A Comprehensive Guide to Milk Delivery App Development

With the technological advancements in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning), consumer behavior has changed drastically. From visiting the stores to buy groceries to getting them home delivered, technology has played a crucial role. With a busy schedule and no time to visit the store to buy daily utilities like milk, curd, or cheese, morning services have started delivering them on-demand or subscription-based. 

What is a milk delivery app? How does it work?

The delivery application is a platform for consumers to place their milk orders. These orders can be on-demand where the order is delivered in the next available schedule or subscription orders where the order is delivered at a certain frequency. The application is integrated with the admin panel and the driver app which works in sync. 

Customers can download and install the app from the app store and register themselves. While the customer registers, he is asked for his general information like; name, age, gender, address, etc. Customers can place their orders by selecting the products, and adding them to the cart. Select the type of order- subscription order or on-demand order click on checkout and then select a payment option and click on place place order. Finally, the order gets placed. Customers can either pay online using a payment gateway or the wallet or choose to pay via cash on delivery. 

The process involved in its development

People might believe the process of milk delivery app development is tedious, however, with proper planning and strategy, it is easy to define your needs and wants. Here are a few points to be considered

Market Research

Detailed market research is crucial for any business to get a result-oriented development process. Study the market, set your target audience depending on your products (some of the businesses also provide cheese, and clarified butter apart from milk), and study them and your competitors- then strategize to get an edge over them. 

The structure of the app

After the research is done, it is important to understand what you are offering and connect it with the technological stack. Generally, it consists of three crucial components- An admin panel for the business owner, a driver app for the delivery driver, and the customer interface for the customers.     

Must-have features of the milk delivery app

This app is integrated with two more platforms- The admin panel or business dashboard and the driver application. The admin panel gives business owners full control and visibility of their business.  

Admin Panel-

Manage orders- All the orders are centralized in the admin panel that is accepted by the business manager, picked, packed, auto-despatched, and delivered to the customers. The system allows the user to modify, or cancel the subscription orders or on-demand orders. The system auto-generates the order summaries and the invoices. 

Manage the stock- Stock reports are auto-generated that give precise information about the quantity of the stock that is available, the total stock required to fulfill customer demand, and the extra quantity required to be procured. This information is used to avoid stock-outs or overstocking.

Payment management- The system helps in payment collection, recovery, and reconciliation. The system allows customers to pay with multiple payment options and also sends late payment reminders or due payment reminders that ensure timely payments.  

Route management- The routes are created by the business manager and the shortest delivery route is designed that is used by the delivery drivers to make the deliveries. The orders are auto-assigned to the drivers based on the route allotted to them. 

Driver Application

Order details- The drivers get all the essential details on the orders like the customer name and address, order detail, and the linked map in case the driver doesn’t know the directions. 

Add new customers– The drivers can create new customers and place an order for them in the run time. 

Manage empty milk bottles- The driver can enter the number of bottles collected, given, and left in the driver application which is auto-updated on the admin panel and customer app.

Obtain proof of delivery (POD)- Drivers can obtain proof of delivery either via OTP or picture. This avoids any kind of future customer disputes as they are auto-updated with the business owner on the admin panel. 

Manage cash collected- The drivers can enter the cash collected amount and obtain proof of payment via OTP or signature. These details are auto-updated with the admin panel.    

Customer interface

Manage orders– Customers can place, modify and cancel their orders from the customer interface. Order history, summarise, and invoices can be accessed on the customer application.

Payment management- The customers can pay their invoices using various invoices that are linked-based and the customers can pay online directly from the same. The payments can also be made via in-built wallets or cash on delivery.

Real-time tracking- The customers get real-time order status from the time when the order is accepted by the business owner till order fulfillment.  The app also provides the estimated time of arrival (ETA) with real-time tracking.   

Feedback- The customers can give feedback or suggestions from the customer application. 

Benefits of the Delivery App For the business

Improves the efficiency of the business

The software streamlines and optimize business operation that improves accuracy and speeds up them. The business can serve more customers in less time. 

Intelligent business insights

The software auto-generates business reports by analyzing past sales that are used to plan and strategize future sales. This allows businesses to grow and scale the business.

Increases financial efficiency

The software automates the entire business that removes the need for hiring an extra workforce. Using the app offers businesses an online presence that helps acquire new customers through Instagram or Facebook promotions which improves the net profit over some time.   

A business can either choose to build their in-house app like Country Delight or can choose a SaaS model to take the business online which means using software from a third party. Developing in-house software might seem to be a good option, however, in-house software is expensive and requires hiring IT experts for maintenance and fixing any bug. Whereas, SaaS is inexpensive and is maintained by the service provider. If you are interested in knowing more about the milk delivery app development, feel free to contact our tech experts, and see how we can help your business to grow.