eCommerce app development guide

Whether you run a thriving Shopify shop or manage sprawling retail infrastructure, an app puts your brand in customers’ pockets, making shopping faster, personalized, and irresistibly convenient. If you’re not already leveraging this channel, you’re letting competitors squeak past you while shoppers tap and scroll their way into loyalty.

Examples of successful apps from ecommerce brands

These ecommerce brands are some of the best when it comes to engaging customers through mobile apps.

eCommerce app example: H&M

Source: App Store

The H&M mobile app offers a seamless shopping experience, blending style with convenience. Designed for fashion-forward users, it features the latest trends and exclusive deals. Users can browse, save favorites, and shop with ease.

So far, this eCommerce app has been downloaded over 50 million times on Google Play alone. It also has a 4.8-star rating on Apple Store, a 4.7 on Google Play, and consistently gets positive reviews.

Source: App Store

eCommerce app example: Chubbies

Source: App Store

This is a great example of a smaller business benefiting from having an eCommerce app. Chubbies does not have the resources of a retailer like H&M, yet it launched its mobile app to improve the experiences of its shoppers.

So far, it has been only successful: the iOS version, for example, has a 4.9-star rating and thousands of positive customer reviews like this one:

Source: App Store

eCommerce app development process [Basic steps]

The process of developing an eCommerce app consists of these steps:

• Research
• Planning
• UX/UI design
• Development
• Testing
• Release and maintenance

Step I: Research

Goal: Craft a strategic plan for the app’s development.

Key tasks: Designing the app’s concept, doing market analysis, creating user personas, researching competitors, and selecting the appropriate platform.

The initial phase is centered on strategizing for the project as a whole. This requires gathering comprehensive information to guide your decisions on all aspects.

Activities:

• Check out the competition. Look at similar competitors, what they offer, and read their reviews to find out what users like and don’t like about them.
• Figure out the ideal user. Pin down who’s going to use your app and what they’re hoping to get out of it. Basically, sketch out your dream user, in detail.
• Set a few goals for your app. Based on what you’ve found out about the market and your future users, nail down what you want your app to achieve.
• Plan how to spread the word. Think about how you’re going to get people talking about your app (options include ads, influencers, and your website).
• Pick your tech tools. Choose the coding language and tools your developers will need to bring your app to life. Also, decide if you want your app to be on iOS, Android, or both platforms.

Step II: Planning

Goal: Develop the app roadmap.

Tasks: Defining use cases and their requirements, initiating MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development.

In this phase, our focus shifts toward detailed planning, specifically toward crafting the product roadmap. This document serves as a strategic blueprint, outlining the key phases of the eCommerce app development while aligning with your business objectives.

A mobile app’s product roadmap includes:

• Use cases: Identifying a few specific scenarios where users will engage with the app and why.
• Features: Defining functional components intended to facilitate users in accomplishing their objectives.
• Milestones: Establishing major checkpoints that mark the start or completion of important phases.
• Goals: Setting measurable project objectives defined by precise metrics.
• Activities: Enumerating the necessary tasks and processes required to achieve the established goals.
• Deadlines: Allocating timeframes for feature development or progression to subsequent stages.

Step III: UI/UX design

Goal: Create intuitive app experiences.

Activities: Making user journey maps, prototypes, and mockups.

During the design phase, your input is crucial. That’s when you step in to share your thoughts on the designs to ensure the final product aligns with your vision.

Here’s what needs to be created at this stage:

• Wireframes: App sketches by UI/UX designers for visualizing the final product’s look and “feel”.
• User journey map: A visual representation of user sessions within the future app, including wireframes.
• Prototypes: Clickable images of app screens with hotspots, which are later tested for usability and flow.
• Style guides: Compilation of all graphic elements and design guidelines to ensure consistent app design.

Step IV: Development

Goal: Prepare the app for user usage.

Activities: Coding the app.

During this phase, your development team will turn UI prototypes into a functional app. This process is structured into intervals (typically spanning one to four weeks), with each period dedicated to advancing a specific feature.

The duration of eCommerce app development can vary significantly, ranging from several weeks for simpler applications to potentially several months for more intricate ones. Your project team will provide an estimate of the timeline before initiating any coding.

Step V: Testing

Goal: Ensure error-free app performance.

Activities: UX, device, performance, and security testing.

At this step, the quality assurance (QA) team steps in. They ensure that the app is stable, fast, and secure by checking the features built by developers.

To achieve this goal, the QA team conducts various types of testing to identify and report any bugs or issues in the app. These tests are crucial as they help identify potential problems that users may experience while using the app.

The methods may vary based on the project. Upon identifying an issue, testers provide developers with information to locate it inside the app. Once all errors are rectified, the eCommerce app becomes stable, secure, and capable of managing significant workloads.

Step VI: Release and maintenance

Goal: Ensure a smooth launch and sustained performance over time.

Activities: App launch, marketing, post-sales maintenance, and support.

Your eCommerce app is ready; it’s time to deploy it on the selected app store(s), whether it be Google Play for Android devices, App Store for iOS, or both.

However, before the actual release, it’s crucial to strategize promotion efforts. With a vast sea of 3.5 million apps on Google Play alone, effective marketing is essential for attracting users and standing out from the competition.

Also, post-launch, ongoing maintenance support will be provided to ensure your eCommerce app’s continued performance and address any issues that may arise after sales.

eCommerce app development team

To create an eCommerce app, you need these specialists on your team:

• Project manager. This person is tasked with overseeing the entire project (designing tasks, monitoring progress, facilitating communication, etc.)
• UI/UX designer. They focus on making your ecommerce app more user-friendly, guaranteeing a smooth and intuitive experience for everyone
• iOS developer. This is a software engineer who creates, deploys, and maintains apps for iOs devices
• Android developer. This specialist does pretty much the same tasks, but only for Android devices
• Backend developer. They work with databases and servers, create APIs and handle security protocols to ensure high stability and performance
• Quality Assurance (QA) tester. They do quality checks at all project stages, focusing on finding bugs, defects, security issues, and other problems.

Each team member, of course, has a huge role to play. Let’s take project managers, for example:

“For business owners, a project manager acts as their business consultant, risk assessor, and liaison with developers and other stakeholders. They possess comprehensive knowledge of the typical challenges and intricacies of eCommerce app development, ensuring optimal usage of limited time and resources.” — Project manager, Globaldev

eCommerce app: Essential features

An eCommerce app is only as good as the experience it offers. To meet customer expectations and drive sales, certain features are must-haves. Here are the essentials every successful app should include.

Authorization

It’s best to provide users a choice whether they should register through email, phone number, or a social media account.

User profile

This feature includes the user’s personal information (email, name, surname, shipping address, buying history, and wishlist).

Content feed and search

Add a real-time updated list of items tailored to user preferences to keep their interest. Include a search bar for users to find what they need, with filters for brand, color, size, season, and model.

Payment system

Provide a range of payment options for customers to pay for products. Include both major credit cards and other methods like Google Play, PayPal, and Klarna.

Customer support options

That means adding a live chat or a call center to support the app. Chatbots can be implemented as well to help customer support agents.

Shopping cart

This is, of course, where customers add products to buy. Apart from the essential cart features, you might also need some upsell and cross-sell features.

How much does developing an eCommerce app cost?

The cost of an eCommerce app depends on the project complexity, the size of the team involved, the time spent on app creation, the range of features, etc.

Developing an eCommerce mobile app may take up to 500–600 hours. For example, the most time-consuming features are the feed (about 10 hours), the payment system (about 40 hours), and support chat (16 hours on average).

Based on the approximate time estimations, we can come up with the basic costs of eCommerce app development.

However, it’ll still be a rather vague estimation, as the cost can be anywhere between $50,000+ and $151,000+ (as we still need to know more about the app’s complexity):

Another way to get an estimation is to look at the average hourly rates of eCommerce app developers in popular software development centers, like Ukraine, Poland, Vietnam, India, etc. You can often find this information on companies’ Clutch profiles.

Globaldev’s eCommerce app development expertise

If you’re in search of a seasoned IT partner to develop a top-notch ecommerce application, be it a shopping app, marketplace, or PWA, consider Globaldev.

With over a decade of experience in crafting high-quality applications, we are well-equipped to handle projects of any complexity.

Here’s why you should consider us:

• Our clients rate us 4.8 stars out of 5
• We’ve completed 200+ projects
• We are a one-stop shop, so you can get a dedicated team that focuses solely on your project, or outstaff a few specialists to close your capacity or technology gaps.

Let us show you an example of an eCommerce app we’ve designed.

eCommerce app case study

Globaldev developed VNTG, a mobile marketplace app that helps vintage sellers create Instagram-style storefronts and connect with buyers through real-time chat, secure payments, and seamless order tracking. The app was designed to combine the feel of a social platform with the reliability of an eCommerce tool.

To bring this vision to life, we built the app natively in Swift with an MVVM architecture for performance and clean code, while the backend was developed with Python and Django to support scalability and live interactions. Some of the core features included:

• Seller tools – storefront creation, photo and video listings, categorization by decade, and inventory management.
• Buyer features – order tracking, integrated chat, and smooth checkout.
• Smart integrations – PayPal for payments, Firebase for push notifications, and Amazon MediaConvert for cost-efficient video uploads.

The outcome is a platform that makes buying and selling vintage goods both convenient and engaging — true to the founder’s original vision, but powered by modern app development.

Closing thoughts

eCommerce app development is no longer a side project for ambitious brands, but the foundation for staying relevant in a mobile-first market. The best apps, whether from global retailers like H&M or niche players like Chubbies, prove that success is about creating experiences customers return to. An app gives your business a direct line to users’ pockets, where convenience meets loyalty and where sales turn into long-term relationships.

But launching an app that performs well isn’t a matter of luck. It takes research, thoughtful design, careful development, and ongoing support to get it right. That’s where the right technology partner makes the difference.

If you’re looking to scale your eCommerce business with a custom app, our team knows how to make it happen. Reach out and let’s discuss your project.