How to Build a Grocery Delivery App like Tesco

The online retail grocery delivery market has seen tremendous growth in recent years, with a shift in consumer demand for grocery delivery apps providing convenience, flexibility, variety, and getting groceries delivered to their doorstep. According to Statista, the grocery delivery market is projected to reach US$1.49 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of  9.74% in the forecast period 2025-30.  Moreover, the number of users in the grocery delivery market is expected to reach 2.3 billion by 2030. 

To cater to this high demand, many popular players like Tesco, Instacart, Asda, Shipt, Beelivery, and more offer grocery delivery mobile apps to users. Out of the above, Tesco stands out as the best grocery delivery app due to its features and functionalities, along with interactive user interfaces. To succeed as a leader in the grocery delivery industry, similar to Tesco, it is important to seize the opportunity and build an app catering to the demands of potential customers.

This blog will provide a roadmap to create a grocery delivery app like Tesco as well as enlighten entrepreneurs regarding essential features, revenue streams, and strategies that will help you become industry leaders.

What is Tesco?

Tesco is among the renowned grocery market players, allowing users to shop for various products, including fresh groceries, dairy products, meat & poultry, ready meals, chilled desserts, and more. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, this online grocery delivery platform is the third-largest retailer if measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest if measured by revenue in the world. With presence in seven countries across the globe, Tesco is a market leader in the grocery delivery industry.   

Statistics:

• Tesco is the leading grocery retailer in the UK with 27% of market share.
• In 2025, Tesco reached a total of 4365 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
• By the end of February 2025, Tesco earned a total revenue of £69,916 million.
• Grocery sales increase by 5.0% driven by a high demand for fresh products.
• On Tesco, about 67.3% of the total traffic comes from mobile devices.

How Does a Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco Work?

Tesco works primarily on a multi-vendor grocery marketplace model, positioning itself as the one-stop shop for its customers and retail partners, offering products and services catering to user needs. Users shop, pay, and avail rewards and clubcard points whenever needed. It provides mobile apps supporting both iOS and Android, making online supermarket shopping experience more quick and convenient. Tesco grocery delivery app follows the given workflow.  

• Customers register, create a new account and login on the app. 
• The buyer browses through all the categories and the product list and adds the required items in the cart.
• Next, they select a particular delivery schedule or click and collect slots for their order.
• Consumers then choose a preferred payment option, make payment, and complete placing the order.
• The order notification is then received by the seller, and they start working on the order.
• The seller packs the order, hands over the package to the delivery person, and updates the order status.
• The delivery person picks up the order, receives the customer’s location, delivers the order to the buyer, and updates the order status.
• Customers track the delivery progress via the real-time order tracking feature.

How Does Tesco Make Money?

Tesco generates revenue through various sources. It primarily earns revenue through direct sales on its grocery delivery app. Other channels adopted by Tesco for earning revenue include: 

• Delivery fees: Tesco charges a delivery fee from customers for providing grocery delivery at their doorstep.  The delivery fee varies depending on the location. 
• Advertising charges: Tesco enables other businesses to advertise their products and services on the Tesco online platform and app in return for a fee.
• Clubcard membership: This is Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty scheme. Members earn points after every purchase, which can be redeemed for discounts and vouchers. Tesco has over 19 million members, helping it generate billions of pounds in revenue.

Other than the revenue streams mentioned above, there are a few other revenue channels that you must incorporate into your retail grocery delivery app to earn maximum profits, which we will discuss later in the blog. 

Why Invest in a Grocery Delivery App like Tesco?

With the rise in demand for mobile apps, grocery delivery apps have become an inevitable part of any business to succeed in the grocery delivery industry. Like Tesco, entrepreneurs can also earn profits by building their own grocery delivery app. Launching a mobile app comes with its own benefits, providing a seamless user experience. Discussed below are some of the advantages of investing in a grocery delivery app like Tesco.  

• High Demand for Convenience: Consumers are more inclined towards mobile apps than websites, as they offer shopping convenience and flexibility. Launching a grocery delivery app helps entrepreneurs to cater to and match the buyers’ demands.
• Enhanced User & Shopping Experience: Investing in a retail grocery delivery mobile app allows entrepreneurs to offer a more intuitive and responsive interface, delivering high speed, user convenience, and providing seamless navigation.
• Improved Customer Acquisition: Building a grocery delivery app like Tesco allows entrepreneurs to attract customers by enabling personalized recommendations for groceries. Retail business owners can also offer rewards and discounts to retain the buyers.
• Operational Efficiency: By leveraging mobile apps, entrepreneurs can streamline many business processes, improving order and delivery accuracy, reducing the operational management time and cost, resulting in enhanced profitability.

Steps to Build a Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco

Following a directed roadmap is essential for entrepreneurs to avoid skipping any step integral to the development of a grocery delivery app. The list below provides steps to help entrepreneurs create a grocery delivery app, allowing them to enter the grocery delivery market easily.

1. Define Requirements & Conduct Market Research  

The first step before creating an app is to define the goals and objectives of the grocery delivery app. Aspiring entrepreneurs must analyze their business idea, vision, and goals, and the operating system that will be relevant for their grocery delivery app. It will help entrepreneurs move ahead in their app development journey. Additionally, conduct market research, which includes knowing the target audience and competitors. Get insights regarding buyer shopping behavior, demographics, and pain points. Conduct a thorough competitor analysis and understand their strategies and potential gaps that can be addressed. It will help businesses perform better in the industry.

2. Decide on The Key Features to Include

Business owners must decide on the relevant features to include in their grocery delivery app. Providing certain functionalities helps attract new users and increases the app’s user stability. Some of the essential features are as follows.

Essential Features For a Grocery Delivery App

Buyers

Features play a crucial role in providing satisfaction to buyers. The features mentioned below are a must for an enhanced shopping experience for buyers.   

• User registration
• Order scheduling
• Customized search & filters
• Multiple payment gateways
• Wallet management
• Real-time order tracking
• Ratings and reviews
• Push notifications & alerts
  
  

Vendors 

Vendors need to manage the grocery items and ensure they reach the buyers in time. The following are the essential features for vendors. 

• Vendor dashboard
• Managing refund requests
• Pickup management
• Delivery slot management
• Sales reports
• On-site promotions
• Inventory management
• Customer communication tools
  
  

Delivery Partners 

These features are essential to enhance the efficiency of delivery drivers and provide a satisfying user experience. 

• Approve/disapprove order delivery request
• Wallet management
• Route navigation
• Push notifications
• Click and call sellers and buyers
• Define delivery location
• Delivery confirmation & status update
• Vehicle tracking & scheduling
  
  

Admin 

Admin is responsible for managing all the operations of a grocery delivery platform. Therefore, it is important to have robust and advanced features to efficiently manage a grocery delivery platform. Following are the crucial features for an admin. 

• Robust admin dashboard
• User management
• Delivery management
• Reports and analytics
• Commission management
• Product catalog system
• Order cancellation and adjustment
• Subscription management

3. Choose a Business Model and Revenue Stream

Entrepreneurs must carefully select the business model as well as the revenue strategy for the scalability and profitability of their grocery delivery app. It also determines the overall workflow and profit generation opportunities. Some of the well-known & profitable business models and revenue streams are listed below.

Business Models:

Determining a business model is essential for entrepreneurs to determine the working of the grocery delivery app, logistics, flexibility, and scalability. Entrepreneurs must choose a business model that aligns with their long-term goals, target market, and budget. Following is a list of business models to choose from.  

• Multi-Vendor Business Model: It allows multiple vendors to list and sell their grocery products on a single platform while the admin manages orders and deliveries.

Popular Players: Peapod, ShopExpress

• Single-Vendor Business Model: A single brand or business owner handles and operates their retail grocery delivery app, providing full control over inventory and product sales.

Popular Players: My Home Grocers, Mitti

• Hyperlocal Business Model: Entrepreneurs can leverage this model to focus on regional areas, connecting consumers directly with local vendors to obtain fresh products.

Popular Players: Instacart

• Click & Collect Business Model: It can be deployed by entrepreneurs partnering with both offline and online grocery stores, offering customers an option to order online and collect the delivery in-store.

Popular Players: Kroger  

Revenue Streams:

Entrepreneurs must decide on a single or multiple revenue streams to determine how profits will be generated from their grocery delivery app. It ensures stability and consistency, driving overall growth of the grocery app business. Some of the revenue channels entrepreneurs can opt for are as follows.  

• Delivery Fees: Admin can charge a certain amount from buyers on every order delivered.
• Commission on Deliveries: Admins deduct a certain percentage from the delivery staff’s earnings for every order delivered.
• Commission on Sales: Enables the admin to deduct a percentage of the total amount of sales made by vendors on the app.
• Subscription Plans: Grocery app owners can enable subscription plans for vendors, charging monthly or annual fees for listing their products on the app.
• Advertising & Promotions: Admins can charge payment from other businesses for product or service advertisements through banner ads on the app.
• Sponsored Listing: Enable grocery sellers to reach out to customers efficiently by listing their store or products prominently on the platform. The admin can charge a fee for this service.

4. Select a Development Approach

Next is the development approach that an entrepreneur must select to move ahead and create a retail grocery delivery app like Tesco. There are mainly two options an entrepreneur can choose from, namely, custom development or a readymade grocery delivery app solution.   

• Custom Development: This approach allows entrepreneurs to build a retail grocery delivery app from scratch by hiring a team of expert developers and designers. The price increases with each additional integration, and it usually becomes expensive for retail businesses with a fixed budget. The approach does offer flexibility and customization, but takes up to 6 to 12 months or even a year to launch the app.
• Readymade Development: A readymade grocery delivery software provides a cost-effective alternative to retail businesses and entrepreneurs to build a grocery delivery app. It comes with pre-integrated features and functionalities needed to efficiently build and run an online grocery delivery platform. Additionally, it is scalable and highly customizable. With a ready-made grocery delivery software like Growcer, you can launch your marketplace in just 2-3 weeks. 

5. Launch and Market the App

Once every step is completed and the grocery delivery app is developed, it is time to launch the app in the grocery delivery market and promote it. Make use of effective marketing campaigns to attract users to your platform. Leverage SEO, social media, influencer collaborations, and paid advertisements to promote the grocery app to different users.  

How Growcer Can Help in Launching a Grocery Delivery App like Tesco?

Growcer is a versatile grocery delivery software that offers all the essential features and capabilities to successfully launch a retail grocery delivery app like Tesco. It comes pre-integrated with essential APIs, multiple payment options & gateways, marketing tools, and many other capabilities. Moreover, Growcer provides user-friendly mobile apps (Android and iOS) for both buyers and delivery staff. This software is available at a one-time cost with no recurring or extra charges. 

Why Growcer is the Best Choice For Retail Businesses & Entrepreneurs?

The following specifications make Growcer an exceptionally effective grocery delivery software, establishing itself as the industry leader.   

Specifications of Growcer:  

• Readymade Software
• 100% white label
• Scalable & customizable
• Self-Hosted Software
• Free 1-Year Technical Support
• No Recurring Charges
• One-Time Payment
• Lifetime Ownership
• Complete Source Code Ownership
• In-App Third-Party Integrations
• GDPR Compliant
• Secure Payment Gateways

Clients Who Successfully Built Grocery Delivery Apps With Growcer

Growcer has successfully set an example as the best grocery delivery software by helping entrepreneurs worldwide build grocery delivery app and enter this lucrative market. Growcer’s team of experts ensured that the software aligned with the end goals of the clients, and their grocery delivery apps stand out among the competitors.   

• GoBaqala: Powered by Growcer, GoBaqala is an innovative online grocery ordering and delivery app offering high-quality grocery items to its customers. The app includes features such as product catalog management, advanced reporting and statistics, real-time order tracking, user profile management, and more, ensuring a seamless shopping experience.  
• Dhalmart: Built using Growcer, Dhalmart provides its users the convenience of shopping for groceries through a handy device, catering to the various requirements of the users. The app offers features and functionalities such as integrated payment APIs, an intuitive user interface, inventory management, real-time order tracking, and more to provide seamless shopping and user experience.  

Conclusion

Starting an online grocery business by launching a delivery app similar to major players like Tesco offers entrepreneurs a powerful opportunity to reach a broad audience and deliver a seamless shopping experience. However, building a grocery delivery app requires careful planning, the right development strategy, and essential feature integration. Entrepreneurs can significantly reduce time-to-market and development complexity by choosing a 100% white-label, readymade grocery delivery software like Growcer. This solution enables quick and cost-effective app launches, with no need for technical expertise, making it ideal for those looking to establish a strong foothold in the competitive online grocery market.  

FAQs

Q1: Can entrepreneurs launch a grocery delivery app targeting specific regions or audiences with Growcer?

Ans: Yes, Growcer comes with in-built features including multi-language and multi-currency options, allowing entrepreneurs to establish their grocery delivery apps targeting specific regions, languages, people, and currencies.   

Q2: Does Growcer provide customization?

Ans: Yes, Growcer allows entrepreneurs to integrate specific branding elements, modify the user interface, and add certain features and functionalities through customizations to align the grocery delivery app with their needs and preferences.  

Q3: How long does it take to create a grocery delivery app?

Ans: The development of an app depends on its development approach and complexity. It can take 6 to 12 months or even a year to create a grocery delivery app from scratch through custom development, but with a readymade software like Growcer, it takes only 2-3 weeks to enter the market.  

Q4: How much does it cost to develop an app like Tesco using a grocery delivery app solution?

Ans: The cost to build a grocery delivery app like Tesco typically depends on various factors such as development approach, features, additional customizations, choice of operating system, and more. However, the approximate cost can range from $20,000 to $500,000 for custom development. On the other hand, a readymade software like Growcer is a cost-effective option that starts from $499 and is an ideal choice for entrepreneurs looking to launch a grocery delivery app within a limited budget.