A grocery app is not just an online shop with food in it. Here is what it really takes to build one, based on our experience developing the Khyratna grocery platform and apps.
Online grocery shopping has become an everyday habit, and many independent grocers and specialist food retailers now want their own app instead of relying only on marketplaces. But a grocery app is not simply an online shop with food in it. Groceries bring their own challenges, and getting them right is what makes customers come back.
We learned this first-hand building Khyratna, a UK grocery and e-commerce platform with a website and iOS and Android apps, offering groceries, household essentials and Sudanese and African products. Here is what we found matters most.
The must-have features
Every grocery app needs a solid core before anything else:
- Fast search and clear categories. Customers know what they want. Good search, categories, subcategories and filters let them find it in seconds.
- A reliable cart. Grocery baskets are large and change often, so the cart must be quick and keep its contents between sessions.
- Simple sign-in. Phone number and OTP verification is easier for most customers than remembering a password.
- Smooth checkout and payments. Several payment options, including cards and digital wallets, reduce abandoned orders.
- Delivery and pickup options. Customers expect to choose between delivery and collection.
- Order tracking and notifications. Push notifications keep customers informed from order to doorstep.
What makes grocery different
The hardest part of Khyratna was not any single feature, but supporting both grocery and non-grocery shopping in one place. Groceries have different delivery needs, stock that changes daily, and products that may need special handling. General products such as electronics, jewellery or kitchenware behave like a normal online shop.
Our solution was separate grocery and regular checkout flows inside one app. Customers get one account and one experience, but each type of order follows rules that suit it.
If you sell a mix of fresh and non-fresh products, plan for separate order flows from the start. Adding them later means reworking the cart, checkout and delivery logic.
The admin side matters as much as the app
Customers only see the app, but the business runs on the admin system behind it. A grocery platform needs tools to manage thousands of products and categories, prices and stock, orders and their status, customers, delivery and pickup, and payments. If the admin side is slow or awkward, the whole operation suffers, however good the app looks.
Choosing the technology
For Khyratna we used React Native for the mobile apps, so one codebase serves both iOS and Android, with a Laravel and PHP backend, a MySQL database and AWS cloud hosting. This combination keeps development and maintenance costs sensible while performing well as the product range and customer base grow.
Launch is the beginning, not the end
Khyratna's app has kept improving since launch, with OTP verification, better product filtering, the separate grocery and regular checkout flows, payment gateway improvements, push notifications, and ongoing performance and stability work. The Android app has passed 1,000 downloads and the iOS app has positive customer reviews.
Plan for this from the start. A good first version that you improve based on real customer behaviour beats a huge first release that takes too long to reach the market.
Planning your own grocery app?
Whether you run a local grocery store, a specialist food business or an online-only shop, we can help you plan the right first version. Get in touch for advice and a clear quote, or see our app development services.