Grocery delivery is harder than restaurant food ordering. Catalogs are large, inventory changes by the minute, items need substitution workflows, cold chain matters and delivery windows are slot-based — not "30 minutes or free." This guide lists the features Kode Builder scopes when building grocery and supermarket delivery platforms, organized by user role and MVP priority.
Customer App and Web Storefront
- Store selection: Choose location/zip; show serviceability and available slots
- Catalog browse: Categories, search with synonyms, filters (organic, brand, dietary), unit pricing (per lb vs each)
- Cart and substitutions: Allow/prefer/do-not-substitute per line; notes for ripe bananas vs green
- Delivery slots: Same-day and scheduled windows with capacity limits
- Payments: Cards, wallets, SNAP/EBT where applicable; tips and promo codes
- Order tracking: Picked → out for delivery → delivered with live map optional
- Reorder and lists: Favorites, weekly lists, past order repeat
Picker and In-Store Operations
- Pick list app: Route-optimized aisle sequence, barcode scan confirm, weight capture for variable items
- Substitution workflow: Suggest alternates from approved mapping; customer push notification for approval
- Out-of-stock handling: Partial fulfill, refund line, substitute or cancel item
- Batch picking: Multiple orders grouped by zone for efficiency
- Quality checks: Expiry date validation, temperature-sensitive item flags
Delivery and Last Mile
- Driver app: Route stops, proof of delivery photo, contactless drop-off notes
- Slot adherence: Alerts when pick or dispatch delays threaten window
- Multi-temperature bags: Separate frozen, chilled and ambient handling flags
- Returns and issues: Report damaged items; tie back to refund workflow
Last-mile patterns overlap with our driver tracking guide — grocery adds time-window SLAs and heavier batch sizes.
Inventory, Pricing and POS Integration
Online availability must reflect store systems — nightly batch sync is often too slow for high-turnover SKUs. Options include real-time API from POS/ERP, frequent delta sync or conservative safety stock buffers per category.
- Price sync by store (promotions, member pricing)
- SKU mapping between ecommerce catalog and store PLU codes
- Alcohol/tobacco age verification at checkout and delivery
Admin, Marketing and Support
- Store and zone management, delivery fee rules, minimum order values
- Promotions: BOGO, category discounts, first-order coupons
- Customer support console: order lookup, partial refunds, redelivery
- Reporting: fill rate, substitution rate, slot utilization, delivery on-time
Architecture Notes
Typical stack: customer web/app (React Native or Flutter), picker and driver apps, API on Node/Go, PostgreSQL, Redis for cart and slot locks, search (OpenSearch/Algolia), AWS ECS or Lambda + RDS, S3 for images, SNS/SQS for notifications. Slot capacity needs atomic reservation at checkout to prevent oversbooking.
MVP vs Phase Two
MVP: Single store, web + basic picker app, fixed delivery slots, card payments, manual substitution approval, simple admin.
Phase two: Multi-store, loyalty, EBT, advanced promos, route optimization, ERP integration, customer native apps.
Compare with restaurant ordering in our food ordering portals guide — different fulfillment model, shared payment and notification patterns.