How to Make a Popular Online Food Delivery Aggregator

Have you ever craved for food, but too lazy to dress up and step out? Well, welcome to the world of food delivery aggregators. Order what you want and your wish will be their command! 

You must have noticed that the trend today is shifting from fine dining to ordering food and enjoying it from the comfort of our homes and offices. Thanks to the food aggregators that have made food, a less formal and more enjoyable affair. 

In today’s world where time is money, people don't let tummy cravings consume their precious hours. Imagine you have an important presentation to make while your stomach yearns for your favourite pasta. Will you make it? No! You’ll order food online and get back to work, while someone else toils to bring that delicacy at your doorstep. Simple and easy, isn't it? This trend has become an inseparable part of us, so much so, that while writing this article, I just ordered a latte for myself.

Many famous aggregators like Zomato, Swiggy and UberEats have taken over the market and yet there is scope for more. If you are planning your start-up, the food aggregator industry is the ideal place to fit in. According to a survey , the food aggregator revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate of 8.4%, resulting in a market volume of USD 80,156 million by 2023.(source)

This is the right time to start a food delivery business. No matter what time of the year it is, no matter what occasion it is, people will always eat and you can be the one delivering happiness in its purest form, that is “FOOD”.

Demand vs Supply

Many small scale vendors just wish to expand their business but their reach couldn’t make strides across two blocks. With the help of aggregators, they can easily overcome the limited reach of their delicacies and flourish. Such is the untapped potential of the food delivery apps today.

Coming to the practicality of things, if you are planning to kick start your food aggregator business, you need to make sure it is the right business to invest. Well, you don't have to waste time, hunting for reasons. I’ll give you a handful, convincing enough to inspire you.

Here are a few reasons and tips to excel in your food aggregator business -

1. Understand your target audiences

You have to cater to the needs of millennials who are working and students who can’t cook. And don't forget the most important lot, the “ too lazy to cook” ones. Make your food delivery app attractive and irresistible. Come up with discounts and tie-up with restaurants that deliver quality food.

2. Comfort is a new style

People would rather sit in their pyjamas on the couch and enjoy their favorite food with Netflix, than dressing up and driving to the restaurant. Your start-up will give them that comfort.

3. Location is important

For your business to grow, you need to cover a densely populated area through advertising. It will help you cater to more customers. And while they spread the good word, your work on delivering quality service. 

4. Choose restaurants wisely

Target the restaurants that are famous but do not have their own food delivery services. This way you will be able to get more customers. The more, the better.

5. Management is the Key

With numerous restaurants, their discounts and customer analytics, get a platform that manages your business well behind the curtain.

6. Never give up

Imagine if Google thought it was not needed because yahoo exists. Stupid, isn't it? There are many players in the market, but honestly speaking, no one is perfect. There is always some glitch or the other in their apps and systems. Once you plan and build an online store for this business, you can make your mark in the business for the long run.

A Solid Backbone to Manage your Business

If you are stepping into this business, a strong management platform is necessary for your overall growth. Your business will serve as a middleman between restaurants and customers. Your platform must have a robust managing setup that works behind the curtain to make everything look smooth. There are three main fronts you need to take care of – Customers, Restaurants, and Delivery Team. Nothing can stop you from prospering in this business, once you build an online store and start managing all three fronts in proper sync.

For a strong front face, you need reliable and robust management. It is not just the food orders and their delivery. It is way more than that. I’m talking about a huge multi-vendor setup, collaboration with famous restaurants, taking care of the commissions, list of orders and the analytics that follow. 

In short, go for an application that has less dependency on the user. Because ultimately, if you have to do all the work, there is no point to build an online store for your business. The whole idea is to have less burden on your shoulders and give you the space to tackle other important responsibilities. 

The ecommerce industry is flooded with food aggregator applications. All of them promising better services and helping you expand your business. But it is always good to do some thorough research and go with the facts. Here are a few points that you must look for before making your pick. 

1. Ease of registration

Make sure that the registration process is not too lengthy and have options for direct social media login. There must be a section to define the role of the user - whether they are customers, vendors or delivery boys. The registration process must also have an OTP check for mobile numbers and email address. Make sure when the user comes, he can easily complete the process in minimal step. After the registration, the restaurant vendors and delivery valets need approval from the admin before using their accounts.

2. Dashboard - to manage things on your fingertip

Your food delivery app must have different dashboards for the customers, vendors and delivery team. It must give a summarized view of everything - from sales, to orders, and even updating details.

The vendor's dashboard must have options to define the entire menu in detail along with features like content management, set working hours, bestseller dish, today’s special and so on. The customer's dashboard must-have features that help checkout menus, compare prices, review a restaurant, track their order and pay for it. The delivery driver must have a dashboard that defines the address of the restaurant, delivery address, and update the status of the orders.

3. Do business on your Mobile

Imagine managing your business even while you are on the go. Convenient, inst’ it? Mobile food delivery apps have revolutionized the aggregator industry. The way the admin section has been introduced in the form of an app makes it more user-friendly and favourable for the business. 

It is not just limited to the customers’ orders but also gives restaurant vendors, the flexibility to accept orders and change menus. As a business owner, one can also view all the analytics and necessary details on their phone. Get an app that supports this feature along with being responsive to multiple devices and compatible with android and iOs both. 

4. Admin panel - To keep an eagle's eye on things

If you are planning to build an online store, the admin panel is a very crucial part of it. Managing vendors, delivery valets, their information, ratings and commission. Admin must have access to all the information to facilitate order support.

It's the admin who should accept or reject the registration request of restaurants and delivery valets. Other than that, the admin must have the authority to decide the commission percentage, set the payment slab and payment mode to release payments for the vendors and delivery valets.

5. Apt analytics for business analysis

How many people ordered food from your food delivery app today? How many left the cart after adding food? Which dish was most ordered? Which are the popular restaurant? What is the bounce rate? Trust me you want to know all this once you are into the business. Why not go for an application that already has all these features.

6. On-time Notifications

Time is money and you definitely want things on time. Imagine losing a customer just because the restaurant wasn’t notified about the order on time leading to late delivery. Notification is very important. It helps all the three interfaces – customer, restaurant and food delivery valet, work in order and on time. Be it the order receiving a notification, payment notification, delivery notification, or even notifications that remind customers that abandon loaded e-carts, they are important.

7. Discount and offers like never before

You can’t deny the fact that discounts and offers are one of the main reasons that will attract customers to your business. Make sure you have a system that keeps account of the recurring discount offers, generates unique promo codes, auto-send offers via texts to regular customers and help attract the target audiences for often order food online.

8. Ease of splitting commissions and payments

Get an automated application that manages all your payments. No extra calculations, no extra stress. Just fix the percentage of commission, choose a payment mode and sit back. The amount will automatically split and go to the rightful vendor. The rest will be taken care of by the app.

9. Secured payment system, with COD option

Ultimately everything comes down to the step where the user makes payment for their order. Make sure you keep the process smooth, fast and secured. Go for reliable payment gateways that have trusted encryption standards, high compatibility rate and excellent speed. Introduce other ways of payments as well. Pick a food delivery app that supports wallet payment, credit/debit card payment and even gives an option of cash on delivery.

10. Tracking - know where the order is!

Have you ever ordered food and waited anxiously for your meal. It takes a lot of patience. While a few customers deal with it, others just cancel the order. Go of an application that makes the waiting experience more pleasant. GPS is a necessity for all food applications today. You just can't go without it. The better way is to use some cool graphics and make the food delivery experience more fun

11. Technical and customer support

Technical support is very crucial in situations where the application has a major bug to fix or if the application crashes down. You need technical support to fix the issue in minimum possible time. There are customer issues as well that needs to be addressed. For such cases, one should look for applications that not only offer pre-sales support but also is there to handle your issues after the sale. Look for a solution provider that has multi-channel support like on call, chat and email. Bonus would be if they offer a help centre of their features as well. If these features are readily available in the application you have picked, go for it.

Conclusion

The food delivery aggregator business is thriving like never before and yet there are untouched shores to explore. If you are up for the challenge, just go for it. There should be no room for doubt. The food aggregator market is best for start-ups. As our dependency on mobile phones increases, the success rate of such applications goes certain. 

StoreHippo knows the requirements of the growing ecommerce industry. It provides extensive features in the best possible way - Unparallel delivery tracking systems, discount feature, 24X7 technical support, highly secured payment mode, apt analytics and much more. So go ahead and take the big step of having your own business with StoreHippo and serve happiness at people’s doorstep. 

StoreHippo is a B2B+B2C, e-commerce platform that offers diverse solutions to build an online store for diverse businesses. It offers amazing features that make retail store management, easy, simple and efficient. For free demo and consultation, drop us an email at [email protected] or call +91-8010117117.