Food delivery software development is at its peak right now because of the increasing level of digital transition by restaurants. Another important thing that makes it hot is the rising on-demand food apps that have the potential to increase food sales. Entrepreneurs and developers are confused about what makes a perfect food app. Yes, transforming digitally alone is not enough, having better software is more vital.
Most of the restaurants and food app startups are launched by people who are not sound technically, hence their startups or restaurants fail to meet user expectations and global standards.
There is not a single parameter that can make an app successful and developers know this very well. Since we are in the development field especially in the on-demand domain, we are able to ascertain the factors that influence the building of a perfect app.
Factors that influence the making of a perfect app
Here I will briefly explain factors that are easy for laymen to understand. Next, let me pick one part i.e. database and write elaborately.
Mobile user experience
A user opens the mobile, clicks the food delivery app, orders the menu, pays the money, and comes out; this entire process must be seamless without any hindrance. Mobile users like comfort and the app must reflect the same. A simple and straightforward app is better than a sophisticated complex app.
Instant loading time
The specs of mobile matters a lot for app loading time but it is still possible to build the app in a way to fasten page loading with the usage of good quality code. A good database is also important since this is what holds all the data and a free flow of data ensures quick loading.
Design
Influencing the user in a positive way is possible by physically enabling the app to have a good look and feel. Version 2 gradients give a warm feel to the app and instill a sense of satisfaction to users.
Offline version
All the on-demand food apps need internet and GPS to work finely. But nowadays we have got apps that work even without GPS and this can be a gamechanger for food delivery apps. Tier 2/3 cities sometimes don’t have proper GPS and users here will receive well an app that works even without GPS.
This list is not exhaustive and I just tried to give an example of the important factors. Now we will go a bit more technical and find how to choose a database for your food delivery software.
Necessity for database in the app
In simple terms, when a user enters the app and registers with details like name and address, there needs a provision in the app to store the data containing name and address. Databases are the provision that collects and stores data every time in the app.
For something like an on-demand app, which functions solely using user data, a solid database is necessary. Present on-demand food delivery software has machine learning and data analytics technologies embedded in it; these technologies use user data to give output.
In the admin web app, finance and analytics tools give valuable insights to admin and they too use enormous data for everything.
In case if you are scaling the startup to new regions, then a larger and sophisticated database is required to handle new data.
Physical storage servers and cloud servers
Technological advances have disrupted databases and now we are left with two options. One is the physical server and another is cloud storage. Some of the leading providers of these two types are:
Google Firebase
Microsoft Azure web services
Amazon web services
Couchbase mobile
Physical storage as the name suggests, stores the data in servers and more the data means more is the size of the servers. This is the traditional type and is used by 80% of the tech firms. It is not necessary that you need to own physical servers for your food startup, instead, you can opt for third-party servers.
Cloud-based technology uses remote servers hosted on the internet to store data. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Startups are increasingly opting for cloud computing to reduce cost and easy accessibility.
These are just servers that host the database. A database should be flexible and reliable enough to be kept on these servers.
How to select the database for your food delivery app?
Database must be safe
Database handle data that are more personal to users and hence it must be very safe. A slight compromise can wreak havoc and tumble your startup. Make sure the authentication given to each data is flexible. End to end encryption of data from both the client and server end is a great move.
I want to mention that different approaches are needed for data in motion, data at rest and reading/writing access.
Data conflicts
The on-demand food app will be used by different users with different devices. Some devices will modify the data retrieved from the database before using it. This results in data conflicts that may affect the safety and quality of the data.
Such data conflicts are common and this must be addressed with a robust database system. The latest databases resolve data conflicts smoothly and work across users, devices, third-party integrations, and cloud systems.
For example, Couchbase mobile is said to be a robust solution that uses revision tree model for data conflicts.
High scalability
Scalability is the ability to not only hold large amounts of data but also to speed up data retrieval and processing. Choose a database that can rightly handle any amount of both input/output of your food app. Feature addition is another thing that you will do in the future to meet the demands; the database must handle this also with flexibility. NoSQL databases are said to offer great flexibility.
These three are the most important things to consider before choosing the database and the rest will follow smoothly.
Final say!
Safety, conflict, and flexibility must be the deciding factor for your app’s database. Brace yourself to go through the unnerving process of picking the database. Databases not only add value to your app but also comes handy in times of scaling, technology addiction, feature inclusion, etc.
I strongly recommend you to partner with an able development company to make the whole process easy.
The on-demand startup market is bright right now and the one who catches up with a great solution will make a fortune for sure.
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