The document discusses the costs associated with building an online grocery delivery app like Zepto, targeting a rapidly growing market expected to reach $3396 billion by 2033. It outlines key factors influencing development costs, including features, complexity, development team choice, and technology stack, while comparing operator-based and company-based delivery models. The overall cost for basic features can start around $15,000, potentially rising to $50,000 for advanced functionalities, emphasizing the importance of understanding specific requirements and team locations in determining final costs.

1. How Much Does It
An App Like Zepto?
www.mobmaxime.com

2. With grocery delivery applications, you are venturing
into an industry where magnates like Amazon, Instacart,
and Walmart, among others, are already making great
strides. But that doesn’t mean there’s no scope for a
new player to enter the market.
The online grocery market size is expected to cross
$3396 billion by 2033 at a CAGR of 24.6%. Compare this
with the current market size of 2023, which stands at
$377 billion. This means there will be almost 100%
growth in the next decade in this industry. So, all you
have to do is build the best grocery delivery app, and
your brand’s name can also be up there with the top
companies.
One of the questions we often get from our clients is
the cost to build an app like Zepto. Zepto is an online
grocery delivery application that has made headlines in
India. In eight funding rounds, Zepto has raised over
$1.3 billion. So, with this said, let me take you through a
Zepto-like grocery delivery app development cost
guide.
The Functioning of an Online Grocery
Delivery Application
To build a grocery delivery application, we first need to
discuss how to execute the online orders. In other

3. words, you must decide how you wish to operate the
model.
Operator-Based Delivery Model
A third-party vendor builds the application for online
grocery delivery along with a technology platform to
administer and manage everything from a single place.
This vendor partners with local grocery stores and lists
all the items on the customer’s application.
This way the vendor doesn’t have to invest in inventory
and easily makes the existing local stores, dark stores,
and supermarkets their infrastructure. The
differentiation this vendor provides is the delivery
network. This means the vendor builds a fleet of
drivers, or they can even partner with existing courier
networks, but the former option is preferred.
Company-Based Model
The second popular model will have you invest in
building a supermarket or a dark store and operate your
own fleet of drivers or partner with an existing fleet.
The key requirement here is curating your own
inventory of products, like Amazon Fresh, Walmart, etc.
Here you will have control over the entire supply chain,
can set your prices, and optimize the network as you

4. deem fit. Even though this model allows for a greater
integration of additional services, you will need a
significantly large upfront investment.
Since our topic for today’s discussion is the cost of
building an app like Zepto, which is an operator-based
delivery service, we will focus on the first of the two
models.
Key Factors Influencing the Cost of Online
Grocery Delivery Application
The cost to build any application, not just a grocery
delivery app, depends on several factors, including;
Application features the development complexity:
You cannot ignore the core features like product
catalog, shopping cart, checkout, etc., no matter
how complex they are to develop. This means the
cost of the application can increase based on the
level of these features.
Smart features or advanced technology-enabled
functionalities can also increase the cost.
Integrating AI and ML-like technologies into the
application will certainly make it better, but it will
also increase the cost. So, if you are thinking about
adding personal recommendations, real-time

5. The platform you use for application development:
If you come to us for grocery delivery app
development services, one of the many questions
we will want to know is the platform on which you
wish to launch. Will it be for Android, iOS, or both
(cross-platform)?
Application Design and User Experience
Expectations: Here again complexity plays its role as
a complex design takes more work and time, hence
higher costs. In addition to design complexity,
unique branding requirements, and gamified design
elements also play a role here.
Your or the Developer’s Choice of Tech Stack: The
programming languages, frameworks, and additional
tools can also affect the development time and
cost. In addition to this, the complexity of the
interaction between the frontend and backend
infrastructure can also influence costs.
Team Size, Type, and Location: Costs can vary with
the type of team you choose for the development
project. There are two options here, one is that you
hire an in-house team, where you have to hire
designers, developers, and all other professionals to
work under your roof.
Then, you have the option of outsourcing the work

6. Development Time and Team’s Expertise: Generally
experienced developers will charge more for the
same amount of work as a junior developer. But the
cost you pay to a senior developer is to reduce the
development time and their expertise to help you
build the best possible application in one go.
Then there are ongoing costs which will include regular
updates, application monitoring, and security patches,
among others.
Cost Breakdown of an Online Grocery
Delivery Application
Taking the discussion forward from the previous
section, here I’ll talk about the aspects of the best
grocery delivery app and the costs associated with it.
Frontend Development
Frontend development begins with UI/UX designing,
where designers create intuitive interfaces that are not
only appealing but also functional and interactive. An
to an on-demand grocery app development
company like Mobmaxime. Let me make this clear
here that outsourcing is a better option in terms of
cost savings, experience, time savings, and industry
talent.

7. important reason behind Zepto’s success is its
implementation of strategic UI/UX design principles.
Senior Product Designer at Zepto has a passion for
creating intuitive and user-friendly designs. He has
been working on improving Zepto’s last-mile delivery
experience, which has proven instrumental in the app’s
success.
Zepto has focused on incorporating modern designs,
and from what I have observed, they have followed the
industry’s best practices with some innovative designs.
The application’s UI/UX design is a part of the frontend
development process;

8. Furthermore, front-end development costs and time
can vary according to the tools used. Some popular
design tools are Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. On the
other hand, there’s the choice between development
frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.JS, among
others.
It all comes down to your or the design and
development team’s choice of tools and how
comfortable they are in integrating other tools for the
work. Both of these aspects will vary in the time
required and cost.
Backend Development
Backend or server-side logic development of an online
delivery application is one of the most complex
aspects. This part handles the business logic and
defines how the application will perform when
processing orders, communicating with customers,
giving instructions to delivery partners, and so on.
The backend of a delivery application has to take into
account for three segments;
Customer Portal
Delivery agent portal
Local store portal

9. The customer portal is where customers place their
orders. For instance, Zepto customers have access to a
different portal where they find all the products
available with the local partner stores. They can place
orders, make payments, track their deliveries, and
interact with the customer care team.
Then there’s the delivery agent portal accessible by the
drivers who will pick up the order from the store and
deliver it to the right address. The delivery agents app is
geolocation enabled, which means the order delivery
request is sent to the person nearest to the pickup and
delivery address. The delivery agents will find
information like orders they have completed, earnings,
customer support, etc.
An important part of backend development is API
integration. APIs make it easier to add payment
gateways, delivery features, and much more. We can
customize the APIs even further to help improve the
app’s functionality.
For backend development as well, popular tools like
NodeJs, Python, Django, Flask, and Ruby on Rails can
also determine the cost and time of building the
application. For instance, working with Flask is relatively
cheaper, but it’s not recommended to use for highly
complex applications.

10. These nuanced details are considered by the best
grocery delivery app development company to build
the application.
Cross-Platform Development
Cross-platform app development takes a different
route, as you have to write the codebase only once.
This code is rendered for multiple platforms using
platform-specific compilers. Some of the most popular
frameworks we use for Zepto clone app development
services are React Native, Flutter, and Xamarin, among
others.
The codebase you write will include business logic, UI
components, and APIs for additional services. Even
though you have to write the code once and have the
same code logic across, there may be some platform-
specific components you need to work on. This includes
the platform’s native modules, including camera, GPS,
and push notifications.
This development model is faster and more cost-
efficient, no doubt about that. However, issues might
arise with UI components and user experience. In any
app, you will find that UI/UX elements are better in a
native application development system.
The second concern is performance. Cross-platform

11. applications cannot match the performance of native
applications. However, this does not mean that cross-
platform applications lag or have glitches. They can still
run seamlessly but with the right development
approach.
Looking at the cost comparison, you may wonder, “If I
am spending $100,000 on cross-platform
development, isn’t it better that I take the native road
ahead?”
Well, hear this. In cross-platform, you are only spending
up to $100,000 (it can be even more) on the entire
application. But with the native option, you are
spending the given amount on the front end and back
end separately.
How do Features Affect the Cost to Build an App
like Zepto?
Application features have a big impact on the cost. At
the end of it, every application we build is a mix of

12. different features and functionality. Apart from design,
everything we build in an app, like login sequence,
security system, payment gateways, etc., are all its
features.
The process we implement to add these features along
with the UX design elements that go with them can vary
the development costs. Moreover, the level of features,
like if you want your application to have some AI-based
smart features, the costs will certainly increase there as
well.
To help you understand it better, here are the standard
and advanced features you can add to an online
grocery delivery application.
An operator-based grocery delivery application has
three components and each of them is connected. Here
are the basic and advanced features for all three.
Customer Application
User Registration and Login: Allow your
customers to create an account and speed it up
with social sign-in. Further, let them add the
basic details like name, phone number, address,
etc.
Product Browsing and Search: Let the
customers browse products available to buy

13. through the application.
Smart Feature Addition: Use artificial
intelligence and machine learning to detect
buying behavior and patterns. This will let the
app provide personalized recommendations to
the customers.
Shopping Cart: Allows customers to add and
remove products from the cart and share
information like total cart value, discounts
available, delivery charges, etc.
Checkout Process: With multiple payment
options, the customers can make payments
through the application. They must also be
allowed to choose from different delivery
options according to customer preferences.
Track Orders: Integrate maps in the customer
application, which is connected to the delivery
agent’s portal. This will allow customers to track
the orders and also find the order ETA.
Push Notifications: The customers will receive
in-app push notifications and send real-time
updates on orders, delivery time, delays, etc.
This is to ensure that customers are always
informed.

14. Customer Support: Provide multiple channels
for your customers to make contact. Take note
of all customer issues and fix them so that other
customers don’t face the same.
Grocery Store Application
Partner Onboarding and Management: Allow
partners to easily create their profile and
integrate their platform with different available
integrations.
Inventory Management: Allow partners to
maintain their inventory by updating the
number of items and synchronizing the data
between administration and customer portal.
Predictive Inventory Management: AI can
predict demand levels according to the
collective order history of the area they are
operating from. Using this information, they can
update their inventory as required to prevent
understocking and overstocking.
Order Processing: Make it easier for partners to
process all orders efficiently to ensure it is
picked up and delivered on time.
Real-time Analytics: As an advanced feature, the
partners should get information on orders,

15. customer preferences, experience, driver
behavior, etc. This information is crucial for
partners to measure their efforts and make
changes to ensure their customers are always
happy.
POS Integration: Grocery partners must have
Point-of-Sale integration for seamless orders
and payment processing.
Dynamic Pricing: Dynamic pricing adjusts the
level of products according to the demand and
inventory levels.
Signup and Profile Creation: The delivery
company must allow delivery agents to sign up
and create their profiles while sharing verifiable
details.
Route Optimization: The application must use
GPS, traffic data, and geolocation to update the
route to ensure quick and hassle-free delivery.
Order Pickup and Delivery: Allow drivers to
select the orders they want to deliver
Surge Pricing: Depending on the demand of the
delivery agents, which in turn is influenced by
the number of orders per driver in an area, you
Delivery Partner Application

16. can implement surge pricing. This is when the
delivery price increases dynamically according
to demand.
Interact with Customer: The delivery driver’s
portal should have the customer’s contact
details but not their actual number. Following in
the footsteps of other similar services, the
drivers must call another number, through
which the call is routed to the customer’s
number.
Based on this information, the cost to integrate the
basic features of a grocery delivery application can be
up to $15,000. However, if you want to include the
above-listed and more advanced features, the costs
can rise to $50,000.
Well, there you have it, a detailed guide on the cost of
building an app like Zepto. Even though we know the
application type and features, the final cost can never
be shared without first understanding your
requirements.
Even if you want to build a Zepto clone, costs can vary
according to the type of team you choose, the team’s
location, and the amount of time you can wait for the
application.

17. This is because a team sitting in the USA will cost you
more than a team working from India, China, etc. At the
same time, if you choose to have an in-house team as
against the norm to outsource the work, the cost with
the former option will be higher.
To Sum It Up
Zepto is an online grocery delivery application that
partners with local stores but has established its
delivery network. Even with existing players in the
market, Zepto has achieved tremendous success
because they were able to tap into the potential of this
market.
If you also want to build an application like Zepto, come
to us. Mobmaxime is the best grocery delivery app
development company. Bringing our experience and
expertise to the table we will help you create a better
than Zepto online grocery delivery application.
We are available for a meeting right now. All you have to
do is get in touch.
www.mobmaxime.com