Have you noticed how the «shopping map» of your city changed in the last several years? Some boutiques closed because of the lack of customers, others changed their assortment and implemented express delivery, and the most advanced thrive as they invested into ecommerce app development in order to have the opportunity for trading nationwide. If you drop in stats, you will discover that the dominant number of sales belongs to online enterprises. To be precise, 63% of purchases that people made in 2020 committed via the internet. And this number is growing.
So, if the idea to start a business online swirled around in your head and caused more questions than answers, this overview will become a bit of help on the way to driving your project home. We shed light on various facets of the issue, and, of course, consider what impacts ecommerce app development cost. Let’s dive into the issue and find out what you need to know to start.
What the e-commerce app is
An ecommerce app can be defined as a platform that works like an intermediary between buyers and sellers. Leaning on the types of customers and suppliers, they can be subdivided into three types.
- E-commerce app which connects customers with each other. The solutions like etsy.com, eBay, livemaster.com and others eloquently illustrate this type.
- E-commerce apps which serve like a bridge between different kinds of businesses. For example, Taimba offers agricultural businesses to find retailers.
- E-commerce apps that allow businesses to interact with customers are the most popular type. Remember the success stories of AliExpress or amazon.
What differs e-commerce app from marketplace
When you make up to start ecommerce app development, you decide to be an owner of your online store. So, it’s up to you what brands and assortment will be showcased in the project. As a founder, you determine what features the app will include, what its target audience is and how marketing strategy will work. You can consider ecommerce app development for a single brand or for several.
If you want you can turn your e-commerce app into a marketplace and let other sellers use the solution for searching for customers. That is what happened with amazon. Started as a bookshop, it evolved into a worldwide online-store.
What makes ecommerce app development worth investment
The trend for distance commerce was significantly catalyzed by the pandemic restrictions. When people had no opportunity to visit offline shops, they turned their attention to shopping online. As time passes by, the customers are getting used to acquiring tons of things via internet shops. The list of purchases is impressive: from grocery to real estate. So, ecommerce app development is expected to be in demand in the present and future.
It has been estimated that e-commerce reached a profit of $690 billion in 2020. And as eMarketer’s predicts, eCommerce sales only in the US will reach $151.20 billion in 2022. The growth in 16.9% compared to 2021.
Although the market seems to be overcrowded, there’s always a place for better service, faster delivery, greater assortment and deeper engagement!
And if you are stumbling between «wait» and «start», it’s a precious time to get under way.
This mushrooming sector can be concealing a plethora of opportunities!
Monetization strategies
In order to dig into a profitable ecommerce app development, think over sources of revenue in advance.
The practice-tested ways for money making are as follows.
Delivery fee. Since customers are getting used to delivery for free, it will be a losing strategy to force them to pay for this service. The research discovered that only 25% of buyers are ready to be charged for delivery.
Sponsored content is a more promising way to get charge. When a seller buys this service, he can count to promote his items more efficiently.
Commission fee. This is a favorite marketing technique on marketplaces. The sellers pay several percent from the cost of sold items.
For example, Etsy charges 5% from each sale. In your ecommerce app development, you can follow this way.
Subscription is a way to find balance between sellers’ and buyers’ interests. For example, by buying a subscription, customers can get access to special prices or delivery «for free».
The study says in 2021, sales of goods to consumers enriched the top 100 online marketplaces in the world on $3.23 trillion.
These numbers confirm you are on a promising path, when thinking of ecommerce app development.
What features the e-commerce app should include
You don’t need to invent the wheel when you’re planning ecommerce app development. Best in class solutions can be your guiding star in the world of top-notch products. Examine their structure and content, and you’ll see what features are expected to be in the e-commerce app.
As sellers as well as buyers need to introduce themselves, the personal accounts are required. Don’t bother users with too detailed information, ask only for core features. The less obstacles to sign in, the better on-boarding rates can be seen.
As buyers are willing to search for specific items, they should be equipped with all-round filters and other options in order to find precisely what they want. This target can be smashed with a well organized catalogue. On the other hand, sellers should be empowered to showcase the respective list of products adding correct description, tags and photos.
When the customer finds something interesting, he clicks and gets into the item page. Here all the possible data concerning the item’s parameters (size, color, situations of use etc.) and conditions of delivery should be reported. If you intend to improve purchase conversions and boost retaining of customers, lure them with such features as wishlist.
Many customers avoid spontaneous purchases, but when they have enough time to assess benefits of the offer, they can return and acquire what they selected. When a customer decides to buy something, offer him a comfortable payment service.
Make sure that all the sensitive data is secured and the connection with third-party services isn’t in danger. Trust of your customers is the most valuable asset you have. If the customer had a positive experience with new acquisitions, he will possibly repeat his orders. In this case such features as order history is very helpful.
The opportunity to find an acquired item and leave a review on it also contributes to getting feedback for sellers and instructs future customers. When a customer faces any puzzling situation, he shouldn’t feel like a blind kitten. A working customer support service can save the situation. The most quick and convenient way to help customers cope with the troubles is to organize support via chat.
What impacts the price of ecommerce app development
In short, it depends on the scale of work your idea requires and hourly rates of specialists that are involved in the process. The fully staffing team equipped with experience and knowledge will spend less time and will achieve better results than novice developers. In its turn, hourly rates of professionals are determined by their efficiency, expertise in the selected domain and location. The ecommerce app development you would, for example, order in India cost approximately three times cheaper than the analogous project in the US. But when it comes to picking a proper contractor, don’t neglect quality in favor of costs.
For example, at Purrweb the system of pricing is transparent and includes all the necessary work to perform ecommerce app development from scratch to delivery to the market. Based on previous orders, guys estimated the average cost of ecommerce app development staggering between $25, 000 and $60, 000. As the work on the project is distributed between seven dedicated teammates, it cuts the corners and empowers to get results in 3-6 months. If you take into account that ecommerce app development is performed with React Native and due to it being available on various platforms (android, iOS), the offer wins extra points to its score.
So, don’t hesitate to start your search and after accurately checking reviews, performed works and blogs, get in touch with the company whose portfolio impressed you.
