Key Considerations for building your dream eCommerce app!

Call them Fashionista or Shopaholic or whatever! People love to shop on-the-go! Irrespective of the time and place! At the very comfort of their homes or during the office breaks or while traveling back to their home from office! And that’s why eCommerce apps have been one of their favorites. Amazon, Flipkart, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, Groupon, Aliexpress, just name them!  They have already created their success stories.

ECommerce solutions have literally been the game-changer for both, customers as well as the business owners. It’s no surprise that businesses are increasingly investing in eCommerce mobile app development. But the question is how to go about it?

In this blog, we have outlined essential steps needed to architect an alluring eCommerce app, along with the development mistakes that can badly affect the app.

Essential Steps to Create an Amazing eCommerce App

Before knowing these steps, it is of utmost importance for the business owners to do thorough research on multiple factors that are mentioned below. Market research will help you to set better business goals, lower business risks, boost customer satisfaction, improve decision-making, outsell competitors, and ultimately make more sales.

Now, let us have a look at the crucial steps that must be followed to create an impeccable app. 

Come up with an idea

The first step in this process is to decide the idea and the goals for the app. What do you want your eCommerce app to look like, what should be the overall concept of the app? How will you measure the progress of the app? What are your KPIs? Do you first want to develop a Minimum Viable Product? Using a Business Model Canvas (BMC) can help you understand some important aspects like value prepositions, revenue, customer segments, etc. So having a well thought out idea in place is very important to avoid unnecessary expenses later.

Decide your target audience

• For whom are you creating this app?
• What is their average age?
• What are their interests and preferences?
• Which products do they like and have already bought?
• How will they find us?
• Is your service B2B or B2C? Accordingly, the choices of the target audience will change.
• Look at which mobile and web eCommerce platforms are being used by your target audience.

Answers to such questions will help you to streamline your development process, shape your eCommerce app correctly and even improve the app marketing.

Also, studying the buyer persona is essential to know your ideal customers. It includes needs and preferences of the potential customers, their motivations and similar data which will influence every factor in the eCommerce mobile app development journey.

Know your Competitors

List out your competitors and do a thorough analysis. Look at their products and services and see what attracts the buyers. Study their business model. However, don’t duplicate their features, business models, etc. Competitor analysis will help you to enhance your research, navigate different challenges in the market, improve your products and services and stand out amongst them, giving a competitive advantage.

Must-have app features

The next step for an eCommerce app development company is to determine the feature requirement of your app. A few of the must-have features that you should include in your app are:

• Product List and categorization
• Search Bar and Filters
• Push Notifications
• Multiple Payment Options
• Wishlist
• Look-books
• Easy Checkout
• Social Media Integration
• Review and Ratings
• Business Intelligence Tool
• Ratings and Reviews
• Synchronization across apps and websites

Decide technology based on budget

To determine the process and the budget, ask yourself the following questions:

• How much time and resources are you willing to invest in?
• Do you want to create an MVP model with the least features or want a feature-packed full-fledged eCommerce mobile app?
• Do you want to develop native apps for both Android and iOS platforms? Or want cross-platform development? Do you also want a PWA?
• Do you want an expensive backend development with low maintenance or high maintenance third-party APIs having a comparatively low budget?
• Are you looking for hybrid app development for better time-to-market or native app development for better sustainability?
• Do you want to make a bespoke app by hiring a brand new team or go for a SAAS solution?

Once you decide on the above questions, there are different pricing models available to choose from. They are scope based, time-based, fixed price models, or you can opt for dedicated resource hiring.

App development

After doing the thorough research on the above enlisted points, you can now finally start the design and development of your dream eCommerce app.

Follow these tips for a good end result and unparalleled experiences to the users:

• Ensure that the app has user-friendly navigation
• Remove the excess clutter from the app
• Incorporate app templates to speed up and streamline processes
• Focus on personalizing the customer experience
• Give a personal touch to the app with Live Chat support.
• Use alluring images and animations for better impact
• Avoid using contrast color combinations, fonts, layouts, etc.

Market your app

Marketing the app is equally important as its development is. After all, getting more downloads, views, purchases is the final aim of the app development. One can create buzz about the app even before the release of the app. Some of the strategies used for successful marketing of the apps are content marketing, SEO optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, paid advertisement, app marketing, etc.

Publish the app

Finally, you are all set to publish the app on different mobile app stores like AppStore and Play Store. You can go on the app stores and sign up on their accounts, pay their registration fees, write the description and privacy policy for the app, upload the screenshots of the app interface, upload the app, specify the pricing of the app and your app will be published after it meets the set standards.

Final Words

Architecting a fully functional eCommerce app out of an idea is quite challenging. It requires considerable planning, time, efforts, finances and most important of all, commitment. In the complete development journey, greater focus must be given to the target audience. Along with the incorporation of interesting features, optimal design, exhaustive testing, powerful marketing, etc. are the factors that can lead to a roaring success.

Was this blog helpful in your venture to develop your perfect eCommerce app?

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