There was a time when most people didn’t believe in online shopping or using any of these eCommerce applications due to security and product quality issues. Over time, people’s perception, and app security both changed that leading to the popularity of eCommerce apps in the daily lives of people worldwide.
Currently, eCommerce apps has adopted cutting-edge technologies, and this integration has drastically changed this industry. Every person is using the benefits offered by these advanced technology integrations with the app as we can take the example of AR technology. It has provided us the facility of seeing the product inside our house before purchasing, isn’t it a great experience to feel?
With every passing year, the eCommerce industry is going towards massive growth, if you are planning to have an eCommerce application for your store, then be quick. ‘Now’ is the most suitable time to have eCommerce app development services from a well-reputed ecommerce development company.
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eCommerce Market Stats: Why to Invest in eCommerce Mobile App?
In 2021, more businesses are heading towards adopting eCommerce app development services to create an integrated shopping presence in their stores than in previous years. The eCommerce market worldwide is forecasted to reach $4.89 trillion by 2021 as displayed in the image below.
The reason behind these amazing figures is the unlimited possibilities & opportunities provided by the eCommerce market to both businesses and users. 65% of customers agree that eCommerce apps are more flexible to purchase anytime. Before two years, in 2019, the eCommerce sale was recorded at 13.6% and currently, it is predicted to reach 19.5%. This progress will continue in upcoming years and will reach 21.8% by 2024.
It is also predicted that the US retail eCommerce sales & revenue will reach $563.3 billion by 2025 as shown below the graph. It is a good hike in the figures in comparison to the year 2017.
Consider these growth and figures related to the eCommerce sectors, and if you are thinking to develop an eCommerce app then this is the right time to hire eCommerce developers for your business needs.
Different Types of eCommerce Applications
You must know what kind of app you should prefer for your eCommerce business as it will determine the future of your business in the market. Below we have provided diverse types of eCommerce apps that you can select to develop-
- Business to Business (B2B)
- Business to Customer (B2C)
- Customer to Customer (C2C)
1. Business to Business (B2B)
eCommerce applications can be developed for different purposes varying from business to business. In this, apps provide products & services only between two businesses, there is no role for customer services. We can take the example of online apps that sells raw materials to businesses like automobile or textiles.
2. Business to Customer (B2C)
BRC type of applications provides goods & services by businesses to customers. Any on-demand mobile app is an example of a B2C eCommerce application, such as a car wash app or a taxi booking app.
3. Customer to Customer (C2C)
In C2C applications, there is no role of businesses, it is like a direct deal or exchange of services & products between customers. We can take the online auctioning of products as an example of this kind of app.
Read Also: How Much Does An E-Commerce Website Cost?
Top Benefits Provided by eCommerce Mobile App
Before stepping in to have mobile app development services for your eCommerce venture, it would be better to have an in-depth understanding of its uses previously. Think deeply about why people will get interested in the eCommerce app and what will be the customer’s demand s? Will you be able to fulfill them?
Get these answers first and then, have the best eCommerce solutions for business growth. Following are the benefits you will hold through having an eCommerce mobile app solution-
1. GPS-Enabled Services
By having eCommerce store app development services, businesses can easily deliver products at the customer’s doorstep via enabling the GPS in the mobile phone. It can save up the time to enter the shipping address by yourself.
2. Better Interaction
Building an eCommerce app from a top eCommerce app development company helps a lot of eCommerce businesses in getting numerous benefits including instant and better interaction with the customers via the mobile app.
3. Real-time Notifications
eCommerce ventures can send real-time notifications to their customers about any new product, offer, discounts, or ongoing seasonal sale. This way, they will feel more engaged with the app and will go through it often.
4. Data Insights & Analytics
eCommerce businesses can acquire complete insights and analytical reports with the help of mobile apps. These insights are beneficial to boost productivity & sales.
5. Brand Loyalty
eCommerce app solutions are also helpful to maintain brand loyalty as these help the ventures to send the clients instant updates such as discounts, offers, and reward points. This keeps the users connect with the business for a long time.
6. Improved Communication
eCommerce businesses that want to have effective communication with their customers can do it with the help of mobile apps. It will provide you with two-way communication among vendors, employees, and customers with consistent support.
7. User-friendly App Design
Hire eCommerce app developers & designers who can provide you with a mobile app with user-friendly design, simple & easy-to-use structure, and attractive UI/UX. These kinds of apps are useful to enhance the conversion rate and user engagement in a positive way
8. Large User Base
Mobile apps have come up as a great tool for eCommerce ventures that want to target a large base of customers.
Read Also: Things to Consider for eCommerce Website Development
Must-have Features in eCommerce Mobile App
With the growth over time, the eCommerce market also has increased competition. It is the reason why all eCommerce businesses are going towards having advanced eCommerce and m-commerce app development services? These solutions help them to get a competitive advantage and stand out in the market.
While hiring a reliable mobile app development company or developers, ensure they are going to provide you with an eCommerce app with cutting-edge features to shine out among all the existing competitors. Following are the features-
Core Features
Below we have mentioned some of the core features that must be added to your eCommerce app, have a look-
Social Sign-up or Log-in
Users prefer apps that can provide them more convenience, be it in terms of sign-up or log-in. Although it seems a common feature to add, it is an essential one. In this, users don’t need to make a different account to register for the app, they can use any of their social media accounts. They can also save these credentials for the next time they log into the app.
User-friendly Interface
Whether it is iOS or Android app development services, it is necessary to have an app with impressive & responsive design along with UI controls, unique content, features & functions, and many more.
Real-time Notification
Push notifications are the way to inform users about the latest deals, ongoing or upcoming sales, discounts & offers. Users will be notified by email or message on their mobile screen or in their inbox.
Search & Filters
m-commerce app development company and developers both understand the need for this essential feature, that’s why they include it in their apps. By applying searches & filters, users can search about the specific product and can also sort them as per their preferences.
Users Cart
There are times when a user likes something but can’t buy that product at that time due to many reasons, hence this option facilitates them to add that product into the cart so that they can purchase it later.
Wish List
Through this feature, users can mark their favorite products to buy them later and the eCommerce app keeps suggesting to the users about that product.
Flexible Customer Support
Nowadays, if any user has any confusion or query about some product, they want it to be solved quickly. Therefore, providing customers quick 24*7 support makes the app reliable, and users are satisfied & impressed with your services.
Secure Payment Modes
Although the whole world is adopting technological advancements, we are frightened with our privacy & security as well. When a user does a money transaction within an app, it stacks their personal and bank details, hence it is the app’s responsibility to provide them with multiple & secure payment modes to maintain their privacy.
Feedback & Reviews
App provides services to make the users happy and if any user feels something wrong about any service, they should be allowed to provide their valuable feedback to the authorities. These reviews & feedbacks are necessary as users check them before buying the products from any site.
Advanced Features
Integration of advanced apps can surely affect the overall eCommerce app development cost but it is going to be worth it in the end. These features will grab the attention of eCommerce app users and will provide an ultimate experience for them. Let’s have a look at the below features-
Role-based Dashboard
These role-based dashboards are designed differently just for providing real-time app data on different dashboards so that the admin can have a better understanding of the data. These dashboards are useful to display data related to the admin’s role.
24*7 Chatbot
To make your eCommerce app more interactive and engaging, chatbot integration is significant as it connects the app with its users in a better way. It will also provide customers with a unique experience by answering all their questions. Businesses must hire a top Retail app development company that can provide this customized feature within their app.
Real-time Analytics
This feature is helpful to provide the app, with real-time data that is relevant to online users, transactions, buying services or popular items, hot spots for purchased items, and more. This data is useful to extract beneficial information to make decisions about business growth and success.
Artificial Intelligence
eCommerce apps integrated with AI have better scope than apps with common features. AI apps support retail businesses to provide options such as image search, voice support, and product suggestions to users by analyzing & tracking their behavior via advanced analytics.
Effective CRM Systems
It is an advanced and must-have feature to integrate while having eCommerce Android or iOS app development services. CRM will be helpful to handle numerous tasks such as maintaining the relationship with the customers specifically by forming marketing strategies, applying them, and reporting. It also helps you to collect, manage, and use customer data to strategize the plans for customers.
IoT Integrated Apps
IoT is becoming an essential thing to add to the apps to provide a better experience to users as it has revolutionized the phrase ‘connectivity’. We can see the IoT in eCommerce apps such as voice support and beacon alerts.
Read Also: Top Reasons Why E-Commerce Businesses Need a Mobile App
Monetization Strategies for eCommerce App
Not only one, but various monetization strategies are also applied by eCommerce apps to get high business revenue. Here we have explained some possible ways through which you can make a lot of money:
1. Business Monetization Model
This model is beneficial for those businesses who want to promote their brand by offering customers different services and products. These types of businesses can make money by providing their customers annual packages, and monthly subscriptions, or can retain the old ones by offering discounts or loyalty points.
2. Aggregator Business Model
Businesses who follow the concept of famous eCommerce market players such as Flipkart, Amazon, eBay, and others, will like this monetization model for sure. Getting sponsorship or partnership with multiple brands will provide you a chance to earn more money. This concept work in a way where they will sell their products with the name of your brand and on each sale, you will have some percentage of their profit.
Required Team Structure & Technology Stack
When it is about developing an eCommerce app, businesses need an efficient team of expert designers and developers that have enough knowledge about the latest technologies & tools and can provide you an app with impressive UI/UX design services.
It is significant to hire a professional and skilled team to get an app integrated with advanced technologies or functionality, otherwise, it will not make it for a longer period in the market. Therefore, hire mobile app developers with rich knowledge or a top app development company, so that you can be sure about the app quality.
i) Team Structure
Finding the right team of designers & developers for having eCommerce app development services is not an easy task. It should be the foremost thing to do or consider while deciding on app development. Following are the must-have members in your eCommerce app development team-
- Project Manager
- Business Analyst
- UI/UX Designers
- Front-end Developers
- Back-end Developers
- Android App Developers & iOS App Developers
- Database Experts
- QA Engineers
ii) Technology Stack
After knowing about the required team structure, you must know about the latest technology stack to integrate within the app to make it advanced & extraordinary. Check out this below tech stack-
- Front-end Technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, LESS
- Operating Systems: Google’s Android, Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS
- Web Server: Nginx, Apache, & Microsoft’s IIS
- Databases: MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Firebase, and DynamoDB
- Frameworks: Yii2, Laravel, Nest.js, Express
- Programming Languages: Ruby, PHP, C#, Python, etc.
- Payment Gateways: PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, and Braintree.
- Analytical Tools: Piwik, Woopra, Hotjar.
- CRM: Zoho, Salesforce, & Microsoft Dynamics
How to Create an eCommerce App?
Businesses are required to hire experts from different domains for eCommerce app development. To get an easy-to-use, intuitive, and feature-rich eCommerce mobile app, here we are going to provide some of the essential steps that will simplify the whole process along with providing you an estimation of eCommerce app development cost. Keep scrolling to know the step-by-step points:
Step 1: Identify the Market & Audiences
Analysis of the market, audiences, and existing competitors is an important factor to consider in the process of how to develop an eCommerce app. Moving ahead, it will also include the details such as what to develop, what to include, the required technology stack, how to develop, and so much more. Identifying all these things will make the development proves way easier and sorted for the whole development team. The research must consider the requirements and expectations of target audiences to draw their attention to the app after launch.
Step 2: App Designing
In the designing process, creating wireframes and prototypes is the foremost step as it represents how the app will look and how it will function. Here, the client will choose a suitable design by looking at some of the samples. In this, the design cost will depend on the available app screens and the occurred complexity. After finalizing the prototype, the work on UI/UX app design will start. Designers must consider that the app design will be responsive, intuitive, and appealing enough to get a large base of users.
Step 3: Development Phase
While knowing how to build an eCommerce app, it is the most significant step to go through. The phase includes all the important aspects such as putting logic, including features & functionalities, and many more. The development phase needs the highest amount of attention from the development team. Developers can also divide the whole development process into parts to make it easy. The main eCommerce app development cost depends on the development part. The more time this step will take, the more cost will be there.
Step 4: App Testing
After getting done with the development part, it is time to test the created app. there are chances of errors and without resolving them, it is not possible to launch the app. It is the ultimate challenge faced by the entire team, if there is an error occurred, it will get solved first, and then, the app will be re-tested. Hence, the step is very crucial after the app development.
Step 5: App Launching
After getting an error-free app, it will be able to release in the market for people to use. Many businesses go for beta testing first to know the audiences’ reaction and then, launch the improved version of the app. It is cost-efficient as well along with being a smart move. The app will be launched on the chosen app platform while compliant with the required terms and policies.
Factors Affecting the Overall Ecommerce App Development Cost
What are those factors that affect the overall cost of eCommerce app development? Below-described factors such as several features, platform, app complexity & development time, in-house or outsourced services, location, and many more are the reason for the cost variation of developing an eCommerce app.
1. Number of Platforms
If the entrepreneur wants to have a large base of users, he/she must consider a cross-platform eCommerce application rather than a native app. In comparison, the cost of a hybrid app would be higher than a native app.
2. In-house or Outsource
Outsourcing the app development services and hiring in-house developers are two different things that can have an impact on the cost to develop an app.
3. Different Locations
Mobile app development companies and developers at different locations charge differently, therefore choose according to your requirements and budget.
4. Core & Advanced Features
Integration of numerous cores & advanced features will vary the cost as there is a difference between a fully-fledged app and an MVP version of the application. In the end, it will be only you to decide what you want to have?
These were some prime factors that can differ the eCommerce app development cost; apart from all the above-mentioned factors, the cost will also depend upon your hired eCommerce app development company. These all points are considerable to answer the question “How much does an eCommerce app cost”?
How Much Does It Cost to Develop An eCommerce App?
After knowing about all the necessary aspects, we have come up with the final discussion about the eCommerce mobile app cost. Taking about this, look at the below to estimate the complete app cost.
Hence, the overall eCommerce app development cost would range between $20,000 to $50,000 for a native application with advanced features. If you want a cross-platform app with advanced features, this estimated cost will be around $40,000 to $100,000. In the end, this cost is not the exact one, it is just an estimation and will differ as per your business requirements and the time taken for the development.
Summing up
As we have mentioned all the considerable things to know about the eCommerce app development. In this article, you have got a good idea regarding the overall cost & features of eCommerce app development.
We can consider it as a complete guide to eCommerce app development if you want to step into this lucrative industry. Don’t wait for long; it is the right time to enter the eCommerce market and establish your business with a bang with the help of a full-fledged eCommerce application.
