Do you know? The millennial things that we once considered and are still thinking about can make a massive load of changes in all our lives in the future. I’m talking about the grocery market now. We all hate grocery shopping with all our power, but would we have ever thought that this hate could turn into a billion-dollar business? Not in a million years, right? But this is what is happening around us right now, and Statista’s facts are proving it.
“In the past year, the food and beverage retail e-commerce revenue crossed US $15 billion, and is envisioned to surpass the threshold of 20 billion by the year 2023.”
Some years before, if anyone would have said to us that someone else will fetch our groceries and deliver them at our doorstep, I bet that we all would have given strange looks. That’s how it is all astonishing. Not just that, but the process to set up the business is also more accessible than before.
If you are wondering how, then buckle up for an exciting ride into the contents of this blog, as we are going to see various steps to set up a successful online grocery business. Come on, scroll down!
- Look at the market
Let’s relate the market to the weather. Just like how you look at the weather forecast when you step out of your house in not-so-cool weather, you must look at the market trend before stepping into the market. You must see what services or products have a larger market share and try to implement the same in your business. Look at whether the consumers are okay to pay for convenience or want delivery service at the non-business hours.
- Find the correct region
Be attentive to choose the correct region for your business. Since you are about to start off with the grocery business, try to target the residential areas. There’s no use in having a grocery business in the commercial place. Keep it to a limited region at the beginning if you wish to deliver the fresh fruits or vegetables. Take up some market analysis questions like:
- What are the features of your online business?
- How does the feature benefit your users?
- What are the age groups, attitudes, and lifestyles of the users?
- Inventory
Once you have registered your company and taken permission from the authorities, you can start planning your inventory management setup. As yours is a grocery business, you can either you can stock up all the products in a warehouse, or you can tie-up with local grocery stores. If you wish to have your own inventory, then make sure to have the most needed refrigerators to store perishable and imperishable items.
- Choose the delivery model
There are two types of delivery models like home delivery services and click and collect. However, about 76% of shoppers prefer home delivery services, and only 39% of them click and collect. Since the online grocery business is known for home delivery, people won’t choose otherwise. Apart from that, some people would want the delivery on the same day of ordering. So make arrangements for the right time deliveries. You can partner with third-party logistics businesses, or you can have in-house delivery agents to deliver the products.
- App development
Having an app is easy. But developing it in such a way that it is loved by the consumers is the crucial thing. So, please spend time planning and putting forth your expectations before developing the app. Instead of choosing the expensive and time-consuming way of setting it from scratch, you could connect with some development companies and create a great app using a grocery e-commerce script.
- Payment options
Some people prefer to go cashless, and moreover, due to the safety protocols that are being followed currently, you should integrate different online payment modes like debit, credit card, net banking. Boomers won’t be comfortable handling digital payments, so also add cash on delivery options for payment. You can also cut down the gateway costs when you accept COD.
- Customer retention and attraction
Creating an app is fine, but the actual game starts only when you make good use of it. It would help if you promote your business both offline and online through marketing. Also, consider introducing some special offers and discounts for attracting the customers.
- Stay updated
Don’t forget to be wary of your competitors and compare their services. Keep your business and app updated to stay on track and to beat the competition. Update the price structure and delivery policies from time to time. Hire a team of SEO experts to market your website to the virtual world and expand your business by pulling in thousands of people.
Closing thoughts
Consider the factors above and set up an online grocery store more efficiently. I hope that this blog gave you insights. If you are all set to set up a grocery app such as Instacart Clone, then don’t stall and conquer the market!
