Marketplace App Development: Expectations vs. Reality

In today’s competitive environment, it seems like everyone has an app developed for their business. Ensuring an online presence of your business has become synonymous with success. The more people are getting apps developed, the more development agencies there appear. And the more people are becoming involved, the more information is popping up from all around. Therefore, it is almost inevitable that every person has some idea or view formed about the development process before actually talking to a professional.

If you go for an online marketplace, chances are you are opting for a web app, a mobile app development or even both. It is customary that with a custom-developed app, you get the following benefits:

– simplified transactions,
– an expanded reach of your business, and
– simply more control over your business.
However, for a first-time online entrepreneur or one who’s had a negative experience,

the process of marketplace app development might be riddled with difficulties. Especially, those that arise from when expectations do not exactly meet the reality.

After all, browsing online you are bombarded with loud promises, oversimplified definitions, and sometimes plainly false claims. You should not worry if you might be under the influence of these things. This is because your development agency is obligated to communicate the actualities of the development process.

However, just in case, it can be a good idea to protect yourself, your time, and your money by getting the right information. Reading about the professional custom development process beforehand can save time, worry, and frustration. The better both sides of the development process are prepared, the smoother the process will go. So let’s dive into points where the client’s understanding might go against the realities of professional custom marketplace app development.

Expectation: A custom-developed mobile app will also work on a desktop

Well, this expectation might be just a result of a simple confusion. If you check out articles about mobile-first app development, then it is not so difficult to believe that. However, what is meant by mobile-first web app development is something different. A web app is developed to be displayed on a mobile browser first, and then as the screen size increases, it will adjust to a desktop view. It is not a native mobile app, it is a browser app. A native mobile app is available via the app store. While with a web app, you access it through its address like https://marketplace.com/.

It might also lead to this expectation that there are PWAs out there — apps that are developed like a web app but then you can also download it on your phone and have it just like a native app. For example, Microsoft Teams is a progressive web app like that.

There is a huge number of native mobile apps in the world now. Here are some highlights:

• – Google Play Store is the biggest app store there is. As of 2022, it has 3.533 million native Android mobile apps available.
• – Apple Store is the second largest app store in the world as of 2022. It has as many as 1.642 million native iOS mobile apps.
• – However, in total, there are close to 8.93 million mobile apps in the world. Other app stores include Amazon App Store, Microsoft App Store, etc.
• – On average, worldwide, smartphone users have about 40 apps installed.
• – Mobile native apps are expected to cross $600 million in revenues by 2025. Here are the data trends for two major app stores over the years:

Note: Apple App Store had a drop in the number of apps from 2021 to 2022 mainly due to the decision to remove old and 32-bit apps.

Therefore, you can be sure of the success of a native mobile app. Mobile app usage and the ability to generate revenues are growing. They show a strong solid trend for the future. In addition, overall development of the technologies is being focused on making things smaller, faster, and more convenient. People are pretty interested in smartwatches and smaller devices for their convenience. Therefore, businesses aim to reach those users. In turn, developers are solving the problem of achieving a smoother and more reliable user experience. So even if you yourself find using a mobile app not so habitual, a new generation of digital natives lives their lives there.

Mobile-first marketplace app development

Any mobile screen is just a fraction of the desktop screen. Plus, the user navigates with a finger instead of a mouse. This is why for mobile screens, you have to have fewer things on the screen and bigger buttons. In addition, the mobile internet connection is a point of consideration. While on a desktop, you can expect fast loading of large images, for mobile — it is a dangerous practice. Marketplaces have a lot of product images, and surely you want high- quality ones to be served to the user. In reality, you would serve the highest quality possible depending on the user’s device.

So mobile-first marketplace app development designs a web page for mobile phones first. Then, often with the help of media queries, it adds more elements to fill up a larger screen. It changes layouts, sizes of the buttons, the look of the menus, and more. Developers often have a few different sizes of each image. Thus, a mobile user gets a smaller image, while a desktop user gets the largest.

How popular is the mobile-first approach? Even if you design a web app to be used on desktops only, you need to make it mobile-friendly or… you will lose in Google ranking. Pages don’t get a good ranking via browser crawling and indexing if they are not mobile-friendly.

But again. It is not a native mobile app — it is a web app. Native apps get downloaded and installed onto the phone. A web app you can access from any browser and from any device be it a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop.

You can read in more detail about custom marketplace app development, in our article “How to design a custom MVP app? — development guide notes”.

Expectation: I already have a mobile app developed. Just run it through some tool (transpiler)

Having a developed working app, there might be an idea to quickly get a web version. After all, it is functional and there is working and tested source code. However, a native mobile app and a web app are two different products at their core. Each screen of a mobile app will be vastly different from its web counterpart.

Overall, the approach to developing a mobile app is very specific and narrow. Developers need to provide the user with a smooth focused experience. When designing, they target different pain points. They also take into account different psychological moments. Mobile users are subjected to constant pings of notifications which makes their attention span much lower. Mobile phone users often engage only in fragmented interactions. They naturally use phones on the go, often in dynamic environments. There are so many more things that make a native mobile app so different from the web.

Sure, there are transpilers that can speed up translating a native mobile source code into a web one. However, the viability of such a product on the market will be all too questionable. It won’t be a stretch to say it will fail in 99.9% of cases. Web apps don’t excite if they do not have many features. With a web app, a user must feel like it is a wonderland. Users have expectations, and your competitors set the bar. If your competitor offers a rich website with lots of functionality, and yours looks sad and bare (which is what it would like if it comes from a mobile screen), it is likely users will quit yours.

Expectation: once the team develops a mobile native marketplace app, it will be accepted to app stores from the first go

In 2022, the Apple App Store rejected 17 million apps. When it comes to Apple, they believe that every app must meet Apple’s family-oriented standards.
Just by reading these two facts, you should already see that submitting an app for approval is a process. When your app is rejected for the first time, they send an email and specify what points need to be fixed. Often, it is just new privacy policy rules or if they find undocumented features. For submitting an app, you need to provide:

• documentation,
• privacy policy URLs,
• test accounts,
• screenshots of an app and
• Images of its promotional materials.

So you just need ot make sure you have a team on board who submited 30+ apps to pass this smoothly.

For the Android app store, the process is a bit easier. However, it still takes from a few days to 4 weeks for the app store to review the app. For sure, professional development teams know all the standards and guidelines. However, there are things like privacy policies and some other items that are updated frequently. Patience is required for the app submission to go through the approval process.

Expectation: Once you develop a mobile native app professionally, it will be shortly visible to the entire user base

You must have heard that there is no clear ranking algorithm for Google search results. Moreover, this algorithm constantly changes, and you can only be guided by general recommendations. The same holds true for appearing on app marketplace search results. There are general optimization guides on how to rank your app for better visibility. However, this process is guided by the app store’s internal algorithms. Apple App Store has its own algorithm while Google Play Store developed its own.

The general rule is that the app store collects data on ‘impressions’ from the app downloads. So, especially at the start, when your app doesn’t have much data, the algorithm will not be showing your app to wider audiences. In addition to impressions, Apple App Store factors in the popularity of keywords that are in the description of your app. Google Play Store puts emphasis on keywords and the app’s icon.

The rule of thumb is that you have to get into the top 50 apps on the Android app store to ensure your app’s visibility. If you want more information, consult our article “How to submit a Custom Mobile App to Google Play?”. As for Apple, you need to get featured and rely on influencers for recommendations. All in all, gaining visibility is an iterative process that takes time and marketing effort more than development.

The data below shows how new apps get discovered. Users still mainly browse app stores for something new, while the second reason is recommendations from friends or family. So, do make sure your app offers its users to share on social media like Facebook or be sent via messengers.

Expectation: Building a marketplace app is easy because there is a tool for everything these days

Reality: Every tool that makes it look like it is easy comes with a catch.

• – Sometimes the catch is limitations to the tool’s use.
• – Other times, it is very strict requirements for the setup in order to benefit from this tool.
• – At different times, the tool is released onto the market but doesn’t manage to get enough users. So it is deprecated. Then you will have to recode the parts that included it. Often after the app breaks, you lose clients, and then after searching for an issue, you can fix it.

– Then also if you have a few developers on a team working remotely, one would use the tool, and the other one will code up their part taking a different approach.

What is more important though is that the expectation is true but it plays out in a different way. On average, developers use 100+ modules and libraries for a good commercial project these days. There are tools for everything, for every little bit of code. Each piece of functionality needs to be optimized and pushed to the limits of performance. It does come with a tool. Hundreds of those, to be true.

Templating platforms

And if you think about templating platforms… It is no secret that there are templating platforms that enable you to create a marketplace app. They usually come with the slogan something along the lines of “Build your own marketplace in no time”. Then somehow they boast their online support. If it is so easy, why online support? Then, they also take pride in having a ton of YouTube videos on how to build and customize your marketplace. Why create those if your platform is so simple and intuitive? Then, even after you do all of it, your app still doesn’t look like you wanted it to. Didn’t it say that you can choose only from templates available for your tier?

There are paid courses for no-code developers for a reason. And yes… even no-code developers also study to be developers. Coding things up is not the most important bit developers do. The bigger tasks are architecture, security, privacy, UX flow, and such. After those are done, then developers start to code up things.

Unfortunately, creating a marketplace app on a templating platform will take at least 50–100+ hours. The likelihood it will turn out to be anything remotely reminding of the general look and basic functionality you wanted: 10–15% chance. If you plan to have a feature to stand out — the chances are much slimmer.

AI Helpers

With the explosion of chatGPT and other AI tools, the hype is through the roof. However, anyone who’s had children and asked AI to help with Algebra homework knows: AI can’t produce correct results.

• ● The AI lies 20% of the time.
• ● AI can learn things in the wrong way. Its correctness is somewhat of a curve going up and down.
• ● Interestingly, AI systems can even ‘unlearn’ things to match better the new knowledge.
  However, sometimes they do produce correct results. But you need someone who should be able to tell apart. In any case, if you want a scalable customized solution, it takes time and expertise to do it right. The dedicated team will do the groundwork, architect the solution, and code it up. As a result, you will have an app for years to come.

Expectation: Marketplace app development can be done in a couple of days or other short timeframe

App development, and marketplace app development, start with research to see what features, functionalities, and designs will be in demand and competitively viable. In addition, you get approximate numbers on the potential pool of customers and it determines the starting technical capacities of your app. This alone takes more than a couple of days.

An app is more than just meets the eye. Consider several databases that you need for managing products, clients, and sellers. Then also a system for your staff to manage it all. Consider the logic that gets behind calculating prices, commissions, discounts, delivery fees, and timelines. After everything is coded up, it needs to be tested and fine-tuned. Bug fixes and updates will occur also after the first release.

It doesn’t mean you cannot get an expedited custom development — you can. It still will have to be within reasonable timeframes. For instance, you can read our article How to launch own bespoke custom marketplace app like Walmart to get an idea about features, steps, and costs.

In addition, don’t forget that it is not simply app development, it is a startup. It is a business. So, factor in business processes. App development goes hand in hand with such considerations as pricing, marketing spending, and hiring decisions for the support of your business. Our article “How to solve the Chicken and Egg Problem? — Tinder, Uber, and +22 more tactics” gives examples of how different successful businesses go about solving the classic ”Chicken and Egg” problem. The way you solve that informs marketing. Marketing always syncs up to development. Professional marketplace app development is already designed to get your marketplace app released as fast as possible. Pushing for shorter deadlines can only break things and harm your own revenues and profits.

Timelines and professionalism of the development agency

Sometimes, it can be useful to ask provocative questions like

• “Can you do such and such app in 4–5 weeks?” or
• “Can you do the app I want by the end of the month?” It can reveal a few truths about the development agency. First of all, regardless of the economy and circumstances, a reputable professional agency is loaded with current projects. They won’t be wasting money on salaries if there is no work. Therefore, it just won’t be possible to free up loads of people to throw them at your project. It is in case you imagine a scenario when 20 developers each program their bit and in a week, it is a functional app. Second, if the agency is able to provide a lot of developers for a few weeks of work, you should question the professionalism of developers. Have you seen a good professional sitting without any work and ready to take up anything with no commitments or security? And know that in packs? That’s just not realistic. How does it actually work? Development agencies do keep some percentage of staff on the payroll just in case. If it is a 100-employee agency, it would be 3–5 developers, 10 max. Note that those reserve workers are not exactly without work. While they are not assigned a project, they are doing testing,

refactoring, and maintenance. This is often true for big companies that have been on the market for quite a while. It is justified by the fact that they have a steady stream of clients. Thus, they have to be ready for a new incoming project at all times.

These reserve workers are developers of different specializations. Often, an agency will pull the required specialists to form a base team. Then, they will quickly hire a couple of other people for a project. So there is still time required for a team to be formed exactly for your requirements. It makes sense because even your requirements can change. Then, the agency will reassign people and add the specialists you need. Behind the scenes, there might be a lot of personnel changes to ensure the success of your project.

In general, a good agency will be upfront and honest. They will tell you that if you develop an app in a few weeks, it will fail. For one, it will surely not have a competitive functionality. Secondly, it will most likely be full of merge conflicts and reliability issues. Sure, the app will compile, but there won’t be rigorous testing. If it is a mobile app, it will most surely be rejected by the app store. If it is a web app, it likely will work more or less well in one browser; in others, it will display funnily and things won’t be responsive.

Asking for a proper timeline is in the interest of the client. Therefore, agency by itself doesn’t really suffer. It is the client’s money that is at risk. And also the client’s reputation.

Expectation: You can get a fixed price quote for a marketplace app development from an agency

This is a common practice to contact a development agency and to ask for a bid. That is if you have a project brief and/or project requirements and scope. The set of documents should include functionality specs and low-fidelity mockups. Then, you will be able to get a bid that will be an approximate number. Same as with building a house, you get an initial estimate. Then, during the process, some items on the budget might end up changing.

Unfortunately, you cannot get a bid if you describe the app you need in a few sentences. For example, saying “I want a marketplace app for buying and selling sports apparel” is just a starting point. You won’t be able to get a price point for that, but this is a good discussion opener. You can get a more detailed estimate during an online consultation about Startup Services.

Unfortunately, there are development agencies that might throw a suppressed figure. As a rule, they would choose a low number all the while knowing the end amount will have an extra 0. Whatever it takes to get started on the project. Luckily, there are development agencies that specialize in custom development at reasonable prices. It is a special category of agencies following the lean methodology.

How not get confused about which is which? Generally, you can get an idea after talking with them. A lean startup agency will be asking professional questions and details. They will rely on their knowledge of minimally required functionality to compete in the chosen niche. They would give you a ballpark cost. But then, they still might require market research to be done. It is needed to determine what functionality is needed to get a competitive edge. After that, they can prioritize a minimal feature set for success and offer a more exact competitive price point for development. Check out the Startup Services page for more information. So still, there will be produced technical requirements document that will be a basis for setting up the price.

Final Words

In the ever-evolving realm of marketplace app development, understanding the difference between expectations and reality is crucial for success. Having your expectations align with the reality of marketplace app development can first and foremost benefit you. Knowing the right information can save you time, money, and a great deal of frustration. As the saying goes, “Knowledge itself is power.” By having the right information to go on, you can:

– make informed decisions,
– strategize effectively, and
– navigate the challenges of this industry with confidence.
Conversely, falling for misconceptions and unrealistic expectations will only lead to

disappointment and failure. In the words of Thomas Edison, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Marketplace app development may require hard work and perseverance. But, with the right knowledge and realistic expectations, it can open doors to immense success.

Key Takeaways

So, let’s reiterate over key truths from this article:

• Native mobile apps (Android or iOs) will not work on a desktop; You can have a progressive web app developed that will be installed on a mobile device, as an alternative;
• Having a native mobile app doesn’t mean you can ‘translate’ it into a web app. A web app and a mobile app are designed with different assumptions about users and their environment;
• Mobile apps are never accepted by the app store from the first attempt. Privacy policy and app standards are extremely frequently updated. Patience is required;
• Same as with web page ranking on Google, a mobile app needs to ‘earn’ ranking to be visible on any app store;
• There is indeed a tool for everything, for every functional part of code. Commercial projects incorporate tried tools that stood the test of time. Templating platforms are not likely to save you any time, and the end result will not look like you planned. AI still requires expertise to create even a simple function and is not suitable for complex applications.
• Developed agencies that specialize in the development you are seeking already offer the fastest route to market. Hoping for shorter deadlines only will harm your results;
• There is no fixed price for a custom marketplace app development. The lean approach of development agencies allows for offering the most reasonable cost brackets. The exact price can only be given after technical requirements and mockups are developed.