Who hasn’t heard about Amazon? I guess the count would be barely a few percent of people on this earth. That is why Amazon is the world’s largest company with a net worth running in trillions of dollars. It mints billions of dollars in profits and is the pinnacle of marketplace website development. In simple terms, Amazon rules the world. The other two players who closely follow Amazon are eBay and Etsy nowadays. eBay has around 138 million active users, and Etsy has 90+ million active buyers.
Marketplaces have gone a long way in winning the hearts of users. Shoppers have rapidly switched their traditional shopping habits to online shopping, making up to 80% of global shopping. There is a rise in demand for Amazon-like marketplace apps. The common question that any business would have after looking at the Amazon marketplace is the costs it had to bear to create such a revolutionary Ecommerce business. It can differ from $40000 to $300000, mostly depending on the project’s complexity.
So, what factors and complexities you must know and understand before developing a successful mobile app for your business? The following sections of the article will give enough insights into what it takes to finalize the total cost to develop an app.
Ways to Establish the Cost of Developing a Marketplace App like Amazon
Numerous factors contribute to the nuances of app development including its features, UI/UD designs, hours needed to write the code, app development agency’s location, and much more. Everything about establishing cost is based on the complexity of your app development project and the sum of development hours needed to build and deploy the product. These development hours include design, wireframe, and code writing for the app’s maintenance and quality assurance. We can give you a simple overview of the prices to develop a marketplace app based on their level of complexity and time frames.
| Type of Marketplace App | Estimated Cost | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Basic features Marketplace App |
$40000 - $60000 |
3 to 6 months |
|
Extensive Feature list average complex app |
$60000 - $100000 |
6 to 9 months |
|
Complex features list highly complex app |
$100000 - $300000 |
9 plus months |
In addition to the above elements, you must also choose the type of e-marketplace you want to target. Since it is also a crucial element in establishing the total cost of developing an online marketplace app, let us take a glance at what types of e-marketplaces exist.
Vertical Marketplace
You get goods and products from multiple sellers, keeping the type of items the same. They offer only specific goods and have the best sellers. For example: Zillow.
Horizontal Marketplace
These marketplaces sell goods and services in multiple categories, having a common characteristic. For example, Etsy sells handmade items in eight different categories. Other examples are DogVacay and Poshmark.
Global Marketplace
It is one such marketplace offering a massive diversity of goods such as books, furniture, apparel, toys, groceries, software, appliances, and much more. Here, a huge bunch of market segments are consolidated to grab the maximum types of customers. They have several categories of goods and they offer competitive prices. Amazon is one such big illustration.
Now that you are clear about some of the major aspects that you must look for when establishing the cost of developing a marketplace app, let us understand the top factors that also influence the costs.
Factors Affecting the Marketplace App Development Cost
Let us understand why the below factors are the major checkpoints from where you can determine the actual cost of developing a marketplace app like Amazon.
Wireframe
Wireframing of an app is all about creating a rough template of a mobile app to provide an idea of the overall appearance to the client. The average cost estimate for wireframe development is around $800 – $1000.
Development
From building ideas to designing, everything gets a code here so that your mobile app can fully function. Your online marketplace app development cost depends on various elements such as the number of resources deployed to work for your project, the entire range of functionalities to be included, hourly rates of marketplace app developers, comprehensive timeframe for the development, etc. This leads to the coding cost needed to build your marketplace app like Amazon with around $30000 – $100000
UI/UX Design
Your marketplace app must have flexible and versatile app designs that have the potential to set the tone for mass adoption in the entire marketplace. Your design elements must speak the length, depth, and intricacies of your brand services. The ultimate cost to develop a mobile app here would be around $7000 – $20000.
App Platform
If you are wondering how far will your overall app budget go, the app platform is the major factor that you must look into. It is not just about choosing between Android and iOS platforms, but it is about your choice of one platform at a time. Looking into the kind of target audience you are prioritizing, always start with a single platform and then switch to cross-platform app development. Simultaneously, keep the budget in check starting with MVP development. Soon when your app starts gaining momentum and higher traction, you can make it a full-fledged application.
Team Size
Choosing the most suitable project development model influences the overall cost of your app. Whether you are selecting freelance developers and designers or hiring in-house experts for your marketplace app development, your costs fluctuate accordingly. Hiring a full-fledged Ecommerce application development company with a team will increase your costs, however, you will get the top-notch expertise and professional services that will be worth the cost.
To develop a marketplace app like Amazon, you need one project manager, 2-3 iOS/Android developers, 2-3 backend developers, 1-2 designers, and 1-2 quality analysts.
App Maintenance
App maintenance costs can add up to your overall app development cost at times. It deals with an array of tasks like working around new technologies, implementing new features that can play with market analytics, app upgrading, and dealing with maintenance costs. All this can keep you at the edge over your competitors.
Location of App Development Company
The location of your Ecommerce app development company also affects your overall cost. For every app development organization, the hourly rates vary depending on which part of the world they are located. You can hire Shopify developers from the US, UK, Asia, or Africa. In US or UK your total development cost will be manifold as compared to hiring from Asian and African regions.
| Region | Hourly Rate for Development (estimated) |
|---|---|
|
Eastern Europe |
$30 - $40 |
|
Asia |
$20 - $30 |
|
Latin America |
$40 - $60 |
|
Africa |
$20 - $40 |
Tech Stack
Online marketplace app development cost varies based on the technology stack you choose. Implementing robust and latest technologies into your app can cost more, however, it gives more traction in the market. In addition, improving the scalability of your app will enhance your app speed, retain your users, and improve navigation.
Features
Feature list is the most crucial element that decides your overall online marketplace app development cost. Developing your app with basic features will cost less compared to making a complex app that has more extensive features.
So what all kinds of features are essentially important to push your app into the success zone?
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Top Features That Your Marketplace App Must Have To Get a Success
To create a robust marketplace app like Amazon, you must make sure to add the following features:
-> Hassle-free registration process
-> Multiple payment options with payment integrations in the app
-> Push notifications to avoid users abandoning your app
-> Social media integration to help customers promote their purchases and share referral coupons and discounts
-> Add to cart option, helping customers save the product for the future
-> Ratings and reviews, add an element of trust in the originality of your services
-> Augmented Reality view of the products, enabling them to make the final decision
-> Live chat support, helping users easily connect with the support team, ensuring hassle-free communication
What Techniques Did Amazon Use For Building Such an Extraordinary Marketplace App
-> The app runs on Linux based technology and has the biggest database capacity
-> Its main forte is tracking customers, offering them customized shopping experiences
-> Works with multi-leveled business procedures, helping people around the world to sell anything they wish to through this platform.
-> The main data warehouse of Amazon consists of 28 HPS
-> Amazon uses Netscape Secure Commerce Server, having an SSL convention to offer amazing security.
Final Thoughts
Looking into the above factors and various other aspects while estimating costs for developing your online marketplace app, we assume you are well-prepared to take the next step. The time now is to build your dream marketplace app and build a robust community of massive followers who are your promising customers and service providers. For that, you can hire Shopify developers from a well-established Ecommerce app development company. For any sort of assistance, you can directly contact our experts. We, at Whitelotus Corporation, create feature-rich ecommerce apps for various brands. Our experts can guide you through the entire process, helping you get started with your awesome app development project.
