; and a lot of newcomers like Noon daily, Sharaf DG and Areem emerged and benefited greatly. At the same time, existing retailers like Nana, Mrsool, Spinneys, with the help of grocery mobile app builders in the Middle East, expanded their digital scope by launching their delivery app.

The online grocery which accounted for only 5% of sales before the pandemic witnessed a jump of 24% during the lockdown. In short, with online shopping becoming the new normal in UAE and around the world, adoption of digitalisation accelerated; however, surviving and sustaining in it is becoming the tricky part due to the cut-throat competition. Let’s look at some of the challenges that grocery retailers faced in the UAE due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

1) Health and safety of employees and in-store hygiene:

Digital transformation is not a substitute for labour-free store operations. As essential services were still available during the lockdown, hence stores had to operate with staff. They gave their health and safety a priority. Thermal screenings, washing hands, wearing face masks and face coverings, minimising interactions with customers by placing glass barriers, and regular disinfection became the new normal as well as challenging.

2) Supply chain optimisation:

Lockdowns and travel bans led to a significant supply chain issue as it became increasingly difficult to meet the growing demand. Panic buying and confusion disrupted demand estimations for food products, causing a shortage of inventory and other challenges like meeting the increased demand for online orders and home delivery, constant food supply, and sanitation measures.

UAE currently imports 80-85% of food products; henceforth this challenge was the greatest of them all. To avoid contamination and to continue the proper supply of products, many grocery retailers implemented a supply chain management system like batch and lot tracking and warehouse management system.

Also Read: 7 Must-Apply Supply Chain Strategies Tips to Improve Your Multivendor Ecommerce Business

3) Customer engagement and satisfaction:

With the rising need for essentials and online stores being the only option, a lot of online grocery retailers faced the burn of cart abandonment during the pandemic. Since people had no patience to wait, they switched to another store if one failed to deliver as per their expectation. Some of the other reasons were the long checkout process, lack of payment options and lengthy account creation process that resulted in customers not returning to the site even when things settled down.

4) Last-mile deliveries and returns:

The two major bottlenecks for UAE grocers during the pandemic were last-mile deliveries and returns. People during the pandemic stocked groceries fearing lockdown which led to a sharp rise in online orders and fulfilling them all became almost an impossible task. Where delivery was a headache during the pandemic, needless to say, how big a challenge the returns were.

Trends that will continue

With the second wave of Covid-19, fearing possible lockdowns and travel bans, many retailers have already switched to online while there are a few yet to invest in digitalization. However, looking at the current trend of digital transformation and solving various challenges, researchers have noted the following trends that will stay in the grocery retail of UAE:

Online shopping:

A survey conducted by PwC reveals that the increase in the number of people shopping for groceries online rose from 29% to 51% during the lockdown. More than 90% said they are likely to continue shopping on smartphones even after the lift of social distancing measures.

Contactless payments:

Access to smartphones in the UAE is more than 100%, and social media penetration is more than 70%. Hence with an extensive demographic for all retailers, grocery retail is now fiercely adopting digital transformation. New players are harnessing this change by adopting new marketing strategies. Consumers are preferring contactless payment and would continue to do so even after the pandemic. This has led to collaborations with payment app companies, which profits the grocer and the payment channel equally.

Some players have launched their payment apps – for example, Carrefour now has CarrefourPay, enabling customers for a quick checkout process. A new Dubai Government-backed payment app-Empay- allows UAE users to pay for government, public and consumer services.

Omnichannel presence:

Choosing the right marketing channel is key to having an omnichannel presence. By collecting customer data through account creations and registrations-

> like signing in through Facebook/Gmail/apple account,

> products purchased,

> place of delivery and delivery times;

one can analyse the ways to put forward the brand in front of the customer and increase brand loyalty. By ensuring a seamless and consistent customer experience on every possible platform, grocery retailers can not only gain customers but earn their loyalty as well.

Safety and hygiene:

With Covid-19 still showing no signs of withdrawing, the practice of maintaining high levels of safety and hygiene to curb the spread of the virus is going to stay unknown for how long. Although it is a good thing to maintain safety and hygiene despite pandemic or not, grocery retailers must stay alert and carry out their responsibilities very well to keep everyone safe. Many are now encouraging residents to stay indoors by offering:

> 24/7 grocery delivery,

>  a 48 hours TAT (turnaround times) from placing an order to delivery,

>  options to view the supplies in-store,

> contactless payment and expanding its scope.

E.g., Talabat has expanded its free-delivery grocery service to 24-hours a day across Dubai.

In-store experiences:

Despite the accessibility of online shopping, some consumers are returning to shops after restrictions were eased. Lulu has recorded a pre-covid influx of customers after the ease of restrictions which indicates that in-store or offline shopping will continue but won’t be able to outsmart online anymore.

In a nutshell

There was a need for digital transformation in shopping in UAE even before Covid-19 and to some extent, it had already begun but, with the pandemic, it just gained momentum, challenging the basics of marketing for all retailers.

If you are someone up for this challenge and are looking out for a grocery delivery app development company in the Middle East, we at Mobicommerce are there for your assistance. Our app builders will take care of everything.

A marketplace indeed survives due to customers, but it is the vendors who give life to it in the first place. Since vendors have hundreds of marketplace options today, you as a marketplace owner got to have something uniquely striking to offer which will lure them to your site. What? Let’s take a look

Vendor vs Customers

We all have talked a lot about how to attract customers to an online store and how to woo them but hardly do we focus on attracting the retailers who are the prime source for the survival of a marketplace. Attractive design, smooth navigation, and all; will work for customers but to encourage vendors to list their products or services on your eCommerce marketplace, you need to work upon something else. Remember the strategies to attract vendors is entirely different than the ones you apply for customers.

Why Attract Vendors to Sell on Your Marketplace?

Just like it is difficult to convince consumers to shop from the online stores instead of offline shops or shopping malls, convincing the vendors to sell their products on the marketplace is strenuous too. But why convince them? Well; it is the vendors who will bring customers, and it is they who can convert a simple e-store into a multivendor eCommerce marketplace. Therefore, not only you need to convince vendors to sell on your marketplace, but you also need to put continuous efforts to keep them stay with you for the long run as well. Before we begin, keep in mind that some strategies to attract vendors differ as per the marketplace, and here we are going to focus on how you can onboard vendors for a grocery marketplace. So, let’s begin.

1. Work on the look and feel of your marketplace

Indeed, the look and feel of the marketplace is beneficial in attracting customers more, but it is equally advantageous in onboarding vendors too. Start by designing and developing an excellent online grocery store that looks and feels great. Approach an experienced online grocery store website builderto make it eligible in every way for anyone to sell and buy.

2. Understand what vendors want

For a vendor, achieving a good sale is the prime focus. Also, there might be a few things on their mind regarding how they want to sell that you need to understand first before pulling them in. Since there are various categories of a vendor like small, medium, large, startup, experienced; narrow down your vendor segment by building a detailed picture of their personalities, professional characteristics, and expectations first to present themselves as to their customers.

3. Show off your marketing skills

Vendors are out there in large numbers, and more than they need you; it is your marketplace that needs them. So, you must effectively market your marketplace. Reach out to the vendors directly and in every possible way i.e. both online and offline methods. Find them on existing platforms or approach their offline shops, hunt them on Facebook groups or online forums, share informative and promotional posts on social networks, run a google search and display ads campaign, create ads for the vendors to register on your online marketplace as a seller etc. to grab their attention. In short, leave no stone unturned in promoting your marketplace for the vendors to give you a position in their mind and heart.

4. Simplify the transaction process

Many vendors are still habituated to cash payments and are unaware of the benefits and ease of online transactions. Hence, you can lure vendors by educating them about the safety and advantages of using online transactions for their sales. Make them understand; how today’s customer is tech-savvy and hence; how vendors can achieve a large customer base by starting selling online. How with multiple payment options in your marketplace, vendors can get paid on time and at the very instant from the customers.

5. Be clear about all the benefits they will get

Of course, for a vendor to sell on your marketplace, the first that will come to their mind is the benefit. How selling on your marketplace is going to benefit them is all that matters to them. List out all benefits to them starting from the wide customer base, good sales, cost reduction, to the commission they can get by selling on your grocery marketplace.

Explain how their workflow and management of everything from inventory, sales, orders, payments, delivery etc. becomes streamlined and effective via your marketplace that will save them time, cost and their resources.

6. Make your grocery marketplace policies transparent

The reason many vendors don’t want to get into online sales is the fear. The fear that people won’t notice them and nobody will shop, fear that they won’t gain much by selling online, and other security fears. Therefore, make it clear to them before their onboarding everything from your demand and supply policies to avoid any confusion later.

Tell them about your USPs and make them feel they are important for you. List out what all services and benefits they will get from your marketplace like marketing assistance, delivery support, management scenarios, easy subscriptions, payment options, customer data, and connectivity. Before making a deal, come into terms with each other regarding the demands, payment plans, commission, detailed catalogs, deals, and offers to be advertised. Avoid hidden charges and shake hands on a clean and sorted agreement.

Wrapping up

The act of luring and convincing vendors is not a one-time thing; you need to do it continually and improvise as per the needs and requirements. Remember, running a multivendor marketplace doesn’t mean you have to be only customer-focused; you also have to pay attention to the needs of your vendors as well. And, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition among online groceries have doubled up and so, make sure you get your marketplace built with the right planning at the hands of an experienced grocery delivery app builder like mobicommerce to avoid any kinds of pitfalls.

It will not be very late to say that the Covid-19 Pandemic has brought a 360-degree turn in the way we shop for our daily essentials, mainly groceries and also, it is an only retail category without which we can’t even pass a day. But, the thought of visiting a grocery store has built fear in people so much that it seems online grocery will take over even post-corona. So, is grocery eCommerce really the future?

The online shopping revolution for non-perishable commodities started way back globally, yet, many of us preferred going to super or hypermarkets and hand-pick our groceries for various reasons, mainly to choose the best of all options and having the ability to inspect the items before purchase. Now, the scenario is different. With Corona crawled into our life, the online grocery shopping seems to be the safe option which has led to the emergence of it and the sales of which are doubling up like never before.

Boom in Online Grocery shopping trends

Online shopping trend was picked up by consumers who do not enjoy the hassle of traditional shopping experience specially, to stand in long queues. Now, the current pandemic has further pushed consumers to buy their groceries online which are creating a huge scope for newcomers with innovative purchase models to create their own space in this global business market.

Recommended Blog: Know Why a Mobile App is good for The Health of Your Grocery Business

There is no doubt about social distancing becoming the “The New Normal” in the post-COVID phase, making most of the grocery shopping digital. We know that a business is all about trust and as far as grocery shopping is concerned, the majority of the consumers prefer to buy from the same Kirana store only because there is a trust for quality and service. Therefore, to get the groceries delivered by the same trusted local grocery shop at one click will be something consumers will look forward to.

So, if you are a grocery shop owner, you must consider the below points to act fast and expand your local business by opting for grocery store app development right now.

For business continuity post-COVID: The crisis is going to end at some point but we don’t know when and since now you are getting enough time, it is advisable to prepare for the future which will be nothing like before. Henceforth, if you want your business to keep going, thinking online will be the right thing to do.

To be safe for you and your family: Continuous interaction with innumerable customers also puts you at risk. You need to keep the business running and remain safe for your family at the same time as well as ensure safety standards are being followed by streamlining the logistics. Hence, going digital will help you have a win-win situation overall.

Foreseeing changing business trends with innovative digital marketing ideas: Your customers will remain loyal to you if you cater to their changing needs. Quick delivery options, safety procedures, lucrative discounts and innovations will ensure your brand gets the required foothold in the competitive market.

Making your brand: Your local supermarket or grocery shop can get a brand name by going digital. Word of mouth and good online reviews will attract new customers for your business. You can grow your business by catering not just to people living in your vicinity but beyond if you expand your delivery area limit. A good grocery website builder will help you structure your business with minimal investment and lesser workforce.

For customers, who are still not convinced why to forgo conventional grocery shopping practices in these testing times, here are the top 5 reasons why switching to online grocery shopping now and in the future seems to be the right option.

Keep you safe from crowds and thus getting infected: The last thing we want is to enter a crowd of strangers and risk our lives. Although you might take all the necessary precautions, you can’t be sure if the person standing next to you is healthy or not. When online grocery apps can give you verified and quality products delivered at your doorstep, why take the risk? Also, you have the option of sanitizing the container and the items without any hassle.

It will help you maintain your budget: COVID-19 has definitely slowed down the world economy and the repercussions have already started showing up with many people losing their jobs. In such a situation, you don’t want to overspend which is likely to happen when you physically visit a store. With online shopping, you have the option at any given time to cancel a product and keep a tap on your bill.

Encouraging Digital Payment: Digitalization in payment methods started over more than a decade with the introduction of credit and debit cards but, cash transaction is still a preferred payment method for small purchases in local grocery shops. In this period of Covid-19 spread, cash transactions have been identified as one of the main reasons for spreading the infection, so by opting for online payment modes, you can avoid that risk as well.

24*7 availability: With more women coming to work front, managing household chores has become more tedious in a nuclear family set-up. Grocery shopping is mainly planned for weekends which consumes nearly 2-3 hours of your day. Online grocery shopping gives you the convenience to shop at any point in time so that you can spend your day-offs with your loved ones, not at departmental stores.

Your bit for the environment: The world has undergone a renovation with humankind sitting inside their homes. Pollution levels have dropped and water bodies are much cleaner now. So, it is our responsibility to maintain this by reducing carbon emissions as much as possible. We can avoid commuting again and again by buying our monthly groceries at one go, thus protecting Mother Nature from unnecessary air and noise pollution.

In a nutshell, 

Whether you are a budding entrepreneur, an offline grocery shop owner or a consumer, we are sure that by now you can agree that a grocery eCommerce app is the most convenient and recommended way to shop or deliver groceries by all means, especially when such bad situation strikes.

We hope with these tips, you will now be able to make right and smart choices to stay relevant in this new phase. Our expertise in Grocery shopping app development will ensure that you get your app designed just the way you want and in time so that you continue to lead the business.

Europeans are skipping the trek to a supermarket which requires pushing a shopping cart down an aisle after aisle and then waiting in the long checkout line to finally bring home their groceries and love the idea of saving time by shopping at the convenience of their home. Why? The reasons are many let’s take a look at it all.

No sooner did the trend of online grocery shopping hit the market, Europe witnessed a sharp rise in grocery mobile app downloads and its usage in the past few years. The reasons are many like inflationary price rises, convenience, time-saving, more premium and fresh goods all under one roof etc., which grocery shopping mobile apps are making it possible and easier for customers to get their groceries on-time without any hassle.

But it is not just because of any random grocery mobile app, the European market has risen up, it is in fact, due to the compelling reasons the European retailers have given consumers to switch from their neighbourhood grocers to the web or mobile app like;

1. An entire supermarket squeezed into an app

Browsing a supermarket in search of a product with a shopping stroller is something which nobody enjoys. European retailers gave their customers freedom from it by allowing them to browse an entire supermarket on their mobile screen and add products to their shopping cart the instant, save them for later, wishlist or even book out of stock products in advance all via a grocery mobile app.

2. Personal recommendations & customizations

Not all products a customer is looking for is available in a supermarket, hence, European grocery mobile app development cracked a way to it by giving personal recommendations to their customers based on their purchase behaviour to further ease their shopping of daily grocery needs. This made customers fall in love with grocery mobile apps even more. Moreover, the supermarket app development took a step further ahead with customization feature which helps customers to modify the packaging, weight, size, etc. of their products.

3. Escape from long queues

Who doesn’t love a grocery shopping where checkouts take seconds and payments can be done without taking out a wallet for the purchased groceries? The grocery app development in European market won hearts by allowing customers to shop groceries without the need to wait in long queues with heavy shopping bags.

4. Daily offers & special treatments

Compared to offline grocery shopping, grocery mobile apps began to give daily offers and discounts on products which attracted customers towards it like a magnet. Apart from that, when European customers started getting special treatments like membership and referral benefits, they look the jump to grocery mobile apps right away without giving a second thought which spiced up the online grocery app market in Europe like never before.

5. Service that appeals to customers

For any shopper, how a particular brand treats a customer matters the most because once they like it, they become loyal to them forever. Today, Amazon, BigBasket and other such major grocery deliveries have come into action which is having good and regular traffic of customers due to the convenience they are providing in getting fresh daily essentials at the doorstep, eliminating the need – to wait in long queues, carry heavy grocery bags, move from one grocery shop to another in search of products, etc.

The grocery app development in Europe took it very seriously and developed grocery mobile apps with all necessary features for customer service like feedback section, rating & reviews, delivery slot selection, chats and support to solve customer queries, order tracking, multiple payment options, free delivery, and much more to serve customers at its best.

6. Boon for busiest customers 

Half of the European population has no time for going grocery shopping personally due to their busy lifestyle which is the main reason why grocery delivery app development gained momentum in Europe suddenly and swiftly. People loved the concept of getting groceries at their doorstep more than wandering multiple shops with giant shopping bags struggling to find time from their hectic schedule.

Bottom Line

Consumers of today love their smartphones, which explains why 91% of them are always on them 24/7. Therefore, it should not be surprising for industries to understand why grocery mobile app development is the need of the hour.

Looking at the rise of online grocery shopping, more and more European retailers have now begun to develop on-demand grocery delivery apps equipped with all necessary features that benefit both retailers and customers. Since a grocery mobile app is helping businesses achieve their objectives and gain higher returns within a less period of time. So, it is in this way, the grocery app market gained popularity and become a sensation in Europe within a blink of an eye which is not going to disappear anytime near soon.

You can find related articles here:

1. Know Why a Mobile App is Good for The Health of Your Grocery Business
2. On Demand Online Grocery eCommerce Software Solution

Grocery shopping – one of the most daunting daily chores, is now an easy and convenient task with it becoming online, but is it worth?

“A mobile app for grocery business?” The doubtful picture that one paints in mind is indeed understandable as getting an app developed for a business is not something everyone readily agrees to at the very first. The fear of expense, the success of the business, the need, all that clouds up and one gets stuck whether to make an app or not. But guess what, mobile apps are ruling and a business without a mobile app is now like a body without a soul.

About 2.7 billion smartphone users across the world spent 90% of mobile time on mobile apps, thus, mobile apps are expected to generate $189 billion in revenue by 2020.

The reason for such a huge success of mobile apps is because of its impact on the growth of a business. With convenient features like mobility, easy access, secure payments, wide audience etc. they have multiplied businesses in no time which already justifies why your grocery business needs a mobile app too. Still, we are going to dig even deeper why you must get one right now.

To Satisfy the Rising Mobile Shoppers 

Mobile apps have redefined the art of shopping. It has wiped out all the headaches associated with shopping like wandering from one shop to another in search of a product, standing in long queues, facing payment troubles at billing counters, carrying heavy shopping bags etc., since all can be done simply via a mobile app sitting at the comfort of your couch. It accounts to the main reason why mobile shoppers are rising every second especially the online grocery shoppers because it is a daily need as well as a hectic job.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and all other essential household items are almost daily essentials and getting them at the doorstep is what customers are preferring the most today which has given a significant rise to grocery app usage. As per the statistics, the global online grocery market will reach 150 billion $ by 2025, which proves how much people prefer mobile apps in comparison to the grocery shops.

For those who are still wondering how an online grocery mobile app will be beneficial? Here are some advantages of grocery app development.

1. Because it is the era of digitalization – With every business becoming online having mobile apps, the competition is getting tougher hence to survive you need to get digitized. By creating your supermarket app, you can always be available to your customers.

 

2. You get brand exposure – Since nowadays you will get customers more on mobile than anywhere else, with grocery mobile app development, you can get the exposure like never before. Once customers love your app, they will become regular shoppers and may even recommend it to others.

 

3. Apps are time savers – An online grocery app is nothing but a boon to customers since it makes the biggest and most difficult task i.e. grocery shopping, as light as a feather. It eliminates the need to move around with a shopping basket, searching products, comparing prices, looking for discounts and offers, even ending the long wait at the billing counter. Hence, those hours one spends on grocery shopping offline can be reduced to a few minutes with ecommerce grocery stores. This means more people will use your online grocery mobile app which implies more sales for you.

 

4. An opportunity to connect with customers – Customers make your business successful, therefore, by developing an online grocery mobile app, you can understand consumer behaviour as well build relations with them personally. By offering their needs, personalized offers and notifications, you can get closer to your customers which will make them stick to you forever.

 

5. Makes management easy and effective – Store management is not a child’s play. There are too many segments like inventory, orders, deliveries, invoices, offers, etc. that need to be handled carefully on a daily basis. Mobile apps make it all easy and effective with its interesting features. Everything can be maintained systematically in a mobile app which is why creating one becomes important.

 

6. Can attract busiest customers – The major reason behind the demand and rise for online grocery shopping is because of lack of time. Since in almost every home, all the members are working people today, nobody has the time to go grocery shopping. A mobile app comes handy there. It makes grocery shopping so much simpler that, not only a busy person can carry out the task anywhere, anytime, even an elderly at home unable to go shopping can do it via mobile apps, which means, there is no limit to the customers you can get via an online grocery mobile app. 

How Mobicommerce Can Help? 

By now you might have understood how important a mobile app is in today’s market. But, the secret of success also lies behind who you are trusting to develop a magento mobile app. There, Mobicommerce comes into the picture. The experience and expertise of mobile app development of Mobicommerce cannot be expressed in words because it is so huge. Mobicommerce knows how to make an app eligible for success hence handing over your grocery mobile app development to the team of Mobicommerce will only bring good fortune to your business.

Ready to develop yours? Reach out now!

You can find related articles here:
1. The Big Thing You Don’t Know that Online Grocery Shopping Is Back And This Time It Will Work
2. Why shifting your Grocery store (Kiraanas in India) to mobile platform is a good idea?

According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank Securities, only around three percent of grocery shopping happens online, as compared to 22 percent of apparel sales and 30 percent of electronics sales.

That’s primarily because consumers are used to entering a store and choosing their groceries themselves. And while the turn of the millennium did witness some businesses such as Webvan entering the online grocery space, they failed to garner attention and make profits, and eventually retreated.

When online grocery shopping first took off a decade ago, most consumers did not have access to a mobile phone or even broadband in many cases. Now, however, with smartphones and internet sales becoming ubiquitous, the behavior to transact online exists.

In a recent Deloitte survey, 41% of customers stated that they neither liked nor disliked shopping for perishable items and beverages at grocery stores.

That shows that even though many customers enjoy the experience of shopping at a physical grocery store, several others are willing to opt for online shopping. No wonder, space has given rise to grocery shopping app development.

And, with brands such as Amazon and eBay paving the way for eCommerce marketplaces, today’s consumers – especially millennials and Gen Z – regard online shopping as a part of daily life. The time is thus ripe for online grocery business to ride the eCommerce marketplace wave and thrive.

Adding to that, let’s discuss how and why the online grocery business model works:

1. Centralized yet decentralized

Just like Uber, online grocery brands such as Instacart, a San Francisco-based grocery start-up, do not have a central hub of workers. Instead, the workforce is present at different shopping points to instantly respond to incoming orders.

2. Zero warehouse woes

They also do not need to run warehouses or maintain inventories – all they need to manage operations are vehicles for their workforce and smartphones. This saves these brands millions in set-up costs and allows them to focus on logistics, a wide selection of goods from different retailers, and timely delivery.

3. Consistent premium quality

Customers are always on the lookout for cheaper options that offer the same high quality. By bringing their costs down to a minimum, online grocery brands can bring fresh groceries to buyers’ doorstep and thus save them time and money.

4. Guaranteed convenience

The most significant point in favor of online grocery shopping is its convenience, which is a major plus for busy millennials and Gen Z buyers who are always using their smartphones and are heavily inclined towards mobile shopping than the generations before them.

5. Loyalty programs

A Deloitte report has stated that there are a good many customers “who are not emotionally attached to the physical shopping process and might consider online-shopping options if they were offered.”

That mindset presents online grocery stores an excellent opportunity to win customers over with incentives such as discounts, delivery benefits, and loyalty points that can lead to increased savings and freebies for the consumers.

Retail giants are also betting heavily on online grocery sales.

In 2017, Walmart acquired last-mile delivery company Parcel, while Amazon bought Whole Foods and started offering grocery deliveries for Prime members across the United States. Rapid grocery delivery app development has made that possible.

Also, in 2017, Target announced its purchase of same-day delivery company Shipt. Recently, FreshDirect opened a 400000-square-foot delivery center with high levels of automation to cater to regions beyond Washington DC, New York, and New Jersey.

Given the resources at their disposal, brands like Amazon and Walmart can offer hefty discounts and thus take up a significant share of the online grocery market, thanks to the increased grocery mobile app development.

Another major player is Peapod, a dotcom survivor that has been in the grocery delivery business for over 30 years now.

Online grocery shopping is here to stay

However, online grocery shopping will take some time to catch on fully – although its rise has begun. A large fraction of people still prefer to physically visit a store and buy their groceries, mainly because they can assess the quality of different items themselves.

Many also enjoy the experience of going and buying their ingredients. At the same time, other innovations in grocery shopping will also act as competition for online deliveries.

For instance, Amazon dipped into grocery app development and recently launched its highly successful Go Stores, which allow customers to enter the store, pick up their items, and leave without having to wait in line to pay.

Other brands such as Walmart and Safeway offer “click and collect” facilities, in which customers can order their groceries online, drive to the stores, and pick up their items.

Summing it up

So, if you want to get a headstart, the right tech support can take you places. Imagine having a scalable, fully-tested online store to sell groceries to your customers.  Approach an expert like MobiCommerce to help you build a grocery mobile app in a jiffy. They will help you set up a storefront that not only works across devices but also is branded for your business.

Make sure your grocery management app comes with various features such as easy reordering, smart search, user-friendly navigation that make shopping easy for your customers and gives you the flexibility to manage everything from a single admin panel.

That would make selling your grocery easier online, right?  It’s true! Because, in the end, businesses that can take proper advantage of the thriving scenario with quality service and timely delivery will win the day.

So, make sure you jump on the online grocery space at the earliest!

On-demand grocery delivery business is booming day-by-day considering the crucial benefits it offers like Time and Cost saving, instant delivery at doorstep, 24*7 support etc. And thus the Grocery eCommerce Apps and Website development is gaining huge popularity among business entrepreneurs.

So, are you planning to build your own Online Grocery Solution to soar your sales and revenue? MobiCommerce’s ‘Grocery eCommerce’ is the perfect solution.

Our Solution comprises of three major elements – 1. Website 2. Mobile App and 3. Admin Panel

It offers you a perfectly designed business specific solution, be it Single grocery store, grocery chains or multi-vendor marketplace!

MobiCommerce Grocery Storefront Solution is full-featured, fast, and secure. It is highly tested and ready-to-launch to jump start your online business.

Fully responsive website offers your clients an amazing shopping experience with features like –

• smart search
• preferred delivery time slots
• configure shipping charges
• quick check-out
• order tracking
• payment gateways
• wish lists
• quick reordering

And many more.

Access huge set of smartphone shoppers with full-fledged iOS and Android Mobile App

• it is 100% synced with your website
• Complete DIY solution
• Latest UI
• Social media login and sharing
• Multi-store features
• Push and email notifications
• Deep linking and many more.

The powerful super admin back-end panel of Magento – upon which the solution is built over –

• Take control of your solution just with a single admin dashboard which summarizes you total sales and revenue, Orders and delivery etc.
• Manage your products at ease with category wise bulk uploads.
• Manage sales by analyzing orders, shipments, dispatches, invoices and credit memos.
• Plan your marketing with emails and newsletters and social media promotions through easy set-ups from panel.
• MobiCommerce’s personalized solution enable you to manage the category widgets and Push notifications, Delivery dates and time and many more.
• Reporting and MIS Management.

Watch this video to have our live solution demonstration and its benefits in brief.

The world is going digital in a big way. Every retail industry is experiencing a paradigm shift unlike any other and the grocery retail marketspace is no exception. This market has long been dominated by physical stores where customers could browse and shop for the groceries they wanted.

But now, things are changing fast and ecommerce grocery store apps are sprouting up all over the place. From high-end commercial grocery retail chains to small independent grocery businesses, everyone is realizing the value of a digitalized business model.

If you are planning to enter this space or expand your business prospects, then it is hightime you should explore this aspect of your business. Having an integrated grocery store website development solution will help your business step up its game and adopt a more progressive approach to do commerce.

However, before you jump in with both feet, here are some of the key considerations that you ought to make.

Top Things to Consider When Looking for Grocery Website and App Builder Services

1. The Service Area

In order for your business to attain a respectable digital presence, you need to have a well-defined business model which is scalable and can incorporate technological advancements. The service area will define the scope of your business operations. Depending upon the target niche in the grocery market that you want to cater to such as organic products, select suppliers with specific cultivation practices etc. your website and app will differ.

2. The Market Demographic

The audience that you are looking to service is instrumental in defining the scope of your services. Naturally, if your target demographic does not shop for groceries online, then there is little value to get from going digital. Of course, in the longer run, you will have to go digital eventually. However, if your demographic is not tech savvy enough to shop groceries online, then you might need to test the waters and change attitudes before making a full-scale investment.

3. The Seasonal Impact

The grocery industry is heavily dependent on seasonal availability of products. Naturally, your grocery ecommerce mobile app developer will need to take this into account when creating your app. Alongside the need for providing the right platform for seasonal grocery sales, the website and app can also capitalize on them and market them uniquely. This is critical to overall success and is one of the strongest reasons for having a digital presence in the first place.

4. The Produce Method and Source Details

One of the biggest reasons why many professionals tend to shop for groceries online is that they want to know details about the produce they plan to buy in one place. Going to an actual physical grocery store and talking to a worker is a tedious process. But this required information can be provided easily on a website or through a dedicated app. This will help clients make the right purchases and rely increasingly on your company.

5. Delivery Logistics and Tracking

Live tracking is a very popular part of online ecommerce irrespective of the nature of the business. Your grocery website builder must integrate this into your online portal as well as your app itself. This will help your clients stay apprised on the estimated ETA for their order and enable smoother transactions at all levels. Further, the mode of delivery should be mentioned along with the order to assure clients of the freshness of the products being delivered.

6. Advertising and Marketing

Once a website and app have been created, it can host advertisements for a nominal price. Of course, there is a cost involved in online marketing and there needs to be an appropriated budget allocated for that. However, all the native advertising that you will do on your website and app can come at a relatively lower cost. With that said, online marketing is very competitive and one of the primary ways of cutting costs is to have a streamlined website-app platform. An effective way of ensuring this is by getting on-demand delivery website development services.

7. Scaling and Business Growth

Your digital ecommerce grocery platform will be both a one-time major expense as well as a minor ongoing cash outflow for maintenance. For most businesses new to the marketspace, it might be enough to develop and establish their brand presence. However, businesses which already have a set reputation would look to expand further. For this purpose, they need to look towards scalable grocery store website app development solutions. This is important as it will offset the costs of future growth of the digital platform and allow the company to integrate emergent trends and technologies with ease.

8. Addressing Niche-specific Requirements

Grocery ecommerce businesses are often focussed on serving specific niches. Naturally, they want to cater to their primary niche as closely as possible. So, the app and website developed to substantiate the business must be sensitive to the influences in each niche. For example, for organic groceries market, integrating a blog on diet and eco-friendly production practices is a good way to generate and retain brand loyalty. Similarly, for grocery businesses catering to specific culinary preferences, having a grocery website builder specializing in niche-specific designs is highly beneficial from a branding and marketing perspective.

9. Integration with Physical Storefront

While the grocery business ecommerce model has been well received overall, there is a degree of reluctance in accepting in some portions of the audience. This is because the quality and freshness of the products are best examined in person. So, many grocery businesses resort to having a storefront and also offering online ordering and delivery services. In that case, there needs to be proper integration between activities in the physical store and the larger logistical network through which the company seeks to provide its products.

Conclusion

The 9 key factors mentioned above are critical to creating effective and profitable grocery ecommerce mobile apps and websites for all businesses. If you are planning to expand into this domain then you must keep these factors in mind when deciding upon and developing the operational model for your business and ensuring your digital presence can sync with it flawlessly.