How to Develop Parcel Tracking App

If you have a logistics business or planning on starting one, you should develop parcel delivery app.

The rise of eCommerce and online marketplaces gave a boost to a lot of other industries.

After all, services & items ordered online have to be delivered, right?

With this, the logistics industry boomed, more specifically the last-mile delivery companies.

In 2020 alone, United States’ CEP companies delivered nearly 18.6 billion parcels. With this, the industry generated more than 117 billion U.S. dollars in revenue

Moving on, in 2021, the revenue rose by 18% to $ 137.9 billion.

Between 2014 and 2021, parcel shipping volume went from 13.2 billion to 21.6 billion.

The credit mainly goes to eCommerce, as around the same time, eCommerce retail revenue also went from $ 459 billion to around $ 905 billion.

In the same fashion, the eCommerce market is expected to grow much more in the coming years. And with it, the parcel shipping industry will also skyrocket.

So, if you own a parcel delivery business or planning to start one up, a parcel delivery app can be a major leverage for you.

In fact, market-leading CEP companies like the United Parcel Service, FedEx, and the United States Postal Service (USPS) have their own parcel-tracking applications.

Let’s see what parcel tracking app all about is, how you can develop one, the cost, reasons to invest, and so on.

On-Demand Parcel Delivery App: What Is It & How Does It Work?

What’s a parcel delivery app?

The name is self-explanatory, these mobile applications allow users to access information related to the parcel.

Here, this can be a parcel they may receive or something that they may have sent. All of this is done digitally.

In addition to this, depending on the app, an on-demand parcel app can be used to request parcel service.

Let’s see how to parcel app tracking works:

1. Request On-Demand Service
2. The parcel is displayed in the app
3. Get regular updates
4. Contact the company for more queries

in addition to the basic functionality, the platform also gets features like in-app communication, and so on.

we shall be discussing the features and functionality, later down the line.

Meanwhile, let’s look at why you invest in the parcel-tracking app in the next section.

Why Every Logistics Business Should Invest In Parcel Tracking App?

Mobile apps are future of every industry including logistics i.e. parcel delivery.

And here’s why you should invest in parcel tracking app development.

• Better Customer Engagement

People – customers, love visibility and transparency.

Haven’t you seen those memes on the internet about people tracking their amazon parcel? Well, that’s very much a reality.

Customers check for order status, literally 100s of times. And unfortunately, apart from companies like Amazon and FedEx don’t provide order tracking.

However, if you build parcel tracking app that does have this function, you can improve customer engagement by many folds.

This is one of the reasons to invest in it.

• True 24/7 Services

Well, almost every company and service provider in the world promises “24/7 services”, but we all know how much of that is true.

The main reason why providing a true 24/7 service is manpower.

After all, you need someone to sit behind the screen in interacting with customers, right?

Well, kind of, but there’s another way.

Parcel delivery mobile app.

These mobile apps allow the customer to track parcels and get related information without any human interaction.

Meaning, the mobile app allows your business to automate simple tasks and provide more value to customers.

• Fleet Management

Well, well, there are a lot of things that go into running a logistics business.

And Fleet Management is a big part of it.

Parcel delivery apps are capable of much more than simple parcel tracking.

For the business side, they can use the platform to effectively track their fleet. And there are various advantages that it brings too.

Some of these are:

• Operational Visibility
• Vehicles reliability
• Driver safety
• Driver satisfaction
• Higher productivity
• Cost Management

Develop parcel tracking app, and avail all these benefits.

• Better Analytics

In the age of technology and information, data is more valuable than gold.

And what is the one big way you can collect data?

Yes, it’s the mobile application.

Or just any software that customers interact with.

What we mean to say is, a lot of people will interact with parcel-tracking apps. And this will generate a lot of data.

This leads to better analytics and allows the business to understand customer requirements, their behavior, fleet performance, and much more.

So, these are some of the reasons to invest and develop parcel tracking applications. Now let’s see how you do it:

How To Build Parcel Tracking App? Step-By-Step Development Process

How do you develop a mobile app?

Well, there is a lot more that goes into it than hiring a developer and letting them do the work.

The process to develop parcel tracking app is:

1) An Idea

The first thing you need is an idea.

Whether you are a start-up or an already established business, you still need a concept to work on.

Another important thing you need to find a good idea is, to conduct market research.

This gives you insight into competitors, their strategies, audience base, and so on. All of this helps you muster up a good idea.

You might be wondering, what idea you need even when you are developing a parcel-tracking app.

Well, you might not need any if you want to develop a generic parcel-tracking app.

But you may decide to develop something unique within the niche.

Recommendation: it’s highly advised that you start with more than one idea. This will give you a plan to fall back to, in case the initial idea doesn’t work out.

Once you are done with this, it’s time to hire developers.

2) Hire On-Demand App Developers

It’s time to hire mobile app developers.

Let’s see how you can do this and what things you need to keep in mind.

• Ways To Hire a Developer

It’s easy to find an app developer in 2023.

There are various ways that you can choose. There are:

• Hire Freelancers
• Outsource To On Demand App Development Company
• Assemble in-house team
• IT Staff Augmentation

Well, in-house vs outsourcing has been a long-time debate.

If you want to read more about it, you can do that “HERE”

• How To Choose the Right Developers

While there are a lot of different methods to hire developers, the important question is:

How to hire the right one?

Well, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.

• Check their portfolio
• Interview developers
• Do they sign NDA?
• Who owns the code at end of development?
• Past project performance
• Client testimonials

These are things that you should enquire about.

• Cost To Hire Developers

Time to answer the big question.

“How much does it cost to hire developers?”

Well, it depends, the cost to hire developers ranges from $15/per hour to $75/ per hour.

You can read more about it, HERE.

3) Validate The Idea

Now that you have a development partner, it’s time to validate the idea.

This is something, an on-demand app development company helps you with. And this is quite an important process.

Let’s see why.

Why It’s Important?

So if you are developing a mobile app and you have a concept for it, it needs to be validated.

The reason behind this is simple:

Not every idea can be converted into an app. Sometimes it’s not technologically feasible, other times it won’t make it big in the market.

That’s why it’s important to validate the idea.

4) Visualize Idea

With all said and done, it’s time to visualize the idea.

Well, here’s how it goes.

• Create A Wireframe
• Prototype
• Develop MVP

And once you have finalized everything, we can move to the next step.

5) Set Parameters

Since we are talking about development, you need to set certain technological parameters.

These are:

• Choose an App Development Platform

Want to develop a parcel tracking app?

Well, you need to choose a platform.

Here, you can either go with native apps or hybrid apps.

If you choose to go with native app development, it takes you to the popular iOS vs Android debate.

Expert advice: both of them are good in their own places.

Therefore, whether you hire an android or iPhone app development company depends on your business needs.

• Build A Tech Stack

Well, it’s time to build a tech stack.

So, what’s tech stack?

The term “Tech Stack” refers to the set of technologies used for mobile app development. This includes frameworks, programming languages, toolkits, and so on.

For instance, MEAN Stack & MERN Stack are two popular examples.

Moreover, it’s very important to choose the right tech stack. And if you want to learn how to do it, HERE.

• Choose Development Methodology

Development methodologies are important and guide the process for desired results.

There are a number of software development methodologies to choose from.

6) Create A Road Map

It’s time to create a road map or in other words a plan.

Planning is key ingredient to making a mobile app successful.

In layman’s terms, here, you sit down with the project manager and map out the development process based on the parameters we set before.

It includes setting deadlines, team size, resource allocation, and so on.

Once this is done, we can finally start the development process.

7) Build Parcel Tracking App

It’s time to develop a parcel-tracking app.

Well, Parcel Tracking App Development can be divided into two sections.

These are:

• Front-End Development

This is the part where UI/UX design is created.

It is important to process because the design drives user engagement. Therefore, it’s recommended that create an easy-to-navigate design.

Moreover, it’s also suggested you follow Design Principles.

• Back-End Development

After the front end, it’s time to deal with the back end.

Here, the on-demand app development services write the source code and create the final version of the application.

It’s a long and extensive process.

8) Test It

After the app is developed, it’s sent for testing.

Well, mobile app testing is essential.

Here, the QA team makes sure the app is free of all bugs and errors. If there are any, necessary changes are made and the app is sent for deployment.

9) Deployment

The app is deployed in either iOS’ app store or Google Play Store depending on the platform.

While the process might differ a little, it takes 2 weeks at most for approval.

After this app is live.

But the work doesn’t end here.

10) After-Release Maintenance

After the app is live in the market, it’s time to start maintenance and support services.

Well, this one is sort of a cycle that goes on till the app is life.

And with this, we have come to the end of the development process, you have a running parcel tracing app that will help you generate millions.

But should you choose custom parcel tracking app development rather than an already built one? Well, let’s just answer this question in the next section.

Custom Parcel Tracking App vs White-Label (Ready-Made) App

So, you can either go with custom mobile app development or go with a white-label app.

Let’s compare than head-to-head.

All in all, custom app developments always have an upper hand on ready-made applications.

So, if you are developing a custom app, you should also fill out the best parcel tracking app with the right features.

Let’s look into it.

Essential Feature for Parcel Tracking App

Features sit at the core of the parcel-tracking mobile app.

After all, if you want to deliver more value to the customers and drive user engagement, choose the right features.

Let’s look at some essential features”

These are some essential features that every best parcel tracking application should have.

Nevertheless, you should not limit your solution to these.

You can always come up with your custom feature and include them in the app. But does that help you generate revenue?

Parcel Tracking App Helps Multiple Revenue Generation: Here’s How

Well, if you are running a parcel delivery business, you are already making some good revenue.

And the parcel delivery app will only serve as an extension, not contributing to revenue, right?

Well, that’s wrong.

As a matter of fact, the right mobile app with the right idea can help you generate millions in trillion dollar industry.

Here’s how:

• Get More Orders: There are over 7 billion people using mobile apps. Let’s say you are able to reach .1% of them. Even with that, you can make millions in the market.
• Reduced operations cost: Mobile apps automate a lot of tasks. For instance, you don’t need a person to sit behind the phone and tell people what’s up with their project.
• Streamlined business: mobile applications help logistics businesses streamline everything, which helps in both revenue and cost reduction.

This is how you can generate millions of dollars in revenue and why you should develop parcel tracking app.

Let’s see how much it cost to build a parcel app.

Cost To Build Parcel Tracking App

Every client, and we mean, EVERY CLIENT asks:

“How Much Does It Cost To Build Parcel Tracking App?”

Well, cost to develop on demand parcel tracking app ranges from $15,000 and $175,000.

The cost differs based on complexity, platform, features, design, and so on.

Therefore, if you are someone who wants to learn more about it, it’s recommended that you reach out to a parcel tracking app development company.

How Long Does It Take To Create A Parcel Tracking App?

Just like development cost, the time to develop an app too depends on the same factors.

For instance, the more complex the parcel delivery app is the longer it is going to take.

In any case, from ideation to deployment, the app can take anywhere from 7 – 12 months.

The breakdown is, as mentioned below:

The End: Time To Make Your Own App

This is how you develop a parcel tracking app.

Now, if you want planning to develop and make your own app, all you need to do is consult a mobile app development company.

They will help you with the development process.

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.