The holy Grail of any business has been always about bridging the demand and supply in the most efficient way possible. In fact, marketing has always been about reaching your right target audience with the right message at the right time and at the right place.
Any service business aspires to provide their services to someone who wants their service and at a place they want their service. This was an insurmountable challenge until recently. The code was finally cracked by Uber when they brought together the advantages of GPS, mapping, and navigation. This resulted in a new breed of applications called on demand apps.
As the name implies, these on-demand service applications are designed to provide a service for a user at a time they want it and in a place they want it. This method of providing services falls in line with the millennial mindset, and its relevance is pronounced in the success of apps like Uber, Ola, Airbnb, UberEats, and Tinder.
Some on demand apps have been highly specific and some of them have been quite generic. Among the generic on demand apps, one of the most prominent ones is the on-demand delivery app.
The relevance of delivery
That has been a steady increase in the number of cloud kitchens, home entrepreneurs, and small industries. These people might not have the financial bandwidth to have their own fleet of transport. They would like affordable solutions where they need to pay on the on a case by case basis and not in bulk. For these people, delivery apps on demand come in as a big bliss. They can supply either direct consumers or even other businesses that might want to use their products.
Even outside the context of businesses, there are people who might want to send a small package to someone who lives with in the city but might not have the time to do it. Even for these people, delivery apps on demand works as a brilliant solution.
This implies that delivery applications can serve businesses to businesses, businesses to consumers, and consumers to consumers.
The benefits of on-demand delivery
The most obvious benefit of this transformation is convenience. Let us take a moment to think about when was the last time we have been worried about getting some transport. The ‘Let’s book an Uber!’ mindset has become a part of our every day lives. Similarly, when it comes to deliveries, people do not have to worry about reaching a small product taking their time of from fixed schedules. Instead, you can just take out your mobile, launch the app, request the delivery, sit back, and relax.
The entire process is fast and simple. It is also extremely cost effective. It provides an alternate learning opportunity for a lot of gig workers who might not have any other skill except for driving a vehicle. As we have already seen, the entire business model is extremely versatile and can fit the needs of almost every kind of consumer or business.
The different apps
Just like any other on-demand service, even the on-demand delivery service needs to have at least three different applications: one facing the customer, one facing the drivers, and one for the administrator.
The customer facing app:
The customer should be able to easily sign up and register for the services. They should be able to either use classical login methods like phone number and email or legacy Loggins like Google and Facebook.
The customers should be provided with a real time tracking feature where they can have an eye on the status of this parcel. This not only improves customer experience but also helps in transparency.
The placement of the order through the app should be a simple and straightforward process. They should be able to either order a delivery at that moment or schedule a delivery for later. To make the ordering process more convenient, the customers should also be able to input details regarding the pick up address, and the frequent drop locations. The audit process should be transparent in terms of pricing.
To make the entire ecosystem democratic, there should be a review and rating system in place. This helps the customers have a voice to be heard by the company and other customers. It also serves as a feedback mechanism for the drivers, encouraging courteous and professional behavior.
To communicate with these drivers, the app should feature a messaging and calling system that resides right within the app. While the utility can be established even outside the app, having it within the app increases accountability and trackability.
The driver app
The driver should also be able to quickly register for the services but in all of this, it should be insured that there is a proper identity verification process in place for the drivers.
The drivers should have the flexibility to except or reject requests based on their convenience. It should be remember that they are just gig workers and are not committed to comply with all requests. However, at the same time, they should also know that the earnings depend on the number of gigs done.
The drivers should be able to dictate their work hours through a calendar that shows their schedules availability and preferred time.
After all, these drivers are here only to increase their earnings. There should be an earnings tracker that shows the earnings for a given stretch of time. This will help them plan their working day and working month accordingly.
The administrator features
The administrator should have the capacity to handle all the aspects of the app including but not limited to payments, discounts, support credits, and user administration.
They should maintain the commissions, incentives, earnings, promotions, and penalties for the drivers. They should also be able to suspend drivers in case of any verified malicious behavior.
The administrator should be provided with real time analytics on a dedicated dashboard. This will help them improve the business strategies for the future.
Growing your on-demand delivery business
It is not enough to have just a stunning app but it is equally important to market your business as well.
Just like any big app, it would be a great idea to build some hype before you launch your app. Pre-launch marketing strategies will help you promote your brand even before it hits the market.
A referral program both for drivers and consumers will help spread awareness about your app through one of the most classical methods of marketing – word of mouth. You can provide referral incentives for either app downloads and installations or for new driver sign-ups.
Review and rating system, although considered a basic feature, should not be missed at any cost.
Your app should feature push notifications to update users about the progress of the delivery requests. It should also notify drivers about new requests and payment credits.
Conclusion
The possibilities with on-demand applications are quite wide. You can either start a courier service or a transport service or a food delivery service or healthcare service. Given this wide spectrum of profitability, it is quite natural that an aspiring entrepreneur would want to build an on demand delivery app.
On demand delivery app development is quite cumbersome and daunting. There are a lot of on-demand app development companies that can help you get the task done. However, it is always better to go for a white label solution then to build an app from scratch. It saves you a lot but in terms of time and money.
All you need to do is get in touch with an on-demand app development company that specializes in white label solutions. They will take care to understand your requirement and customize the app before delivering it to you, all primed and ready to take on the market.
