How to Build An App Like El Grocer – A Comprehensive Guide

Last Updated on November 17, 2023

Over the last few years, mobile technology has gained considerable momentum and made great strides within the retail sector. More and more people are moving online to purchase clothing, pay bills, learn skills, and buy household goods & food with the rise of internet usage and eCommerce applications. Mobile e-commerce applications are already rising at an impressive pace, and grocery-based apps are now taking the same steps.

The speed and intensity of people utilizing food delivery apps filled with tap-and-collect facilities, various payment options, and on-door deliveries on the same day nearly rendered the brick-and-mortar a refugee in their own country. In addition, on-demand grocery delivery applications provide customers with a better shopping experience & comfort and allow retailers to improve their brand recognition & develop customer loyalty. That is why developers are keenly involved in opening an online grocery store and creating their food delivery applications.

The online grocery delivery market in UAE is growing and the demand is forecasted to grow with a CAGR of 22% on the basis of GMV between 2019 and 2025, according to reports.

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• How to Build An App Like Postmates

The on-demand grocery delivery industry is going through a steep growth curve in the current scenario, and there are enough prospects to prosper. Orthodox food supply chains are being threatened in a distinctive way due to the COVID-19 crisis. People face difficulties accessing important groceries during the full lockout, when malls, grocery stores, and pharmacies are closed. 

Developing a food delivery app is the need of the hour in such difficult times, and grocers leave no stone unturned to go website and make their own grocery shopping applications. But there are certain players in the industry who have been in the industry for a very long time – long before we could even think of COVID.

El Grocers – Introduction

One such platform is El Grocer, a Dubai-based on-demand grocery delivery platform that was launched in 2015. It helps you to purchase items in the closest stores, such as groceries, veggies, fruits, flowers, baking goods, cosmetics, baby care products, and much more online, without leaving your comfort at home. Also, the merchandise ordered is delivered to the consumer within 60 minutes, regardless of what you order.

Currently, El Grocers operates in 4 major top tier cities in the Middle East – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman & Sharjah.

Some facts about El Grocers

• Founded: 2015
• Founders: Mickael Costache and Nader Amiri
• Monthly Website Visits: 29,544
• Headquarters: Dubai, UAE 
• Total Funding: $550,000
• Monthly App Downloads: 6,468

Why Should You Build An App Like El Grocers?

You should launch a private application for your business to improve revenue if you operate a grocery store. El Grocer’s m-commerce allows you to continuously draw more and more buyers to increase your profit.

One of the best ideas for launching a business product such as El Grocer is to start a startup in this field because El Grocer and other such apps are in great demand, and this type of assistance is beneficial for people in today’s world.

It is also good for the launcher or computer owner to start an app like El Grocer, as the user of the device can easily make money from this sort of online platform. Let’s talk about them a little:

• By showing third-party ads to help and promote your services on your website and application, and charging them for the ads.
• You will charge all the local supermarket  & grocery store owners for featuring their stores in the top searches on your platform when you launch an app like El Grocer.
• The user has to pay the company a certain amount of money to access premium services. You should offer premium services.
• You will immediately receive the commission upon request.

Besides this, having an app like El Grocer is a win-win situation for both the users & the store owners. 

Benefits Of El Grocer For The Users:

• Time Saving
• Convenience 
• Money Saving
• Easy & Safe Cashless Payments 

Benefits Of El Grocer For The Store Owners:

• It offers a simple, hassle-free way of winning user’s loyalty
• It gives a competitive edge over customers who are not into on-demand delivery
• Never-ending, ever growing business opportunity.
• It gives a chance to explore a wider market which they couldn’t have otherwise.

How El Grocer Works?

The working model of El Grocer could be divided into three major sections

• The Grocery Store Delivery Panel
• The User Panel
• The Admin Panel

The food sourcing team takes control of the two assigned units or the quantities of orders. This allows the buyer to either choose the goods that have been ordered or to be delivered to the location requested. It sends users notifications of the request for delivery, order number, and shipping information. This table helps to cope with all cancellations and to accept the demands of drivers if the delivery venue is far from their destination. It allows drivers to speak and call directly in the event of difficulty in meeting the appeal.

This panel helps track the dedicated delivery status and transmits the notifications to the client. Our online grocery shopping store can find a wide range of items. This guarantees the full accuracy of the on-time confirmation of output.

Related Resource: Top Grocery Delivery Business Models

The User Panel

From managing the user profile to order control, all is handled on our user panel. It addresses the quality of service and highlights complaints about improving overall app efficiency. In our user panel, there are other applications like:

• Profile of the Customer

To keep your account on the food shopping application with your passwords, follow the smooth method and log in.

• Brower Commodities

For a thorough description, choose a type from the various categories.

• Delivery Scheduling

The user panel helps customers to plan delivery on their own. We have multiple delivery times and allow the client to place the order at any time.

• Tracking Order

Get the order tracking details updated in real-time and keep the delivery date posted. This determines the location in real-time and helps track the details.

• Many Options for Payment

It is as reliable and secure as possible to pay using our multi-payment option.

• Review & Setups

Specify and monitor the shopping experience while maintaining the total app desk check-in tab.

The Admin Panel

In specific instances, the admin panel ensures that data is reflected on the computer screen. It also defines the back-end and control panel. You can create new websites, classes, ties, and much more with the administrative panel.

• Dashboard

The Dashboard helps the app manager to control all commands and activities on a screen and monitor them.

• Payment Management

Using the administration panel to handle all payment forms in a clear way to bring the food industry to the next level.

• Assign Order

Create all orders, deliver them on time and execute them in the most productive manner for the administration team.

• Customer Service

The Board of Directors helps to connect and align the commodity with clients while ensuring high-quality services.

• Shop Operations

For the tracking and reliability of both the orders and the customer list, the operations panel helps.

• Provide Outstanding Services

The administration panel ensures that all operations and instructions are managed efficiently.

Similar read: How Talabat works

How Do You Build Your El Grocer Like App?

First, you ought to identify the target region that you’ll need to sell online and the location you want to capture so that you can fix the drawbacks of distribution to fulfill your orders.

Before you begin starting your grocery delivery business, we’ll highlight a few key points here:

• Demographics

Next, do minimal online research or, with the mobile app for online purchases close to you, you can even do the full age spectrum. If you have almost the highest number of people around you and you’re certainly shopping online, you don’t want to go shopping. For example: if you notice out a person’s highest age in your position is between 20-40, you have an age bracket to market to.

• Interests

Could you set up A Facebook profile and then start a small event to obtain an insight into the desires of the user? Try to get the views of those people on what weather they are looking for, and keep track of their tastes and interest that help you improve the customer behavior application and what they are actually looking for?

• Geo-Location 

The region or location where you want to do business online is first and foremost. To see how many web users are open to mobile users, just survey your business place through the internet.

• Shipping

Here, are you able to distribute your goods where your market is better targeted?

• Commodities

Regardless of if you want to sell slim, lightweight, or heavy goods online, what goods do you choose to sell online?

• Payment Choices

You want to have an opportunity for your customers to pay online or only for COD facilities.

• Area of Users’ Interest

Have a look at what people want and what internet shopping is for them. Via Google’s keyword planner and search engine, you can find keywords.

• Pricing

Along with government expenses, you can review the travel and delivery charges.

Technology Stack You Can Use For An App Like EL Grocer

• Native iOS Apps: Programming Languages- Objective C and Swift, ToolKit- Apple Xcode, SDK: iOS SDK
• Native Android Apps: Programming Languages- Java and Kotlin, Toolkit- Android Studio and Android Developer Tools, SDK- Android SDK
• Cross Platform App: React Native + JavaScript/TypeScript, Xamarin+ C#,Flutter
• Hybrid App: Ionic, Cordova

How Much Does It Cost To Build An App Like El Grocer?

Now the issue is, how much is it going to cost? And how long will it take?

Development Type	Cost/hour
Back-end	$20 – $50
Android	$25
iOS	$99

Ok, whether you are a developer and/or have the know-how to build a smartphone app, you don’t have to pay application fees. If you wish to create a website, you will only be paying a server/hosting fee, play store fees, and then the domain rate. It will cost between $20-50 for backend developers (depending on the extent of the user base and the ios app’s data), $25 for the Play Store, once a year, and $99 a year for the IOS store. It costs around 150-160 cents, however. And time depends on the quality of producing a mobile unit.

If you don’t know how to create any smartphone app, it would cost you between $10,000-$30,000 for an app to recruit any business and then you will pay for extra upgrades and maintenance after that.

Note $10,000-$30,000 even though you go to a start-up or a small business. Depending on the specifications and updates and the industry practice, these will continue to vary. And what technology do you want to use to create a smart food app for you?

The cost will also depend on the type of solution you are going with. For the MVP app, the total cost will be less compared to the custom app

Development Solution	Cost
MVP	$10000 – $15000 USD
Ready Made Supermarket App	$15000 – $25000 USD
Custom Build Solution	$50000 – $100000 USD

How can we support you now? While we have seen some costs and times for creating a grocery shopping app, we are building a ready-to-use smartphone app that will save you time and expense.

To help people create an online business in a few hours, we have developed a range of grocery delivery smartphone apps, charging them just a single time $10,000 fee if you don’t need customization. You can also refer to our article with the cost breakdown of grocery delivery app development for better insights into the cost structure.

Frequently Asked Questions For building an app like El Grocer (FAQs)