Subscription Grocery Delivery Platform

Why this was not a standard eCommerce build

The client — a grocery retailer serving apartment communities — needed more than an online store. The model was subscription-based: residents subscribed to regular delivery schedules, customised their recurring orders, and managed everything through a mobile-first interface. The platform needed to handle delivery slot management across multiple apartment complexes, subscription modifications (skip, pause, add items), and payment processing for recurring charges. Standard eCommerce platforms are built for one-time purchases, not for subscription-based delivery with logistics constraints.

What did the grocery delivery platform need to handle?

• Subscription management: recurring orders with per-delivery customisation — add items, remove items, skip a delivery, pause a subscription
• Delivery slot management: capacity-limited time slots across multiple apartment complexes, with different delivery windows per location
• Product catalog with real-time inventory — items that are out of stock must not appear in active subscriptions
• Multi-payment support: recurring billing for subscriptions plus one-time payments for add-on orders
• Resident-facing mobile interface for managing subscriptions, browsing products, and tracking deliveries
• Operations dashboard for the retailer: delivery scheduling, route optimisation, inventory management, and subscription analytics

How the grocery platform works

Subscription engine

Residents create subscriptions with a base order and delivery frequency — weekly, biweekly, or custom schedules. Before each delivery, they can modify the order: add seasonal items, remove regular items, or skip the delivery entirely. The subscription engine handles these modifications while maintaining the recurring billing and delivery scheduling.

Delivery slot management

Each apartment complex has configured delivery windows with capacity limits. The platform allocates delivery slots based on subscription density, driver availability, and route efficiency. Residents select their preferred delivery window during subscription setup and can change it for individual deliveries.

Inventory-aware catalog

The product catalog reflects real-time inventory. When an item goes out of stock, it is automatically flagged in active subscriptions and residents are prompted to choose a substitute or skip the item. This prevents the fulfilment issue of accepting orders for products that are not available.

Operations dashboard

The retailer's operations team manages everything through a single dashboard: delivery schedules, driver assignments, inventory levels, subscription health metrics, and revenue reporting. Route planning considers delivery density across apartment complexes to minimise delivery time and cost.

The result: 500+ apartment residents served via subscription delivery

500+ apartment residents served through subscription-based grocery delivery. The platform handles the full lifecycle from subscription creation through recurring order management, delivery scheduling, and payment processing.

The subscription model creates predictable demand for the retailer — inventory planning is based on known subscription volumes rather than unpredictable one-time orders. Delivery route efficiency improved because subscriptions concentrate deliveries in known apartment complexes on known schedules.

Technical details

• Subscription engine with per-delivery customisation and recurring billing
• Delivery slot management with capacity constraints and route optimisation
• Real-time inventory integration with automatic subscription alerts
• Mobile-first resident interface for subscription and order management
• Operations dashboard with delivery scheduling and analytics
• Built with React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, deployed on AWS