Types of on-demand delivery apps
The delivery market is booming. Take online food delivery ― the market’s largest segment ― as an example. According to Statista, the global food delivery market was worth over $1 trillion in 2023 and is anticipated to reach $1.65 trillion by 2027. Another great example is virtual healthcare. Markets and Markets states that the global virtual healthcare delivery market is expected to reach $76.9 billion by 2030 and grow at 32.1% CARG. As for couriers and local delivery services, the US industry generated $165.1 billion in revenue in 2023, as IBISWorld states.
Source: Stride Delivery
On-demand services are an integral part of modern life. Their benefit is obvious. They offer a win-win solution for providers and customers.
Having developed plenty of on-demand apps, Globaldev has fresh insights into their core advantages, use cases, and must-have features. Let’s take a closer look.
Major benefits of on-demand apps
On-demand delivery apps are of great benefit to their users because they’re:
Fast
An on-demand service provides consumers with a great opportunity to place orders in a flash. Searching, booking/scheduling, paying, and reviewing orders can be handled within one app. Simply tap a button and get what you need.
Cheap
Each on-demand delivery service has different prices and timing, so both business owners and customers can choose the service that fits their budget. From the customer’s perspective, on-demand apps offer hot deals and special promotions on a daily basis. Business owners can save money with these apps since they don’t have to invest in logistics, vehicles, and full-time couriers to deliver their products. On-demand services take care of it. The on-demand model is based mainly on independent contractors using their own means of transport. According to Bloomberg, this saves business owners a lot of money as there’s no need to pay payroll taxes, insurance, vacation time, sick days, and so on.
Convenient
The convenience of on-demand apps goes beyond delivery. Apps of this type are handy at every stage of service delivery , providing users with instant access to smart search, real-time tracking, suitable methods of payment, and convenient and quick delivery.
Transparent
Being transparent with customers contributes to establishing trust. To ensure transparency and build trust, on-demand delivery applications are fitted with feedback systems. Feedback systems also let providers discover gaps in their performance and fix them.
Types of on-demand delivery apps
Users of on-demand delivery apps
All on-demand delivery applications are intended for service providers and customers. For a service to work perfectly with these two user groups, on demand app developers often build separate applications for each of them.
In addition to providers and customers, gig economy workers make up a significant part of all on-demand app users. These workers are independent contractors (e.g. drivers, bicycle couriers) who work part-time and decide on their own work hours. Gig workers function as intermediaries between service providers and customers. The most common on-demand services they provide, according to the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, are courier services, transportation, and food delivery. Many gig economy workers work for companies with high-demand services, such as Uber (18% of those who have been engaged in the gig economy work), PeoplePerHour (12%), Deliveroo (12%), and Fiverr (10%).
The gig economy is becoming a mainstay. According to Statista, there were 31.9 million US occasional independent workers in 2021, up from 12.9 million in 2017. Though gig workers are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, the gig/sharing economy will continue to expand. According to World Bank, there are between 154 million and 435 million online gig economy workers globally, representing 4.4% to 12.5% of the global workforce.
On-demand economy business models
Based on what users are involved in providing the service, on-demand applications can be divided into three types:
Enterprise to Person (E2P) / Business to Consumer (B2C)
B2C apps facilitate transactions of goods or services between providers and customers. McDelivery, Booking.com, and Starbucks are examples of B2C apps. The Starbucks app is an online self-service application that lets users skip the line by ordering and paying in advance or having their favorite coffee delivered right to the doorstep.
Enterprise to Enterprise (E2E) / Business to Business (B2B)
B2B apps are mobile solutions that are created to connect businesses. These apps support transactions globally. Cargomatic, Eventio, and Catalant are good examples of B2B apps. Eventio, for example, is an on-demand app that helps businesses and individuals find venues for events at any level. The application provides its users with a list of available locations. Once a customer chooses a place, they can look for supplementary services such as security, catering, cleaning services, and DJs/bands. Invited guests or the general public can then purchase tickets via the app.
According to the nature of platform content, B2B apps can be divided into:
- Vertical ⇒ serving a single industry sector
- Horizontal ⇒ serving multiple industry sectors.
Person to Person (P2P) / Consumer to Consumer (C2C)
These apps enable platform users to exchange products or services. Customers can sell to or buy from other customers via a C2C app. In these apps, all users have the same rights and aren’t considered entrepreneurs. These kinds of applications are getting popular since they save money. Successful platforms that use this model include BlaBlaCar, eBay, and Etsy. BlaBlaCar, for instance, assists its users in finding co-travelers. Users can find or offer rides online by giving details on points of departure and arrival and travel dates. Once a ride seeker finds the perfect ride, they can book a seat and the driver gets their co-traveler’s contact information to arrange the details.
On-demand delivery use cases and examples
An on-demand delivery app is an excellent solution for local businesses. Despite the competition, an on-demand app is relevant for those who are starting a business as well as for those who are already on the market but don’t have an application. To better match market demand, you should consider the top industries involved in the on-demand economy.
Food
Having groceries or meals delivered anywhere and anytime is nothing new. The best food delivery apps include Uber Eats, Instacart, Grubhub, and Doordash. These meal delivery apps offer multiple benefits for both customers and restaurants. Restaurant owners get more orders and can manage them efficiently. Users, in turn, are provided with easy access to user-friendly menus.
The food industry is the major niche of the on-demand delivery market which offers many solutions including restaurant and grocery delivery app development, pizza delivery app development, and alcohol delivery app development services.
Source: instacart.com
Speaking of food apps, we also need to mention Postmates. It’s quite different from the other platforms we’ve just mentioned. Postmates provides an app where you can order anything and get door-to-door delivery ranging from furniture delivery to milk delivery.
Healthcare
Though on-demand consultations with doctors became a thing not so long ago, they have already attracted lots of interest from patients, doctors, and clinics. According to Statista, the telemedicine market was estimated at $45 million in 2019 and is expected to reach $174 billion and grow at 21.4% CAGR by 2026.
On-demand medical applications connect patients with doctors. Doctor on Demand is a great example of an on-demand mHealth app. The application enables users to connect to doctors one-on-one using their mobile devices wherever and whenever needed. Just like during an in-person doctor visit, during a mobile consultation a physician performs an examination and makes recommendations. And these services are available 24/7, which is convenient.
Source: doctorondemand.com
In addition to doctor on-demand apps, there are medicine delivery app development services that let users get medications delivered straight to the doorstep. Great examples are 1mg, PharmEasy, Myra, and NowRx.
Transportation & logistics
Today, on-demand logistics services are being vastly enhanced. These services are popular because they offer:
- On-demand transportation;
- Real-time tracking;
- In-app messaging between customers and suppliers;
- Quick payments;
- Transparent pricing.
A great example of a transportation app is Uber Freight, an app that helps customers transport their freights flawlessly. The other Uber package delivery service is UberDELIVER. It allows customers to deliver parcels anywhere anytime.
Source: uberfreight.com
Taxi services
On-demand cab service apps are of great help today, since they offer:
- GPS and map navigation to let users catch nearby taxis and save time;
- In-app communication between drivers and customers;
- Feedback systems so that both drivers and clients can share ratings and reviews.
Uber has been the major player in this sector. Yet there are a great number of companies providing Uber like services, including Lyft, Juno, and Flywheel Taxi.
Source: lyft.com
Home services
Driven by market demand, house cleaning and repair applications are now more popular than ever. This is a perfect solution for those who want cleaning help or any other assistance with a single click. Apps that have gained popularity in this niche include TaskRabbit, Handy, Merry Maids, Homejoy, and Slate.
Source: handy.com
Car rental services
If you urgently need a car but don’t have one, that’s no longer a problem. Thanks to car rental services such as Turo, Avis Car Rental, Zipcar, and easyCar, you can:
- Choose a car from a wide range of options;
- Reserve a car by the hour or day;
- Get roadside assistance 24/7;
- Request pick-up or drop-off.
Source: turo.com
Flowers and gifts
No time to buy a present? It happens. But the solution to this problem is simple. Applications like Uber flowers, UrbanStems, Gyft, and Giftagram offer a wide variety of gifts delivered to the recipient’s doorstep.
Today, flower delivery app development is one of the solutions to enter the on-demand market. These applications attract users because of their features which include:
- A wide range of products available;
- Scheduling for preferred delivery time slots;
- Doorstep service.
Source: giftagram.com
On-demand food delivery apps
Food has been the sector most disrupted by the on-demand economy. Each year, more and more startups are entering the market, trying to offer alternatives to Uber Eats.
To understand how food apps work, you should first know the different types. All on-demand food delivery applications fall into one of three categories:
- Aggregators. These apps act as mediators between restaurants and customers, providing users with easy access to menus, user-friendly interfaces, one-click payments, and real-time tracking.
- New delivery players. These apps provide logistics support for existing restaurants that don’t have their own delivery services. A new delivery app offers the same functionalities as an aggregator. The difference lies in the delivery process.
- Full-stack food delivery apps. Companies that offer these apps manage the entire process from cooking to logistics.
Must-have features for an on-demand delivery app
Since some delivery companies decide to create separate apps for each user — customers, couriers, and business owners — we’ll highlight the features of each app separately.
Customer app features
Admin app features
Courier app features
How much does a local delivery app development cost?
Are you ready to develop a local delivery app like Postmates? Or maybe you’re more interested in an Uber type delivery service and don’t know how much it will cost? Let us help you.
We recently built an on-demand platform called Hello Barber. This app helps hairdressers and barbers get in touch with customers. The application took us 2,350 hours in total:
- Backend development: 600 hours;
- iOS development: 500 hours;
- Android development: 550 hours;
- UI/UX design: 300 hours;
- Testing: 400 hours.
This app took more time than planned because of challenges we faced related to supporting four different time zones and automatic payments. Our team nevertheless found perfect solutions for these challenges, and Hello Barber is now fully functioning.
Your Living-room Trainer is another example of an on-demand platform we’ve developed. This app allows users to exercise with a coach whenever and wherever they like using live video chat. We spent 1100 hours creating it.
- Wireframes: 80 hours
- Requirements: 30 hours
- UI design: 140 hours
- Backend development: 400 hours
- Frontend development: 300 hours
- Testing: 200 hours
For the app to meet all the needs of providers and customers, we implemented these following tools:
- Twilio Video for video chats;
- Google ReCaptcha for security;
- Stripe Connect for payments;
- Google Analytics for measuring app performance.
Start developing your on-demand app today!
The variety of on-demand delivery apps allows you to provide a solution for any imaginable need. With an on-demand application, you can reach a wider audience and make your brand known.
If you’re interested in developing any kind of on-demand app, our team would be more than happy to help you make your idea a reality. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.