Food Delivery App Development: Things You Must Know

Food delivery has become an essential part of our lifestyles, thanks to how seamlessly they combine technology and a basic necessity. Are you looking to invest into the development of an online delivery app? You might want to read further.

In an important survey, it was proven that food deliveries have surpassed dine-in sales in almost every country in the world, growing 300% faster. To add to that, the ‘platform-to-consumer' delivery segment is also expected to cross $96.8 million worldwide in another few years.

Food delivery may appear to be a saturated market, however, if you have a unique idea or a recipe, along with an engaging mobile application, you will be able to carve your niche easily. To go a step ahead of your competitors, you may also want to analyze their business and the gaps in their services properly.

Must-have Features for a Food Delivery App

Two things remain constant in every business strategy – top-notch service and transparent pricing. When deciding on what features to keep and which ones to drop, you need to keep your users’ needs as well as the industry trends in mind.

If you are working on an app that connects restaurants to customers, you’ll need to develop separate versions for the customers, the delivery partners, and the restaurant operators. Each front of the app needs to have its own set of features to make the process smooth and convenient for everyone involved.

Here is a list of features you should consider adding to your app to make it the best food delivery app in the market.

Customer Front

The customer front of your food delivery app you should let the users view restaurants near them and browse their menus. You should provide your users with maximum convenience by adding search filters, order tracking functionalities, and more. Other important features include profile creation, order placing, multiple payment methods, delivery tracking, order history, customer support, and more.

Delivery Partner Front

Even though this front of the app is quite similar to the customer front, it has one specific feature, built-in GPS navigation for smooth pick-ups and drop-offs. The app must allow the potential delivery partners to register and share basic profile information. It should also have other features, such as order management, status updates, and delivery history, among others.

Restaurant Front

This face informs and helps the restaurant owners manage incoming orders. The app can also be used to assign orders to delivery partners. If you want to take a step ahead, you can also provide the app users with analytical tools that enable them to collect statistics and boost customer retention.

Building such mobile apps requires powerful software development kits and tools, but before you go ahead with the development process, you also need to be aware of the latest food delivery app trends.

Latest Food Delivery Trends

In order to carve your niche in a competitive market, your app needs to have the most advanced and trendy features.

Integrating your ordering system with social media is the new in. Internet is where your audience is, and enabling them to order without them having to leave their favorite social media app can benefit your business immensely.

Similarly, some more big names in this domain have started integrating their ordering systems with smartwatch apps. Imagine being able to order your favorite food right from your wrist. Convenient, right?

Another more common functionality is engaging virtual assistants such as Alexa and Siri with your online ordering process. You can develop your app in a way that it integrates with virtual assistants seamlessly and allows the users to perform basic tasks, such as placing and tracking orders.

Development Cost

The cost of creating a food delivery app depends on a number of factors and elements. It is important to keep your options open so that the company you hire can guide you in the right direction. Some of the major factors that determine the development cost of a food delivery app include but are not limited to: app complexity, number of features, app development platforms, technology implemented, development region, and the skillset of the developers working on your app.

Final Thoughts

The article covers most of the crucial aspects involved in the development of a food delivery app and establishing your brand further. To make sure your app looks exactly how you had visualized it, it is vital that you hire only the best software development company to do the job for you.