When you begin to consider your organization’s needs for a mobile e-commerce application, cost rapidly rises to the top as a major concern. A quick search of the Internet shows lots of sites willing to give you a range of costs for an app. The reality, however, is that what a mobile app will cost depends on a number of factors. Few of which can be estimated without a complete understanding of your needs.
Cost of Developing an E-commerce Mobile Application
There are many factors that go into estimating the cost of building a mobile e-commerce experience. Functionality, features, what integrations you need, what platforms you want to develop for all factor into the price.
However, there are a number of sites out there that will give you an “average cost” of developing an application. These numbers can be used as a starting point for estimating but should not be assumed to be a cost written in stone. The cost of development of your e-commerce mobile application may be much greater or could even be less.
Basic Android app: $23,000 – $55,000
Standard iPhone app: $10,000 to $50,000
Supporting Web-Service/Infrastructure: $60,000 to $150,000
Learn the True Cost to Develop an E-commerce App
What Affects the Cost of an E-commerce Mobile Application?
Obviously, mobile e-commerce application development requires an experienced software development team to create a seamless, highly-functional, and secure app that your customers will enjoy using. Most development companies will have competitive rates for your application.
The truly variable piece of the equation is what needs to be built, not the team that will build it. Here are a few items that will influence the cost of your e-commerce mobile application.
Platforms supported: It isn’t just about supporting iPhones and Android devices. Supporting the iPhone 6S and the 6S+ may require slightly different functionality or coding, depending on what you’d like to app to do.
App functionality: This is the area that can have the largest impact on the cost of your e-commerce application. The more complicated the functionality, the greater the number of interactive visual elements, or if any features you already have can be leveraged all can affect the cost.
Integrations: Integrating your e-commerce application with other pieces of your business, like your fulfillment system, billing system, or ERP, can make your business run more smoothly. But each connection can come at a cost.
Maintenance and updates: It seems as soon as you buy a new phone, an even newer version is released. When you’re talking about mobile application development, new phones, and new software can lead to issues with your application if it isn’t updated as well. Updates and maintenance need to be considered as an ongoing cost of your e-commerce mobile application.
Hardware features: Will your app be using geofencing and location-based push notifications? GPS? Near-field communications? Adding the use of these hardware features into your mobile e-commerce application may be good for your sales but will definitely add to the cost of development.
What About Additional Costs?
Estimates made without knowing the scope of your project certainly don’t include cost for outside services that you may need to support your e-commerce application’s functionality.
Push notifications encourage engagement with your application and remind your customers that you are there. However, push services, like OneSignal and Urban Airship are costs that need to be considered if you’re planning on including that functionality.
Integrating SMS into your application will also incur additional costs. These messaging services, like Twilio and ClickSend, are outside of the typical costs associated with your mobile e-commerce application development.
And there are many others. Email integration requires additional service, as does in-app chat functionality. Data storage, CDN, and images are other cost factors. There are more, and a reputable mobile development agency will ensure you are taking these services into account.
Getting to the True Cost
While other blog posts will give you a head start on pricing for the development of your mobile e-commerce application, you won’t know what it will really cost until you’ve talked to an expert. With an experienced development agency, you’ll fully understand the costs of your project. They can also help you understand what functionality and features are driving the price of your project, and help you prioritize application elements to stay within your budget.
When researching a mobile application agency for your project, find several to speak with. Don’t just go with the lowest price. Even at the low end of the spectrum, a mobile e-commerce solution is a serious investment, and you should make sure you are aware of the total cost of the project up front, as well as the willingness of the development agency to work with you. Most important is their capabilities and quality of the work they produce; choosing an agency partner with a proven track record is key to having a positive outcome for your initiative.
Curotec is a highly experienced development agency, with extensive mobile and e-commerce development projects in our portfolio. We pride ourselves on listening to the customer and understanding their actual business need. This results in a realistic and transparent price for your e-commerce mobile application development project or any of the other IT and software services that Curotec offers.
