The online shopping trending is skyrocketing. People from across the globe prefer to buy their desired products or services at their doorsteps. According to a report by Statista, e-commerce sales are expected to reach 4.2 trillion US dollars by the end of 2020. It will definitely bring opportunities for eCommerce app development.
The increasing trend suggests that the sales number will increase to 6.5 trillion US dollars by the year 2023 as shown in the image above.
The increasing trend of online shopping clearly suggests the importance of having marketplace mobile applications. And it is high time you should go for marketplace mobile app development.
There are several biggies like Uber, eBay, Amazon, etc. who are leveraging the marketplace apps like anything and enjoying the multi-billion dollars of turnover each year.
UrbanClap is one of the prominent names in marketplace mobile applications, which was started in 2014, and in a short span, its turnover reached USD $17 million by the end of 2019. Analysts suggest that its revenue will triple itself in the coming year.
Just like the e-commerce apps, the online marketplace mobile apps also facilitate consumers and sellers to buy and sell their products & services as per their convenience.
Different Types of Marketplace Mobile Apps
There are around 7.8 billion people in the world in 2020, and you will be shocked to know that just over a quarter of this figure, that is, 2.5 billion people are digital buyers across the world.
The increasing number of online shoppers leads to a rise in the demand for different kinds of marketplace mobile applications. If you want to hire a mobile app developer for your marketplace mobile apps, then first you have to be clear on what, how, and to whom you are offering or selling your products.
Let’s pick each one by one. When we talk about What one should sell, then you can have either of the two options to build marketplace mobile apps:
1. Marketplace mobile apps for goods – The best example of such apps that first come to our mind include names like Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, AliExpress, and many more. Or you can go for:
2. Marketplace mobile apps for services – Some of the popular names that offer services include names like Uber for taxis, Rover for dog walking, SimplySurfurs for surfing, Handy for house cleaning, etc.
When we talk about How, we usually consider the vertical or horizontal marketplace.
1. The Vertical Marketplace – The marketplace app based on a vertical platform allows consumers to purchase similar kinds of products or services from different sources. TrueFacet sells jewelry, UrbanSitter offers babysitting services.
2. The Horizontal Marketplace – The best example of this kind of apps includes Etsy, which sells products from multiple categories but holds expertise in vintage & handmade items. These types of apps have similar products and services with similar characteristics.
Now comes the part where we talk about Whom – here you have to consider the following this before going for marketplace mobile app development:
- B2B – If you as a business want to sell your product/services to another business.
- B2C – If you as a business want to sell your products or services directly to customers.
- C2C – When consumers sell their goods/services to other consumers directly.
Here are some more types of the online marketplace:
- Buyer focused e-marketplace
- Supplier focused e-marketplace
- Independent e-marketplace
- eCommerce target audience
Essential Features of Marketplace App Development
Admin panel
This panel gives admin the overall control over the product inventory, procedures, managing orders, clients’ database, along with the categorization of items, managing reviews, approving selected products, and many other things.
The must-have features of the admin panel include:
- Real-time updates from a single dashboard
- User management solutions
- Options for charging a commission
- Analytics and Reports
- Stock visibility and management
- Customer management
- Invoicing Solutions
- Itemizing by Category
- Tax management
Seller Panel
Following are the top seller panel features for marketplace mobile applications:
- Social Connect and Sign-up Login
- Display of vendor-specific store URLs
- Order management solutions
- Stock management
- Offers, promotions and discounts
- In-app chat system
- Transaction management
- Reports and analytics
Buyer Panel
- Bolster your marketplace mobile app development with strong buyer panel equipped with the following features:
- Registration/Authorization
- Management of personal profile
- Client support for connecting with sellers
- Listings
- Search engine for easy search
- Shopping cart
- Wishlist
- Reviews and testimonials
- Integrated payment functionality
- Tracking of customer order
Advance Feature for Marketplace Mobile Apps
Augmented Reality – Integrate your app with Augmented Reality technology. It will help consumers to visually evaluate the goods and services before the final payment.
Behavior Tracking – Through this feature, the admin can understand and analyze the behavior of customers and offer them user-centric suggestions, and that will enhance the engagement with the application.
Heat Map View – Get this feature, and you can understand the services in demand at a particular time of the year, and you can prepare yourself accordingly to serve client-centric products or services.
Voice Search – The trend of voice search is booming in the current time. Amazon or any other marketplace app, each of it is offering a voice search option to the customers. List your products or services compatible with the voice search parameters.
Advanced Search Option – Give your mobile app visitors a complete facility to search for their desired product or services in a strategic way. It will elevate consumer experience and improve customer engagement.
Photo Shopping – Let your customers buy their desired products without knowing the name of its brand and just by seeing the picture. Customers can click a photo of the product and search the photo using the image mode.
Additional Features
- Multi-currency support
- Multi-language support
- Subscription
- Product tracking
- Google map integration
- Predictive search
- Auto tax calculation
- Multiple payment options
Required Technology Stack
- Programming Languages – Java, PHP, and Python
- Front-end – Angular, HTML5, CSS, ReactJS
- Mobile Development – Android, Java, iOS
- Back-end – NodeJS
- Payment – PayPal, Braintree, Stripe
- Analytics – Google Analytics
- Recommendations – Machine learning algorithms
- Infrastructure – Amazon Web Service (AWS)
- Database – MySQL, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL
- Push Notifications – Twilio, push.io
- Cloud Environment – Google, Azure, Salesforce
- Map Navigation – Google map
Required Team Structure for Marketplace Mobile Application
There is an absolute need for a skilled and experienced team to develop marketplace mobile applications. Each individual has his or her own specialties. Here is a brief of the required team structure:
- Project manager
- Business analysis team
- iOS & Android developers
- Cross-platform app developers (if required)
- Backend Developers
- Front-end Developers
- QA experts
How much does it cost to build marketplace app development?
There are four factors that determine the cost of your project; they are – the scope of your project, technologies, and tools you require, third-party services if you hire any, and the hourly rate of the marketplace mobile app development company.
If we talk about the hourly rate, the approx ideas go like this:
- North America – Price range is 410 to $225
- South America – Price range is $21 to $107
- United Kingdom – Price range is $32 to $ 167
- Eastern Europe – Price range is $20 to $97
- Australia – Price range is $32 to $142
- India – Price range is $8 to $80
If you hire mobile app development company, then here’s the department wise cost structure:
- Front-end & back-end development – Price range is $9000 to $12000
- QA and testing – Price range is $4000 to $5000
- UX//UI design – Price range is $2000 to $3000
Conclusion
The outbreak of pandemic has affected many lives, and people are now more inclined towards the services that offer them home delivery. It is the best time you should go for marketplace mobile app development.
We have tried to cover all the aspects which might come in handy for you at the time of development. Make sure the firm that you hire has expertise in all these technologies and features discussed above.
