Delivery apps are at the forefront of the transformation of our shopping experience. I recently had an experience of playing around with the MrD app. I started by ordering food from my favourite coffee shop and within minutes my lunch was delivered.
A few days later I realised that within the MrD, I could also order groceries from Pick n Pay retail store. What surprised me is the fact that I could browse for most of the goods I would ordinarily buy at a physical store. The app even gave me an option to order an alternative if my first choice was not available. All of this just enhanced my online shopping experience. It also made me realise that delivery apps are truly transforming our shopping experiences. In the early days, the process of buying stuff online was only reserved for just some items. Now we can do more. Not only are we able to buy takeaway food but entire groceries. The shopping experience on delivery apps has improved dramatically.
The MrD app on my phone even enabled notifications and tracking ability. I believe this improved user experience will contribute towards the adoption of these delivery apps and therefore change the shopping experience even further.
Some of us who are unable to visit shopping centres are no longer limited by the inability to shop from physical stores. The user experience on MrD and similar apps could just influence how we will shop in the future. We are likely to have some areas with fewer shopping centres and more online shopping platforms. This will be enabled by the joy experienced by consumers whenever they shop online.
From a tech point of view, it’s important to note that the MrD app has now become a platform. It has moved away from being just an environment through which one could buy food. As an environment through which you can buy Pick n Pay groceries it has become a platform upon which others can conduct business online. MrD app is probably laying a foundation for a future where we will do our online purchases from a single app while accessing various service providers. We are already buying food from different outlets via the app. The recent move could mean that we are likely to see other grocery outlets using a platform like MrD to serve their customers with ease. This partly means that there’s no need for a grocery store outlet to build its own app. They can simply use the MrD platform and focus on getting groceries ready for distribution.
My experience with the delivery app was an eye-opener. It gave me a sense of current developments and what our shopping experience could look like in the future. I can’t wait for a future where we will see fewer shopping centres and just have consumer experience spaces. Delivery apps will make this a reality if my Mr D experience is any indicator of the future.
