Instashop Hyperlocal Grocery Ordering App: Development & Features Explained

Online grocery shopping covers a minor part of the overall grocery retail market, however, it is becoming one of the fastest-growing segments.  Instead of going for traditional grocery shopping, people love to do hassle-free grocery shopping at the comfort of their home via online grocery apps. Considering this ongoing demand and to increase the consumer base, more businesses are planning to start with an e-grocery business by providing secure and fast grocery deliveries.

Table Of Contents

• About Instashop.
• Why Do People Love the Instashop App?
• Services and Availability of InstaShop<./a>
• Instashop Business Model.
• Gamification on Point.
• Instashop App Features list.
• Advanced Features of Instashop App.
• What is the Cost to Develop a Grocery App like Instashop?
• What will you get in the Instashop grocery delivery app?
• How much time does it take to start with a Grocery App?

As per the report published by Statista, the below statistic shows the number of adult grocery app users in the United States from 2017 to 2022. By 2022, the number of adult grocery app users in the U.S. is projected to reach 30.4 million consumers.

This article covers one of the most innovative grocery delivery apps named Instashop that represents a very strong concept of grocery delivery.

About Instashop

Instashop, one of the most popular hyperlocal grocery ordering, delivery apps, and an online marketplace for supermarkets, pharmacies, pet shops, and other businesses. Based in Dubai(now sold to Delivery Hero for a whopping $360 million), InstaShop was founded in 2015 by Greek entrepreneurs Ioanna Angelidaki and its co-founder and CEO, John Tsioris. Since then, this on-demand grocery delivery platform has been dominating the grocery market and delivery. The company is based in Dubai and is part of Jabbar Internet Group. InstaShop counts 100s of supermarket chain partners with a base of over 350,000 monthly active users.

Why Do People Love the Instashop App?

There are lots of reasons for loving this hyperlocal grocery delivery app and here are the ones that are the most definite ones:

• Get groceries delivered without spending time to go and buy.
• 20+ grocery product categories covering a wide range of grocery essentials.
• Additional services of delivering organic food, house delivery, and medicines on demand.
• Promise to deliver ordered grocery items within an hour.
• Corporate people can spend more time with their family while sitting at home.
• Utilizing the time in something more important.
• Do and finish other tasks by saving the time to go outside and buy groceries.
• Instashop offers 24×7 hour delivery and that is quite obvious reason to love this app.

The main services provided by InstaShop are:

• Supermarkets
• Pharmacies
• Pet Shops
• Fresh produce market
• Butchery and BBQ
• Flower shops
• Water
• Organic Shops

You can use InstaShop in four countries: UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Egypt. In the UAE, they are available in the following cities:

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi
• Sharjah
• Al-Ain
• Ajman
• Ajman
• Ras Al Khaimah

Instashop Business Model

InstaShop receives a revenue component from the shop as a percentage of the order value and a service fee per order from the user.  It allows buyers and sellers at a common platform, where sellers can upload products in the relevant categories added by the Instashop, and buyers can pick and buy the products as per their need. Have a look at how it works:

Gamification on Point

In order to make the app more interactive and encourage more users to use the app, Instashop offers discounts, privileges, and vouchers in the form of InstaPoints and Instafriend.

InstaPoints

This feature lets users earn reward points that can be converted into credits and can be used in the next order.

Instafriend

It works like a referral program where active users can invite their family members and friends to join Instashop. They receive reward points when invited members will place their first order.

Instashop App Features list

It’s quite obvious and clear by using the app, that it has been made to provide a good user experience by fulfilling the desired needs of the people. Thereby, providing a mix of basic and advanced features in the app. Have a look:

Customer App

In order to provide ease to the users, the app has offered a seamless customer experience to fulfill the daily grocery needs. With GPS feature enabled, it automatically shows the nearby supermarkets, based on the location entered by the customer. Hence, it makes it easy for them to explore and locate the desired stores and do shopping. Here is a summarized list of the customer app features:

• Easy Login/Signup

The easy login/signup options include social media logins, email, and mobile number. Depending upon the customer’s choice, they can choose the option they like to do the login or sign up with.

• Manage Profile

Customers can update their name, delivery address, notification settings, and contact details anytime with the manage profile option.

• Re-Order

In order to repeat the last or previous orders, customers can simply go to their order history and re-order their favorite products without any hassle.

• Order Tracking

To make sure about the order arrival time, one can simply do the order tracking by just clicking on the order.

• Notifications 

Notifications can be received on order status, delivery boy, promo codes, offers, discounts, etc.

• Ratings & Reviews

Customers can add their reviews & ratings based on product quality and delivery experience. This helps them make the app better.

Store Owner App

Store owner apps are for the ones who own supermarkets and stores and are listed in the Instashop app. With the help of this app, they can manage the orders and get notified about the new order requests.  Here is a list of features in the store owner app:

• Notification Receive notifications/alerts of the latest orders added by the customers. Store owners will be either notified via email or SMS.
• Accept/Reject Order Allows store owners to quickly accept or reject orders and send notifications to the customers at the same time.
• Tracking Order Tracking delivery boy status can be done easily within the app. This lets store owners be aware and notified about the delivery status and arrival time.
• Filter & Sort order status Sorting of fulfilled and latest orders can be done with this option. It lets store owners easily manage the orders on the basis of their status and delivery date.
• Time slot for delivery Store owners can manage and update the order delivery timings as per their store timings and keep clear indications to the users about the delivery slot.
• In-app chat This in-app chat option enables them to communicate with customers as well as delivery boys, in order to avoid any kind of confusion between the ordered items and delivery.

Delivery Boy App

The delivery boys can perform all their tasks seamlessly by managing the orders via the Instashop delivery boy app. They can view their earning details, do the in-app call, and use the easy navigation to perform any necessary tasks.

• Easy login Just like the customer app, the delivery boy app also allows users to do login via social media accounts, email, or mobile number.
• Accept/reject requests Delivery boys can accept or reject the latest orders based on their availability. If in case, they need to reject the order, then they can simply do it by providing a genuine reason.
• Availability toggle Delivery guys can mark their status as available if they like to receive new order delivery requests.
• Delivery details They can view all the essential details like delivery requests, type, and quantity of delivery, location, date, etc.
• View earnings Delivery people can view their daily/monthly earnings within the app by simply accessing this option.
• Navigation Navigation features help the delivery person to find and locate the exact route of the delivery address from the supermarket to the customer’s location.

Store owner panel

With an amazing and intuitive dashboard, this store owner panel makes sure to provide the best experience to store owners. Managing the catalog of unlimited items, updating product lists along with their revised rates and images and item’s availability all can be done competently in a systematized manner

• Login/signup Easy to do login/signup with the help of email, social media accounts or via mobile number.
• Product Upload Store owners can upload the new products inventory as per the latest stock. Thus, providing their customers with more product options to choose from.
• Inventory Check a quick update about the current items in stock and the ones that are already sold. This helps in making them decide to pick or drop the items from the inventory, based on the users’ demand.
• Track customer behaviour This option is perfect to understand the user and their shopping behavior and based on the same, store owners can analyze the average value of the order, preferred price range, discounted orders, etc.
• Track Products This feature lets the store owner keep a track of the highest and least selling products, most trending items, and highly browsed stuff by the user.
• Track Sales Manage and track their yearly, monthly, and daily sales records with the help of sales statistics provided by the system.

Admin Panel

The admin panel is the one for the owner of the whole system who can manage everything. Be it managing customers, sub-admins, store owners listing, tracking orders, reviewing feedback, stats and earning, etc.

• Dashboard The dashboard is full of amazing features that helps in the easy management of all the tasks and activities.
• Sub-admins Admin can add other people as sub-admins in order to look after the current activities in a much better way. Tasks included can be supervising the in-app activities and looking after the smooth running of all the processes.
• Customer management It helps in managing the guest customers and registered users in a more sorted way, by just accessing their profile details.
• Store owner management Easily manage store owners, their activities, set up their commission rates, and adding all the necessary profile details.
• Delivery boy management Manage delivery boy information, tracking their overall behavior, earnings, and commission rates.
• Track payment User’s payments can be tracked easily with this option and accordingly commission prices can be released to both; store owners and delivery boys.

Related Article: Read Postmates Food delivery App Business Model & Cost

Advanced Features of the Instashop App

Along with the basic features, there should be some advanced features that help the app to perform better in terms of customer satisfaction and their overall user experience. Here are some important and advanced features that are benefitting the Instashop app and recommended to be there in any eCommerce grocery delivery app.

Intuitive & Rich UI/UX

Users love to explore apps that are highly expressive in terms of user experience, and Instashop has taken good care of it. The app has a very good user interface that easily navigates users to their desired categories within the app. Moreover, an easy signup/login is the additional feature where users can do so with the help of their social media accounts, a simple email, or with their active mobile number.

Products Categorization

The products have been categorized in a more sorted way so that users can easily find the items they wish to purchase. The products have been aesthetically categorized and subcategorized in order to make the search process easier for the users.

Multiple Payment Modes

Nowadays, businesses can‘t restrict users to pay via a single payment method, and considering the same, Instashop has provided multiple payment options to its users. It makes transactions more easy, transparent, and quick. If in any case, the transaction is declined or canceled, then it is quickly reversed to the same payment method.

Strong Backend

When it comes to managing a big system, it is essential to have a strong backend that is capable of managing the information in a more efficient manner.

What is the Cost to Develop a Grocery App like Instashop?

Here is a cost idea to develop an on-demand grocery delivery platform like Instashop

• Ready to Launch Grocery delivery app $1899
• QA and testing cost about $2000 to $5000
• UI/UX designing cost about $2500 to $5500
• Back-end and the front-end cost about $10,000 to $20,000

For a complete cost idea, you can contact our technical experts. Depending on the requirements accurate costs can be shared within your budget. Contact us to get started.

What will you get in the Instashop grocery delivery app?

In order to increase the consumer base, investing in Instashop like grocery apps is totally worth it.

Here is what you will get:

• Customer App (Android & iOS)
• Store Owner App (Android & iOS)
• Delivery Boy App (Android & iOS)
• Store Web panel
• Super Admin panel
• Fully Functional Website
• Billing Panel
• Dispatcher Panel
• 100% Customizable
• Technical Support
• Full source code/license

How much time does it take to start with a Grocery App?

Below is an average time provided to launch the grocery app with a ready to launch solution. This time can either be increased or decreased, depending on the client’s response and provided sources.

• Customer mobile app: Android/ iOS:30-40  Days
• Admin app: Android/iOS: 20-30 Days
• Delivery app: 40-45 Days
• API synchronization: 35-40 Days