A Complete Guide of On-demand Service App Development: Features, Use Cases & Estimated Cost

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By: Sagar Sharma

A Complete Guide of On-demand Service App Development: Features, Use Cases & Estimated Cost

The concept of on-demand services is adopted by many industries and it is still expanding its reach. In fact, due to the immense popularity, there is a rise of a new industry called “on-demand services”.

The global economy has been experiencing a remarkable boost due to the increasing usage of on-demand apps. It has started empowering the economy by surpassing a conventional business model of the organizations where customers need to approach companies to consume the services.

With the emergence of on-demand sector, the services reach to the consumers. Consumers have instant access to the services whatever they want and whenever they require.

On-demand service apps help customers to get their expected services on their doorstep just with a few clicks. The market of on-demand apps is expected to boom in the years to come and become a vital part of our daily life.

This post will give you a profound understanding of the on-demand industry along with important features popular apps of the domain and approximate app development cost.

Are you ready for the ride? Let’s get into it.

Get a proper understanding of what are the on-demand service apps

The basic idea of any on-demand apps is to enable the customers with the flexibility and convenience to get the services at their doorstep. Be rendering consumers with immediate products or services, it saves a lot of time for the customers.

On-demand service delivery becomes the hottest trend of these days and is constantly reshaping the habits of urban people. Users have stared proffering to get the product or services delivered at their demanded location rather than going out to consume it.

Many on-demand apps are available out there that serve different purposes including food delivery, transportation services, hiring plumbers, washing and laundry pick-up, and more.

Why you should consider an on-demand service app for your businesses?

With the rise of the digital era, marketing is getting competitive with each passing day. All the advanced technologies help companies to enable users with better and better customer experience. And, on-demand app development is just a baby step to enable the customers with comfort.

It is quite tough to please today’s demanding customers as they cannot be happy just by buying products or services. They expect to receive orders in no time. They always look for token elements such as quickest delivery, gratification, and best shopping experience.
On-demand service apps provide them the gratification by allowing them to ask for services through the app and get it to their preferred place.

How to build a successful on-demand service app?

Identify the service delivery gaps in the industry and build a solution around it to fill the gap. It helps you to connect with a large customer base by offering them reliable and quality services with no waiting time.

Before moving ahead to build an on-demand app, you should ask the below-listed questions to yourself. If you have answers to these questions, then you are ready for your app development. If you don’t have clarity about the answers, then first get the answers, then start building the app.

  • Does my app idea to solve the problem of users?
  • Does my app idea potential enough to convince the investor to invest in?
  • Which tasks will be simplified using my on-demand service app?
  • Which niche do I want to target?
  • Who are my competitors?
  • How will my app generate revenue?
  • Will my app stay relevant in the years to come?

On-demand mobile apps are actually 3 in 1 app

User app

It’s a consumer app that allows customers to address their respective needs. It consists of varied features such as

  • Search for products/services
  • Post product/service reviews
  • Check the pricing details
  • View the order history
  • Make payment through the cart
  • Map navigation to track the real-time location of the service delivery person
  • Post product recommendations
  • Track orders, and more

If you want to build a simple consumer-facing app with basic features, then approx development cost will be between $10,000 to $15,000

Service provider app

Through the service provider app, you can allow the service providers to manage their operations. The app allows service providers to

  • Create their profile by registering in the app
  • Add or remove the products
  • Manage prices
  • Track the active orders and order history
  • Have realtime chat with the customers
  • Map navigation to track the real-time location of the service delivery person, and more

The estimated cost for an on-demand app for service providers will cost you around $7000 to $9000.

Admin panel

This is an app for you where you can manage details of both customers and service providers. o enable the consumer and service providers with a seamless experience, you have to address all the abuse reports and queries instantly. It involves features like

  • Admin dashboard
  • Manage customers
  • Manage service providers
  • Manage pricing and commissions
  • Service tracking
  • Analytics and reporting and more

If you are interested to know the approx cost of the admin panel development, then it would be $7000 to $10,000.

* The cost of all apps is an approximate figure. The final pricing will vary as per your specific business requirements.

Must Have Features of On-demand Service App

Though there are several features for each user of the on-demand service app, there a few most important features. Without these features, we cannot think about an on-demand app. Let explore them.

User registration and profile

To use the app, the user has to register with the app and create his/her profile. They need to insert required details such as name, address, age, phone number, email address, etc.

Vendor profiles

Allow vendors to create their profile, where they can add the details that help customers in making buying decisions. Vendors can add the name of the business, list down products & services, images of the products, pictures of the location from where they operate, prices of the products, and more.

Filters

Integrate the feature of the Filter in the app to allow customers to find the products or services of their preferences.

Map integration

Customers want to get the order delivered at their preferred location fast. It is only possible when they ordered the food from the nearest areas. Map integration helps customers to find nearby service providers.

Moreover, using the map both customers and service providers can check the location of each other. It simplifies service delivery immensely.

Real-time location tracking

Customers can track the location of the delivery person in real-time through the app. It helps them to get clarity about how much time it will take to get the product delivered.

Cart & payment gateway integration

Cart integration is the best option as it allows customers to select multiple products without leaving the page. It enriched the customer experience and improve efficiency of the app as well.

To allow customers to buy the product, the payment feature has to be in the app. You can allow them to pay through a payment gateway or offer them multiple payment options such as credit card, debit card, net baking, mobile payment & wallet apps, and more.

Reviews & ratings

Before buying products and services, customers prefer to check the reviews and ratings of them. It gives them confidence about the quality of the product/service and value for money. Eventually, good ratings and positive reviews encourage customers to buy your services.

Push notifications

Customers love to receive notifications from their favorite brands. Keep the customer updated about the new product arrivals and the latest recommendations by sending them push notifications.

Through push notifications, you can inform the customers about the discount, offers, sale, promotion packages, and so on. Also, advanced push notification tools allow you to inform about the reordering or restocking products.

Top 3 Use Cases of On-demand Service Apps

1. Food delivery

Many times, it happens that we are too hungry but don’t have time to go out for lunch and dinner. The on-demand food delivery app connects customers with all the restaurants available at their nearest location as well as across the city or town.
The app allows customers to place the food order by sitting in their home or office premises. Customers can browse the menu of different restaurants, add food items in cart, make payment and place the order. They will get the food items delivered at their preferred location.

Postmates

Postmates

Postmates is the best example of an on-demand food delivery app. It allows customers to place orders not only in restaurants but also to small food outlets. It delivers food to the customers at highly affordable rates.

2. Cab Booking

Using an on-demand transportation app, customers can travel one place to another. The app allows users to book the ride at any time, see the details of the car and driver, view the payment details, give reviews and ratings to the driver, and more.
It delivers seamless experiences to the users by enabling them with essential features such as in-app messaging, real-time tracking, quick payment features, and transparent pricing.

Uber

Uber

Uber allows customers to have the cheapest ride with the best services. It helps users to find rides from the nearest locations, book the ride, and the driver will approach the user. The app allows users to make payments using the app only.

3. Grocery Delivery

As people don’t have time to go for grocery shopping due to their busy schedules, the need for on-demand grocery delivery apps emerged. You will be free from visiting the supermarket again and again.

Now, the supermarket will come to you and deliver the grocery items at your doorstep through an on-demand grocery delivery app.

The app allows users to browse the grocery items, select the quantity, and place the order. Different types of grocery delivery apps are available in the market such as independent stores, aggregators apps, in-store grocery apps, e-commerce apps, and grocery chain apps.

Instacart

Instacart

Instacart allows users to shop the groceries online and get the order items on their doorstep from the grocery store as fast as 1 hour. Users can also choose the option to pick the items from the grocery shop.

How much does it cost to develop a successful on-demand mobile app? (hourly rates & features)

Hourly rates for on-demand mobile app development in the USA

Hourly rates for on-demand mobile app

Must-have features of an on-demand mobile app (with approx. cost)

features of an on-demand mobile app

Verdict

Well, are you ready to rock by developing a robust and feature-rich on-demand service app for your business?

If you are looking for a reliable and experienced mobile app development service provider, then Credencys can help you in developing a flawless on-demand service app for your business. We have proven experience in developing on-demand apps for different domains such as transportation & logistic, cab booking, and more.

Let’s connect to explore your on-demand app idea in more detail and to unleash our skills and exposure in the on-demand service domain.

Frequently asked questions about on-demand mobile app

What are the popular on-demand app ideas?

On-demand mobile apps are available for different domains such as food delivery, transportation & logistics, beauty services, cab booking, healthcare, home services, courier services, etc.

What are the important factors that impact the cost of an on-demand service app?

If you have a tight budget to spend on-demand service app development, then you need to make strategic decisions about the various essential aspects that impact the cost.

A few most important are choosing the platform(s) (iOS or Android or both), selecting the development approach from native or cross-platform, opting for the highly skilled resources, picking an appropriate engagement model, etc.

What is the process to develop an on-demand service app?

The process of on-demand app development consists of different places such as consultation, prototype, design, developing, testing, deployment, and launch.

How much time it will take to develop an on-demand service app?

The on-demand app development time depends on the features and functionality you want to integrate into the app. More features with technical complexity take time to be developed. Also, the level of customization and integration affect the development and deployment that eventually increase the time of app launch.


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