How to Generate Fresh On-Demand App Ideas For Your Business?
As a beginner looking to build your first on-demand app, coming up with a creative yet practical idea can be challenging. Where exactly do viable app ideas come from in such a saturated market? This blog will explore some proven strategies for beginners to generate promising on-demand app ideas.
Introduction
For entrepreneurs, many are known for their visionary ideas as well as bringing forth innovations to the global marketplace. In the case of mobile apps, there are countless startups emerging from every single country with one product or feature in place that was once an idea. One such idea is largely popular nowadays in the app development ecosystem and is based on the on-demand model. Let’s understand such apps in detail.
What is an On-Demand App?
An on-demand app is a smartphone application that provides near-instant access to various services with the tap of a screen. In essence, the app connects service providers directly with consumers to deliver convenience, efficiency, and simplicity.
On-demand apps leverage advanced technology like GPS, integrated payments, push notifications, and enhanced algorithms to provide seamless user experiences. Leading examples include Uber for ride-sharing, Postmates for food delivery, and Instacart for grocery services. The on-demand model has spread across countless industries to change consumer expectations.
But before you see all the ideas, ensure that ideas are simply thoughts based on the popularity of the previously made service. Here, your business acumen must gather round the thought of providing and selecting those services that can be available quickly. That’s the true meaning of on-demand and part of the reason why it has been the best ever idea in recent era.
List of Popular On-Demand App Ideas
Some of the top on-demand app ideas spanning different industries include:
Transportation and Logistics
- Ridesharing — Gojek, Grab, Careem, Heetch, BlaBlaCar
- Food/grocery delivery — Instacart, Rappi, HappyFresh
- Alcohol delivery — Drizly, Doordash
Home and Lifestyle
- Home cleaning — Thumbtack, Taskrabbit
- Personal shopping — Rappi, Gojek, Grab Postmates
Beauty and Wellness
- Hair & makeup — StyleSeat, Glamsquad
- Massage therapy — Zeel, Soothe
Pet Services
- Dog walking — Wag, Rover
The most successful on-demand apps solve longstanding consumer problems by providing an instantly accessible and superior service experience.
Other On-Demand App Ideas That You Can Try
Beautician App
A beautician app allows customers to book on-demand hair stylists, makeup artists, estheticians, and other beauty professionals. You can connect local licensed beauticians to nearby users with the help of GPS. You can also include premium booking and dynamic pricing, in-app messaging, online payments, ratings and reviews, and much more.
Additional functionality could include AR virtual try-ons for makeup, hair colors, and styles, plus integration with platforms like Instagram and Spotify to showcase portfolios. The app brings efficiency, accountability, and flexibility to an otherwise fragmented industry. For skilled independent beauticians, it provides expanded income opportunities.
Massage App
An on-demand massage app lets customers book licensed massage therapists for same-day house calls or appointments at partner studios. Users can get Swedish, deep tissue, Shiatsu, and more massage modalities. What makes this a good idea is that the user can see the details of the masseuse, including experience, specialization, ratings, and price.
You can also add a 60/90/120-min massage booking with prepaid credits, home/office or studio visit appointments, along with post-session tipping and ratings. Enhanced features could include online health questionnaires, video consulting for injuries, and AI analysis of pressure points applied during massage tracked via a wearable device. The app delivers convenient healing massages, allowing therapists to manage their schedules and clients.
Car Wash App
An on-demand car wash app brings professional detailing and car washing services to a customer’s home or office for a hassle-free experience. Users can book and pay seamlessly through the app interface. Since a car wash expert could be anyone, you can include every type of wash service, from basic to deluxe.
You could add dynamic pricing, schedule one-time or recurring washes, track providers en route to locations, and tip car wash experts too. The app appeals to car owners by saving them time and delivering professional washes wherever their vehicles are parked. It lets detailers operate more predictably and lucratively than setting up physical car wash locations.
Dog Walking App
This on-demand app connects dog owners with trusted local walkers for short or long walks. With the help of GPS, you can add professional dog walkers to their niche audience and quickly connect them for over a 15/30/60 minute walk. The user can track the progress via GPS and you can even add a doggy cam feature along with payment processing gateways. Overall, this could be a great idea for those who are unable to find time to walk their dogs.
Additionally, the app could support booking other pet services like overnight boarding, daycare, training classes, or veterinary visits. The app offers flexibility and transparency for dog walkers to supplement their income easily. Owners gain peace of mind knowing their beloved pets stay happy and healthy, even with demanding work schedules.
Barber App
This on-demand app allows customers to match with skilled local barbers for same-day haircuts at home or the office. This is a great idea, as the barber can reach the home and do the personalized grooming within a safe space. You can include various types of services, such as standard cuts, fades, and shaves. The user can see the barber’s portfolio as well and can use your app to call or text the barber for more details.
Advanced functionality could enable AI-powered hair simulation for virtual cuts and styles. Customers also get loyalty rewards for hair care products and accessories. The app promotes their personal brand for barbers and eliminates brick-and-mortar overhead costs like rent and utilities. Customers skip travel and wait times for a 5-star barbershop experience delivered on-demand.
Travel Agent App
Your customers can open this app, add their location details, and see the best travel experts nearby to learn more about the place they are going, the costs, and everything in between. With the help of your app, they can book flights, buses, hotels, and even tourist guides for complete satisfaction.
Advanced functionality could integrate virtual reality previews of accommodations and tour offerings. Users also get membership perks, providing deep discounts on travel essentials. For agents, the app generates more clients without geographical restrictions. Users avoid hassling with overwhelming research and booking logistics when planning travel.
Lawn Mowing App
Lawn mowing is a prime home maintenance task suited for on-demand convenience. This app instantly connects homeowners with landscapers to book and schedule lawn mowing services. Advanced features could enable AI image recognition to assess lawn square footage or diagnose problems like bald spots.
Users also accrue redeemable points on every mow towards lawn care supplies in the app store. The app empowers landscapers to scale profitably and efficiently. Homeowners see perfect green lawns without owning noisy or exerting physical labor.
Party Cleaning App
Party cleaning is time-consuming and perfect for an on-demand app. Users simply snap and upload photos of the party aftermath mess. Cleaners bid competitively for jobs based on pay rate and square footage. Advanced functionality could enable VR simulations for customers to visually assess cleaning scope and quality expectations.
The app could also expand its offerings, including pre-party staging, during-party staffing, and post-party breakdown assistance. The party clean-up app saves hosts valuable recovery time with loved ones. Cleaners boost income with a flexible, scalable business model, meeting sporadic on-demand demand surges.
Leverage Your Own Expertise, Pain Points, and The Market Demand
Everyone wants to be more creative and come up with better ideas. History has shown that good ideas come from recurring patterns, which are essential to building an environment conducive to creativity. One pattern is that creative ideas never come at a moment of great insight. Instead, they can take a long time to develop and evolve.
They may spend a long time dormant in the background, mature, and suddenly become accessible to you in a certain way. This usually happens because good ideas come from the convergence of intuition and small ideas so that they form something bigger than themselves.
Think about daily activities where you experience some kind of inconvenience or frustration. Addressing existing pain points is one of the best ways to create apps that provide real value to users. For example, parking headaches led to parking apps, and food ordering inconveniences led to food delivery apps. The opportunities are endless.
Well-established yet traditional industries like food delivery, parking, laundry, or beauty services are ripe for an infusion of on-demand convenience. Don’t just copy an existing app – think creatively about tailoring the on-demand model to work even better.
What skills, experiences, and knowledge do you bring to the table? Ideas spawned from your unique expertise have the most potential for you to scale and succeed. As an example, an auto mechanic could build an on-demand app. This works well because auto mechanics intimately understand customer pain points and industry operations.
Conclusion
On-demand apps have become incredibly popular in recent years by providing quick, convenient services with just a few taps on the phone. Visualizing an on-demand app as a beginner can seem daunting, but following proven idea-generation strategies significantly boosts your chances of landing on something viable.