With a valuation of $107.44 billion in 2019, the online on-demand food industry promises tremendous growth. Add to that the COVID-19 throttle, wherein restaurants rely on delivery platforms to reach out to their potential customers. The sheer convenience of ordering food from the comfort of the homes, coupled with the access to a wide range of eateries, makes food delivery apps the talk of the town amid the outbreak situation.
The market for online food delivery app currently stands at $23.9 billion in 2020. As an icing to the cake, the number of on-demand food delivery platform users will exceed 1.2 billion by the end of 2020. With digitization becoming inevitable and smartphones becoming preordained, an on-demand app for food delivery can help an entrepreneur boost profits and build a reputed brand in no time.
Ever wondered what made apps like Foodpanda and UberEats successful? One of the significant advantages of the online medium is that it produces a ‘level-playing’ field, wherein both rookies can outplay stalwarts with the right approach. If you’re an emerging entrepreneur who aims to build an on-demand food delivery app, this blog is for you. Here, we’ll discuss enticing strategies that can assure remarkable success to a food delivery platform.
The Foundation – Right Business Model
Simply put, the business model reflects the way your platform conducts food delivery operations. Analyzing resources is crucial to identify the best-suited model that can sustain in the long run. Some of the popular models include,
- Aggregator model: The role of an aggregator is to bridge the gap between restaurants and customers. The platform’s role ends as soon as the restaurants receive the orders. It is the restaurants’ responsibility to take care of deliveries. For example, Domino’s Pizza app comes under the umbrella of the aggregator model.
- Order and delivery model: Most popular On-demand food delivery app comes under this model. In this model, the platform constitutes an in-house delivery team. As soon as the restaurants process the orders, delivery executives pick up and deliver them at customers’ doorsteps.
- Cloud Kitchen model: In this model, instead of restaurants, cloud kitchens or virtual kitchens take care of food preparation. This integrated approach, wherein the platform takes care of ordering, preparing, and delivering, has gained massive reception off late. Jot down your resources and capabilities before deciding your business model.
If you have the resources to prepare food via cloud kitchens, the cloud kitchen model can do the trick. Else, if you are venturing with a restricted budget, even an aggregator model can come in handy.
The Focus – Features of Stakeholder Apps
Stacking the app with features has been the most crucial part when it comes to app development. However, you need to go the extra mile if you are to stand out while developing an app like Foodpanda. The stakeholders of a typical food delivery platform include,
- Users
- Restaurant executives
- Delivery drivers
- Admins
Loading world-class features into the individual stakeholder apps is no easy feat. As your explicit features increase, so does your app development cost. The feature-set to consider include,
User app:
- Reorder: Enable users to reorder from their order history with just a few taps.
- In-app wallet: Eliminate the need to enter account/card details every time during payment by incorporating a wallet option.
- In-app chat/call: Let users communicate with restaurant executives and delivery drivers to offer special instructions if any.
- Multi-lingual support: Proffer users the ability to access the platform in the language of their choice.
- Schedule for later: Enable users to schedule orders for the future, paving the way for excellent customer retention.
Service provider (Restaurant executives + Delivery drivers) app:
- Order management dashboard: Let service providers get a detailed overview of their past/upcoming orders in a single place via an intuitive dashboard.
- Earnings tab: Enable service providers to view their daily/weekly/monthly earnings effortlessly.
- In-app alerts: Eliminate the need to access the app every time by providing instant notifications to service providers on different order requests.
- Real-time Menu: Avoid any form of inconvenience to service providers and users by integrating a real-time menu feature to vary food availability accordingly.
Admin app:
- CRM dashboard: The admin can resolve customer queries and manage customers effortlessly with a highly-informative CRM dashboard.
- Real-time analytics: The admin can make informed business decisions by generating reports on various metrics like performance, engagement, sales, etc.
- Manage discounts: The admin can manage offers/coupons periodically based on app performance and reception.
The Inevitable – Safety add-ons for COVID-19
Considering the current scenario, the platform that sustains longer will invariably win. However, sustenance isn’t a walk in the park. By safeguarding the entire community and ensuring COVID-19-free deliveries, a platform can soar massively among the audience. Some of the safety strategies to consider in your Foodpanda clone include,
- Zero-contact deliveries & Digital Payments: Instruct your delivery workers to drop food orders in front of users’ homes rather than handing them over directly. Similarly, eliminate any form of contact by disabling Cash on Delivery (COD) in high-risk zones. Enable users to pay via numerous digital modes, including credit/debit cards, digital wallets, net banking, etc.
- Safety gear & Recognition software: Just because you provide safety gear like face masks, gloves, sanitizers to the entire community doesn’t mean that you have upheld safety standards. Incorporating a face mask & gloves recognition software can come in handy. This way, the software detects face masks effortlessly, keeping safety standards in check.
- Safety ratings & reviews: Even after so many initiatives from your side, constructive suggestions from customers can go a long way in ensuring safety. Enable users to rate and review the platform’s safety standards, thereby paving the way for corrective actions seamlessly.
Conclusion
The demand for food delivery platforms has reached a new high due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As an entrepreneur with a burning desire to storm into the food delivery segment, you can capitalize on such a demanding situation with a trendsetting app. Utilize the right business model, integrate unique features, and tackle the COVID-19 crisis to witness unprecedented growth in the shortest possible time.