The rapidly rising corona cases across the world have acquainted people with online shopping and curbside pickup and delivery services. Almost 65% of consumers have agreed to the fact that they want to maintain social distancing while shopping for food and groceries. The new concept of developing a curbside pick-up and delivery app satisfies people’s cravings while also helping them stay safe. This guide will solve the queries if you are looking for a curbside pickup and delivery app development guide.
Customers used to shop, are shopping a lot, and will continue to shop at an accelerated rate. This trend is never going to change, but the way shopping is done will! In the past, physical shopping of food items and groceries was considered normal, but recently the online shopping craze is rising. People’s expectations towards new ways of shopping have led to increasing demand for on-demand services and takeaways or curbside pickups.
Just like the McDonalds’ drive-thru and Subway takeaway service, people are embracing the concept of curbside pick-up and delivery. The primary reason behind this rise in popularity and demand is the upsurge of Corona cases worldwide. Customers fear leaving their vehicles unless anything urgent. And this is why curbside pickup and delivery app development is so celebrated.
In this blog, we will run through various interesting questions related to curbside pickup and delivery app development. We will discuss,
- What is curbside pickup;
- Why is it high in demand?
- How does curbside pickup service work?
- What challenges you might face while developing curbside pick-up and delivery applications?
- What is the curbside pickup and delivery app development cost?
What is curbside pickup and delivery?
If you are already buying goods online, curbside pickup is an extended version of it. You can order food ahead of time in this model and pick it up as per the store/restaurant or a defined pickup location. You do not have to get out of the car; instead, the store representative delivers the order to your car.
The service provider needs to have an online app where you can place an order and have it delivered safely to the car. Order placement and its delivery happen at the customer’s front; what happens at the service provider front is order receipt, order preparation, customer tracking, delivering the correct order, and receiving the payment.
The challenging part starts when the service provider starts receiving multiple orders and they have to deliver the orders within the timeline. We will delve into this later.
However, the stunning percentage increase of 734% in drive-up sales, according to the Q2 2020 report. This clearly shows that the customers are satisfied with the curbside services, and there is a chance for your new business to flourish.
Why curbside pickup and delivery is in high demand?
Curbside pickup and delivery services have become the primary way of shopping for food, groceries, and other day-to-day items. The service is benefiting especially to the people with certain disabilities, people with children or elderly people, people having pets, and people who by choice prefer to shop curbside and maintain their hygiene.
In and all, it is a service that matches with the new environment and new needs ideology. Popular retailers will soon adapt to the curbside pickup strategy in the coming times, and the idea of the concept will also boost contactless payment.
A safe and hygienic environment will be maintained, and the curbside pickup and delivery retailers will earn their share.
It will also help your business in many ways.
- First, ensure that you have your application developed from an experienced mobile app development company. Once this is done, your customers will have handy access to all the menus and lists. With simple taps and clicks, they can order the food/items of their choice in no time.
- The concept ensures that you have increased sales in business. You will be able to serve people faster, and thereby you can process more orders.
- Consumers no longer have to spend time visiting the store or the location. They can remain busy in their work and yet have their orders on the way back.
- It reduces the waiting time. In current times, when consumers move out of home only once, that too trying to accomplish multiple tasks, curbside pickup saves time.
- As a business, you will save dimes by not investing money in setting up your inventory nor buying expensive trucks. Over and above, the customer benefits better by not paying delivery charges or fees.
- Again, business owners would not have to regret any delayed deliveries or missed items. The prospective customer is waiting in the area at the given time, and the order is directly delivered to them.
- It will also encourage customers to shop from local stores and thereby support the local business.
How does curbside pickup delivery work?
Curbside shopping is a brilliant alternative to physical shopping. The working process of curbside delivery is pretty simple.
Step 1:
Customers browse the mobile app or website to check the availability of the products. They add items into the cart and proceed to checkout.
Step 2:
At the checkout page, they select the online payment method and decide whether they want to opt for curbside pickup.
Step 3:
The retail store or the service provider receives the order notification and proceeds for order packing.
Step 4:
Depending on the availability of the items, the store will confirm the order of the curbside pickup. The same order acceptance notification will be shared with the customer. The notification will also mention the date and time of order delivery.
Step 5:
The curbside pickup customer arrives at the drive-thru or the pickup location. On the arrival of the customer, the store representative will drop the order in the car.
This is it! The entire process is so simple and smooth. It involves no hassle of maintaining inventory or the long waiting process at the stores.
What business should invest in curbside pickup and delivery app development?
The business model for curbside pickup and delivery app appeals to many industries. However, we would list a few of them who would benefit the best by adapting it.
- Restaurants:
People running out of time order food online or prefer to have it through the drive-thru. But, it may or may not be possible for restaurants to have enough space for a drive-thru or serve with contactless delivery.
Curbside pickup is a great option to get away with. Restaurants don’t need to have a convenient space, nor do they have to hire delivery executives for delivering the orders.
- Grocery stores:
Grocery shopping is a regular activity of consumers. And guess what, grocery stores can use curbside pickup with perfect implementation. Grocery stores receive the order and pack the same in advance. All they have to do is wait for the customers to have their pickup service. Many popular grocery store chains can start utilizing the same concept and make money.
A few other retailers who can utilize the curbside pick-up services and work in the same workflow mentioned above are:
- Pharmacies;
- Auto supplier stores;
- Clothing stores;
- Sports supplier stores;
- Convenience goods;
- Pet stores;
Well, a key takeaway: You can also opt for hyperlocal delivery app development and embed all the above-mentioned services in it. Next, introduce a curbside pickup service for the same.
What are the challenges involved in curbside pickup and delivery service app development?
As much lucrative as the idea of developing a curbside pickup and delivery app is, you may end up in a mess if you do not address the following challenges accurately.
Adequate infrastructure:
Curbside pickup and delivery service require you to have enough space for car parking of customers. If your business doesn’t have adequate space for it, you may end up creating havoc on the roads.
Acknowledge the audience:
Just like a drive-thru shopping experience that shows arrows of where to drive in your car, where to place the order, and where to receive the final delivery, curbside pickup service also requires you to acknowledge people with the concept.
You need to set up signboards suggesting car parking or pickup location services.
A halt-free mobile or web application:
Customers opting for curbside pick-up and delivery service are likely to expect halt-free application. To ensure a fully functional application, you first need to select an app development company that can prepare a lean canvas model for your project and help you in specifying the project requirements. The company should release a quality product after testing it thoroughly while following quality testing standards.
If you can afford to set up an infrastructure or have sufficient resources to address the challenges, it is best for your business to go with the flow and adapt to curbside pick-up and delivery services.
What screens will a curbside pickup and delivery app have?
Just like any on-demand application, a curbside pickup and delivery service app will have three screens in general.
- Customer screen: Allow the customers to browse the menu, place orders, schedule orders, and make the payment for the orders. Notify them when their order is under process and ready to deliver.
- Admin screen: This screen will help the admin monitor various activities performed on the application.
- Service provider screen: The service provider should be updated with the order receipt and other details of the customers.
What is the cost to develop a curbside pickup and delivery service application?
A curbside pickup and delivery service app development is extremely cost-effective but fruitful. Your business can earn millions if you have an application in hand. You just need to invest an estimated figure of around $15K for app development and spend a few thousand dollars behind marketing. Once the application is known to the public, you can have multiple sales and make a profit.
For app development procedures and solutions, we are the best-in-class company. Our expertise in developing on-demand solutions will ensure a bug-free and functional application.
Ending Note:
A curbside pickup service helps you organize your orders and keep them in sync. You do not have to get into the hassle of maintaining the inventory nor have to keep track of delivery executives. All you can do is, provide a frictionless shopping experience and incentivize customers for their loyalty.
Kody Technolab helps businesses in having their brilliant curbside pickup delivery service app. Our business solutions are quality tested and then released into the market.