It is a great business decision to develop an app, but the question is whether it delivers the value what customers expect.
According to a Nielsen report titled ‘The Future of Grocery’, one-quarter of people in the world are already ordering grocery products through mobile apps or websites for home delivery, and more than half (55%) are willing to continue in the future. They want to use their mobiles to create shopping lists, use coupons, and receive information or offers. This means that there will be more grocery apps in the market, and yours definitely needs to stand apart from the rest.
And, to ensure so, your grocery app must have the following features:
Contents
Product Listing
The basic, but the most essential feature a grocery app should have is the listing of products it offers. However, the differentiation lies in categorising these products in appropriate categories/sub-categories such as fruits & vegetables, bakery, personal hygiene, staples, spices, etc, so that it is a seamless experience for customers to shop. Moreover, all categories should display rich product information for customers to understand the description. A picture attachment can help customers see what a product looks like. The product listing should also include combo offers, on which customers can save money.
Shopping Lists
Every shopper has a handwritten or a digital shopping list saved somewhere which can either disappear or get erased respectively. If not so, then the shopper may forget to add some items to the list. However, a feature which creates an automated shopping list can come quite handy for customers. They should be able to create multiple lists for future reference, save their favourite items and add or remove the items, thereby minimising plenty of time and effort.
Discount Coupons
Statistics reveal that 32% of consumers prefer to receive their discount coupons on their smartphones and discounts received on mobile devices influence where 67% of consumers decide to shop. A grocery app should be able to generate discount coupons on daily, weekly or seasonal basis based on the customers’ previous shopping history. When customers get these coupons or deal offers, they may be tempted to pre-pone their shopping or switch their loyalty from your competitor towards your app to avail the discount benefits.
Price Comparison
Let’s say, you offer five different brands of rice or three different varieties of apples. The similar assortment is available across all products you sell. Wouldn’t it be difficult for the customers to scroll up and down, back and forth to explore the complete inventory and compare the prices? A price comparison feature will display similar items along with their prices for customers pick the products quickly.
Multimedia Rich Advertising
The grocery app must be able to send push notifications to the customers informing them about the latest deals, new product launches, useful shopping tips or food trivia, etc. This will keep them engaged actively. In fact, you can even offer them rewards points or cash back for every level of engagement. If you have several delivery points/physical stores across the city, country or world, it would be a good idea to develop a geo-enabled app so as to help the customers locate you easily.
Along with the above-mentioned features, a grocery app should facilitate easy registration for customers, offer them a choice of different delivery time slots and flexible payments, allow them to track their orders in real-time, and display customer contact details.
About the Author: This article is contributed by Amit Dua who is Co-Founder and CEO at Signity Solutions and ValueAppz.
