Is a mobile app worth it for grocery in Qatar?

Worth is the mobile web conversion rate against the app conversion rate on the same traffic, multiplied by how often somebody returns. For most stores the first gap is large and the second is the one that decides it.

What it is worth, in figures the store already holds

The mistake is comparing an app against the desktop site. Compare it against the mobile site, on the same customers, over the same weeks — that is the only comparison the decision actually rests on.

An app earns its place through repeat purchases and notifications, so the question is really about how often somebody buys. For a grocery or food store in Qatar, the answer turns on one thing in particular: Grocery margins are thin and baskets are large, so the whole model lives or dies on delivery cost per order.

What is different about Qatar

Small, wealthy and concentrated — a store can reach most of the addressable market without a large budget.

Card payment dominates and delivery distances are short.

What is different about a grocery or food store

Built too early it is a cost with nothing to do — an app with no customers to bring back is a bookmark nobody made.

Where a mobile app comes into it

Weekly reordering is the behaviour, and an app that remembers the last basket removes most of the work.