Day in and day out, we find relying on technology serves us with a plethora of advantages in all aspects of our lives. The kind of ease and convenience we are used to with the rise of technological advancements in different fields, we can’t even imagine what our lives would be like without these technological marvels. Picture yourself running to brick-and-mortar stores every time you need something as basic as fruits or any grocery item, managing your finances with piles and piles of receipts and documents, and waiting hours in line for cabs or long queues for travel ticket booking during the distressed hours. Seems frightening and agitating.

Not to forget that the majority of us blame the pandemic as the reason behind the digital mood shift of consumers in all sectors, especially for grocery and food businesses. However, the undeniable fact is that online delivery in this domain already existed even before the pandemic. Earlier also people ordered ice cream, cookies or chips online

Covid-19 was just the accelerant that forced people to stick to this digital mode of ordering food, groceries, and other essentials online. This article will shed some light on the forthcoming trends that will dominate in this field. Certain facts may be specific to online food delivery business, and some may be applicable to the grocery delivery industry as well.

The revolution story of food delivery online:

Be it restaurant chains or the retail industry, staying available and connected with the needs of modern consumers is the key to staying in trend. Grocery apps have gone an extra mile from switching to the mode of same-hour delivery from same-day delivery, and the same goes for restaurants and fast food chains. How are they doing it, you wonder? They have induced an active operational model by constructing their fleets of drivers and by collaborating with the nearby stores. So, if you order a freshly baked sandwich or a dozen of banana, these stores have their in-house delivery service to cater to your last-minute cravings anytime and anywhere.

Let us unravel in the following pointers how some of the recent business trends in this domain are impacting the consumers while also amplifying the revenue of the food and grocery business. It is better to become an early adopter rather than the late struggler if you are hoping to venture into any of these sectors:

1. Ordering online and picking offline- Flexibility has multiple shades when it comes to providing preferable options to the customers, and it is more of a mix and match of plenty of options. How about some digital buyers who want to place orders online to avoid the hassle of rummaging through long aisles to find their required items but also want to stroll through the path in their leisure hours and collect their orders, lets say freshly made salads themselves from the store? 

The answer is yes, they can because this has been the trend for quite some time. People order groceries or food online and then pick it up from warehouses or pick up their takeaways respectively. And there is no sign of this mode of online ordering having ceased in recent years.

2. Have you heard about ghost kitchens & groceries?- Restaurants that follow the ghost kitchen model of business are focused on eliminating dine-in services. This means they only provide takeaways to people who order online through their websites or apps, and therefore, they serve more as fulfillment factories. In some cases, brands that utilize ghost kitchens may have a versatile model of providing dine-in services in a few selective locations, while online delivery in some far-flung communities. 

Similarly, ghost grocery stores operate in virtual mode and deal with providing delivery services specifically for online customers only. They are designed in a way that they are not open to walk-in customers. They are optimized for efficient packing, quicker delivery for an item as basic as a strawberry, and streamlined shopping experience and have proven to play a vital role in evolving the landscape of the online retail industry.

3. Tech-driven delivery options- restaurants and grocery stores are aggressively working towards the full-fledged implementation of technical delivery options that include drone and robot delivery and drop menus via parachute. Although there are logistical and regulatory challenges associated with these, and they are limited to specific markets only as of now, after a series of trials and error, they are expected to be the future of the delivery system of groceries, essentials, and food.

There are more feathers to the cap of delivery services offered by food businesses. To count some of them, we have options for cryptocurrency payment modes available on some of these platforms. Through the feature of personalized recommendations, the user’s choice and previous buying patterns are used to curate tailored recommendations. Therefore, we can assume that the future of the food delivery business seems promising, and it may not seem easy. However, such delivery businesses still have the scope and potential to foster strong relationships with their off-premises guests.