Zomato, Postmates, Doordash, GrubHub, and UberEats are a few names in the market that have completely evolved the whole experience of enjoying finger-licking foods at home. Now you don’t need to travel miles for your favorite food as these food delivery apps can bring it to your doorstep in just a few minutes. If we talk specifically about Zomato, it has covered miles from being a small good review website (only to foodies) to becoming a multinational giant serving more than 65 million people every month. But do you know the secret sauce to its success? It’s their app.
The market is flooded with innumerable restaurant/ food delivery apps, and only a few are able to leave a mark. But why does business fail to succeed in the race? Well, there could be many reasons, but most of the time, the reason is the slow app or website that ruins the user experience (no matter how tasty food businesses deliver). If the app doesn’t have a smooth interface, good speed & layout, gaining their gourmet's interest would always seem difficult.
Zomato rules the food industry with its winning application and unbeatable marketing strategy. And if you also want to grow in the industry, it would be great to be inspired by Zomato’s app and get one built for your business. But do you have any idea where you should start? What to do first? Don’t be stressed!
Here’s a complete guide to help you build a food delivery app like Zomato. Following this guide can help you develop an app that can boost your sales and make a name in the market.
Learn How to Create an Application Like Zomato
Follow the below-listed points to create a game-changing application like Zomato-
Select The Niche And Target Audience
Today, the global food delivery market is driven by leading market players like Zomato, Uber Eats, and more. Competing with these giants by targeting a large base of regular users like them might sound great. But at the same time, being a startup, you don’t have a lot of money and service to target such a huge base of customers.
Instead of competing with these established unicorns, it would be best to select the right niche and target audience that can give you a great start. You can focus on a certain type of food or cuisine and target the audience who can’t resist themselves from such a delightful appetite.
Moving forward in such a way helps you create a better user experience and gain a competitive edge even at the start.
Focus on App Panels & Advanced Features
Once you know your audience and niche, now make your next move with smart application development. Create a mobile app like Zomato, focusing on four crucial panels- customer/ buyers, restaurant, courier, and administrator. Add common features, including registration, profile settings, order tracking, etc., and advanced features in each panel tailored for specific user roles.
User/ Client Panel
This panel is designed for customers to provide a better experience while placing orders for food delivery. Implement the following functions while creating this panel-
Search: This function allows users to search for cafes, pubs, bars, restaurants, and eateries by dishes, locations, availability, rating, and schedules. Users can easily find what they’re looking for, including the menu, prices, and services.
Order basket: This allows users to add their favorite dishes to an order basket in a few clicks.
Order status tracking: This allows customers to track the status (in-line prepared, out for delivery) and location of the order.
Payment system: Integrate payment gateways such as Amazon Pay, PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, and others in the app. It helps users make the payment via their desired payment method.
Rating & Reviews: It gives the freedom to rate the restaurant, food, and couriers and write the review as per their experience.
Courier Panel (Delivery Service)
UberEats, Foodpanda, and Postmates work with freelance couriers. But Zomato has its own delivery facility. If you want an app like Zomato that can deliver your orders on time, don't forget to focus on the following functions.
Login and verification: It is imperative for couriers to register restaurants in apps like Zomato. If the courier registers themselves, a verification tool is required to notify the restaurant that the “courier is ours.” This process protects both parties from fraud.
Order Management: Tools provided to receive and close orders. The whole order management is done with this feature.
Profile Setup: Entering and updating the personal data of the courier.
Payments: This courier panel must also confirm and pay for delivery.
Restaurant Owner Panel
This panel includes a set of tools to help the restaurant or food delivery service providers to provide the best dish to customers.
Creating a Profile And Its Setting: Zomato apps also include this feature, where a restaurant needs to specify the address, menu with prices, contact details, and schedule. Presentation of the menu and dishes can be in the form of a separate card with a photo and the price for each dish.
Courier Tracking: Owners can check the real-time location or the route the driver chose to deliver food using Google Maps or its equivalent.
Order Management: It allows the restaurant to track the order status- performed, planned, dispatched, closed.
Menu Control: This feature gives the ease to add and update food cards.
Push Notifications: This feature notifies the restaurant owner about a new order, payment, status change, rejection, and other important things.
Admin Panel
The admin panel help manage listings, profiles, payments, and more, providing the following features-
Performance Monitoring: Tracking the activities of all restaurants, customers and couriers is easy.
Restaurant Management: Adding, updating, and deleting any restaurant or cafe from the listing is possible in this panel. Changing the category of cuisines, dishes, restaurants, and payment methods, all can be handled easily.
Analysis and Reporting: Receive real-time data and detailed analysis of the whole app performance. This data includes graphs, charts, and diagrams that are easy to analyze.
Marketing Policy
Do you know the marketing strategy of Zomato? This app aims at people aged 18 to 35 who are interested in ordering food online. But that’s not it. The app also focuses on busy people who want their food delivered on time. In order to attract this audience, the company comes up with strong marketing tactics, focusing on SME, SEO, social networks (Facebook, Instagram(mobile app), Twitter, and YouTube), and promotions.
App Development Features
When the basic, functionality, marketing, and monetization model is ready, you can begin to code the app, focusing on the following steps-
Collection of requirements: Preparing preliminary application specifications.
Prototyping: Building the logic of the user flow and creating app screens.
UI / UX Design Creation: Creating a smooth app interface for users. Zomato uses realistic images of restaurants and dishes to attract the user’s eyeballs and leads them to order food.
MVP Development: Creating an app with a minimum set of functions is perfect to test the performance of key ideas.
Testing: A dedicated team performs the testing to determine the overall performance of the app. The team checks the MVP for performance, virulence, and relevance. Based on the feedback, MVP is improved & updated.
Deployment: The final step is app deployment. Add an application to Google Play and the App Store.
Following these steps can end you up with a robust and sales-driven online food delivery application like Zomato.
Final Thoughts
So, this is all about how to create a perfect app like Zomato. This guide has covered all the crucial steps for a successful food delivery app. If you need expert assistance, connect with 75way. We are a leading mobile app development company and helped many clients across the globe by providing the best digital solution they deserve.
Comments