How To Build An App Like Tesco: A Comprehensive Guide

The technological advancement that we have now has transformed grocery shopping through the creation of delivery applications like Tesco. These applications have browsing options, doorstep delivery, customer satisfaction, and ease like never before. If you're a businessman or an entrepreneur looking to build a grocery delivery app like Tesco, you must meticulously understand its key components and development process. This guide explains everything that goes into creating an app like Tesco, including features, technology, costs, and development timelines. Whether you streamline operations, improve customer loyalty, or take advantage of the rapidly expanding online grocery market, this blog will provide the needed strategies and insights. We'll dive into the features a grocery app should offer to surpass established industry leaders in experience, scalability, and ease of use. So, let's get this blog started.

What Is Tesco?

This retail business was founded in 1919 when John Edward Tesco was on holiday in Chelmsford and has expanded globally. Its main office is in Welwyn Garden City, England. Tesco provides global services, meeting customers across the food, electronics, clothing, pharmaceuticals, hardware, and financial sectors. Currently, Tesco has both physical stores and online stores that serve millions of customers weekly, maintaining their focus on providing value and customer service.

What Is The Market State Of Grocery Delivery Apps?

• Allied Market Research claims the Online Grocery market stood at 285.70 billion in 2021 and projected a staggering 2,158.53 billion figure by the year 2030, which gives it a CAGR of 25.3% 

• Statista states that mobile apps account for over 72% of all sales generated from online grocery shopping, indicating the dominance of mobile commerce.

• eMarketer estimates that by 2024 online grocery sales in the U.S. will reach USD 187.7 billion marking a significant surge from USD 95.8 billion in 2020.

• According to NielsenIQ, the demand for same-day delivery has surged by 36% year over year, driven by preferences for speed and convenience.

• Roughly two-thirds of respondents in a PwC survey reported using apps for grocery shopping because of ease of access, scheduling, personalized deals, and customization.

• Post 2020, other top grocery delivery apps like Instacart, Tesco, and Walmart Grocery have reported annual user growth exceeding 30%.

• The proportion of UK and French shoppers purchasing groceries online surged from 5% in 2019 and are predicted to steadily grow to 15% in 2024 across Europe.

Alternatives to Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco

If you want to build an app like dunzo and tesco you must know what are its alternatives. Here is the list of tesco app alternatives you must know. 

Instacart

It enables users to connect with personal shoppers who handpick and deliver groceries from nearby stores in hours. Benefits include flexible delivery windows, order monitoring, and membership perks such as complimentary delivery and additional savings.

Walmart Grocery

The Walmart app includes cost-effective grocery pickup and delivery options, hands-free ordering, favorite reordering, and other functionalities. Like all of Walmart's services, the app is seamlessly integrated into their retail ecosystem.

Amazon Fresh

Users can also get swift grocery deliveries from Whole Foods and local stores with Back from Amazon, offering two-hour windows for Prime members. Orders are executed efficiently using modern logistics, baking advanced algorithms personally tailored to each shopper.

Shipt

With Shipt, a leading app like zepto, Target's subsidiary, shoppers can communicate in real-time with shoppers for real-time chat, allowing direct dialogue with users to set different times for delivery, a pay model focused on exclusive deals for groceries and other essentials.

Ocado

The supermarket is a fully self-service digital store with no physical set-up located in the UK. It offers in-store AI and automated warehouses with real-time fresh grocery restocks for customers. Users can enjoy a wide range of products as well as intuitive scheduling through the grocery delivery app like Tesco.  

BigBasket

Located in India, this remote supermarket offers quick express options alongside scheduled delivery services and extensive catalogs. Regional supply chains are seamlessly integrated into a highly reliable and convenient digital interface.  

Why Invest in a Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco?

Investing in a grocery delivery app like Tesco represents a tactical opportunity in the current economy, which prioritizes digital platforms and convenience. Here are five reasons that stand out with Tesco app alternatives.

Surging Demand for Online Grocery Shopping

The pandemic has accelerated change in consumer purchasing habits, now leaning heavily towards online shopping. There is a rising demand for apps like instacart that can cater to these needs, as people prefer shopping remotely. grocery delivery apps like tesco s are invaluable pieces of technology that make shopping convenient which is why this market is expected to experience rapid growth.

Recurring Revenue and Customer Loyalty

Grocery purchasing is an essential activity and a basic need, providing great opportunities for emerging regular revenue. A well-designed mobile grocery store delivery app in the form of grocery buying encourages repeat purchases through services such as personalized deals, offered subscriptions, and loyalty programs. Such frameworks optimize customer retention, making these businesses reliable and successful in sustaining income.  

Data-Driven Decision Making

With the floods of data that grocery store delivery app collect, such as, customer preferences, delivery routines, changing schedules, and buying trends, these apps can use the information to improve stock, refine advertisement techniques, and enhance tailored marketing campaigns, all of which would lead to improved sales for the app while retaining customers satisfaction.  

Operational Efficiency and Cost Savings

Businesses spend too much time and money to complete simple tasks and Advanced order automation, optimized routing, and instant stock level updates managed through Automated systems reduce the workload and costs. Technology streamlines many business processes while also improving delivery accuracy and minimizing waste, resulting in a more efficient and profitable overall business model.  

Brand Expansion and Market Reach

A retailer’s grocery delivery apps also serve as a physical store. With the addition of many local merchants, the tesco app alternatives can cater to a larger market including remote regions where residents also reside making use of the new available peripheries. This makes it more robust and appealing to many residents and improves brand visibility.  

Read more: E-commerce App Development Cost: A Comprehensive Guide

Advanced Features Of  Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco

Let's look at these incredible features of the Tesco app development, which will make it more successful in 2025. 

AI-Powered Product Recommendations

It can also use machine learning to enhance the experience by tailoring offerings by identifying products based on the customer's behaviors and previous orders. Seasonal suggestions can also aid in further enhancing personalization and increasing merit retention while ensuring upselling.

Smart Cart Management

Reminded users of forgotten essentials and bundle deals are provided, including shopping list synchronization across devices for a more refined experience. Each shopping experience is optimized for every customer.

Real-Time Delivery Tracking

Through the integration of LIVE GPS and Detailed Information, users are empowered with real-time transparency and control over their groceries, which is marked by tracking and estimating time delivery systems.

Voice Search & Ordering

Operational through voice options, Google Assistant and Alexa, shopping for groceries can now be done through speech making hands free convenience seamless with tesco app development. 

Subscription & Auto-Replenishment

Allows users to shop seamlessly by subscribing for scattered auto-refill deliveries based on leven usage history. Shopping for essential goods has never been easier.

In-App Barcode Scanner

Permits quick add-ons to the shopping cart by scanning product bar codes, comparing prices and reorder goods that are frequently bought with a single tap.

Dynamic Pricing & Discounts

Fueling -engagement patterns along with the demand by users through time-sensitive discounts, unique offers, and flash-sale AI-incentivized pricing offers add value. 

Augmented Reality Product View

By improving online inspection previews of products before purchases, AR capabilities enhance buyer confidence allowing customers to see a 3D preview of new items like fresh produce.

Multi-Warehouse Inventory Sync

Enable optimal pathways for delivery fulfillment during fast order processing while integrating real-time inventory checks from multiple stores or fulfillment data centers, which is needed to enable order reliability checks and efficient speed.

Contactless Delivery Options

Offers safe and convenient user experiences through a no-contact drop-off service with photo verification and delivery time options during health-sensitive periods.  

Loyalty Program Integration

Encourages brand loyalty and long-term engagement by connecting with reward systems for point tracking, discount redemption, and tailored reward issuance.

Advanced Analytics Dashboard

Users and admins are provided with powerful shopping and operational decision-making tools by granting them access to order history, spending, and delivery trends.

Cost to Develop a Grocery Delivery App Like Tesco

The cost to develop a grocery delivery app like tesco requires a considerable investment based on the quality and location of your Android app development services providers. The average cost to develop a grocery delivery app like tesco for a mid to high range app like Tesco is between $15,000 to $40,000, covering frontend and backend development, UI/UX design, testing, and post-launch support.

In this case, whether it’s an MVP or a full-featured solution will completely change the cost to develop a grocery delivery app like tesco. An MVP version that has fewer features will likely be closer to $15,000-$49,000. A fully-scalable enterprise-level app with advanced functionalities could go up to $49,000+.

Working with a grocery delivery app development company may diminish cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco and  will provide better scalability, security, and performance, which enhances overall cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco. These agencies will also highlight the importance of budgeting for ongoing maintenance and upgrades, which are crucial for long-term success.

Read more: How To Hire Dedicated Ecommerce Developers In 2025?

Factors That Affect The Grocery Delivery App Development Cost

The grocery delivery app develops cost-based challenges that need consideration as the goals and functions are planned. Each variable has the power to shift the budget by a great deal. A few of the significant variables are:

App Features and Functionality

As the level of sophistication in algorithms and AI integration increases with features like voice search, real time tracking, or tailor made recommendations, costs surge. Moreover, basic and simple applications require far less scrutiny and result in lower cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco. 

Platform Choice (iOS, Android, or Both)

Developing a grocery shopping app on both iOS and Android platforms or cross-platform tools increases costs greatly as the pre-existing frameworks increase the codebase. Furthermore, building on a single platform significantly reduces cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco.

UI/UX Design Complexity

Aesthetics in design influence the overall spending of the graphic user interfaces as much as the efficiency of an application. Spending on customization of animations and layout increases forms part of the overall cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco.

Backend Infrastructure

The core of structural spending includes primary frameworks of the elements put together, identifying users, managing tasks given to them like ordering or using an item, and maintaining up-to-date inventory records. Keeping up with demand, syncing with multiple warehouses, and running concurrently all increase cost to build a grocery delivery app like tesco.

Third-Party Integrations

Various services make use of payment gateways like mapping, chatting, calling, and chat-analytics that one would pay to configure. In addition, leasing payment APIs further add to these costs to build a grocery delivery app like tesco.

Admin Panel and Analytics

Complex order, user, and content management requires an integrated admin dashboard. Advanced analytics and reporting functionalities lengthen the development timeframe and increase spending.

Security Features

Protecting sensitive data and transactions requires multiple layers of security, including encryption, compliance with GDPR, and secure payment gateways, which increases the development and testing effort.

Team Location and Expertise

On-demand app development company fees differ across various regions. North America and Western Europe have higher rates than Asia and Eastern Europe. To ensure quality, consider hiring an established team, but be prepared to incur additional expenses.

Maintenance and Updates

Additional costs that should be planned for include post-launch support, ongoing bug fixes, feature updates, and server maintenance.

Timeframe and Urgency

The greater the expenditure, the quicker tasks will be accomplished. Spending more on resources or overtime will inflate the overall spending. When a timeline is less rigid, costs can decrease while quality increases.

Examining these influences on cost allows you to proactively control spending, regardless of whether you're launching a simple MVP or building a full-fledged app like Tesco. Hire mobile app developers for better estimation of cost with custom requirements. 

Conclusion

Now that you know how to build an app like Tesco, you must understand that it is not an easy thing to do at a very early stage. To build the app, you need a leading mobile app development company like IMG Global Infotech, which has years of experience in this industry. So, are you ready to build an app like Tesco in 2025? If yes, you must not wait and start your process by connecting with our team in a few clicks with your custom requirements. Here at IMG Global Infotech, we develop bespoke innovative solutions that are scalable to suit any stage of your business, irrespective of whether you are just starting or looking to build further on your existing app. Our expert team will assist you at each stage of the development process to ensure you succeed in the competitive grocery delivery market.