We live in a digital era where waiting more than 10 minutes feels like an eternity. That’s why minute grocery services like Zepto and Blinkit have emerged, and now they are reshaping the urban shopping landscape. During the pandemic, these platforms helped people get their daily needs at their doorstep. After that, they became an integral part of everyone’s life.
The convenience of receiving fresh products, dairy, snacks, or essentials has made grocery delivery apps the future of urban commerce. The two popular apps in this category are Zepto and Blinkit. Their success has inspired other businesses to follow a similar model.
And now, businesses wonder how to build a delivery business. In this blog, we will break down the core steps of building grocery delivery apps like Zepto or Blinkit to help you establish a strong foothold in this industry. So, let’s jump right in:
Why Businesses Should Build Apps Like Zepto or Blinkit?
Zepto and Blinkit are one of the top mobile apps in this category, and they have established themselves among people with a continuous satisfying service. For some, Zepto is the best, while others say that Blinkit is the best fastest delivery app. Blinkit pioneered this model that hinges on micro-fulfillment centers or dark stores positioned within 2-3 km of delivery zones. This allows riders to complete 10 minute delivery. This concept has revolutionized the grocery shopping and delivery business. The success of apps like Blinkit and Zepto app proves there is a massive demand for ultra-fast deliveries, a wide range of SKUs, seamless UI/UX, and exclusive app deals.
Step-by-Step Process of Building 10 Minute Grocery App Like Zepto or Blinkit
After understanding the need for building 10 minute delivery app like Zepto/Blinkit, we will explore the essential steps of the app development. This process should be followed properly to build a seamless and future-ready mobile app. Here are the steps to build a grocery delivery mobile app:
Step 1: Market Research & Business Model Selection
You can start the process by researching the market of your target city, competition, customer expectations, and logistics feasibility. These are important pointers to define clear project goals. You can choose business models like:
- Inventory-led: Operate a micro-warehouse with full control over stock and delivery.
- Marketplace model: Onboard local stores and deliver from their stock.
- Hybrid model: A mix of dark stores and third-party vendor partnerships.
If you are planning to achieve success in this competitive Indian grocery space, then you need to understand local preferences and product categories to foster trust.
Step 2: Decide The Essential Features
The market research and business model selection can take a lot of weight away from your shoulders. After that, you can decide the essential features you need to include in your 10 minute delivery app like Zepto or Blinkit. These applications include a variety of features, and you can take a look at these apps to decide on basic features and add some unique ones. It’s important to identify the pain points of the target audience to come up with a new feature and give competition to these giants. Here are the basic features you can include:
Step 3: Find A Skilled Development Team
Once you decide the features to include in your app, you need to find a development team to turn your vision into reality. Research for mobile app development companies or mobile app developers online to build an advanced and feature-rich 10 minute delivery app. You can search online platforms to find the list of companies. Go through their portfolio, case study, and client testimonials to understand their expertise and choose the right partner to build your on-demand delivery app. Also, you can consider outsourcing development to reliable agencies. You can go for cross-platform app development to reach a wider audience.
Step 4: Focus on UI/UX Design
Create intuitive and engaging app interfaces for both customers and delivery personnel. You need to focus on simplicity and ease of navigation to improve user experience. You can consider taking inspiration from Zepto or Blinkit. These applications use simple product tiles, clear time labels, personalized product recommendations, and exclusive app deals banners.
Step 5: Logistics And Delivery Operations
This is the most challenging step to build a grocery business in this competitive market. There are key considerations to do this seamlessly:
- Build or rent small warehouses in key neighborhoods.
- Use AI/ML tools in your app to predict demand patterns and manage stock.
- Hire delivery agents through in-house or via gig-economy platforms.
- Ensure your delivery executive can deliver in 10 minutes max
Step 6: Choose A Monetization Strategy
Having a strong revenue model is necessary for businesses to achieve success and earn good ROI. Zepto, Blinkit, and others earn their money from:
- Delivery Charges: Based on order value or surge pricing.
- Product Markups: Especially on fast-selling items.
- Featured Listings: Local brands pay to get features in the grocery shopping delivery business apps.
- Subscription Plans: Monthly or yearly free-delivery memberships.
Step 7: Test, Launch, and Promote
After building the application, including logistics and monetization strategy, you need to test the application. Conduct thorough testing of the app across different devices and screen sizes to ensure that your app is bug-free and there are no usability issues. You can choose to build a basic version because MVP development is the smartest move, and they are easy to test. Another important step is gathering feedback from beta testers and early users to make necessary improvements.
This testing leads you to the most important step, which is launching. It’s important to launch your mobile app for both Android and iOS to reach a wider audience. After launching the application on app stores, you need to promote the application in full swing to establish a strong foothold in the industry.
How Much Does It Cost To Build a 10-Minute Delivery App Like Zepto or Blinkit?
The cost of building an on-demand delivery app like Zepto or Blinkit ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 or more, depending on several factors such as app complexity, features, UI/UX design, app platform, etc. A basic MVP can cost businesses around $5,000 to $10,000, but building a feature-rich app can reach $20,000 or more.
Conclusion
From 10 10-minute grocery delivery app to essential delivery, the grocery ecommerce game is heating up fast. Businesses should build something like the Zepto application to achieve success in this industry. We hope this process and cost estimation have helped you understand the necessary things about building a 10-minute grocery app like Zepto or Blinkit. However, you need to make some informed decisions while building a mobile app. Partnering with an on-demand mobile app development company can help you turn your vision into reality. Understood the process of building an app like Zepto or Blinkit? Boost your knowledge by exploring more insightful blogs at AppFirmsReview.
FAQs
Q1. What is a 10-minute grocery delivery app?
A 10-minute grocery delivery app is a service that provides delivery of groceries and household essentials to customers within 10 minutes of placing an order. These applications leverage quick commerce strategies to achieve rapid delivery times.
Q2. How much does it cost to build a 10-minute grocery delivery app?
The cost to develop a 10-minute grocery delivery app can range from $25,000 to $120,000 or more, depending on several factors such as features, platform, development team, complexity, etc.
Q3. What features should be included in a Zepto-like grocery app?
A Zepto-like grocery app should prioritize speed and convenience with important features like real-time order tracking, secure payment options, and efficient delivery management. We have mentioned the detailed information about features in our blog.
Q4. What is the Zepto sales in 2025?
As per industry reports by Inc42, the 10-minute delivery app Zepto achieved an annual gross order value (GOV) of $3 billion by January 2025, which is higher than they achieved in April 2024 ($1 billion).
Q5. How to become a partner with Zepto?
You can become a Zepto partner by registering your brand or becoming a delivery partner. For sellers, you need to register your business with Zepto through documents like GST registration and PAN, and list your products. For delivery partners, you can download the Zepto Delivery Partner app, upload required documents, and start delivering.