How To Develop an Online Grocery and Shopping Application Like Walmart?

Lately, in May 2020, Walmart made a brilliant decision to combine two of its standalone solutions into one, Walmart App. Looking at the sudden surge in the demands of online shopping, the company decided to sell everything, including food, toys, and grocery, on a single platform. The decision is still under contemplation; however, its implementation will start soon. Walmart won the No.1 spot in shopping apps surpassing Amazon by almost 20%, according to the App Annie survey. So why wait to develop an app like Walmart? Let’s discuss your project today!

Social distancing and online shopping are the new norms for people of all ages. As a result, retailers, as well as grocers across the globe, are observing an increase in demand. If we look at the statistics, the shopping app downloads crossed 160 million globally between late March and early April 2020. Also, it is expected that by 2021, 50% of online shoppers in the Netherlands, UK, and France will order food items online at least once a week. 

So there lies the opportunity for your online grocery shopping application, isn’t it? Yes, you can contact us to develop a grocery and retail shopping application that will give fierce competition to Walmart, Amazon, and BigBasket. If you do not believe us, you can check our work folio of a grocery shopping app and observe how we managed to develop & increase the user base of this application. You can also refer to our blog on “ how to make a grocery shopping app like BigBasket” 

We will start this blog by describing the factors that we considered while developing our grocery shopping application. 

Firstly, we acknowledged our client with the two on-demand grocery shopping application models, which are:

1. An app service that sells its own products on the store;
2. An app service that collaborates with various other stores and makes a delivery for them. 

   You can, of course, choose your app model and move forward with the development. 

The next list of factors is important, and you definitely need to consider it. 

Addressing the customer’s pain point:

If we get a deeper understanding of Walmart’s decision, we will know that they tried to address the customer’s pain point of juggling between two apps (one to buy grocery items and second to buy retail items) at a time. Hence, it is important that you first identify your customers’ pain points and address the same in your application. 

For example, do they have problems with the delivery schedules? Do they want to have an express delivery service, or do they want more options with payment facilities? 

Addressing and simplifying customers’ pain points encourages them to use the application more frequently. 

Analyzing your competitors:

The next crucial step to successful delivery is to know who your competitors are and how they perform? Invest time in doing market research and explore the issues of the competitors. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of them and adopt features that will give you a competitive advantage. 

Thinking of out-of-the-box design and UX:

Stunning visuals have the potential to attract users in leaps and bounds. We strongly believe in this, and hence for our grocery shopping app development, we decided to have a stunning UI. We focused more on developing simple navigation yet functional application. 

Trying to add a personal touch:

You must add a personalization touch to the application. Users love browsing over applications that give them a product recommendation or show popular items on the list. 

Few other concerns of our client were,

• To integrate a seamless checkout process with multiple payment options. 
• To manage logistics and inventory in order to avoid out-of-stock situations.
• To manage discounts and provide promotional schemes over the application. 
• Organizing delivery systems and making it more efficient. 

We managed well to highlight and give a solution to all these problems and reap maximum benefit by building a grocery delivery app like Walmart. 

We would like to throw some light on the benefits of developing a grocery and shopping delivery application. The list of benefits comprises both the buyers and the shop/grocery store owner. 

Benefits from the Store owner Perspective:

Competitiveness:

As we have mentioned in our earlier blogs, customers or say millennials trust stores that have their online presence. They are likely to purchase groceries from online stores having a registered name, address, or logo. These things affect the trustworthiness of applications. Hence, if you plan to launch your store online, you can definitely beat the competition. 

Instant result:

If you own a physical store, it is probably difficult to know whether your customer has liked your product/service unless s/he visits the store again. But, with online shopping, you can ask your valuable customers to leave feedback or a review about the service and receive instant gratification. This makes your customers feel special and, at the same time, gives you an idea about the areas where you need to improve. 

Convenience:

Nowadays, when the whole world is taking precautionary measures for fighting against Coronavirus, making an app like Walmart grocery would serve the purpose. As a store owner, you will no more come in contact with any customer; however, you will be able to serve them in the best way possible. 

In addition to this, you can personally address every customer’s needs and deliver it in the promised timeframe. This way, you can build up a loyal customer base who would prefer purchasing products from you over the other options available to them. 

From Customers’ perspective:

Convenience:

The suitability and convenience factor tops this list of benefits when it comes to customers. Customers prefer to receive groceries and retails stuff at the doorstep rather than visiting the physical store. They love the experience they get with a single tap mobile application over the long queues at the grocery stores. 

Time-saving:

We all know the difficulty involved in taking out that “extra” time from the busy schedule to visit the grocery store. On the other hand, an online grocery shopping application allows customers to shop at their convenience, whether in the afternoon or at midnight. They can place the order and get the delivery done in a specific period of time. 

Secured payment:

Online shopping applications have various payment options that allow users to place an order and choose between COD or online payment. This convenience has driven many users to make a quick shift to online stores over physical stores. 

It prevents over shopping:

It is a human tendency to get tempted over various offers and discounts you see on products, and as a result, we end up buying things more than required. However, online shopping applications allow you to put limits over the extra-purchase. 

Many apps have wallet features from which you can use the money to make the payment. This way, you can keep yourself apart from the alluring offers and discounts and, in a way, save your money. 

From the COVID-19 perspective, there are many reasons why developing an online grocery shopping application is beneficial. 

• It allows customers to stay at home and prevent transmission of the virus;
• It will enable shopkeepers to meet growing demands on time and thereby avoid the panic situation;
• It increases work productivity;
• An on-demand grocery delivery application contributes to the global economy. 

Now, let us now know about the key features of a grocery delivery application:

A grocery app development requires you to consider the features of a customer app, admin app, driver app, and advanced features. If your app includes multiple store owners, then store manager app. 

We will look into each of the screens starting right from the customer. 

Customer App:

When opened by the customer, the grocery application screen should have the following features:

• Stress-free registration;
• Product list;
• Smart search;
• Schedule delivery;
• Filters;
• Quick order/reorder;
• Push notification;
• Product description and images;
• Order tracking;
• Ratings/Reviews;
• Settings;
• Order history;
• Payment options

Driver App:

A professional driver who wishes to join the grocery app team should have the following features on the screen,

• Easy registration;
• Profile Management;
• Order acceptance;
• Live tracking;
• Delivery status;
• Review/Ratings;

Admin App:

The administrator holds the highest authority when it comes to application management. The Admin screen should consist of following features,

• Store management;
• Dashboard;
• Manager assignment;
• Accept/Reject Order
• Order Tracking;
• Customer management;
• Product listing management;
• Push notification;
• Report generation;
• Customer data;
• Offers and discount management.

Store manager app:

• Store locator;
• Store pickup;
• Inventory management;
• Logistic management;
• Help and support;
• Website ordering;

Advanced features:

• Chatbot support;
• Real-time order status notification;
• Social networks signup;
• Voice recognition;
• Price comparison;
• Reminders;
• GPS navigation
• Easy share outside group;
• Multiple shopping lists;
• Barcode scanning;
• Favorite listing;

On top of this, you also need to configure specific APIs into the application for better user experience.

Payment gateway:

Integrate Payment APIs into the application to ensure a seamless checkout process. 

SMS gateway: 

By integrating SMS gateway into the application, you would be capable of sending SMS notifications to the customers. You can send a promotional message or a discount coupon via message. 

Email:

Email API allows you to send emails (automated/non-automated) to the customer with regard to the order placed. 

Geo-location:

Geo-location API is like a boon for the drivers. It facilitates them to track orders and locations in real-time. 

Here are a few points that you need to consider while developing a grocery and shopping delivery app like Walmart. 

Avoid any confusion at the registration page:

Keep the application registration page basic. Do not confuse or frustrate users/drivers/store owners by asking difficult or irrelevant questions. A simplified log-in process attracts users and is a comfort for audiences of all age groups. 

Overstuffed with features:

You don’t need to integrate all the features that we have mentioned above, nor it goes as a thumb rule that you need to have them. The only point of mentioning them is to let you know what else you can have when you develop a grocery shopping application. 

Move towards minimalism, maintaining the aesthetics of the app. Ensure that you do not keep on pestering the user with the notifications and sidebar ads. Justify every feature that you include in your dream grocery shopping application. 

Low-quality images:

When we mentioned that, you need to give product images on the customer app a high-quality image. A low-quality image does not do justice to the actual product. Hence, make sure that you include optimized but high-quality images in the application. 

What is the work process of an online-grocery shopping application? How does an online grocery shopping application make money?

The primary objective of any mobile app development, be it Walmart, Uber, or another, is to make a profit by providing the service. Several factors contribute to the application’s success, and one of them is the “working process”. Let’s have a look at the online grocery shopping process. 

• A customer logs into the application using the email id or phone number. They choose the location of service and move forward with it. 
• A list of products appears in front of them, and they can create a shopping list by picking up the product. 
• Once everything on the shopping list has been added to the cart, the customer is landed on the checkout page. 
• Customers can choose their choice of payment based on their preference. If you are confused about which payment to integrate, then here is a comparison between Stripe, Square, Dwolla, PayPal, and Braintree. 
• Once the order is placed, the customer is notified and can track the order in real-time. 

If you follow Walmart’s footsteps, then they have two models. First, the in-store pickup option and second home delivery option. Well, both the options need an investment (of hiring delivery person and vehicle) at the initial stage. 

Now answering the next question, how will you monetize the grocery shopping delivery services? 

• Decide the price of each product, set it a bit higher than the actual price. However, you need to mention that the prices are elevated for a reason clearly. Keep the pricing transparent and appear honest. 

• The next way to monetize from your grocery delivery application is by charging a delivery service fee. For every order placed and delivered, charge a specific amount to the user. This amount should be based on the order size, the distance of service delivery, and the vehicle transport fee. Mention the final price inclusive of all these above considerations so that the customers know how much have you charged for the specific service. 
• Another great way to monetize from your future app is by publishing advertisements. You can charge a service fee from the companies who wish to show in-app advertisements in your application. However, make sure that these ads are authentic, delightful, and optimized. 

• If you are launching a multi-store grocery shop, you can charge a fee to the store owners to list their stores on your app. This monetization model allows you to partner with brands and, in return, increase your app awareness.

What is the cost to build an app like Walmart?

The final cost of developing a grocery shopping app depends on a variety of factors, including the app complexity, the platform, the country of development, features, and functionalities. You can estimate the final cost of development to fall between $7,000 to $15,000. You can also hire remote developers to complete your project. They would charge on an hourly basis, which may affect the final cost of development. 

How will we at KodyTechnolab contribute to your project?

Kody Technolab is one of the top-ranking companies when it comes to on-demand app development. We have catered to various industries and helped hundreds of startups in developing the dream application. 

Our team of experienced developers ensures that they deliver an optimized and bug-free on-demand application. We understand your business demands, research & analyze the competitors, develop a wireframe or a prototype depending on your request, test, and deliver the project at the promised time. 

You can always contact us for a free consultation or request a demo. 

The future of online grocery shopping applications:

The statistics mentioned above clearly suggest that the eGrocery market is going to bloom in the coming times. By the end of the year 2024, it is expected to generate total revenue of $84460 million! Whoa!! That’s surely going to blow your mind. So why wait when you have the chance of reaping the benefits at the earliest? 

A feature-rich application is a treat to the customers, which will, in a way, help you in building customer loyalty. Make sure that you stand at your business aim and develop an app that justifies your project goal. If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with us.