Grocery Delivery App Development
As a grocery delivery app development company we build the ordering app, the picker's screen and the slot system that decides how many orders a day you can actually take. Groceries are not takeaway: the basket is forty items, three will be out of stock, and the delivery is booked for Thursday evening. Most first releases go live in about 30 days.
- Price
- Fixed upfront
- Launch date
- In writing
- First release
- About 30 days
- You get
- 4 apps and portals
The weekly shop is a habit, and habits are worth owning.
A grocery customer orders fifty times a year, not five. That makes the economics work where a takeaway app would not, and it makes the cost of losing one to a marketplace much higher than the commission on a single basket.
They come back weekly
A repeat order is one tap, and most grocery baskets are last week's with three changes.
Bigger baskets
A grocery order is worth several takeaway orders, so a delivery fee covers more of the cost.
Your margin, not a commission
You sell your own stock at your own prices rather than paying a percentage to a marketplace.
You learn what they buy
Fifty baskets a year per household is real data about a real catchment.
Listing on a delivery marketplace
- Commission
- A cut of every basket
- Delivery slots
- Their windows, their capacity
- Substitutions
- Their rules, your complaint
- The customer
- Theirs
- Your prices
- Marked up to cover their cut
- What it costs
- A percentage, forever
Your own grocery app
- Commission
- None, or the rate you set for partners
- Delivery slots
- Yours, matched to your pickers
- Substitutions
- Your rules, agreed with the customer
- The customer
- Yours, with the basket history
- Your prices
- The prices on your shelf
- What it costs
- Fixed, once, before we start
Four apps, and the picker's is the one nobody plans for.
Online grocery app development is mostly the unglamorous half: picking, slots and stock. Pick one to see what goes into it.
App 01 of 04
Customer app
Built for a forty-item basket rather than a single order. Speed of adding things is the whole experience, and the slot is chosen before checkout rather than after.
- Search and browseAisles, brands and a search that forgives spelling, because people type while walking.
- Buy it againLast week's basket in one tap, which is how most grocery orders actually start.
- Delivery slot bookingPick the window at the start, with full slots shown as full rather than failing at checkout.
- Substitution preferencesSet per item or per basket: accept a swap, ask me first, or refund it.
- Lists and favouritesThe weekly shop saved, edited and reused.
- Live trackingWhere the van is and what arrived, with the swaps listed.
App 02 of 04
Picker app
The screen your staff hold in the aisle. It decides how many orders an hour one person can pick, which decides whether the business works.
- Batch pickingSeveral orders picked in one walk, sequenced by aisle rather than by order.
- Aisle orderThe list sorted the way the store is laid out, not the way the customer typed it.
- Scan to confirmThe right item and the right pack size, checked rather than assumed.
- Substitution handlingOffer a swap against the customer's stated preference, with a photo if they asked to be asked.
- Weighed itemsLoose produce priced by actual weight, with the difference settled on the final total.
- Short picksMark what is not there, so stock corrects itself and the next customer is not sold it.
App 03 of 04
Store portal
The web side for a store manager: what is for sale, what is on the shelf and how many orders tomorrow can take.
- Catalogue and SKU managementThousands of lines with pack sizes, barcodes and images, edited in bulk or imported.
- Store-level inventoryStock per store, so a customer is not sold something that is only in another branch.
- Slot capacityHow many orders each window can hold, set from how many pickers and vans you have.
- Pricing and offersMultibuys, member prices and markdowns, scheduled ahead.
- Cold chain routingChilled and frozen flagged, grouped and routed to the vans equipped for them.
- ReportsBaskets, short picks, substitution rates and which slots sell out first.
App 04 of 04
Driver app and admin
Grocery delivery is a round rather than a job. The driver leaves with twelve orders and the app plans the order they arrive in.
- Route for the roundEvery drop sequenced, with the slot windows respected rather than ignored.
- Crates and totesWhich crate holds which order, so nothing is left in the van.
- Proof of deliveryPhoto or signature, and an age check where the basket needs one.
- Returns at the doorA refused item handled there and then, refunded without a phone call.
- Temperature checksRecorded for chilled and frozen loads where your rules require it.
- One admin over everythingOrders, stores, pickers, drivers, slots and reports on one dashboard.
How an order becomes a doorstep.
Six steps. The slot is chosen at the start and everything after it is capacity.
- 01
Customer
The basket is built
Usually from last week's, with a few changes. Substitution preferences are set as they go.
- 02
Customer
A slot is booked
Thursday, six to eight. The slot is held only if there is picker and van capacity for it.
- 03
Your system
Orders are batched
Several baskets for the same round are grouped and sequenced by aisle for one picker.
- 04
Picker
It is picked and swapped
Scanned item by item, with short picks swapped or refunded to the customer's stated rule.
- 05
Driver
The round goes out
Crates loaded, route planned to the booked windows, chilled items kept together.
- 06
Your system
The basket is saved
What they bought becomes next week's starting list, which is what makes the second order easy.
Grocery delivery software development, feature by feature.
Your costed plan names which of these are in the first release. The picking and slot features are rarely the ones to defer, because they set what the business can physically handle.
- Catalogue and SKU managementThousands of lines with pack sizes, barcodes, images and units, imported in bulk rather than typed.
- Delivery slot bookingWindows with real capacity behind them, so a full Thursday shows as full instead of failing at checkout.
- Substitution handlingPer-item rules the customer sets, an offer the picker makes and a refund when neither works.
- Batch pickingSeveral orders in one walk, sequenced by aisle. The single biggest lever on cost per order.
- Cold chain routingChilled and frozen flagged, grouped and routed to the vans equipped to carry them.
- Store-level inventoryStock held per branch, so nobody is sold something that is only on another store's shelf.
- Weighed and loose itemsPriced by actual weight at picking, with the difference settled against the pre-authorised total.
- Repeat basketsLast week's shop saved and reordered in a tap, which is where the retention comes from.
- Route planningA round rather than a job: every drop sequenced to its booked window.
- PromotionsMultibuys, member prices and markdowns, scheduled and applied in the basket.
Ways a grocery app earns.
Grocery margins are thin, so the fee structure matters more here than in any other kind of delivery. Use one or combine them.
- Your own marginYou sell your own stock at your own prices, to a catchment bigger than your car park.
- Delivery feesBy slot, by basket size, or free above a threshold you set.
- SubscriptionsA monthly plan for free or discounted delivery, which is what makes weekly ordering stick.
- Slot pricingQuiet windows cheaper than busy ones, which spreads the load across your pickers.
- Supplier-funded placementBrands paying for position in a category, inside your rules.
- Partner commissionA cut of baskets filled by other stores on your network.
Example basket #8412
41 items, Thursday 6 to 8pm slot
- Basket total
- $78.40
- Your gross margin, 26%
- $20.38
- Delivery fee and peak slot
- $5.49
- Picking and driving, this basket's share
- −$9.20
The picking cost is the number to watch, and batch picking is what moves it: the same walk filling four baskets instead of one. Figures are an example, and your own margin and labour costs are what decide it.
Who we build grocery apps for.
Tell us how you pick and how far you deliver, and the app is designed around that rather than around a template.
Independent grocers
One shop, a known catchment, and customers who would order weekly if they could.
Built to fit
- A catalogue built from the stock you actually carry
- Slots matched to the staff you have, not to a guess
- Delivery by your own van or a local driver
Supermarket chains
Several stores, different stock in each, and one brand over all of them.
Built to fit
- Store-level inventory and pricing
- Orders routed to the branch that can fill them
- Group reporting across every store and slot
Dark stores and rapid delivery
No shop floor, short ranges and fast promises. On demand grocery delivery app development is a different build from a slotted one, and this is where it fits.
Built to fit
- Picking tuned for minutes rather than for a slot
- Tight ranges with live stock and no substitutions
- Rider dispatch instead of planned rounds
Speciality and organic
A smaller range, a higher basket and customers who read the label.
Built to fit
- Producer and provenance detail on every line
- Seasonal availability rather than permanent stock
- Weekly boxes alongside a normal basket
Wholesale and B2B
Restaurants, offices and shops ordering from you on account.
Built to fit
- Account pricing, credit terms and statements
- Standing orders and scheduled deliveries
- Pallet and case quantities rather than single units
Marketplaces of local shops
Several independent stores under one app, with you taking a cut.
Built to fit
- Store onboarding with their own catalogues and prices
- Baskets split across stores in one checkout
- Commission and payouts per store
A price and a date you can plan around.
- 01 · Before we start
Free costed plan
Tell us the idea. You get the scope, a fixed price and a launch date in writing, free, whether you go ahead or not.
- 02 · Week 1
Design and prototype
Your screens in your brand. You click through a working prototype before any code is written.
- 03 · Weeks 2 to 4
Build and test
Our team builds your app and tests every screen. A new build reaches your phone each week.
- 04 · From about day 30
Launch and support
We publish to the App Store and Google Play, then keep the apps fixed, current and running.
Most first releases go live in about 30 days. Larger apps take longer, and your costed plan fixes the scope and the exact date.
What goes live first, and what follows.
Your costed plan splits the build into releases with their own fixed prices and dates. The first one has to be able to take an order and get it picked.
About 30 days
First release
- Catalogue, basket and payment
- Delivery slots with real capacity
- Picker app with substitutions
- Admin: orders, stock, slots, reports
After launch
Second release
- Batch picking and aisle sequencing
- Route planning for full rounds
- Subscriptions and slot pricing
- Promotions and member prices
When you need it
As you grow
- More stores and zones
- Cold chain routing and temperature records
- Links into your stock or point of sale system
- Performance work as basket volume climbs
We publish your apps. It is in the price.
Every build ends with your apps live on the App Store and Google Play. Submission is part of the job, never an extra: we prepare everything, handle the review and fix whatever the stores ask for.
Included in every build
- Store listings. Name, description, keywords, screenshots and preview images.
- Privacy and compliance. Privacy details, data forms and content ratings each store requires.
- Signed release builds. Built, signed and uploaded for iOS and Android.
- Review and approval. We answer the reviewers and resubmit if anything is flagged.
- Updates after launch. Every new version goes through the same process.
The one cost that is yours
Apple and Google charge for a developer account. It is opened in your company's name, so the apps and their listings always belong to you.
- Apple App StoreUS$99 a yearApple Developer Program
- Google PlayUS$25 onceGoogle Play Console
Store fees are set by Apple and Google and may change.
What it is built with.
Set up for the market you launch in. Your costed plan names exactly what your first release uses.
Payments
- Stripe
- Razorpay
- PayPal
- Cash on delivery
Maps and routing
- Google Maps
- Route planning
- Delivery zones
- Live GPS tracking
Store systems
- Barcode scanning
- Stock imports
- Point of sale links
- Accounting exports
Built with
- Flutter
- Swift
- Kotlin
- Python
- PostgreSQL
What sets the price.
There is no price list, because no two grocery businesses pick the same way. Your fixed price comes from the scope in your costed plan.
Get your fixed priceHow many apps
Customer, picker, driver and admin, or fewer to start.
Catalogue size
Two hundred lines and twenty thousand are different problems.
One store or many
Store-level stock and routing between branches is real work.
How you pick
Single-order picking, or batched and aisle-sequenced.
Slots and rounds
Simple windows, or capacity planning and route optimisation.
Stock integration
Whether your existing system has an API worth connecting to.
We have built delivery apps many times.
Your app is designed and built new for your business. What carries over is experience with the parts every delivery business shares, and with the parts grocery does not share with any of them. We already know that picking cost is the number that decides whether the model works, that a slot without capacity behind it is a broken promise, and that the substitution rule is the feature customers judge you on. None of that is learned on your budget, which is why the scope, the price and the date can be fixed.
After launch, we stay.
Grocery runs on a rhythm. The Thursday evening slot has to work every Thursday, and that is what support means here.
Monitoring
We watch the servers, the payments and the flow of orders around the clock, with an eye on the hours that matter. A checkout that slows at five on a Friday costs more than one that fails at three on a Tuesday, and the alerts are weighted accordingly.
Fixes
You tell us once and we take it from there. Every issue is logged, fixed, tested and released. Anything that stops a basket being paid for or an order being picked goes ahead of everything else.
Store updates
Apple and Google change their rules every year. We test your apps against each new version of iOS and Android, update what needs updating and resubmit, so a picker's phone does not stop working mid-shift after an overnight update.
Catalogue and stock help
The first weeks of a grocery launch are mostly catalogue work: pack sizes, images, units and the lines that import badly. We stay close to that while it settles rather than handing you a spreadsheet and wishing you luck.
New features
Batch picking, route planning and subscriptions are usually second-release work, and each is scoped, priced and dated in writing before it starts, exactly like the first release.
Handover
The platform is yours and so is everything needed to run it. Your team gets the code, the accounts, the deployment process and written documentation, so you can carry on with us or bring in your own developers whenever you choose.
What our clients say.
I so much love your services and I will continue to patronize your company.
Kolawole Alaba JohnsonApr 2025I worked with AppKodes for a website and mobile app development project, and overall, I'm very satisfied with the results. Their team was responsive and flexible throughout the process, and they delivered a product that met my expectations both in design and functionality.
Яша ФирузApr 2025Asked before most builds.
Not here? The costed plan answers the rest, for your app.
Your idea stays yours. We can sign an NDA before you share the details, and you hear from us within 24 hours.
How do I start a grocery delivery service?
Decide the range and the radius before anything else. A smaller catalogue delivered reliably inside a tight area beats a full supermarket range delivered badly across a city, because picking time and drive time are what decide whether an order makes money. Then work out how many orders an hour one picker can handle, because that number sets your slot capacity and your slot capacity sets your revenue. The app comes after those two answers, and it is built around them.
How to start an online grocery delivery business with no shop?
That is a dark store, and it is a different build: a short range, live stock, no substitutions and dispatch in minutes rather than booked slots. It needs less catalogue work and much tighter stock accuracy. Tell us which model you are running at the scoping session, because the two produce different apps.
How much does grocery delivery app development cost?
It depends on how many apps you need, how big the catalogue is, whether you run one store or several and how sophisticated the picking and routing have to be. You get a fixed price in a free costed plan before any work starts, and it does not move unless you change the scope.
What happens when an item is out of stock?
The customer decides the rule before it happens, per item or for the whole basket: accept a sensible swap, ask me first, or just refund it. The picker offers the substitution against that rule, with a photo where the customer asked to be asked, and short picks correct the stock count so the next customer is not sold the same thing.
How do delivery slots work?
Each window has real capacity behind it, worked out from how many pickers and vans you have that day. A slot that is full shows as full when the customer is choosing, rather than accepting the order and failing later. You can price quiet windows lower to spread the load, which is usually cheaper than hiring another picker.
Can it handle items sold by weight?
Yes. Loose produce and deli items are priced at picking from the actual weight, with the difference settled against the amount pre-authorised at checkout. The customer sees the final total and what changed.
Can it work across several stores?
Yes. Stock, prices and slots are held per store, and an order goes to the branch that can fill it. That is usually second-release work unless you launch with more than one store.
Do you publish the apps to the App Store and Google Play?
Yes, and it is included in your price. We prepare the listings, submit the apps and handle the review for both stores. The only cost that is yours is the store developer accounts, opened in your company's name.
Who owns the app and the customer data?
You do. The code is handed over with documentation, the cloud and payment accounts are in your company's name, and every basket and customer record sits somewhere you control.
Your first release could be live
next month.
Tell us about the app you want to build. We send back a costed plan with a fixed price and a launch date, free and yours to keep.
