With food being the basic requirement for living and technology taking over it, the on-demand food delivery software has catered well. Be it a midnight pizza craving, treating yourself with ice cream, or a sudden get-together plan, apps and software like DoorDash, Zomato, and Uber Eats are among the popular ones.
According to the reports from Statista, the online food delivery market is expected to reach US$0.91 trillion in 2023, which clearly states that investing in the development of food-delivery software is the next big thing that you can have for your business. All you need is a clear idea of what you want, along with making your software unique and providing a seamless browsing experience to the users.
Before briefing more about how to develop a food delivery software like DoorDash, it is important to know what DoorDash is and what it does.
So, let us start with it!
What is DoorDash and what does it do?
DoorDash is an on-demand food delivery software that provides a platform for restaurants and grocery stores and helps consumers connect with them and order food and other groceries anytime and anywhere. It was founded in 2013 and serves around 27 countries across the globe. It comprises four parties i.e. the consumer or the user panel, the delivery partner, the restaurant partner, and the admin or the backend panel. And in a nutshell, it works as follows –
1. The user places an order from a restaurant by selecting the preferred location and making the payment.
2. Then the restaurant accepts the order and starts working on it.
3. Once the order is ready to be picked up, it assigns the task to the nearby dasher or the delivery partner.
4. After the order is picked up from the restaurant by the delivery partner, the order will be delivered at the ETA to the customer.
Also, take note that the admin panel or backend is the backbone of the entire workflow. It helps the manager or the business owner keep track of and monitor every ongoing or past activity on the software. It also enables you to manage the user profiles, orders, locations, and everything to ensure everything serves right. And it generates revenues from the commission of every order, along with advertising and marketing plans for restaurants to be featured more prominently. Its value proposition for the consumers includes ordering food from the menu made available by various restaurants and 24*7 customer service, whereas, for the restaurant partners, it helps with an extended customer base and also aids the delivery partners to generate income by working as per their time preferences and flexibility.
Advanced Features to Consider
We already know about the basic or must-have features that are to be integrated into every on-demand software like signing up, logging in, placing an order, and many more. But below we have shortlisted some of the advanced features that you can consider.
1. Chatbots and WhatsApp Integration – Integrating chatbots and Whatsapp into your online food delivery software is an important feature to consider. It not only helps you to provide 24*7 customer service to the users but also enables the users to access everything on Whatsapp as well. For example – every activity regarding the order will be messaged to the user via Whatsapp which in turn helps in providing quality services and enhances the performance of the software.
2. Custom Offers and Recommendations – It is an important marketing tactic that helps in customer retention and draws more customers towards your software. It enables you to send custom offers to regular users and even new users and also helps in offering personalized recommendations to the customers by studying their behavior.
3. Nutrition Information – Everyone is now concerned about their diet plans lately and providing nutrition information regarding every food item on the menu can be beneficial for your business. It will not only create a trustworthy relationship with your customers but will also help the users to track the intake of their calories and other nutritional needs.
4. Cashback Programs – Providing cash back programs is one of the most effective ways in attracting users towards your software, and also enables you to create brand loyalty with your customers. This cashback can be rewarded to the customers in the form of rewards or loyalty points which they can use in their next order.
5. Search and Filter – This is another important feature to consider when developing food delivery software. This feature will help the users to select their preferred food type like vegan, vegetarian, or non-veg, and search for their favorite restaurant or food without wasting time, which helps you to provide better services to your customers.Â
Cost to Develop an On-Demand Food-Delivery Software
Now when we talk about the cost of developing on-demand food delivery software, the first thing you need to do is set your goals clearly on what you want in your software and what you expect the results to be. Then choose the way you want to develop the software. Like whether you want to build it from scratch, or build a clone. Once the basics are done then, some factors affect the cost of development –
- The development model along with the programming language and frameworks
- Time of development
- The UI/UX design of the software
- Location of the development company and their charges
- The number of features and the complexity
- Third-party and security integrations
- Software testing and maintenance, and many others.
But to give a rough estimate, the cost of developing an on-demand food delivery software can cost you around $35,000 to $300,000.
How to Develop an Online Food Delivery Software
Now that you have reached here you are likely interested in developing an online food delivery software, and the steps that you need to take are as follows.
1. Thorough research and trend analysis of the market using restaurant surveys to collect feedback about what the customer wants.
2. Next, choose the food delivery model and the software monetization model, through which you can gain revenue.
3. Then hire a developer or a development company and share your requirements with them.
4. Once the company is finalized along with the features, budget, and technology stack, sign an NDA, and they can start working on your project.
5. The development starts with the design and later on with integrating features and functionalities to develop full-fledged and functional software.
6. After the development is complete, the software undergoes the testing process where the bugs and flaws are fixed.
7. And lastly, after everything is checked out the software can be launched in the market to be ready to be used by the users, followed by post-launch support and maintenance (if any).
Wrapping it up
Ordering tasty food meals has been a part of daily lifestyle now, and developing such software not only fulfills the needs of the consumers but also serves your business at a high level.
So, if you are thinking of developing custom online delivery software, then why wait?
Connect with us and develop top-notch and secure software with the best features and functionalities to stand out in the market.
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