Starting a Grocery Delivery Business – Sample Business Plan Template

Step 1. Scout the Market

The first step to starting a grocery delivery business is to survey or study the market. The groceries you intend to sell should fill a need. If you live in a rural area, then the profitability of starting the grocery delivery business would be low.

High density commercial areas should be your first port of call for delivering groceries. Office blocks and plaza are some of the places where you can scout for clients who have the money to pay for your service.

Step 2. Buy the Necessary Equipment

How do you intend to go about delivering the groceries? You should either have a delivery van, car or motorcycle so that you don’t increase your costs using a cab. Are you going to make provisions for a refrigerated van to transport meat, fish and poultry products or will you use dry ice for preservation?

A personal mode of transportation is also important especially when you have busy clients who do not understand the inconsistencies of public transportation. Remember, grocery delivery is time-themed. Every second counts and speed is the key.

Step 3. Decide your Business Modules

You can either enter into an agreement with the local grocery stores around you, who would market the service to their customers and bill them, paying you an agreed amount for your delivery services. Or, you could buy produce from a wholesale grocery and resell the groceries to your clients. Another business module is for you to offer to pick up groceries from their preferred stores and deliver to them at home for a fee.

Step 4. Choose your Product Categories

There are different categories of groceries:

Fresh Produce: fresh fruits and vegetable.
Meat: beef, fish, seafood, turkey, chicken and other meat products.
Dairy: eggs, milk and milk products.
Frozen Foods: microwavable foods, meat, ice-cream.
Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta
Miscellaneous Goods: herbs, salt, sugar and cooking spices.
Health and Beauty: this group includes bathing soaps, cosmetics, hair and body products, toothpaste and toothbrushes, just to name a few.
Household: this group contains the non –edible types of groceries; this includes washing soaps and detergents, cleaning products and other household goods.

What kind of groceries do you intend to deliver? Do you have a grocery store or an establishment where you can purchase the groceries at a discounted price? Are you going to be affiliated with a particular supermarket or store which doesn’t offer grocery delivery to their clientele or do you just take orders from clients and deliver to them?

Are you going to deliver dry groceries or fresh foods? Are you going to deliver strictly organic foods? How do you plan on preserving meat, fish and poultry products so that they do not start to spoil before you deliver them to you clientele?

Step 5. Estimate your Business Cost and Revenue

No business succeeds without balancing costs and revenue. How do you plan to price your grocery delivery fees?

Costs include:

Labor cost
Equipment
Marketing and Advertising
Operational cost
Vehicle maintenance cost/transportation costs

Revenue Estimates

How can you develop a strategy where you can keep operational costs down and still let you operate at a profit? You must do your research about companies that offer the same service in the area you want to operate in. Your estimates should also include costs spent on transportation and grocery delivery.

Step 6. Plan your Marketing and Advertising Strategy

You must formulate a marketing plan which includes your grocery delivery promotion. Since this business is service based, then merchandizing is important. How do you intend to package the groceries you are delivering? Most clients have their preferred stores where they shop.How do you intend on liaising with these stores to ease your marketing schedule?

Letting people know about your grocery delivery can be as simple as telling a friend who tells a friend. Or, it can be a more sophisticated application of the same concept. Publicity also can involve advertising through channels such as paid newspaper ads and radio or TV announcements.

For the new business owner, there is no better way of advertising and marketing your business than building a website and opening a Facebook page. These are cheap and easy ways or reaching your potential clientele because they allow you to show give proper information about your services and your prices to your clients.

The clients can use the order cart to send their shopping list to you and reach you if they have further questions. They get to see what you have on offer and what your business is about. You can build your reputation through a properly managed website.

Step 7. Come Up With A Kick-Ass Grocery Delivery Business Plan

A business plan is a written outline of the business that evaluates all aspects of the business venture and analyses the business prospects. A business plan would give direction to your business and facilitate the achievement of your business goals.

Getting Started with your Grocery Delivery Business Plan

Firstly, outline your business concept. Outline the specifics of the business. Why you want to do the business, where you want to start, how you want to start, and when you want to start? Once you can answer these questions, you can now draft your business plan.

Step 8: In Conclusion, starting a grocery delivery business is a profitable venture that provides a service where many people would be willing to pay extra because it saves them time. That is the most important service you would be delivering to your clients.

Remember to build a good reputation with your customers; as it would go a long way to establish your business and create expansion opportunities.