How to Create On-Demand Delivery App: Features, Cost, and Monetization

These days, on-demand services are becoming more popular. One of the key players in this market are businesses like Uber, Airbnb, and Glovo. Yet, a number of businesses, including Nuro, Deliv, and LogiNext, have succeeded in filling this gap. In the USA, Statista projects that the market for on-demand services will grow to $54.2 billion by 2027. An on-demand delivery app, however, costs time and money.

In summary, the cost of developing an on-demand delivery software might range from $170,000 to $300,000 or more. One app for clients, one for couriers, and one for restaurants are all necessary for on-demand delivery services. Each solution faces unique development difficulties.

How do you steer clear of every danger? We'll cover a range of topics in this book, from idea validation to necessary features. Here is what you will discover:

Service Types for On-Demand Food Delivery

You must first think about the service type before developing an on-demand delivery application. Marketplaces and platforms with internal logistics are the two main categories.

Let's focus on the specifics.

Marketplace

Uber Eats, Delivery Hero, and Deliveroo are popular services.

On-demand delivery apps, often known as marketplaces or aggregators, link customers with eateries. Users can use the app to browse the menu, place orders, and pay for their meals. On-demand delivery applications provide customer help if there are any issues with ordering or delivery, just like any other marketplace.

A flat fee from each order is the aggregators' most popular monetization strategy. Aggregators are an excellent technique for restaurants to minimise idle time while maintaining a steady order flow. Hence, the commission generally justifies itself.

Platforms for supporting logistics

Popular offerings: Jimmy John's and Domino's

This business model typically refers to on-demand delivery services provided by large restaurant chains that let customers choose from their menu.

The entire delivery process is the restaurant's responsibility, and no commission is charged. It's normal practise to employ full-time couriers to assist the customers.

For well-known restaurant chains, this business model works perfectly. By making targeted offers, they can keep clients interested without having to pay commission to outside parties.

Steps for Making an On-Demand Delivery App Checklist

According to CB Insights, 42% of firms fail because their product isn't needed by the market. Before releasing an app, you should validate your idea to avoid such occurrences.

Validation of app idea

It involves getting customer input on the product. Simply put, you must consider the expectations of your clients, identify your target market, and identify the issues your product can assist them in resolving.

Let's examine ways to test your concept before beginning the development procedure. Please note that you have the option of handling the Research and Planning stages alone or hiring a skilled IT supplier to handle the complete product development lifecycle.

Step 1: Carry out market analysis

How to create an app for on-demand delivery? You must thoroughly investigate the market and your competition.

In order to start a food delivery service, you must learn about customer wants and take industry trends into account. Do some research on potential rivals to determine their strengths and weaknesses. You can produce a superior product as a result.

When conducting the market research, you must respond to the following inquiries:

What are the aims and purposes of your business?

Who is your on-demand service's target market?

What are the demands and aches of the users?

What do they want to get out of your solution?

What characteristics are required for your service?

How can I make money from this platform?

Want assistance with market research?

Step 2. Identify your target market.

Understanding your target market's tastes will help you develop more specialised products and attract more people. For instance, Uber noticed that users wanted business services. This approach enables setting up an Uber account for a business. To request a ride, employees can link this account to their personal accounts. Here, the cost of the ride is covered by the business.

Students, parents, and working adults are the three main target markets for a food delivery firm. You must adhere to the individual needs of each group. For instance, fast food serves as the kids' primary fuel. In order to expedite order delivery, it is preferable to work with neighborhood fast-food shops.

Parents favor preparing and consuming wholesome food. Typically, they place home-delivery grocery orders. For this target market, food freshness and delivery time are critical.

Working folks are short on time. They do, however, want to eat wholesome, substantial meals. So, among them, deliveries from nearby eateries are common.

Each group has distinct needs, as you can see. You must take into account your target audience's age, geography, and financial level while defining it. You may develop an on-demand delivery app that offers a more individualized experience based on these elements.

Also, creating a schematic portrait of your client is a smart idea. Important details like age, location, income, dietary preferences, and more are included in this image.

Step 3: Draw a map of the client journey

How does a client place an order? Do there seem to be many steps? Before beginning the construction of an on-demand delivery app, you must provide answers to these questions.

The user's path through the app is represented by the customer journey map. Every action, including adding a delivery address and packing a basket with dishes, is recorded on the map. With a map like that, you can see how the app works.

4. Create and evaluate prototypes

You can develop a prototype of the service if you are familiar with the features of your prospective on-demand solution.

The platform can be prototyped by designers and made to function. Prototypes are interactive models that display certain outcomes based on user input.

The final version of the app or website can be demonstrated to the product owner using the prototype. It displays the user interface and features of the program.

5. Create an MVP version.

least viable Only significant features that are required to meet users' basic demands are included in the product. Using MVP enables gathering user feedback and changing the product in accordance with their requirements and expectations. Creating an MVP often takes little time. Nonetheless, this approach permits entry into the market.

To minimise development costs, you might select Flutter app development services. A single codebase may be used to construct cross-platform apps thanks to Google's exciting Flutter technology. The end result, two mobile apps that resemble native ones but cost less, is stunning.

Step 6: Open the app and get user reviews.

After the on-demand delivery app is ready, your vendor will assist you in launching it in the app stores. Then, you can gather feedback from your initial customers to learn what they think of your product. After you are certain that the product is viable, you can expand it up and raise your investment to create a solution with lots of features. You may expand your audience and boost revenue with this method.

Best KPIs for On-Demand Apps

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are a group of measures used to assess various customer service. They ought to respond to the following inquiries:

Is the service self-sufficient financially?

Which elements of the platform need to be improved?

Why do clients pick your product?

How can one boost sales?

Let's talk about the key KPIs to keep in mind when developing on-demand delivery apps.

The total number of orders: You can use this measure to monitor business growth. Investors are always interested in the company's development.

Typical revenue per delivery: Profit is a must for every service. This measure displays the company's revenue. You also need to include in wages, marketing, and other costs.

Rates of conversion: The number of users who have completed the needed action, such as ordering meals, is indicated by this word. This metric is simple to compute. Conversion rates are calculated as follows: total visits / total orders multiplied by 100. Take the case where you receive 50 orders and 1,000 visits each month. Your conversion rate is therefore 5%.

How Does the On-Demand Delivery App Work for Payment?

You should take your monetization plan into account while developing an on-demand delivery app. A meal delivery service can generate income in a variety of ways.

Restaurant cost

In the food delivery sector, this concept is fairly common. The plan of attack is straightforward: restaurants pay a set fee to be included on the service. Charge a fee for each order is an additional and more popular choice. For instance, 15% of the order subtotal is deducted by UberEats.

Ads

Restaurants have the option to pay to appear higher in search results. Ads will appear more natural in this manner.

peak times

Delivery fees may increase during busy times, such as lunch. In this instance, the platform for on-demand delivery earns more money.

delivery charges

This concept suggests that the consumer will be charged for meal delivery. In this scenario, it's critical to figure out the fee number to cover all delivery-related expenses and then some, ensuring a profit.

In fact, there are a lot of additional ways to make money, including:

during inclement weather, an additional charge

Fee for expedited delivery

User charges

How to Create an App for On-Demand Delivery: Standard Functioning

The development of a food delivery app is insufficient. To make the platform useful for all stakeholders, you need to create a complete ecosystem.

Four components make up a typical on-demand meal delivery solution:

Client app. Applications for iOS and Android allow users to browse the menu and place orders.

App for restaurants. Orders can be seen and managed by restaurants.

A messenger app. With this system, new orders are informed to couriers. Users may view the delivery address and order status.

A control panel. The entire platform can be managed by the product owner and the team. They may manage payments, add and remove eateries, and more.

How to create a website for food delivery has been made public.

Client app

The project's most important component is the customer app. To attract more people, you must establish a user-friendly UI/UX design. Today's consumers are quite spoiled. People avoid using applications with ugly or ambiguous designs.

Also, the app's features influence user conversion. While developing an on-demand delivery app, you must design a simple ordering process. Of course, the functionalities of different apps can vary. But every on-demand delivery app has a set of MVP features.

logging in and registering. In order to make this registration procedure quick and simple, it is preferable to provide a variety of options. Integrating signup through social networks like Facebook or Google is an excellent idea. You should also provide signup forms for password, phone number, and email. It's also necessary to use the "Forget password" option. Google SDK and Facebook SDK are required for developers.

Lookup of restaurants. Restaurants in the area should be searchable by users using their geolocation. Also, adding filters will make the search process easier.

monitoring a location. Let clients to follow the courier's progress in real time. Google Location API for Android and Location Framework for iOS allow you to implement this capability.

Payments and orders. Customers must pay for their order after adding food to the card. Your development team will need to incorporate payment processors like Braintree and Stripe for this.

notifications through push. These assist clients in understanding the status of their orders, such as accepted, delivered, and arrived. Push notifications can be integrated by your team using Firebase Cloud Messaging and Amazon SNS.

Reviews and ratings. For the service to improve, users must post reviews. Using Microsoft Azure and AWS, you may retain their comments.

dining application

Restaurants can manage incoming orders with this system. Instead of developing a mobile app, it is typical to design a web solution. It enables restaurant staff to take orders and alert couriers when a shipment is available.

The following aspects should be incorporated by makers of on-demand delivery apps:

logging in and registering. Each employee needs to have their own account in order to secure the service. With the Facebook SDK or Google SDK, a signup functionality can be implemented.

managing the menu. With the restaurant app, staff members can update the menu.

orderly execution. Employees ought to have a range of management options, such as the ability to accept orders and modify their status.

Courier application

The courier app needs to be straightforward but useful. As couriers frequently use mobile applications, it is preferable to solely provide mobile versions.

How can you make it easier for couriers to use an on-demand delivery app? You must include the following features:

logging in and registering. For the app to work, couriers must register. Companies must include features like social media, email and a password, and phone number and a password, much like the customers' app.

Navigation. You must provide couriers with easy-to-use maps that show the quickest routes. Your team can utilise the Location Framework for iOS and Google Maps Platform for Android to integrate this feature.

Order specifics. Couriers require access to all order-related information, including restaurant and delivery addresses, delivery dates, and so forth.

Admin console

A crucial management tool for your company is the admin panel. Here are several essential characteristics:

Login. Your information is safe and well-protected with a secure login.

management of a restaurant. Restaurants may be added to the service by admin. In addition, users may be deleted.

Analytics. You may monitor crucial KPIs using this function, like the quantity of orders, delivery time, income, and others.

administration of payments. Restaurants and users may charge fees using this functionality. Also, this feature allows you to modify the amount.

At a Glance: Features You Must Have

There are numerous features to incorporate, as you can see. The features and technology needed to construct an on-demand delivery app are listed in the table below.