Grocery Delivery App Features List

Last Updated on July 14, 2022

Grocery delivery apps are trending among people and it won’t be wrong to say that the on-demand grocery industry will continue to grow. The benefits and ease grocery shopping apps offer to customers, who don’t want to go out to local stores and do the shopping themselves, is what makes it a hot trend in 2020. Can you imagine, that a few years back only 3 percent of Americans used to order groceries online? Well, not anymore. Due to current circumstances and the rise of on-demand delivery startups, more users are willing to shop groceries online than ever. And it’s not only in the USA, in many European countries, but online supermarket businesses are also gaining momentum bridging the gap between customers and local stores and providing a convenient grocery experience. In fact, there are 30.4 Million adult grocery app users in the USA as of 2022 rising from 12 Million in 2017, according to statista reports. This is perhaps the reason why many entrepreneurs and investors are interested in these startups.

So, If you want to tap into this market and launch your grocery app, the more you know about these apps the better. But before you start your online grocery delivery business, let’s look into how these apps are built and what are the essential features you need to include in grocery delivery apps.

The first thing you need to know about grocery mobile app development is that there are mainly 3 types of grocery ordering and delivery apps for the platform. If you are building a multi-vendor platform, you will also need a grocery store (vendor side) app, the fourth type. These are-

• The customer-side app
• The admin panel
• The delivery person side app
• The grocery store side app

This trio (or quad for multi-vendor model) combination makes a perfect grocery delivery platform. You need all three to be able to provide real value to your customers.

But what features does each app need? 

The table below contains the features of a grocery delivery app

Grocery app type	Features
Customer side app	Profile creation and editing
	Signup and Login
	Search groceries
	Checking grocery stores
	Add to cart option
	Schedule Orders
	Payment gateway
	Order History
	Real time order tracking
	Customer feedback – Reviews and ratings option
Admin panel	Registration & Profile Management
	Admin Dashboard
	Content Management
	Order Management
	Push Notifications
	Loyalty program offers and schemes
	Analytics
Delivery side app	Registering And Editing The Profile
	Order Management
	GPS Tracking and Maps
	Status Update
	Delivery History
	Digital Wallet
Grocery store side app	Inventory Management
	Order Notification
	Accept or Reject Orders
	In-app Chat and Calling
	Manage Payments
	Customer Support
	View Feedback

These are some of the most important features you need in your app to make it perfect. Now, let’s discuss these features in detail shortlisted after looking at the top and most successful grocery delivery apps and what functions these features perform.

Grocery Delivery App Features – Explained

Customer App Features

This is the customer end of the grocery delivery app. In short, this is the one that your customers are going to use. It helps them access the grocery shopping app, choose a local grocery vendor, place their order and make the payment.

There are many functionalities you can implement in this app for your customers. Here is a list of some necessary features of the grocery delivery customer-side app

1. Profile Creation and Editing

For users, who are going to download your app, this will be their first step, creating a profile. It is important because users will need to track their orders, make payments, and more. So, to personalize everything, the user will need to create a profile.

With a registration and profile creation feature, the user will be able to enter the required information into the app and customize the profile as per their needs. Using the edit profile option, users will be able to edit their data and customize preferences and settings accordingly. The user’s profile information will help you send personalized notifications, offers, and more.

2. Signup and login

User registration and profile creation go hand in hand. We have mentioned these as separate features for clarity.

To make the signup process quicker and easier, developers can Include the register via social media accounts option. The other alternative is to register via username and password. You can have either one of these or both options in your app. Don’t forget to include the forget password option in your app as most users will forget their passwords at some point in the future.

Tip: You need to make the registration process easy and smooth for the users. No one likes a complicated signup process and to be honest no one has time for it. 

3. Search Groceries

This is one of the most prominent and essential features of a grocery delivery app.

After a user is logged in to the app, the user will search and look for grocery items or even local grocery stores nearby. To look for the items he/she needs to order online, an easy search option will come in handy. How this works is – you have a smart list of all the grocery items and grocery stores organized by name, location, type of grocery, product preferences (fruits, vegetables, packaged foods), etc.

With this smart list, it will be much easier for the user to search for what they want to order. They can go through the lists, select a grocery vendor nearby and place the order.

4. Checking Local Grocery Stores

Once the user has found the grocery store nearby, the user would want to check the vendor’s profile as well to make sure that they are ordering from the right place. This helps customers know about other people’s feedback about the grocery store like if the orders are delivered in time, if the delivered items are correct with all the right products or if the payment refunds are initiated if there are any, are done in time. This feature will help you ensure good customer service as high-rated stores will be getting more orders as compared to the ones with low ratings.

5. Add To Cart Option

Personally, this is one of the most important features a grocery ordering or any shopping app must have. Here’s why users might order from multiple places and stores. You do not expect them to order only from one place, complete the ordering process, make payment to that store, then move on to the next store and place an order, and so on. This is why a cart option is provided so that users can select all their items from all different places they want, add these items to a cart and place the order all at once. 

Moreover, sometimes, customers add items to a cart but complete the order the next day or some other time. A cart ensures that the selected products are saved at one location and the order can be completed whenever the customer is ready to do so. 

6. Schedule Orders

Wouldn’t it be great to let users schedule orders ahead of their time and the products are delivered when the scheduled order is placed?

Groceries are important items of our lifestyle. People want these fresh. But, sometimes users get stuck in some work and just forget to place orders. But with this option, they will have their grocery delivered at the perfect time. This is one of those features that can make your customers love your app even more. 

7. Payment Gateway

Once the order is placed by the users, it’s time to checkout to complete the process. Online payment is an important feature. To make it easy for the user to pay online, you can integrate your grocery app with multiple payment options which include payment through credit cards, payment via debit card, PayPal or Stripe, or even a cash delivery option. 

Tip: While making payments online, users are going to enter and share their card information. Make sure the payment process is as safe and secure as possible. A secured payment option will encourage more users to pay online via your app and ultimately increase users’ trust in your business.

8. Accessing Contact Details of the Delivery Person

Once the order is placed and the payment is done. You can have this feature in your app where users can access the delivery guy’s contact details. Sometimes users are not home to pick up the delivery or your delivery guy can get stuck in the traffic and get late. For such cases, if users can contact the delivery person, it will be easier for both parties to act. Using this functionality, users will be able to get in touch with the delivery person and get the information.

9. Order History

Customers might want to see their previously placed orders. It can be because of multiple reasons, such as, they want to order the same product from the same store or just want to see how much they spent last month on groceries. This feature will help the customers to check their previously ordered items. This way they can place the same order from the same vendor without having to search and pick the store nearby again.

10. Tracking Orders in Real-Time

This one is crucial if you want your customer to trust your services. You don’t want to make them just wait for the order to arrive and do nothing in between. Sometimes, orders might get late or even delivered before the scheduled time. If users are able to track the progress of their order from dispatch to arrival at your doorstep, they would love this option. Not only will it assure users of their order reaching them in time but it will also help them keep calm while they are waiting for it.

11. Reviews and Rating Option

Including this feature in your app to let users rate and review can make or break your grocery delivery app. Think about this. You are expecting hundreds and thousands of users placing orders and receiving deliveries. But out of all the grocery store options listed on your app, which one the user should choose. You surely would like to help users pick the best out there. On one hand, it will work as an incentive for the registered stores to provide excellent services so as to get on top of the list by receiving good ratings. On the other, it will help users know which store is providing the best services and ultimately making users trust your platform to order groceries.

Some Additional Features

Apart from including must-have features in the customer app, you can add some additional features to increase user engagement. These are –

Offers and Coupons – For a supermarket application, the offers and coupon feature can be vital. You can offer attractive deals to customers. From festive season to black Friday deals, these promos can be about anything. This in turn will ensure that customers stay loyal to your brand and help in user retention.

Push Notification Feature – Using push notifications, you can let users know about the upcoming offers on your app.

Tip: Make sure you don’t overuse this functionality. No one likes to get constant notifications on their mobile phones, even if it is about some ongoing sales. You can add an option to let users manage these notifications, like the frequency of the notification or to opt out completely.

Admin Panel (& Vendor Panel) Features

If you are wondering what an admin app is? Here is an easy explanation. If the customer app is the face of your grocery delivery platform, then the admin panel is the brain. The customer app is what your users are going to use. The Admin panel is meant for your use. Developing an admin panel is the second phase of your app development.

The admin panel is required to run all of your services efficiently and manage your business online. It is a web-based app and is used by the store owners and the people who are managing/running the services. It performs important functions such as accepting or rejecting the orders, managing them, listing the products, setting the prices, etc.

Here is a list of the most important features you require to operate the core of your grocery delivery platform.

1. Registration & Profile Management

The admin panel, similar to the customer-side app, also requires registration and profile management functionality. In fact, It is one of those features of grocery ordering & delivery apps that fit across all three kinds of mobile applications.

If you are going with an aggregator model to create a multi-vendor platform, you cannot skip this feature. The different vendors can sign up with your business and manage their data using this panel. They can update their items, list new products, change prices, even create offers for customers, and more.

2. Assigning Order

This feature lets grocery stores or you (if it is a single vendor platform) assign orders which makes it a critical feature of your grocery app. It helps you assign orders to different delivery persons as per their availability.

3. Dashboard

The dashboard will help you manage your store easily. This feature enables the admin to view all the important functionalities on the dashboard, such as the orders, payments, and deliveries. 

4. Content Management

This feature helps you optimize the content of your custom app and in turn improve the user experience. For a multi-vendor model, the content is updated and managed by multiple store owners.

Usually, the options to manage the content are:

• Edit grocery store information (example – name, address, contact details, working hours, etc.
• Add photos
• Edit product list (example – deleting items, changing the price)

By keeping the information real-time and up to date, you are helping users get a better UX from your grocery platform.

5. Handling The Orders

The order management feature helps stores handle receiving and delivery of orders. With this feature, the grocery stores can manage the order status and update customers when their order is going to be at their doorstep.

Other functionalities that can be performed here are payment handling, the order history etc.

Additional Features that you can have in your admin panel

Accounts & Management – to manage and edit the financial accounts and payment details. It helps businesses calculate the total revenues generated from the app.

Sending Out Push Notifications – to enable admin(s) to send out notifications to the customers about discounts on products and other upcoming offers. Using the order history, custom notifications can be sent to users as per their preferences and interests.

Analytics – Using the analytics, you can know how many users have downloaded your app, the number of orders you are getting everyday. It basically helps you watch your business and its data.

Delivery Person App Features

This is the third kind of grocery delivery app which is going to be used by delivery people. The important features of this courier app are-

1. Registration And Profile Editing

Similar to the second kind of app, the admin panel, the registration part is critical for the delivery side of your grocery platform as every delivery person must register.

With this, the courier person can be verified by your business or by vendors. This makes your services more safe and secure and every order can be tracked more efficiently.

Tip: Make delivery personnel complete the registration and verification process. Only after the verification is done, the delivery side should be allowed to receive and deliver orders. This will help you build customers’ trust in you.

2. Order Management

Using the ‘manage order’ feature, the delivery side can track and see if any order requests are made, and they will have the option to accept or reject the requests accordingly.

3. Navigation And GPS

The navigation and GPS tracking feature is very important to help the delivery person find the location of the delivery. Using a built in navigation system, they can find the optimized route and make the delivery in time.

4. Status Update

With the help of this feature, the delivery person can update delivery status of the order he/she has picked. The status update options are –

• in progress
• delivered
• delayed and more

Customers will be able to receive a notification or message about the status updates. This way, customers and delivery side are able to communicate delivery messages easily.

5. Digital Wallet

With the help of a digital wallet, the delivery guy can receive payments for the order delivered from customers or from grocery stores, depending on your grocery delivery business model. This amount from the wallet can be withdrawn at any time the delivery person wants.

6. Checking Delivery History

Same as the ‘check history’ feature in the customer app, which lets customers check their placed order history, the delivery side app also has this feature. It helps the delivery side keep a track of their deliveries done and how the payment received per order.