As social distancing and quarantines have become new norms across the world, there is increased consumer demand for cleaning supplies and medicine at both in-store and online for groceries. 

This has driven significant growth in mobile shopping apps downloads, on April 5, 2020, Walmart Grocery saw an all-time high in downloads — obtaining the #1 ranking position for Shopping apps in the US, surpassing Amazon by 20%. Walmart retained the #1 ranking to April 7, 2020. 

As of April 5, 2020 Walmart Grocery has experienced a 460% growth in average daily downloads compared to its January 2020 performance. Similarly, Amazon has seen a 20% growth in average daily downloads compared to the same time frame.

Digital retail: becoming a new normal of retail

The current pandemic situation is forcing consumers to stay at home and brought up a new level of familiarity with online shopping, online food ordering, digital learning, and digital entertainment.

In order to ensure that your businesses not only survive but thrive, it is critical to anticipate what will be the situation on-demand grocery businesses in a post-pandemic world. The post-pandemic commerce world is predicted to reshape by these forces:

• Consumer behavior during a pandemic:

The current situation is very much mirroring the 2003 SARS epidemic in China. Thousands of people were infected by SARS and many died. Bustling cities of China were turned into ghost towns. But the epidemic was acted crossbow for digital shopping market. 

Before SARS, Alibaba was a B2B e-commerce website doing approximately $10 million a year in sales. Also Jing Dong Trading was a small chain of electronics stores. Within a few years of SARS, Alibaba and JD.com thrived and became the largest e-commerce businesses in the world.

Mitigating this trend leads to the fact that there is an immense potential for digital grocery businesses to take over the traditional retail market. 

• Reflection of economic impact:

Studies have warned us that the world may face a deeper recession in the 2nd quarter. Not only do consumers become more conservative about their finances but their credit availability will reduce which will limit their purchasing power.  

Most importantly, the recession is not a one-time event but it stresses consumers for a few years. Consumer spending will aggregate on need-based categories and discretionary categories will see a decline. 

If a situation like this happens then discount retailers and value-oriented brands seem to win in the near future.

• New competition:

Covid-19 has somehow lead to a retail bifurcation. Resulting, some retailers and brands will be more embedded in consumer life than ever before the pandemic. 

Few retailers that sell high-demand pandemic necessities like Amazon, Walmart, and Costco are not really much impacted by the pandemic effect. These retailers are aggressively hiring employees and increasing employee pay to meet increased demand and boost their supply chains. 

Conversely, retailers of non-essential products are facing the brunt of the economic impact. According to Rakuten sales of apparel and footwear retailers fell nearly 37%. Foot traffic in U.S. stores fell 58.4% in the third week of March – ShopperTrak. 

How to develop an on-demand grocery app like Walmart:

If you want to build a popular on-demand grocery application like Walmart  as a Newbie in the industry then here are the few steps to keep in mind while developing an app:

• Plan your business according to location, business model, targeted users and govt regulations then decide the app features and marketing campaigns to compliment your business plan.

• Aim your business in less affected countries of covid-19 and then plan to expand it when things get back to normal. This approach will give your business a good start and en excellent output in the near future. 

• You should also take app development and the delivery time into account to grab the business opportunity created by a coronavirus outbreak.

• It is very important to approach the right on-demand app development company for proper guidance by their team of business experts to validate your idea and identify the scope.

• Keep an eagle eye on the evolving scenario and make necessary changes in your app features, business model, and marketing campaign accordingly to give an initial boost to your business.

• Make sure your app does not have any bugs. Because it affects the user experience on a major scale. Delay in solving those bugs, delays the app deployment. 

• Promote the most unique features of the app which can attract more users amid coronavirus outbreak in your market campaign.

• On-demand app development is not a one-time process. So update your app with new features according to market trends. 

• You should always hire an on-demand app development company that offers services even after the app delivery to adapt market changes quickly and curb the competition.

Must have Features for on-demand grocery app:

Admin panel:

• Secured login
• Add/Edit/Delete the product
• Edit/Delete users
• Add/Edit/Delete categories 
• Accept/Reject orders
• Accept payments
• Push notifications

User panel:

• Registration
• Search categories
• Add to shopping lists
• Make order
• View/Edit/Delete order
• Multiple payment gateways
• Make payment
• Push notification
• Rate and feedback
• Support

How Coruscate can help you to develop on demand grocery app like Walmart?

Coruscate is the top on-demand app development company and developed many on-demand apps for different industries. Moreover, We are headquartered in comparatively less affected countries from coronavirus so our productivity is still at its peak. We are able to develop a bug-free on-demand grocery app within 45 days.

We can help you to solve any technical or non-technical business queries even after the app deployment. Get a personalized quote and share your requirements with us. We will get back to you with a free app demo and free consultation. Feel free to contact us.