Marketplace App Development Cost, All You Need To Know

With consumers spending more than 2+ trillion dollars in just 2020 on online marketplaces, this is one of the world’s largest industries. There are a lot of businesses that want to create a marketplace platform of their one. And one of the most common questions they ask is, how much does marketplace app development cost?

You see 230.5 million people shop online today and marketplace apps like Amazon alone have more than 150 million users.

In fact, more than 85% of US citizens admit that they visit online marketplaces on daily bases.  Of these, 79% of Americans make purchases online.

This clearly shows the increased usage of marketplace websites and mobile applications in recent years. And with the rising market as well as the billion in revenue, a lot of businesses want to create marketplace apps of their own.

Now, if you are one of these, you must be wondering how much all of this costs, and understandably so. After all, you can’t invest in a business venture without actually knowing about it.

Here, we shall be discussing all you need to know about marketplace apps and development costs. So, let’s get right into it:

What is a Marketplace App?

What is an online marketplace app? This is a question that a lot of people ( business owners ) ask. And the answer is simple.

As the name suggests, a marketplace application is software based around the virtual marketplace where two parties i.e. buyers and sellers can communicate with each other and perform an exchange of services.

Marketplace App Development is the process through which you can create your own marketplace applications. And with the rising demand from customers for marketplaces and revenue generation reaching billions, there are a lot of businesses that want to create their own marketplace and also want to learn about marketplace app development cost.

But before we get into that, let’s look at different types of marketplace platforms that you can build in the section below.

Types Of Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces just like their offline counterpart can be of different types. And if you are someone who wants to build a marketplace app, it’s a good idea to learn about these different types.

Therefore, in this section of the blog, we shall be discussing different types of online marketplace applications based on business models.

These are, as mentioned below:

B2C Marketplace App

B2C stands for business to customers. This implies that business is being conducted between business (es) and customers.

This is one of the most common types of marketplace applications. And this is the first business model that comes to mind when you speak of building a marketplace app.

One of the popular examples of this marketplace is Amazon. An amazing example of e-commerce development this platform is the world’s largest with a market value of trillions.

B2B Marketplace App

As opposed to B2B, B2C is a business model where business is conducted between two businesses. Now, this is not the most common or widely used business model when it comes to the marketplace, but it is certainly one of the most profitable ones.

Usually, this is where smaller businesses buy services or products from larger businesses ( mostly manufacturers) but it is limited to this.

One of the most popular examples of B2B business models in marketplace apps is Alibaba. This is where millions of businesses conduct exchanges of services. The platform mainly connects businesses to manufacturers across the world, creating a medium for them to communicate.

C2C Marketplace Apps

C2C or customer-to-customer. This business model is unknown to many but something that a lot of us have already been using.

In fact, someone of the most popular marketplace applications is based on c2c business models. As you might have already guessed, here, the products or services are exchanged from customer to customer.

What makes eBay successful – the real value and the real power at eBay – is the community. It’s the buyers and sellers coming together and forming a marketplace.

Pierre Omidyar

In layman’s terms, customers list something they want to sell and other customers can interact with them to avail of their services. Craigslist and eBay are two of the most popular marketplace apps in the market right now.

These are the three major types of marketplace applications based on business models. Now, it goes without saying that depending on the business model the marketplace app development cost also depends.

We shall be discussing all of it in detail in the section below, so, let’s get right into it.

Average Marketplace App Development Cost

“How Much Does It Cost To Build An Online Platform for Marketplace?”

This is one of the most common questions people ask when considering marketplace app development. While the question is quite straightforward, the answer to this question is not that simple.

The reason is that each marketplace app project is unique in its own right. And thus, the elements and variables involved in the projects also come in a unique combination. Considering the fact that these become the factor that affects or rather dictate marketplace app development cost.

Consequently, it’s very difficult to calculate the total cost of building a marketplace website or app is difficult, without learning about the specifications of the project.

On average, the cost to build marketplace applications ranges from $15,000 to $350,000 based on the complexity, features, and size of the applications.

So, If you can’t find accurate costs on Google, what can you do? Well, one simple method of calculating marketplace app development cost is, consulting a marketplace app development company.

There are no charges to it and they will give you detailed insight. But before you do that, we highly recommend that you learn more about the various factors that affect the cost. Therefore, we shall be discussing just that in the next section of the blog.

Factors That Affect the Cost Of Building A Marketplace App

“How To Build A Marketplace App?” this is the first question companies ask. And it is followed by how much it costs. And then what are the factors that affect the cost?

Here, we will focus on the last one, i.e.” what are the different factors that affect marketplace app development cost?” and there are a lot.

In this section, we shall be discussing some of the major factors in deep detail. This will help you gain a better understanding of how to calculate app development costs.

So, with this said, let’s get right into it:

Platform For Marketplace App

When you are developing a mobile app, the first thing you need to deal with after having an IDEA is the mobile app platform.

After all, if you want to create a marketplace application, you need to choose a base for it. And as we know, there are two types of mobile platforms.

Namely: Native Platforms and Hybrid Platforms.

When it comes to native app development, these mobile apps only run on their native platforms. Speaking of which, there are two very popular app platforms. These are:

• Android App Development
• iOS App Development

Contrary to popular belief, creating a marketplace application in the android platform is much more expensive than on iOS. And the reason behind it is simple. Android dominates 75% of the market.

Meaning there are a lot of people that use it, and the number goes up by a billion. Now, this is amazing but this is also a problem. The reason is that this platform is used by a lot of different mobile phone companies in their different models.

After some time, the specific model stops getting software updates. And considering the fact that not everyone updates their phone each year, this leads to a lot of android use being scattered.

So, when mobile app developers are developing marketplace applications in android, they have to create different versions compatible with these platforms. This leads to a lot of work.

On the contrary, iOS is strictly regulated and most iPhone users are on relatively new software. Therefore, the iOS App development cost is lowered than the android version.

Also, hybrid app development is much cheaper than both of these.

Online Marketplace Type

As we read, a customer can build a marketplace app of different types. And depending on which type you are developing, the total cost can be a little different.

So, how does this work? Well, the reason is that depending on the type of solution you are developing, the functionality, back-end technologies, and design of the platform can highly differ.

Some types are really simple platforms hence cheaper and others are just top-level complexity, leading to higher costs. This is how marketplace app development cost gets affected by the type of solutions.

Features

Features are one of the most important parts of any application. This is what drives user engagement and user retention. In a way, features and functionality define your applications.

However, apart from all of these, there is one more thing that features effect. And that is the marketplace app development cost.

Let us tell you why: when you create a marketplace app, you fill it with features. Now, there can be simple features and there can be complex ones.

Every application has a combination of the two. Here, simple features are easier to develop hence cheaper and complex ones are difficult to develop, therefore, costlier.

Depending on your feature list, this greatly affects the overall cost to build the platform.

Complexity

This is THE MOST important factor to consider when calculating the total app development cost for a marketplace platform.

Here’s why:

To create a complex marketplace app, you have to hire mobile app developers with higher experience, hire a larger team, input more resources, dedicate more time, and all of this leads to higher costs.

On the other hand, a simpler marketplace application or a basic one is infinitely cheaper to develop. Let’s look at the table below for a complexity-to-cost ratio.

Now, there is another question that may be bothering you. And it is, “How do I calculate the complexity of my platform?”

Well, this is something an on-demand app development company will be able to help you with.

Mode of Hiring Developers

The first thing you do after you have an idea for a marketplace app and you have finalized a platform is, find an app developer.

While there are a lot of different ways to find mobile app developers today, how do you do it, matters?  More specifically, the way you hire developers can and will highly affect the overall marketplace app development cost.

Here, we shall be looking at different ways and cost to hire mobile app developers.

• Freelancers – $15/Per Hour – $95/Per Hour
• Outsourcing – $35,000 – $270,000
• Staff Augmentation – Depends on Requirement

But these are not the only factors that affect the cost to hire developers. There is another big one and we shall be discussing that below.

Experience of Developers

Experience is something that is valued in all professional fields. And development is no exception. The more experienced a developer is the more costly it is to hire them.

In other words, if you are hiring a developer with higher experience, that will cost you greater than working with younger developers.

This is something that greatly affects marketplace app development cost.

Online marketplaces are complementary channels to Retailers

Conclusion

Marketplace app development is a concept that is growing quite popular among business owners. Now, if you are someone who wants to create a marketplace app of your own but wondering how much it is going to cost you, marketplace app development cost ranges from $15,000 to $350,000. If you want more details on the same, it’s highly recommended that you consult an on-demand app development company that will help you with the same.

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Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.