eCommerce Mobile App Development - Types, Features & Cost

People increasingly prefer to make purchases online as they can finish browsing, comparing, and making orders all in one go just by tapping on their handheld screens. No wonder e-commerce mobile app development continues to remain one of the most popular app niches all around the world.

According to Statista, Worldwide retail e-commerce sales have hit an impressive mark of approximately 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Forecasts suggest a substantial increase of 39 percent in these figures in the next few years, with sales expected to exceed 8 trillion dollars by 2027. With such staggering figures glaring around, it is natural for many small and medium businesses to develop an eCommerce mobile app for their brand.

But despite the huge opportunities, e-commerce mobile app development only guarantees success if you know how to shape your app to grab the target audience’s attention and convert sales. Here we provide a guide for your help.

Types of Modern eCommerce Mobile App

To develop an eCommerce mobile application for your business, you first need to consider the various types of e-commerce apps in the market. Here we explain these different e-commerce mobile app categories and their attributes.

Business-2-Business (B2B) Apps

This is a type of eCommerce mobile app through which other businesses can make purchases of their needful. Hence these apps are called B2B e-commerce apps. Typically, apps that allow retailers to make wholesale purchases for their shops or online stores fall under this category. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba belongs to this category.

Business-2-Customer (B2C) Apps

B2C e-commerce mobile app development is the most popular and common. Most of the eCommerce apps from where end-user customers make their purchases directly are B2C apps, and the vast majority of e-commerce apps, including Amazon, fall into this category.

eCommerce Aggregator App

Another popular category, the eCommerce aggregator app, lists many local businesses allowing customers to choose their preferred seller and make orders through the aggregator app. Food aggregator apps or grocery aggregator apps fall under this category.

Customer-2-Customer (C2C) Apps

As per this e-commerce business model, the customers can make sales and purchases among themselves through an e-commerce app platform. Apps like Etsy or OLX fall under this category.

Carry out an Extensive Market Research

Before you hire an e-commerce mobile app development company for the project, you must conduct extensive market research. You know both your audience market and the competitors closely. This will help you decide better at every step of the project.  

Why will customers prefer using your app instead of opting for Alibaba, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, or others? What are the key value propositions that your target audience is looking for? You can successfully develop an eCommerce mobile app when you figure this out. At the same time, you need to analyze the competitors and their strengths and shortcomings so that things work better for your app.

Plan the App Budget Meticulously

As a crucial step, you must consider eCommerce mobile app development cost as a key aspect of your entire project planning. It is always important to remember that prominent and leading e-commerce apps are developed over time as they continue to taste success gradually.

So, you only need to put part of the show together with the first release. Plan for an incremental release starting with the elementary app features followed by more advanced ones based on customer feedback.

Select the Right eCommerce Mobile App Development Approach and Platform

Do you aspire to build one native app at a time instead of embracing the “build once and run everywhere” approach of hybrid development? If you want to go for native development just for an improved customer experience despite a higher eCommerce mobile app development cost, you probably didn’t consider cross-platform development.

With cross-platform development, you can reuse maximum code across platforms while using native UI components for a platform-specific look and feel. Consider hiring an eCommerce mobile app development company with native and cross-platform expertise for better guidance.

Choosing the Right Features for an eCommerce App

To develop an eCommerce mobile app that can make an impression and gradually deepen that impact over time, you need to plan your app features meticulously. You must maintain the initial release’s basic e-commerce app features and user experience. But you can always let advanced features wait on the sideline and take them in based on the user’s pain points and feedback.

Any eCommerce mobile app development company with an excellent reputation and experience knows that it requires judging market traction to stabilize the features and UX attributes, so embracing incremental development is the right thing to do. Some must-have and elementary features for e-commerce mobile app development include dynamic product listing with multiple components, user registration and login with social credentials, user panel, shopping cart, push notifications, in-app messaging support, integrated e-wallet, and other payment channels, etc.

Some advanced and nice-to-have features for e-commerce mobile apps include chatbot support, multilingual support, GPS map and navigation support, voice search, AR-based shopping experience, etc.

Choosing the Right Technology Stack

When you have the project details precise and go to hire an eCommerce mobile app development company, you need to understand the standard technologies used for e-commerce app projects worldwide.

The most well-known frontend technologies used for e-commerce app development include tried and tested web development technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and several JavaScript libraries or frameworks such as React, Angular, Vue, or others.

The standard and widely popular backend technologies used by eCommerce mobile app development companies include operating systems such as iOS, Android, and Windows, Web Servers, languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, PHP, and Swift, and frameworks like NodeJS, etc.

The common database systems used in e-commerce app projects include MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Firebase, DynamoDB, and others.

3 Critical Considerations for Mobile eCommerce

Since you are trying to shift the tried and tested e-commerce experience to mobile platforms, there are some critical considerations for such projects. For any eCommerce mobile app development company, these 3 areas offer the ingredients of no less than an acid test. Let’s have a quick look at them.

Security & Privacy

When signing in to an eCommerce app, customers must disclose their personal information, including their contact details and financial data. Handling such sensitive data requires trust; hence, you need to ensure the safekeeping of this trust by proactively eliminating all kinds of security vulnerabilities.

Stronger authentication measures, data encryption, a powerful threat and anomaly detection mechanism, a private cloud, and strong access rules are key to maintaining strong and impenetrable e-commerce security.

Scalability

Since every e-commerce business vies for continuous growth, the app should be made to accommodate this constant growth. This requires a highly scalable information architecture that can rapidly scale capacity to accommodate more user requests and app functions.

Stable Performance

Finally, stable app performance without glitches and crashes is the key to success for any e-commerce app. The app should not experience crashes and should load in less than two seconds, irrespective of the traffic volume. The app must be updated frequently and allow frequent iterations based on user feedback to maintain such stellar performance.

Mobile Commerce Trends in 2024

In the dynamic world of eCommerce mobile app development, staying ahead means embracing the latest trends. Let's dive into the first part of this journey.

AI Chatbot:

They’re kind of like having a clever shopping buddy who’s always there to help. These chatbots are powered by something called Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning, which means they can chat with you just like a real person. Say goodbye to waiting around for answers or feeling lost in an app. These AI friends are all about making your shopping experience really personal and a lot more straightforward. They’re pretty smart – they learn from your conversations, remember what you like, and sometimes, it’s almost like they read your mind and know exactly what you’re after. But it’s not just shoppers who are getting all the perks. Businesses are big fans too, because these chatbots help keep things ticking over smoothly. They’re a win-win in the world of online shopping!

Big Data:

Big Data is kind of a big deal in the world of eCommerce mobile apps. It's like having a superpower that unlocks all sorts of excellent insights. Consider it a treasure hunt with Data Mining and Predictive Analytics as your trusty tools. These tools are like secret agents for businesses, gathering intel on what customers like and how they shop. So, what's in it for us? It's stunningly cool. It means businesses can make smart choices based on all the information they collect. The result? Shopping experiences that feel like they're made just for you. Imagine walking into a store where everything feels right - that's the personal touch we're talking about! Big Data in Retail isn't just about dealing with heaps of information. It's about making every single customer interaction meaningful. It's like taking all those numbers and stats and turning them into a better, more enjoyable shopping journey for everyone.

AR:

It's like stepping into a sci-fi movie but for shopping! AR turns your phone into a magic window where you can try on things or see products in your space, all through your screen. It's making online shopping a lot more fun and interactive. Imagine trying on a pair of sunglasses or seeing how a new sofa looks in your living room just by tapping your phone. That's AR for you! Apps are now using this cool tech to make shopping not just about scrolling and clicking but experiencing products. It's like jumping into the future of how we buy stuff. AR is seriously shaking things up in the shopping world, and it's not hard to see why. It's like making everything you want to buy pop out of the screen and come to life right before you!

Offline Mode fixes:

Do you know how annoying it is when you can't use an app because there's no internet? Well, Offline Mode fixes that. It lets you access key parts of the app even when you're not connected to the web. It's like having a secret stash of your favorite stuff saved up, ready to use anytime. Adding Offline Mode means you can keep browsing, checking things out, or doing what you need without delays.

Blockchain:

It's like adding a super-strong lock and a clear window to every transaction. This tech is key for handling Cryptocurrency Payments and using Smart Contracts, which makes buying and selling smoother. In the retail world, Blockchain means super secure transactions. Also, it's a total revolution in how supply chains are managed. Imagine being able to see and track everything clearly from beginning to end. With Blockchain getting into eCommerce, it opens up new, secure ways to pay with crypto, totally switching up how we do online shopping.

How Much Does It Cost to Build an eCommerce Mobile App?

Last but not least, we must give a glimpse of the eCommerce mobile app development cost to help your assessment of the project budget. Though it is impossible to determine accurate prices, we can at least understand the variables that impact the eCommerce app development cost.

The number of app features, target mobile OS platforms, UI/UX design complexity, etc., impact the eCommerce mobile app development cost. The cost also varies based on the developer’s location and where the business hails from. For example, the hourly rates of e-commerce app developers will be highest in North America and most of Western Europe. At the same time, the cost will be much lesser in Asia, East Europe, and even South America.

In case you are still looking for the final app development cost of an eCommerce mobile app. Consult a reliable mobile app development company like IndianAppDevelopers for top-notch custom app development solutions.

Cut Cost in India by Up to 20% by Hiring IndianAppDevelopers Company for eCommerce Mobile App Development

IndianAppDevelopers make high-performance eCommerce mobile apps at 15% to 25% lower cost than other mobile app development companies in India. The cost of making an eCommerce mobile app from IndianAppDevelopers can range from $15000 to $120,000 depending on customized complex apps. you can hire an app developer team in India on a short-term, retainer, or long-term basis to build a new eCommerce mobile app from scratch that is competent enough in custom app solutions.

Sweeping Remark

To cut it short, eCommerce mobile app development, despite all the development challenges, can help you shape a thriving success story when you do things correctly. A decision taken in a rush and executed in an equal rush cannot ultimately deliver a sustainable platform that customers feel to have a bond with. This is why e-commerce projects need the most meticulous planning among all the app categories.

You know the huge business opportunities in an eCommerce app waiting for you. But the question is, can you sacrifice your energy and continuous focus to make it through? Let’s not forget many e-commerce app projects fail to create an impact because they consider it a side business alongside their existing ones. Change your attitude towards mobile e-commerce, consider it the next significant gateway to opportunities, and everything else is bound to change.