With the way e-commerce businesses have expanded themselves, the shopping experience for customers has been redefined in recent years. Clothes, furniture, stationary, medicines, you name it, and you have it through online shopping apps. Daily essentials and groceries can be ordered through voice command, packed in secure boxes, and delivered to your doorstep in an hour or so. The online grocery industry has enormous potential as the products are based on daily needs.
To tap on this potential, many industry giants are already giving their best shot in framing business strategies and innovating new concepts as the competition is too tight. Suppose you wish to sell grocery online through a small start-up or to understand this business module better. In that case, it’s better to have a critical knowledge of some of these business models before you put your best foot forward.
- Inventory-based model-In, the grocery website owns a warehouse to maintain and store the products from different suppliers. The invoice has the name of the online platform and not the actual manufacturer. Whenever there is a shortage of any product or specific requirement, the order is placed with different sellers. Most specific product stores follow this concept, such as vegetables, medicines, etc.
- The multi-vendor market model-The online platform here acts as a middleman connecting the customers willing for grocery shopping to their respective suppliers. They receive orders, transfer them to the concerned store owner, allow the delivery personnel to pick up the items, and then deliver them to the specified location. Leading online platforms follow this business model, and they are doing wonders.
- The shopping model-This model works very much like the multi-vendor market format, but the difference here is that it doesn’t allow the customers to choose their desirable store from where they want to purchase the product. It is a central delivery system as long as the delivery network works seamlessly and varieties of stores are roped in. This model is adapted by many food delivery apps and has proved to be successful.
Any groceries delivery app can generate revenue following the business models mentioned above through different channels. Such as charging commissions from the suppliers or stores depending on their product demand and geographical location. The apps can also offer paid membership to the selected lot of customers to provide special discounts, delivery preferences, free delivery, etc. The same can be done with the store partners as well.
If you look forward to starting an online grocery store, this is the best time to do that because online grocery stores are on the rise. You can acquire the resources without the hassle and easily fit into the readymade B2B format. You only need to understand the condition of your local market to fit into your business mode.
Now, you can build your grocery shopping app in two ways: hire a developer to start from scratch and create a unique platform suitable for your business model. Or you can clone the existing scripts and customize them according to your preferences, although the latter is economical and time-saving.