Grocery delivery businesses are continuously growing in popularity. As people work more hours, the convenience of a grocery delivery service is something many people take advantage of to reclaim their limited free time. While some people enjoy the process of grocery shopping, for many people, it’s just another chore that they have to get through. So while everyone needs to eat, not everyone wants to shop – which is where grocery delivery comes in handy.
What does a grocery delivery business entail?
As a grocery delivery business, you accept orders from people of the items they want to purchase and from what stores. Similar to online shopping, grocery delivery businesses allow people to shop from several stores as opposed to just one. Once you have completed the shopping and notified your customer of any changes or substitutions, you then drop it off to their home. You charge a delivery fee per the size or the order (which is often bigger for smaller orders) and then move on to the next customer.
Types of grocery store delivery business
If you’ve looked into local demand and have decided that starting a grocery delivery business is a smart way to earn a bit more money, you’ll have to learn how to get your business off the ground. There are a few ways to set up a grocery delivery business and they are not all created equal.
Here are some ideas:
- You can contract with a local store to deliver customers’ orders that have been placed online for an added fee. The grocery store bills the customer does the marketing, and you do the work.
- You can create an account with a grocery wholesaler and take orders from customers. You place their orders and sell the service at a profit.
- You can liaise directly with the customer. They provide you with their shopping list and you go to the store for them and deliver to their homes.
- You can sign up to deliver for an already established grocery delivery company.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on liaising directly with the customer.
First, you’ll need the consider the technological side of your business. People are still slow to catch on to ordering groceries online. If customers are placing orders directly with you, you’ll need a way for them to tell you what they want and a way to take credit card numbers. It’s important to be able to take the credit card numbers so that you can still recoup your profit if a customer tries to get out of paying you. You can place a hold on the card for the total amount of the grocery order and then adjust based on any substitutions you may have had to make. If you’re targeting a senior market, you’ll want to make sure your process is simple for them to use and understand.
Understand your competition
Grocery store delivery businesses are a popular way to make money these days. This means that you’ll have a competition. Before launching, make sure you take time to check out the local competition and figure out what you can offer that other services don’t. Are you able to hit farmer’s markets? Are you focusing on a niche market? Make sure your marketing strategy reflects what you can do for your customers that the established companies can’t.
Making deliveries
Going to the store and picking up stuff isn’t where you’re going to make your profit, but your delivery fee is. First, you may want to set a minimum amount per delivery order and work on a schedule. This is especially beneficial if you’re doing this as a second job to make extra cash. In your preliminary research try to gauge what other places are charging and try to undercut them.
