As the cases began to settle, countries are looking forward to resuming the business and commerce activities hit hard by the virus. Both the USA government and respective state governors have taken unique approaches in developing strategies to relax the lockdown norms to restart the economic engines and released detailed guidelines for the same. However, this process of resuming commerce is happening gradually and non uniformly due to regional differences in the prevalence of the virus across the country. 

For example, states of the West Coast, Midwest, and Northeast have formed coalitions in a regional recovery. Other states have faced a lot of criticism for already allowing nonessential businesses and in-person operations to resume their functions. While rests are yet to release any reopening strategy and guidelines for that.

Well, those states, which have released the guidelines have non-uniformity in it too. For example, in some states, masks are compulsory to wear, while in others, it’s only recommended. In some states, masks are not compulsory for customers, while in others, customers must wear them, too. In some states, employers are required to screen before shifts, in others, it’s required after shift completes, and in some, it’s not required at all. 

This non-uniformity brings a lot of uncertainty to reopen the business or to start a new business or for the workforce to join the business. To help track the differences among the states, we have written this comprehensive blog on how every state of the USA has responded to lifting restrictions on citizens and businesses and how that brings a golden opportunity to start a local delivery business in the USA. 

(Credits: Ballotpedia)

Some common restrictions in all the states of the USA:

The US government has divided the whole covid-19 period into 6 phases and declared the detailed guidelines for the individual phrase. Let’s see how they defined those 6 phases:

Phase #1: Uncontrolled Spread of the virus

» Definition of the period: 

Where the number of new cases every day increases rapidly that likely to overwhelm the healthcare system.

» Businesses guidelines: 

Only the work that is necessary to protect and sustain life will be permitted to operate.

» For example:

• Critical retail stores (such as grocery stores)
• Public transportation
• Restaurants/bars only for takeout, delivery, or drive-through
• Critical manufacturing projects
• Critical construction projects
• Food and agriculture industry
• Corporates only for critical workers
• Childcare for critical workers

Individual/social guidelines:

• Walking, hiking, biking will be permitted
• Gathering prohibited

Phase #2: Persistent Spread of the virus

If the region continues to see an increasing number of cases goes out of proportion with concern about health system capacity. Then, only the critical infrastructure will remain open, and lower-risk recreational activities will be allowed.

Businesses:

• Curbside or delivery for nonessential retail will be allowed.

Individuals:

• Golfing and motorboating will be allowed.

Phase #3: Flattening period

In this phase, the epidemic is no longer increasing, and the existing healthcare system capacity is sufficient for current needs. Then, lower-risk businesses can reopen given adherence to strict safety measures.

For example: 

• Manufacturing with safety guidelines 
• Construction with safety guidelines  
• Outdoor work with safety guidelines 
• Real-estate, but not more than 4 people on-premises at a time
• Childcare for anyone, who resuming work

Phase #4: Improvement period

In this phase the epidemic is significantly decreasing, and the healthcare system is strong with robust testing and contact tracing. Then, the additional businesses can reopen given adherence to strict safety measures.

• Most businesses and organizations can remain open throughout this phase under strict safety measures.
• Retail with safety guidelines 
• Corporates may open, but remote work still required where feasible
• Summer educational programs in small groups

Individual:

• Small group gatherings with social distancing permitted

Phase #5: Containment period

In this phase the epidemic levels are extremely low and the virus outbreaks can quickly be contained. Health system capacity is strong with the help of robust testing and tracing. Then, most of the businesses can reopen given adherence to strict safety measures.

Businesses:

• Restaurants and bars for dine-in 
• Corporates can open
• Live educational instruction

Individual/social:

• Face coverings wherever possible
• Increase in gathering size limit, but with social distancing
• All outdoor recreation will be allowed

Restrictions throughout the first 5 phases: 

• Vulnerable individuals must shelter in the home
• Compulsory to maintain six feet of distance from others when in outdoors
• Individuals, who have confirmed or even suspected positive for COVID-19 must be isolated, and any individual with a known exposure must be quarantined
• Face coverings are required in enclosed public spaces through Phase 4 and phase 5

Phase #6: Post-pandemic period

This is the phase where the vaccine has developed, so the community spread is not expected to return because of sufficient community immunity and availability of treatment, then the economy will fully be reopened with some lasting safety requirements. 

Business opportunity with easing lockdown norms in the USA:

Consumer behaviors have shifted dramatically in the USA due to the pandemic, untold weeks of a combination of social isolation, working from home, or not working at all. 

The on-demand delivery industry has flourished in this situation, as they offer the service with comfort, convenience, and safety to the consumers. People have also realized the fact that, the delivery apps not only help keep them healthier but also help save the economy during the coronavirus crisis. 

Now even the USChanmber is admitting the fact that delivery services are not going to end with the pandemic, but it is the 2nd most industry that will flourish post-pandemic, following cleaning services. Contactless solutions of the on-demand industry will replace the traditional high-touch activities, even concerts, and fitness. 

How Coruscate can help you to develop a local delivery app?

Coruscate is the leading software development company and having footprints on almost every leading global markets. We have delivered a vast number of on-demand solutions, that help us understand the changing market scenarios, how it works, what users are interested in, and deliver engaging as well as highly experiential solutions, that allow businesses to survive in these tough times.

If you have any on-demand delivery app idea but you are unsure about its viability, we can help you validate the idea and its marketability. 

We offer end-to-end app services, which include planning, strategizing, testing, and deployment. We optimize your application for the app store. 

Contact us now, to have a personalized quote and live app demo for your idea.  

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The food delivery sector has been seen in the restaurant industry for many years. Before the system went online, there was a way to offer delivery of food with something called takeout orders. Each restaurant used to have their own delivery boys for the takeout deliveries. However, with the advancement of technology, online food delivery services came into existence and became an inseparable part of our daily lives. These services allow the customers to choose restaurants and food from a number of choices provided on their platforms.

The on-demand food delivery services like UberEats, Zomato, Swiggy, etc have their own drivers to deliver food making it simpler for the restaurants who couldn’t have their own delivery person. There has been great diversity in the online delivery sales but as per the Techcrunch report, the sales accounted for the online delivery in the year 2015 were 4 billion out of the 30 billion US dollars.

Postmates became one of the leaders in terms of gross sales as it applied its own personal channel to pick up and deliver restaurant meals as well as groceries and other goods. Despite facing tough competition, the company has managed to stay and grow in the industry.

According to a latest Techcrunch report, Postmates app is expanding like crazy and is moving towards its next IPO in the coming days.

What is the Postmates app?

Postmates is a logistics company which operates a network of couriers who deliver food, grocery, and other goods locally. The startup was launched in the year 2011. Postmates, an on-demand company, was previously made available offline for deliveries from restaurants and stores. The company was founded by Bastian Lehmann, Sean Plaice and Sam Street and has its headquarters at San Francisco, California.

In 2014, it went online to allow small merchants to compete for on-demand delivery services with larger companies like Amazon. The company claims to deliver anything anywhere. The Postmates app provides efficient on-demand delivery services for food, grocery and other items like gifts, etc. The company has more than 25000+ partner merchants and they are still growing. They aim to provide a curated and tailored experience to each customer at every city they are active in. In December 2018, the Postmates launched a unique autonomous delivery rover.

They are expanding crazily and in February 2019, the Postmates apps have been made active in more than 2940 cities in the US.

Here is the chart from Similarweb which shows the ranking of the app in the App store. It ranks 68th if considered all categories and 3rd in the Food and drink category.

Another graph from App Annie shows the progress of the Postmates app in the last week.

Fundings of Postmates app:

According to Crunchbase, the last two funding rounds of the Postmates app helped it to raise $400 million which were conducted in September 2018 and January 2019. The funding round in January fetched Postmates the investments from BlackRock and Spark Capital founders. The total funding amount of the company till today is $678 million and the total valuation of the company went up to $1.85 billion. There are 3 acquisitions under the company’s name.

Things to consider while developing on-demand delivery apps like Postmates

1. Customer’s delivery needs should be kept as a top priority:

The on-demand delivery apps like Postmates specifically consider fast delivery structure like delivery within an hour to make the customers happy. Be it food delivery, grocery delivery, alcohol delivery or any other delivery, the promise of delivery within one hour can attract the customers towards choosing your service over the others as everyone these days prefers fast service.

As a startup, you need to dig deep and know the delivery demands and needs of your target audience. The market research can help you to know where the other services are lacking and you can pick up those points to make your on-demand delivery services better. Make sure you provide proper services at affordable prices in order to make sure that the quality of your service and the price both attract the customers and keep them loyal to your on-demand delivery service app. Your delivery services must gel in with your customer’s busy schedule. For that, you need to let them choose their delivery slot too.

2. Customer’s comfort is important:

People pay for comfort. The only thing that people look around in their busiest time is a bit of comfort and someone who does their chores for them. Your on-demand delivery services should provide flexible deliveries to make the food and grocery deliveries stress-free for the customers. Apps like Postmates must consider the demands of modern customers.

The task of an on-demand delivery service is basically taking the stress out of the customer’s life by providing them a hassle-free delivery experience. This is to make sure your customers keep coming back to you.

3. Branch out your services:

If you aim to rank among the top on-demand delivery services, it is important that you branch out your services. You can expand your services to food, grocery, alcohol, vegetable deliveries, etc.

You need to consider the area of delivery where you can gain the first mover’s advantage. You can try to get faster deliveries to your customers by increasing your fleet. You can provide the options to place orders directly from your app.

Here is another chart showing the top ranking of on-demand delivery services in the food and drinks category.

Scope of on-demand delivery apps like Postmates

As per the report in Techcrunch, Postmates has already reached 70% of the US household and it claims to complete 5 million deliveries per month. The company has planned to use drones to deliver food by 2021.

Another competitor of Postmates which ranks first in food delivery is DoorDash. The company is growing by 325 % year after year.

This shows there is a huge scope for the newbies and the old delivery companies to upgrade their technologies.

Connect with us to know more about the cost and the features that you should include in your on-demand delivery service app. We have a dedicated research team which is constantly keeping updates regarding the unique features that we can provide to make your app stand out in the competition. For a free demo get in touch with us through the contact us form.

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