Tag: grocery app development

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.

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.