
The whole world is going digital these days. Having an internet presence and a mobile app has become vital for the popularity and growth of firms in most of the industries.
It is the same case with the grocery delivery industry. Ever more people in India and elsewhere in the world, prefer to use grocery delivery apps to meet their daily or weekly grocery needs for a number of reasons and it is essential for big and small grocery businesses in India to adapt to this changing trend to be competent in the industry and to grow in it. After all, the grocery business is a customer-centric (B2C) business.
If you plan to develop a high-quality grocery delivery app to attract and retain more of your potential customers, please contact us and discuss your plans with us. We’ll be glad to help you out.
Why the best grocery delivery apps have become a hit with the masses
People in India have started using the best grocery delivery apps to meet their grocery requirements for the following reasons:
The exploding working class population
Various industries in India, including the IT industry, have witnessed and are witnessing an unprecedented growth in the demand for their services, their business volume, and profits. As a result, ever more people in India are becoming educated, skilled, employed, and wealthier.
People no longer have the time, even on their week offs, to go to a grocery store and buy groceries. They would rather spend that time with their families or doing one of their favorite hobbies. Carrying heavy bags, laden with groceries, has become a burden for people. It is why people prefer to have groceries delivered to their doorsteps these days.
The pandemic situation
The pandemic has made the people of India and around the world ever more health conscious. They are averse to going to crowded grocery stores and grocery supermarkets to buy groceries as the risk of incurring the infection is very high. In a way, grocery delivery apps, like all other delivery apps, have curtailed the spread of the infection in India.
Highly intuitive and informative grocery delivery apps
Most of the grocery delivery apps these days have features embedded in them that can store customers’ past orders and preferences. They enable customers to reorder with the same preferences (rather than informing the grocery store manager every time). They also notify customers about new items and offers.
Once orders have been placed, grocery delivery apps also update customers on their order statuses and their delivery boys’ locations and movements. This prevents anxiety for customers and enables them to focus on other tasks they might have.
Convenient and secure payment options
The best online grocery apps have a plethora of secure and swift online payment options built into them. They enable customers to pay for their orders precisely by any means. People no longer have to worry about carrying change with them every time they visit a grocery store. Convenient, isn’t it?
Lucrative offers and loyalty programs
The top grocery delivery apps always have attractive offers and loyalty programs to convert more potential customers and retain existing ones. These offers and loyalty programs enable people to save a lot of money on their grocery purchases. After all, who is not interested in earning and saving money these days?
If you run a grocery store and plan to have your own app for grocery delivery to better serve your customers, please get in touch with us and we will coordinate with you every step of the way to ensure that you get exactly what you want.
Facts and figures indicating the gigantic growth of grocery delivery apps
The grocery delivery industry in India was just 1% the size of the global grocery delivery industry in 2018.
The industry was valued at only USD 80 million back then. The advent of the pandemic has driven the exponential growth of the industry from 2019.
By the end of 2020, the grocery delivery industry in India was valued at a whopping USD 2.75 billion!
Like the cherry on the cake, the grocery delivery industry in India is expected to grow to USD 25 billion by the end of 2025.
The grocery delivery industry in India is now highly competitive where there is a cut-throat competition between giants in the industry like Big Basket, Grofers, Nature’s Basket, DMart, More, Easy Day, and Milk Basket.
A grocery store needs to develop a very sophisticated and engaging mobile app if it wants to survive and win over the competition in the industry but the massive scope for growth in the grocery delivery industry also gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to make a big splash in the industry and become billionaires themselves.
If you want to cash in on the spectacular growth opportunity in the grocery delivery industry, and want to build the best online grocery app for your store business, please avail our top-notch and cost-effective grocery app development service. We have a spectacular and spotless app development track record.
Top 10 giants in India’s grocery delivery business
These are the top 10 grocery delivery apps in India. They were the first apps to revolutionize how the people of India bought groceries. These apps were launched around the year 2014 when digitization in India took a quantum leap forward and there was a glut of online transactions happening.
Big Basket
This is India’s largest grocery delivery app. It has a whopping 18,000 grocery items listed on it from over 100 different brands. There is not a single grocery item that you can’t find on Big Basket. Big Basket experienced a whopping 6.1 million app downloads and USD 1.85 billion in revenue during May 2021.
Big Basket was co-founded by Mr. V S Sudhakar, Mr. Hari Menon, Mr. Vipul Parekh, Mr. Abhinay Choudhari, and Mr. V S Ramesh in 2011.
Jio Mart
Reliance Industries Pvt. Ltd. is the parent company of Jio Mart. Jio Mart is a cross platform app that can run on both Android and iOS.
Jio Mart is currently available in all the major cities of India like Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Meerut, Agra, Thane, etcetera. Jio Mart has listed not only grocery items but also snack items, frozen foods, and sanitary items.
Jio Mart witnessed 0.1 million app downloads and received an investment of USD 5.7 billion from Facebook in April 2020.
Grofers/Blinkit
Blinkit was known as Grofers until just about a year ago. Apart from groceries, Blinkit has also listed other items such as electronic gadgets, sanitary items, pet care, cosmetics, and flowers.
The unique feature about Blinkit is that they deliver customers’ orders in eco-friendly jute bags. Customers can schedule their deliveries on this app and there are always attractive offers going on.
Blinkit witnessed an impressive 6.1 million app downloads by the end of 2021 and its valuation stood at USD 4.5 billion by then.
Nature’s Basket
This app was developed and owned by Godrej. It was bought by Spencer’s on 14th of July, 2020. The unique feature of this grocery delivery app is that apart from groceries, it also has cheese from countries like Italy, France, UK, and other Asian countries listed on it.
Apart from groceries and cheese, items belonging to the snacks and pastries categories are also listed. Nature’s basket witnessed 1.84 million app downloads in 2021 and its valuation stood at USD 7.7 billion back then.
ZopNow
ZopNow is popular for the attractive and numerous discount coupons offered. It also has lucrative loyalty and referral programs. This app offers a wide range of online payment options to its users like payment via debit cards, credit cards, net banking, upi payments and an option to pay using its in-built digital wallet, Pay Money.
ZopNow is a cross-platform app that can run on Android and iOS. ZopNow witnessed 0.5 million app downloads and was valued at USD 5 billion by the end of 2021.

AmazonNow
This online grocery delivery app was launched in June 2013. Since then, Amazon has spent over USD 2 billion in promoting this app in India. It was only in 2021 that an Android version of this app was available.
On this app, customers can schedule the groceries to be delivered on the same day upto a week after ordering. AmazonNow had witnessed 2 million app downloads in 2021.
Dunzo
Apart from grocery delivery, Dunzo is into all types of commercial goods delivery. People use Dunzo to deliver all kinds of uncommon items like dolls, gifts, suitcases, etcetera.
The unique feature of Dunzo is that it can also be used to deliver items between towns and cities although the usage of this facility is quite rare as it is expensive. Dunzo had witnessed 28.5 million app downloads and was valued at USD 3 billion as of June 2021.
Paytm Mall
People mainly associate Paytm with UPI payments but they also have an app for grocery delivery. This is purely a grocery delivery app. Other category items like dairy products, meat, etcetera are not listed on this app.
Paytm Mall has witnessed 1 million app downloads and Paytm has invested about USD 1 billion in developing and promoting its Paytm Mall grocery delivery app.
Reliance Fresh
This grocery delivery app lists not only grocery items but also vegetables, fruits, and snacks. Hundreds of grocery items from ten different brands are listed on the app. There is no shortage of quality products on this app. This is not surprising as the Reliance brand is renowned for quality in everything.
Reliance Fresh witnessed around 2.2 million app downloads in 2021 and made a net profit of USD 7.5 billion in the Q1 of 2021.
DMart
This popular grocery delivery app is only available in Mumbai and Bangalore as of now. The unique service of this company is that it offers either a refund or a replacement for any damaged grocery items delivered.
DMart is a cross-platform app that can run on Windows, Android, and iOS platforms. The pandemic situation has given D’Mart’s business a shot in the arm. In 2021 alone, DMart witnessed around 30 million app downloads and made a net profit of USD 4.46 billion.
Seeing the enormous number of app downloads and the massive net profits that grocery delivery apps beget, you might be tempted to try your hand at the grocery delivery business. If you want to develop the best-in-class grocery delivery app for your grocery business to witness unprecedented growth, contact us because we are India’s go-to company for app development needs.
The defining features of a top grocery delivery app
Every top grocery delivery app will have four variants of it for various types of users. They are the customer app, the delivery executive app, the store manager app, and the admin app.
The prominent features of these app variants give their respective users a lot of conveniences and control. They help streamline business processes and ensure maximum customer satisfaction. Let’s have a look at the features now.
Customer app
The customer app gives your customers a lot of conveniences and information. It will have advanced and distinguishing features like:
Nearby store locator: The customer app will show your customers all of your store’s branches in their neighborhood. That way, they can order groceries from the stores that are nearest to them. This feature will minimize their delivery costs
Order scheduling: Top grocery delivery apps will enable customers to schedule their order delivery in accordance with their requirements. This way, customers can ensure their availability in their respective residences when the delivery executive delivers their orders.
Order tracking: Once a customer places a grocery delivery order, the grocery delivery app will give him or her real-time notifications on the order status like: ‘Order received’, ‘Items have been packed’, ‘The delivery executive is out for delivery’, ‘Order has been delivered’, etcetera.
This prevents anxiety for the customer and keeps them informed throughout the order delivery process. This feature is what makes using a grocery delivery app, a pleasant experience for the customers.
Diversified and secure payment options: Grocery delivery apps give customers a surplus of secure and swift online payment options. This feature negates the need for customers to have change with them. It also ensures that their precious money is transacted safely. Apart from this, Cash/Card on Delivery (CoD) payment option is also available.
24/7 customer support: In case any problems arise during the process of order delivery or if there’s any defect with the groceries delivered, customers can always avail the chat or call option to discuss their order issues with the store manager and get them sorted out. They can also leave their suggestions or complaints in the comments section so that store managers can better their services in the future.
Intuitive notifications: The best grocery delivery apps will have features that store customers’ past orders and preferences. By going to the ‘Order History’ option, customers will be able to reorder with the exact same preferences.
This is definitely more convenient than telling your preferences to the store manager every time you shop. This feature saves customers a lot of their time and effort. Smart grocery clone apps also notify customers of newly available grocery items, app features and offers. These intuitive notifications will keep your customers engaged and maximize your customer retention.
Delivery executive app
Every top grocery delivery app will have the following defining features in the delivery executive variant. They ease the job of the delivery executive and maximize customer satisfaction.
Complete details registration:By uploading their complete details like name, d.o.b., blood group, family details, contact details, etcetera delivery executives enable their employers to coordinate with them in case any problems arise while delivering customers’ orders.
The details provided also enable employers to inform the delivery executive’s family in the event of mishaps or compensate the delivery executive’s family in the event of his tragic death (like dying in a road accident, etcetera).
Pin-Point accurate GPS service: The cutting-edge GPS navigation feature built into the delivery executive app will enable delivery agents to precisely navigate to customers’ locations and deliver their orders. This feature safeguards the integrity of your grocery delivery business.
Call and chat support: In case any unforeseen hassles arise during order execution, delivery executives can coordinate with their customers or store managers via the chat or call option to resolve the issue. This feature will ensure that customers are kept informed regarding the progress and execution of their orders. It also ensures maximum customer satisfaction and retention.
UPI payment options: Delivery executives can receive the payments for their deliveries in bulk via their UPI accounts and they can use the channel to settle their Cash on Delivery (CoD) dues with the grocery firm. UPIs are a brief, convenient, and fast way to do monetary transactions.
Tracking earnings and delivery time: The best grocery delivery apps enable delivery executives to track their earnings per order and delivery times. This gives them an opportunity to improve upon their performance and to earn more.
Store manager app
The store manager app will have the following advanced features that enable store managers to seamlessly and swiftly handle their customers’ orders.
Assigning orders to delivery boys: Via the store manager app, grocery store managers can assign the available delivery boys to deliver customers’ orders. This feature enables the optimal execution of customer’s orders.
Order management dashboard: Via this dashboard, store managers can track the location, movement, and status of their delivery executives. They can also coordinate with them in case any obstacles arise during order executions.
If customers have any complaints after their orders have been delivered, they too can be addressed on the order management dashboard.
Inventory management dashboard: Via this dashboard store managers can keep track of their store’s inventory and maintain it to the optimal level. This will ensure availability of grocery items to the store’s customers at all times.
After all, people get highly disappointed and angry when their favorite grocery items are not available, don’t they? Sometimes customers even switch to other grocery delivery firms if their favorite or required grocery items are not available.
Accounts management: This feature ensures that delivery boys’ payments are given on time, staff salaries are paid on time, payments from customers for the delivered orders are received on time, the taxes are paid on time, etcetera.
This feature preserves the operational integrity of the store and safeguards its reputation and staff satisfaction. It also helps stores keep track of their revenue and profits.
Business analytics: This feature gives valuable business insights to a grocery store like its customers’ tastes, preferences, buying trends, expectations, etcetera.
Properly implementing the information derived from the analytics data will help the grocery store heighten its business performance, popularity, and reputation. It will also help the grocery store streamline its business processes and achieve the maximum possible operational efficiency.
Push notifications: Push notifications can be used to keep a store’s customers updated on the store’s latest offers, new grocery items, and loyalty program. They keep a grocery store’s customers engaged and informed. This feature aids in maximizing customer retention.
Information management: This feature enables grocery store managers to edit and update the information about their store like their opening and closing times, grocery items’ availability, delivery executives’ availability, address, contact details, etcetera.
This feature prevents anxiety for customers and keeps them informed before placing their orders. This feature smoothens business operations.
Admin app
The admin app will have the following versatile features that give grocery business owners granular control over their business operations.
Supply chain management: This dashboard will enable grocery store owners to maintain the inventory level of their branch stores and address any obstacles in the logistics service.
They can also coordinate with branch store managers to address any dynamic business requirements. This feature will ensure the heightened efficiency of business operations.
Handling escalations: In that rare scenario, when customers’ complaints were not resolved by store managers, the admin dashboard provides all the tools necessary to grocery business entrepreneurs to resolve their customers’ escalations and conserve the integrity and reputation of their grocery business.
Managing accounts: The admin app’s dashboard helps grocery business owners optimize their business’s running costs, revenue, and profits. This feature will also give grocery business owners exquisite business insights that will help them streamline their business processes and derive the maximum operational efficiency and profits.
Updating branch stores’ statuses: If any new branch store has been opened or closed or if there is any change in their contact details, staff details, inventory details, address, etcetera that information can be updated on the admin dashboard to provide grocery business owners with granular control of their business operations. After all, business owners need to be on top of things to manage their business operations.
If you intend to design a top grocery delivery app with all the above-mentioned versions for your grocery business, you would do well to avail our transformational app development service. We have received many exhilarated testimonials from our clients for our outstanding app development service.

Is developing a top grocery delivery app economical or expensive?
That is a tricky question to answer as a number of different factors determine the cost of grocery delivery app development but in general, it varies from $5000 – $20000. If you envisage developing a grocery delivery app for your grocery store and want to know how much it would cost you, contact us and we’ll give you all the details. The factors that determine the cost of grocery delivery app development are as follows.
Complexity of the required features
Grocery delivery apps that require real-time monitoring of all the activities and statuses of grocery chain stores and the real-time tracking of all the delivery executives will cost a lot and take a considerably long time to develop. Grocery delivery apps that only track delivery executives and enable customers to place orders will cost a lot less.
Number of required features
If a grocery delivery app needs only the basic features to be embedded in it like order placement, notification updates on order statuses, real time tracking of only delivery executives, online payment options, etcetera. It will cost you the bare minimum.
If you need additional features to be installed in it like advanced business analytics, advanced accounts analytics, real time tracking of store chains, giving automated suggestions to customers, A/B testing, etcetera, it’s going to cost you a lot more.
Number of developers involved
Every mobile app development project requires at least one full-time programmer to complete the project successfully but depending on the size and complexity of the project, coordination between many full-time programmers may be required. The more the number of app developers employed in your project, the more it’s going to cost you.
Number of modifications needed
If you keep on adding new requirements during the course of the project development, you are indirectly incrementing the cost involved. You must coordinate with the developer team at least twice a month to ensure that you get exactly what you want.
The coding platform used
Some coding platforms such as Flutter employ the Dart coding technology to develop cross-platform apps. Cross-platform mobile apps developed using the Flutter platform are usually cost-effective but sophisticated.
However, some mobile app development platforms like Xamarin which employ the C#.net coding technology to develop advanced cross-platform apps is more expensive. Every mobile app development platform has its pros and cons. You have to choose the most suitable one depending on your project requirements and your budget.
What we can do for you
If you have become convinced that you need to develop your own grocery delivery app to take your grocery store business to the next level, feel free to get in touch with us and avail our spotless app development service for grocery delivery.
We will coordinate with you every step of the way and deliver to you, a grocery delivery app with the exact same features that you require. Our seasoned app developers will treat your project requirements as their own and give you the best grocery app.
We offer our app development service at a very reasonable and negotiable cost. If you choose us for your grocery app development needs, you won’t be disappointed.
