To provide Colloquialism-type facility to both stores & consumers and meanwhile, giving a mom and pop reaction to other online grocery retailers or marketplaces, hyperlocal grocery businesses are becoming more favourable than others.

All you Need to Know about the Hyperlocal Ecommerce Business/Hyperlocal Grocery Marketplace:

• The grocery hyperlocal marketplace caters to the needs of a limited geographical area.
• The grocery retailers who registered themselves on the hyperlocal grocery marketplace have a larger extent of proximity to the customer (delivery is done within an hour or two).
• Instacart is one of the brightest examples of Hyperlocal grocery delivery business.

Let’s understand all the crucial factors to be considered while setting up a grocery hyperlocal marketplace platform.

Important Elements of a Hyperlocal Grocery Business

There are a few important elements that create the hyperlocal grocery ecosystem when combined. Let’s discuss these in detail:

Marketplace

An online marketplace here is the grocery hyperlocal marketplace platform where multiple offline stores or vendors register themselves and then sell their products to the customers.

Offline Grocery Stores

The basic function of a hyperlocal grocery business is to sell grocery within a definite geographical circumference. Hence, offline stores are a huge part of making the business work. In hyperlocal business, these physical stores provide the stock/products that are collected by the logistics team and further delivered to the customer.

Not to mention, these brick and mortar stores have to register themselves on the eCommerce platforms at first place to start selling their products online.

Grocery Mobile App

A grocery mobile app is a perfect addition to your online hyperlocal grocery store as it helps the customer to connect with your brand in a more efficient way. We will be further discussing the important features of a grocery mobile app.

Important Features for a Hyperlocal Grocery Mobile App
Grocery mobile app plays an important role when it comes to the hyperlocal grocery business.

Primarily, there are two types of mobile apps required for an online grocery business — Buyer App and Delivery Boy App.

i) Buyer App (Mobile app used by the customer) — Here are the important features for a Buyer App:

• Social Media Login
• Order Management
• Progressive Web App
• Self Pick-up (Click and Collect)
• Wallet Management
• Cart Sharing
• Multiple Payment Options
• Order Cancellation & Refunds
• Product Review
• Offers and Rewards

ii) Delivery Boy App (Mobile app used by the delivery staff) — Here are the important features for a Delivery Boy App:

• Profile Management
• Email Notifications
• Manage Order Status
• Route Navigation
• Wallet Management

Logistics Services

To deliver the groceries, you will need to have a delivery system in place. For that, you can either hire your own delivery staff or you can partner with a logistics service provider. The most critical driving factor for the hyperlocal business model is the capacity to make deliveries to the end-users at a rapid pace.

Consumers

These are the people who will buy groceries from you and bring money into the business. So, it is important to identify your target audience who would like to purchase groceries while sitting at home.

In a Nutshell,

Most of the grocery products are perishable in nature and this is what makes instant delivery the highest priority for the consumer. A person can order a product like clothing or gadgets from a different region but it is very unlikely in the case of groceries. That is why the hyperlocal online grocery business is gaining momentum.

Especially in a pandemic situation like COVID-19 outbreak. Hyperlocal grocery services provided their customers with the ease to order online from the nearest stores and convenience to choose from a wide range of products.

Growcer — A grocery software, Growcer, developed by FATbit Technologies is providing both, a ready-to-launch website and mobile apps. The web portal and mobile app can be customized as per your business needs.

You can easily launch your Online Grocery Business with Growcer — Grocery Hyperlocal Marketplace Software.

Check out how Growcer is providing ‘Grocery Software Features’ that ensure the safety of customers and the delivery staff.

If you found this blog insightful, I’m sure you will love checking out what else FATbit Technologies has for you in-store.Check our YouTube channel for insightful videos!

Originally Published at https://medium.com/@akankshachandan/how-to-launch-a-grocery-hyperlocal-marketplace-platform-1037a43e6305