How to Setup a Mobile-first On-demand Delivery Business?

On-demand Delivery Business

Who doesn’t love the idea of getting their favorite pizza delivered home? If you’re a restaurateur delivering food to the location, it’s a win-win situation for you. You can cater to more diners than the sitting area in your restaurant allows, which means more business without additional investment into real estate.

Let me give you an example, suppose, you run a little diner in your backyard that can accommodate 20-30 people at a time. Your average income per diner is $2 and every day you welcome 200 such diners, making an estimated $12000 every month.

Now suppose you open your doors to home delivery and hire a delivery boy. The delivery boy delivers 30 food packets every day and you have set the minimum order amount to $10. Now, you’re making an additional $10000. Even if you deduct the expense on the delivery boy. This is still an incredible deal.

Had you invested in additional real estate for the restaurant, that would have cost you anywhere between $40000-$100000.

However, managing a food delivery business or any type of on-demand delivery business is a lot more complicated than the example above is. Let’s take a look at what it takes to run an on-demand delivery business.

On-demand Delivery Business from Boom to Bane

On-demand Delivery Business from Boom to Bane

We have grown many times since the first pizza home delivery service started. What happened in the meanwhile is this that soon restaurateurs got overzealous with the whole idea of increasing business income without substantial investments. Every restaurant started some form of phone ordering business. It was so much booming that online orders soon took over diners sitting at the restaurant. Soon restaurants were getting far more order requests than their tele-callers could handle, kitchen could cater to or delivery boys could deliver. The growing competition means thinning profit margins. The system crumbled under its own weight and proved inefficient at the end of the day.

Many restaurants capped no. of phone order they will take, thus, putting a full stop to the boom.

The Reincarnation around Mobile and Cloud

In July 2010, an app-only taxi-hailing app was doing rounds in tech circle of San Francisco, at the heart of the Silicon Valley. Many called the app at the forefront of latest mobile and cloud technology revolutionary. The idea was simple rather than going to the taxi the taxi will come to you with a single tap on your iPhone.

The ingenious idea soon infested other industries including the vulnerable food delivery and later professional services like plumber and baby sitter, even a doctor.

By the turn of 2015, everybody from your local grocer to your favorite restaurant to the baby sitter who lives next door were part of one of the various on-demand marketplaces mushrooming on the app stores and catering to local businesses and professionals in your area.

The decreasing cost of Android phone, a rising middle class, and affordable cloud computing services were the principal contributors to the reincarnation of on-demand delivery business.

The On-Demand Boom

The success of Uber gave confidence to many industry pundits in renewing mass’s interest in on-demand delivery business. After all, mobile applications are much more capable than dumb phone calls to telecallers. This gave way to on-demand boom. Every startup or industry player wanted to capitalize on the new playground given birth by Uber in chassis of a mobile app

Soon, there was an Uber clone for every sort of thing or person whether a person wants a plumber to fix a dripping faucet in his living room, monthly grocery delivered at his place or taxi or Uber to head to the next meeting.

As I said there are all sorts of on-demand marketplace for everything or person you can think of. So is the number of players competing in the space and apps for each of them. This is where the term came, “There must be an app for it.”

The Power of Local Provisioning

On-demand delivery apps are relevant because local businesses and professionals back them. Those apps are only the marketplaces that connect with the local providers or businesses. While the latter can work with the former, that is not the case the other way around.

The Power of Local Provisioning

If you’re looking to enter the opportune market yourself, you’ll have an edge if you have influence in the local market. You need people to deliver what your users demand. If you’re a grocer, then you need delivery boys to deliver grocery. If you are cab company, then you need drivers to drive your cars around and if  a home services provider, then you need a number of handymen ready to deliver services to your users.

In a nutshell, you need to convince a lot of people to join your app-based marketplace before you seek an app developer to build the app ecosystem around your marketplace.

What is Driving the Interest?

At the center of on-demand economy, is a powerful ecosystem of mobile apps. No doubt, mobile app developers have been constantly busy since Uber came. There are all sort of startups keeping them busy and they have every reason to.

The investment in on-demand startups has grown more than 1400% from $74 Billion in 2014 to $10,293 Billion in last quarter of 2017. Moreover, an on-demand startup has better chances of capturing seed funding, a study by CBInsight indicates.

On-Demand Global Deal Share

And it’s not just the investors interest. The revenue from on-demand economy will multiply 23 times from $14B in 2014 to $335B in 2025, predicts PwC

Estimated On-Demand Market Revenue

Evidently, users’ spending in the on-demand mobile app economy is rising at unprecedented pace. The total spending from year 2016 to 2018 grew 58%, National Technology Readiness Survey. Some of the sectors that received the largest piece of pie were online marketplace, transportation, and housing. Food delivery, surprisingly, came 4th in terms of investment but grew maximum in the period, Rockbridge report suggests.

On-Demand Economy Consumer Spending

Building the App Ecosystem

While those are great numbers, on-demand services won’t have existed in the first place had it not for mobile technologies and applications. If you have used Uber in the past, you know what I mean here. The level of convenience provided by apps like location awareness, turn-by-turn navigation, real-time locations sharing, in app chat and support and flexible payment options were unheard of before.

on-demand app development services

The Uber you use to book taxis is only a part of the app ecosystem. A larger part of the ecosystem is shared various players in the on-demand business and each role has a dedicated app.

In on-demand delivery business, there are generally two sets of people involved in addition to the admin, manager, or owner. Of course, at the center are the end users, who originate the demand. Then there are delivery boys who fulfil those demands.

Therefore, we need three apps: users, delivery boys, and merchants. Let’s take a look what their app look like.

Users’ App

The user app originates the demand–what he or she wants. The app is simple, the users requests what he wants, when and makes payment—all in the app. Upon request fulfilment, he waits for the desired person to arrive and deliver him the thing or service.

User's App

Delivery Persons’ App

In on-demand delivery business model, the delivery boys either pick up an item from a user or drop off an item from a user to a hub. So when I want a parcel collected from courier company and delivered at my doorsteps I use their app. Alternatively, when I want a food parcel from my favorite restaurant to reach me. I ask a delivery boy to deliver it to me, who picks the parcel from the restaurant, which acts as hub here.

Delivery persons’ App

TOPS has Developed a Bunch of On-demand Apps

If you think developing on delivery apps is too much on your side, you can ask us to. Our team of mobile app developers has an experience of developing tens of on-demand apps. Being a top ranked, an award winning mobile app development company, we have a global clientele and worked with more than 300 different clients since inception.

There are many advantages of developing on-demand mobile apps with TOPS Infosolutions:

TOPS Infosolutions - on-demand apps

 Final Remarks

TOPS has the reputation of delivering end-to-end IT solutions to startups into on-demand businesses. Companies around the globe prefer us for faster development time, advancing on deadlines, transparency, cost checking, above all, top of the line support.

On-Demand Apps – Your Ticket to Business Growth

On demand apps

“Recently, I, along with my mates, was having a gala time watching the Super Bowl – the annual championship game of the National Football League. Watching Pittsburgh Steelers pleasing the NFL Super Bowl was like beholding an olden time.

But, in such scenarios, we skipped our dinner time and no one was in the mood to get out and stalk for food. Suddenly, one of my friends bumped up aloud ‘Cheese Hamburger … anyone’? Our silence turned into affirmation and again she shouts – 15 minutes guys… dinner will be held before the ceremony starts.

And I was like ‘what heck you just did? She simply replied ‘Zomato app girl; ‘this just doesn’t stop here, she sent me a link on WhatsApp and asked me to add a referral code to avail of discounts. I am like, ‘Cool… Sounds great buddy!!!’

This is The Magic of On-demand Apps!!!

Living in a digital world, everyone is busy with their tight work schedules, difficult to find time to get everything we want. Before the internet, smartphones, and mobile apps, people had to pull themselves to diverse stores to buy their preferred products. But today, as we have moved out of traditional times and with the arrival of on-demand apps, it has now become moderately easier to get everything delivered to your doorstep.

As per the Harvard Business Reports, the on-demand economy is attracting more than 22.4 million consumers annually in $57.6 billion spending. All these on-demand services include retail services, freelance services, home services, transportation, food & grocery, health services, and other similar services.

Do you think the trend of on-demand apps will fade away? The answer is a BIG NO!!!

This new list of on-demand app-based services is making the lives of urban elites more ingenious by offering convenience:

  • From cleaning your home to making your everyday laundry
  • From gratifying beauty services to amazing photography
  • From dog sitter to babysitter
  • From pizza delivery to Liquor
  • From home decoration to maintenance services

Hence, many entrepreneurs are keen to invest in such services that can meet the expectations of customers within their price range as well as can be easily available to them at their convenience. Considering Uber or AirBNB – the top on-demand services company strives to carve out a niche out of the traditional market space.

The on-demand business model has a remarkable goal – to complete a customer’s demand with the instant provision of goods and services. The on-demand apps are giving curves to millions of entrepreneurs and have taken over several industries. With a winning on-demand business model merged with a user-friendly mobile-based platform, you have the secret blueprint for building millions of dollars.

The sole key is to take the on-demand services to a large audience and the below tactics can help you to do the same.

  • An undisturbed User Interface

It is said “First impression is the last impression” and this is definitely true for mobile applications as well! The USP of any mobile app is the simple and easy user experience which must be the sole goal for any appreneur. To simplify let’s consider on-demand apps in the retail industry – Amazon, eBay, etc. It is integrated with:-

  1. Cart information on every page
  2. Options to remove the product from the cart
  3. Showing related products
  4. Filter option to choose the products based on personal choice
  5. Integrated with various third-party payment gateways

Easy navigation in the mobile app will help users to fetch information easily and since it is transparent, it will urge the users and clients to trust you which will ultimately help to grow the business.

  • Talk with the customer and ask for feedback

It is very crucial to have regular touch with the user of the mobile app, as customer feedback can make or break your business. With on-demand apps, you can send promos, offers, and discounts which help to keep them hooked. Seamless communication helps in handling their queries or accepting their feedback which is the stepping stone for an on-demand business model.

To collect feedback:-

  1. You need to track the right metrics
  2. Use In-App Net Score Promoter surveys
  3. Savvy Support Communities
  4. List the app in some Feedback websites
  5. Call to Action on every page
  6. Regular updates of the app and other social media handles
  • Personalization and Customization

Undoubtedly, personalization in on-demand apps is always appreciated by users. Offering the personalization settings evidently is a win-win situation as the customer will simply pick up your app over other similar apps. Flexible settings like the dashboard, color, themes, fonts, and sizes will help the customer to build up a positive emotion towards the app and will unquestionably prefer and refer to the app. Customization enables the users to craft their personal choices about what they crave to see or locate preferences for how information is prepared or displayed. This ultimately enhances user experience because it enables the users to control their interaction.

For instance: Zomato – A food-ordering app

  • Zomato immediately lets the user know this page is personalized for them
  • Personal Hello and link to the user’s account
  • Understands the user’s location and shows the nearby location
  • A list of places, users who have been there, followers, photos, etc. everything is personalized

The rise of these companies has shaped a competitive market which resulted in remodeling the slow-moving industries with technological innovation. Take into consideration some of the ground transportation, laundry, grocery, and food industries. These industries are the leading examples of how mobile app technology redefined these industries with the advent of on-demand apps and the efforts of mobile app developers. Here, a large part of the growth is because of how the application of new technology added value to the already existing infrastructure.

Major factors create a niche for the on-demand apps market:

  • Ease –People look for services that they find suitable and that can deliver quickly
  • Nearby accessibility–They have a preference to get the services within their reach to access it quickly
  • Value of product –Fast and excellent services triumph over the expectation of people
  • Cost-efficiency –Products and services must meet the affordability of common people to become more popular
  • Swift and Easy Payment Mode –Trouble-free payment option increases the user experience in buying products or services, gratifyingly
  • Awareness of Services –People should be aware of the convenience of on-demand services in order to increase their reach among people.

How on-demand apps will impact your business?

The on-demand economy is here to stay for a long. The time people spend on mobile apps depends on the kind of experiences they get and their interests. Additionally, the customer does expect a personalized experience, which is why on-demand app development is a trend that every appreneur needs to pay attention to. However, you must also analyze your competitors and make sure your mobile app provides the services in a more simple way for the users to purchase them.

Being, one of the best on-demand mobile app development companies, TOPS Infosolutions is aware of all technical aspects and their implementation which is important for crafting box on-demand apps. Having years of experience in developing on-demand apps in various domains, we would strive to provide your with business on mobile to give your customers ease and convenience.

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