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How much does it cost to build an app like Instacart?

By Abhishek Goel 9th February 2022

Interested in building an app like instacart for your grocery business? Sounds interesting! In this article, we are going to discuss various parameters and strategies required to build a grocery delivery app. If you are looking for how to start a grocery delivery business, go through the complete write-up and enlighten yourself before making a decision.  

app like instacart

On-demand apps have been an associated part of our lives. We are much dependent on digitalization when it comes to pursuing our daily activities. From getting the orders at the doorstep to scrolling through more options to bring affordability into the action, on-demand apps are here to stay. 

With the growing popularity of Instacart in a specific region, many grocery unicorns are taking the leap of faith to try their luck by building a grocery delivery app.  Before we go ahead, let us briefly talk about Instacart and the reasons why it is disrupting the grocery market. 

Instacart:  A brief overview

The on-demand grocery revolution was founded by Apoorva Mehta and Max Mullen in 2012, with a mission of offering an on-demand grocery delivery platform that provides doorstep deliveries of groceries and other home essentials in the U.S. and Canada.

With  Headquarters in SanFrancisco, California, the company has a convenient delivery window that aims to deliver groceries within 1 hour. 

Stats to digest – Instacart ruling the game of revenue 

  • Have added more than 200,000 shoppers to the family.
  • Instacart has expanded its  reach upto 30,000 stores and still growing. 
  • 500 million + products have been enlisted in Instacart. 
  • Instacart  is now available in 5,500 North American cities.
  • 85% of all U.S. households prefer Instacart..

Sounds aspiring! Be the next game-changer in the competition. Talk to our experts today for more information!

instacart

Steps to build an App like Instacart

Here is the list of steps that make an app like Instacart. The functionality of the app is dependent upon several factors which are: 

  1. Technical Documentation
  2. Platforms
  3. Testing and Deployment
  4. UI/UX Designing

Technical Documentation: The process includes the addition of detailed information about the architecture framework, the requirements, the process, the essential features that will be loaded in the app, and various techniques. The features include a set of similar features that are already available in Instacart. To build a grocery app, it is essential to add those features to the list. 

Platforms: The app should be compatible to be accessed on any of the available platforms. While you are in the process of knowing how to start a grocery delivery business, make sure you create an app that can be used on Android or iOS separately and together too. 

Testing and Deployment:  This step included early identification of the app flaws before making it live. This is a pre-step that involves a dedicated team to identify and test the application to know about the bugs, risks, and gaps in the app before making it live in the app store. It is a must-to-comply step that enables your app to work smoothly. The process is divided into various modules. 

UI/UX Designing: Once the bugs are fixed and flaws are identified, the very next step is to identify and know about the usability, user interaction, desirability, and first-time user experience within the app. 

Once you have gone through all the steps, you are almost ready to launch your app like Instacart

However, there are a set of preliminary features that should be there in the app. Let us walk through the featurette section too- depending upon the various stakeholders. 

Instacart

Customer App: List of must-have features

  1. Get registered: The initial step is to make sure the customers get registered to the app. This includes submission of important information such as personal details, home address, billing address and more. This step is generally to get tabular information about the customer. 
  2. Choose the Supermarket: This includes selection of preferred or may be a nearby supermarket. The selection could be location based or product availability based. 
  3. Search and Filter: This feature enables a smooth journey of the customer while he is scrolling and going ahead with the process of adding the things to cart. 
  4. Shopping cart: Now, the customer can view and see the added items in the cart before making the final call to make the purchase. 
  5. Payment: There are multiple payment channels available that could be picked up by the customer at the time of billing. 
  6. Tracking the order: The app allows you to keep a tab over the products throughout the delivery cycle. 
  7. Return the order: If required, the customer can easily initiate the return of the order too. 

Grocery app- Admin Panel

The panel allows the admin to control, manage and oversee the complete order fulfillment cycle. Here is the list of essential features. 

  1. Inventory management:  It includes keeping a record and updating of the inventory after every purchase made.
  2. Order management:  It includes allocating the orders and delivery to the best suited nearby drivers.
  3. Analytical Insights: It consists of timely reports to oversee the insights and performance of the business at every stage. 

Vendor panel: A brief overview

 Last but not the least, there are must-have features that explain the sustainability and productivity of the vendors. 

The panel includes the dashboard to manage, organize the products, orders, and discounts. It includes the below-mentioned features: 

  1. Item management:  Store owners can easily add or update the product listings, prices , order quantity as per the availability and other parameters. 
  2. Order management: This feature allows the store owners to check the order status as well as the total amount collected after every order. 
  3.  Track payments:  It includes the process of tracking the status of payments and invoice reconciliations with a digital intervention. It removes the chances of manual errors too. 
  4. Customer support :  In case of any conflict, the customer support can be connected and the issues could be solved. This will help in making your journey seamless and smooth while dealing with on-demand requests and fluctuations. 
  5. Reject Orders : Again, this is a smart feature that allows the store owners to reject the orders in case of product unavailability or any other unavoided feature. 

Delivery App

This app is the root of connecting the customers to the services. It is one of the essential and feature-loaded apps that helps in scaling your business. 

  • Dashboard: It includes an overview of all the activities planned for the day, executed or missed. It also helps in tracking the performance at the per order level. 
  • Check the status: You can turn the delivery status on or off as per the requirements. 
  • Order request:  It enables the customer to receive a grocery delivery request or view it along with the scheduled delivery time and accept/reject the request as per the demand. 
  • Geo-Map Services: The easy map integration helps in building up the location data efficiently. 
  • Route Optimization – The app recommends and lets you know the shortest and fastest routes to the delivery person based on the customer’s location.
  • Chat/Message: The driver can receive the message and can choose to send the message to the different stakeholders. 
  • Payment: Once the order is delivered, they can get the payment done through any of the payment gateways. 
  • Wallet: It allows you to see and know the daily earnings and the payment based on the daily work. 

Yelo– A stepping stone in your journey!

Looking for a complete tech suite that can seamlessly support your entire journey of building a grocery app? Talk to our team Yelo and get our expertise to shine and scale in the competition. 

Book a virtual coffee with our experts and get started in no time.

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