How To Make An App For Delivery Service & How Much Does it Cost?

Delivery services have been growing for the past few years. In the past year, because of how badly the COVID-19 pandemic has hit us, we have seen a boom in the use of delivery apps. People have been forced to stay home and quarantine as a safety measure. Therefore, delivery apps have made a lot of profit. So, creating a delivery app right now seems like the best move!

There are so many apps out there that could seem like your competition. Because these apps are already successful and well-established, it could seem daunting to you. So, these are three-pointers that we believe could help you make your app successful:

1. Having management experience in the hospitality industry can be of great advantage. In particular, if you have worked with a delivery system before for a restaurant, it can work in your favor. For example, it will be easier to create an app if you already know how the delivery process works.
2. Providing your app to people in areas such apps aren’t available in is a significant market opportunity.
3. A common strategy amongst these app developers is to build an app and when it gains popularity and establishes its place in the market, sell it. This is a significant financial move.

There is so many fish in the sea. Therefore, it is your job to make your app stand out. Find a unique quality that would make your app stand out in front of everyone else’s. To make this happen, you must read through the rest of this blog carefully. We are here to help you create a success story out of your delivery app.

What Are the Key Features of a Delivery App?

There are three main stakeholders when it comes to a delivery app. You must make sure to keep all three in mind and create products for each of them.

• A customer application is essential. All the orders will be made through this.
• An admin panel where you can manage all the requests is highly imperative.
• Lastly, a courier app is needed as well. This is mainly for the delivery person and to make his/her job more manageable.

These three applications are vital for a delivery app, especially since these are three key points that will lead you to success. Each of these has different functions and needs, such as:

• The app should provide customers with fast and easy access to menus of the restaurants nearby.
• Couriers or delivery persons have the ability to makes deliveries easily. This is because of the built-in GPS in the app. It shows them the way to the pickup and drop off locations.
• Managers in restaurants can go through the orders in an organized manner. This helps them prepare meals on time and give the customer an ETA on when their food will be ready. They can also read the reviews customers leave them and find out where they need to improve.

Now that we have established the essential functions of each of the three applications of a delivery app, let’s take a closer look at each one of them.

Customer Version

The reason why your customers open your app is to see the restaurants nearby and what to eat. This is where two of the most critical factors come in. Firstly, you must provide them with the option of finding near-located eateries. Secondly, please provide them with detailed information about each restaurant, such as the menu, prices, special offers, and reviews.

Adding a searching feature will make your app even more attractive. Customers can search for the restaurants by their names, address, or by the dishes. For instance, your customer may use your app to order a beef burger but not from a specific restaurant. The search option can provide them with multiple options they could browse through.

Place an Order

The next step after a customer has decided on what to order is placing said order. Make sure to provide an add-to-cart option to the users. This option is best placed where the user’s thumb can reach easily.

Also, make the summary of the order available to them before confirmation. This is an essential feature as customers can cancel orders if something goes wrong or change their minds.

Lastly, an added feature you could provide them with is the option of choosing the delivery time – as soon as possible or at an appointed time later.

Location of the User

The main idea behind a delivery app is to deliver food to people no matter where they are located. They could be at home, at their office, or in the middle of a picnic at the park. Therefore, asking them for their drop location by writing their address or pinning it on the map is an important feature.

In addition, make a time-tracking option available for the customer’s meals, and your app is instantly more appealing to them.

Payments

This is a feature customers may not be fond of, but it one of the most vital steps. The in-app payments should be fast, secure, and easy. Furthermore, provide the customers with multiple ways to make payments such as credit or debit card, cash on delivery, PayPal, or Netbanking.

Rate and Review the Restaurants

The last step in the app’s customer version is to leave a rating and reviews for the restaurants. Once the food has been delivered, customers should have the option to leave feedback and rate the restaurant’s performance. This helps other users decide whether they want to order from the specific eatery or not. In addition, after the restaurant survey, they can see where they need to make improvements.

The Last Step: Registration and Editing

To create a stronger bond with your customers, provide them with the possibility to log in without losing their custom settings. By doing so, customers can keep a log of all their previous orders and payments they have made. Also, you can give the customers customized suggestions as well.

Make sure the registration process is short and to the point. Allow the customers the possibility to log in via their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts as well.

Added Features

• Wish and favorites lists
• History of orders
• Push notifications
• Social media shares

Courier Version

Although the app for couriers isn’t as functional as the customer’s, it must have all the necessary features. Let’s take a look at them:

Registration

Identification of the couriers is highly important. Their registration process could be the same as the customer’s: via mobile number, email, or social network account and filling out the necessary details.

Although we recommend not to make the registration process mandatory for customers, it is a must-do step for couriers. Through this step, the couriers can be validated and be able to earn properly through your app.

Managing the Orders

After logging in, the courier should be able to browse through the list of orders available. After checking out the details such as size, pickup, and drop off location, and other specifications, the courier should confirm the delivery requests according to the appropriate ETA.

Status and Update

Once the order has been accepted, the courier must give the customers a status on the delivery. These three statuses are a must:

1. Accepted or Rejected
2. Picked up
3. Delivered

Finally, once the order has been delivered, the courier gets a confirmation from the customer. After this, the delivery person receives a payment through the option the customer has chosen, i.e., via bank transfer or cash in hand.

Added Features

There are a few extra features that could improve the courier version of the app. While they are not necessary, adding them could be beneficial to the couriers. We have put together three features we think could be added features:

1. In-app tracking of the order from the pick up to the delivery point
2. Push notifications
3. Booking history and checking out inside the app

Admin Panel

The Admin Panel is a web-based app to manage all processes such as accepting orders, editing information, setting prices, and managing courier and customer bases. This is the most important for business owners.

This version of the app is the most vital for restaurant managers. So, let’s take a look at how it works!

Registration

This is a common feature across all the versions of the delivery app.

To be able to make their restaurant available on the app, creating an account is essential. The restaurants can do so by using their email and creating a username and password.

Assigning Orders

If the model of your delivery app requires restaurants to assign orders to couriers manually, the admin panel is there to help them with this. This feature is needed when the restaurant relies on its own delivery staff, and the manager assigns them tasks.

Content Management

Every restaurant wants loyal customers who are here to stay. By offering them the proper UX, you could make sure of this. The restaurant could achieve this by:

• Making information about the restaurant available such as name, contact information, address, working hours, ratings, and reviews, etc.
• Adding photos of their products
• Managing menus such as adding or deleting items, changing prices and descriptions

You must make sure the restaurant managers have all the necessary tools to edit and make changes to their content.

Managing the Orders

After the restaurant receives its first order, these are the features it needs to manage it:

• Detailed information about the order such as the name of the customer, location, and what they have ordered
• Provide the restaurant with the ability to update the customers about the status of the order. They should be able to send the customers confirmation of when the order has been accepted and to the driver about when he/she can pick it up
• Give the restaurant access to the list of the current orders

All of these steps make sure the order is processed and sent to the customers without any hassles.

Added Features

Your Admin Panel could include some extra features that would be beneficial to the restaurant managers, such as:

• Push notifications sent to the customers to interact with them more
• Financial accounting to set prices and control your finances
• Loyalty campaigns through which you could create vouchers and sales. You could offer customers special discounts
• Analytics to have an overall view of how your business is doing and collect data on its performance

These are the three different versions of the app, which are a must to lead your delivery app to success. Now that we have established all the essential features of each of them let’s take a look into how much it would cost you.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Delivery App?

There are three different essential steps to developing a delivery app:

1. Development
2. Design
3. Back-end

The customer and courier versions of the app are mobile developments. They have a few similar features such as registration, booking or order history, tracking the order and order details. On the other hand, the admin panel is web development with features such as managing orders and content management.

How much the development of the app costs depends on the software the app is being built on, iOS, or Android. For Android, development takes a minimum of 360 hours and a maximum of 460 hours. Whereas, on iOS, it takes a minimum of 420 hours and a maximum of 500 hours.

The design of the app on both the softwares, iOS, and Android, takes around a minimum of 150 hours and a maximum of 200 hours. Furthermore, the Back-end, which is the API development, takes around a minimum of 150 hours to a maximum of 200 hours.

The hourly rate of the development, design, and back-end usually starts from $30 per hour to $75 per hour. So, if we were to make a ballpark estimation, this is how much it would cost:

• Development:

Android: It would cost you from $5,400 to a maximum of $69,000.

iOS: It would cost you from $6,300 to a maximum of $75,000.

• Design

The design of the delivery app would cost you around $2,250 to a maximum of $30,000.

• Back-end (API development)

This would cost you a minimum of $2,250 to a maximum of $30,000.

Tips On How to Succeed in The Market

These are a few useful tips on how to succeed and give other similar apps some competition:

• Analyze your target audience:
• Find out which types of food are ordered the most
• Make a note of your competitors and what niche can you hold?
• Grow your user base
• Launch your app on a small scale first to test your venture
• Use different advertising channels such as PR technologies, social media, and inbound marketing
• Collaborate with small and large retailers to advertise your app amongst their audience
• Retain customers
• Provide proper customer support such as FAQs or quick, friendly responses to the customer’s issues
• Provide special offers such as discounts, gifts, rewards, or vouchers
• A rating system is a useful tool that helps you keep your delivery service on the highest level
• Maintain couriers
• Provide good salaries to them
• Offer them a flexible schedule such as letting them choose their working hours
• Encourage them with unique rewards and prizes

Conclusion

Indeed, the delivery services apps are a fast-growing trend. It has proven to be very valuable for restaurants and different eateries around the world. The world of technology is developing at such a fast pace that one blink of an eye and you miss out on a great opportunity.

We have by now established how you can create an app for delivery services. These apps are bound to become even more popular in the next few years. Ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck, you must have noticed how the value of such apps has increased.

Therefore, the tips and features we have mentioned above are surely going to result in the creation of a near-perfect delivery application. Our guide will help you cover all the different niches and features of the app to help you dig into your business’s technological aspect.

A delivery service app that offers something different and newer will always be in demand. The extra features and tips we have mentioned in this guide will help increase your app’s demand. If you are still unsure about where to start, run your idea by us here.

Our team of creative experts holds a lot of experience and expertise. We are always looking for people with new innovative ideas that stand out. If you think your delivery service app is different from others, we are here to help you out. Discuss your thoughts with us here, and we can give you an estimated cost and time for your project!