With the tap of a finger, groceries, takeout, prescriptions and more arrive within hours, if not minutes. This emerging on-demand economy shows no signs of slowing down. For entrepreneurs and startups, there is a massive opportunity to build the next game-changing delivery app.
With so many platforms and frameworks to choose from, what is the best technology for quickly building an intuitive, user-friendly on-demand delivery app?
Here, Flutter stands out with its cross-platform capabilities, native performance and beautiful UI.
Yet, realizing the full benefits of Flutter requires hiring expert developers. Recruiting skilled Flutter developers gives you that essential edge in building the next hit delivery app.
In this post, we’ll explore why hiring skilled Flutter developers gives you an edge when creating the next big delivery app.
Before we proceed, it's essential to grasp what's happening in the on-demand delivery apps market. So, let's start by taking a closer look at it.
The On-Demand Delivery App Market
The on-demand economy has exploded in popularity in the last decade. Just about anything can be delivered with a few taps on your smartphone now. Food, groceries, household items, retail products - you name it.
Food delivery apps like UberEats now cover every major city. Grocery delivery services like Instacart are gaining mainstream appeal. The trends clearly show that on-demand delivery services are here to stay.
Some key statistics on the growth of the on-demand delivery market:
- The online food delivery market is projected to reach $1.02 trillion in revenue by 2023 and continue rapid growth, potentially hitting $1.65 trillion by 2027 according to Statista.
- Statista also reports the online pharmacy market reaching $45.34 billion in 2023, with projections of it becoming an $81.37 billion market by 2028.
- The on-demand fuel delivery market size is expected to grow from $214.97 million in 2021 to $596.37 million by 2027 per industry analysis.
- Vantage Market Research values the online grocery delivery market at $315.2 billion in 2022, forecasting exponential growth to $1,670.3 billion by 2030.
With demand skyrocketing, the on-demand delivery market has become highly competitive. New apps launch constantly.
To stand out, you need a seamless user experience with intuitive interfaces, real-time tracking, smart recommendations, and easy payments. You also need to support massive growth as order volumes scale rapidly.
Most importantly, speed to market is critical. You need to launch before dominant players take over your region or niche. This is why hiring experienced Flutter developers is an ideal choice.
Why am I saying this? Just look at some of the benefits that Flutter offers:
Benefits of Flutter for On-Demand Delivery Apps
Flutter is a relatively new open-source framework launched by Google for building high-performance mobile apps on Android and iOS. It provides a wide range of advantages that make Flutter an ideal choice for on-demand delivery apps:
Cross-Platform Capability
Flutter apps are written in Dart, Google's fast object-oriented programming language. Unlike native app development, you can write one codebase and compile it to both Android and iOS apps. This saves tremendous time and money compared to building native apps separately for each platform.
With Flutter, you get native-quality apps on both platforms from a single codebase. No more having to maintain two codebases across Android and iOS. You can also release updates simultaneously, which is vital for engagement and ratings.
Read More: Xamarin or Flutter: Discover the Right Cross-platform Mobile Framework
Native Performance
Flutter compiles to native ARM code rather than using interpreters. This gives Flutter apps exceptional performance. Testing shows Flutter apps can achieve up to 120 frames per second, delivering native look, feel and performance.
This native performance is crucial for on-demand delivery apps where latency in maps, real-time tracking and other functions degrades the user experience. Flutter provides the native performance today's users expect.
Rapid Development
Flutter's sub-second, stateful hot reload capability dramatically accelerates development cycles. UI changes can be viewed instantly without recompiling the app. This enables rapid iteration and testing of UIs and business logic. Features can be added and refined much faster.
Faster development cycles allow you to get your Flutter app to market quickly. You can incorporate user feedback rapidly to refine the app before competitors emulate your most popular features and differentiation.
Beautiful UI
Flutter provides a modern react-style framework, ready-made widgets and tools that make it easy for developers to create consistent, attractive user interfaces. The built-in Material Design and Cupertino (iOS-style) widget sets allow a fully native look and feel.
Beautiful, intuitive interfaces are critical for user adoption and ratings. Flutter facilitates crafting customized UI flows and interfaces that delight users rather than frustrate them. This improves user retention over the long run.
Open Source & Free
Flutter is free and open source, licensed under the BSD license. There are no licensing costs or fees involved. This reduces the costs of building delivery apps. And the open-source nature of Flutter encourages collaboration and support.
There is also an expansive Flutter community constantly contributing plugins, libraries, documentation and help through forums like StackOverflow. The open-source ecosystem cuts Flutter app development time and costs.
Popular for Delivery Apps
Flutter is already the framework of choice for many popular on-demand delivery apps. Popular on-demand apps GetEasy and Lunching also use Flutter.
The success of these apps demonstrates that Flutter can scale to support the most widely used delivery apps, handling millions of transactions. Apps developed with Flutter have been proven to support the unique demands of on-demand delivery services.
Why Hiring Flutter Developers Makes Sense
Given the tangible benefits of Flutter for the on-demand delivery of apps, hiring expert Flutter developers is the smart play. Here are some of the key reasons to hire Flutter developers.
Large Talent Pool
Flutter is one of the fastest-growing development frameworks. According to a 2022 developer survey, Flutter is the most popular cross-platform mobile framework used by global developers. According to the survey, 46% of software developers used Flutter.
Google stated that there are now over 1 million published Flutter-based apps, up from 500,000 in mid-2022. This signifies that the number of Flutter developers is increasing rapidly and there is a large and expanding talent pool of experienced Flutter developers to choose from.
Transferable Skills
Most Flutter developers already have experience with Dart from previous work with Google technologies. Dart is similar in many ways to popular languages like JavaScript and TypeScript. This makes it easy for seasoned mobile or web developers to leverage existing programming experience.
The reactive programming style used by Flutter also has similarities to front-end JavaScript frameworks like React. These transferable skills shorten the learning curve and allow developers to come up to speed with Flutter faster.
Full Stack Capabilities
Flutter developers typically have experience across mobile, backend development, databases, web development, cloud platforms and more. This allows them to build full-stack solutions for delivery apps, covering the front and backends.
You don't have to hire separate mobile, backend and web teams. Flutter developers can usually handle the full spectrum of development tasks for on-demand delivery apps.
Up-to-Date Skills
Flutter is sponsored, maintained and supported by Google with a product roadmap through 2021. This ensures skills in Flutter will stay highly relevant, compared to relying on individual frameworks that may fall out of favor.
With Google's backing, you can be assured Flutter has longevity and will be improved over the long term. Apps built with Flutter today will continue to benefit from the ongoing enhancements and support.
Tips for Finding Top Flutter Developers
When looking to hire Flutter developers, keep the following tips in mind to identify the most qualified candidates. Follow the below tips to hire Flutter developers to get the best candidate for your project:
Check Mobile App Experience
Look for developers with ample experience building and launching mobile apps, ideally including on-demand delivery apps. End-user apps demand more design thinking than internal business apps. Review the types of apps they have built and published.
Read More: A Guide to Hire Offshore Flutter Developers
Review Code Samples
Reputable Flutter developers will be happy to provide code samples from past projects to demonstrate skills. Review these code samples for best practices like modular design, SOLID principles, clean documentation and more.
Assess Knowledge Depth
Quiz developers on their technical knowledge of Dart, reactive programming, caching strategies, app release management and core libraries like Firebase and SQFlite. Look for a mastery of the latest Flutter capabilities and performance tuning.
Gauge Design Skills
Creating intuitive, visually appealing UIs requires solid design skills. Assess candidates' design knowledge across user flows, wireframing, prototyping, interface principles and ability to follow the latest design standards and trends.
Look for Communication Ability
On-demand delivery apps require tight collaboration between clients and developers. Assess soft skills of Flutter developers like clear communication, responsiveness, accountability and ability to explain technical concepts simply.
Consider Community Involvement
Developers active in the Flutter community tend to be more enthusiastic and up-to-date with the latest Flutter capabilities, best practices and plugins. Community participants make great hires.
Conclusion
In the fast-moving market for on-demand delivery apps, speed, user experience and scalability are everything. Hiring expert Flutter developers allows you to tap into a large talent pool armed with the ideal skills to build modern delivery apps.
Flutter's cross-platform abilities, native performance and rapid iteration accelerate your time-to-market. Intuitive UIs and full-stack capabilities provide end users with the seamless experience they demand.
Following best practices to find skilled Flutter developers with proven delivery app expertise will maximize your chances of success. Developing your on-demand app with Flutter will prepare it for current growth while positioning it to stay competitive for years to come.
To build your next hit on-demand delivery app, hire expert Flutter developers from ThinkODC. Our skilled Flutter teams have a proven track record of building beautiful, high-performance apps for startups worldwide.
Leverage our expertise in Flutter and on-demand delivery to craft an app that delights users and dominates the market.
