Before the technological advancement and availability of smartphones and the internet, the connection between a buyer and seller was quite difficult. Things have changed a lot as we have started using smartphones. You can get users by sitting at your home or any part of the world. However, there are many users who prefer to order things in their area instead of paying for long-distance shipping. In this article, we are going to discuss a similar mobile app solution for local customers and retailers. We will know about the leading apps that sell stuff locally such as LetGo and OfferUp.
As per the OfferUp developers, on average, a user spends 25 minutes on their app. Mobile application usage is increasing in every segment and it is a great deal for a P2P e-commerce market to create an app for selling products. Let’s know how to create a buy and sell app.
Know about the best selling apps in the market:
The USP of the apps like OfferUp and LetGo is that they let the users buy products on the app without any charge. It is best to get rid of those items which you can’t sell on sites like eBay because the service charges a commission for every transaction.
Letgo:
Letgo is a perfect online marketplace for buying and selling things locally. There are millions of listings on the app such as used cars, housing, electronics, etc. You can list properties like apartments, houses, studios, etc. for sale. You can sell used electronics, laptops, video games, and other items. Listing on the Letgo is also very easy just like taking a photo. It can automatically title and categorize the listing, whether you are selling a used iPhone or a used car.
OfferUp:
Buy and sell thousands of items on the OfferUp, one of the biggest marketplaces. Whether you need some extra money by selling your used furniture or want to do some clothes shopping, OfferUp is the perfect place for this. You can find cars, clothes, shoes, vintage fashion, and a lot. There are reputation features like ratings and profiles to see who you’re dealing with and build trust. You can browse and shop items by image and sort by category or location.
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Business Models of these Apps:
What is working for OfferUp? There are many things that are common and work in a similar manner. And one of the main similarities is the business model, which as per them, they don’t have. These apps will not charge you a single penny for registration, creating a profile, and not for even uploading apps. Apart from this, they will also not take any commission on the deal. The company only believes in advertising as their revenue source. But you can even opt for other revenue models. The common revenue models that you can inherit on your buy-sell mobile application are:
1. Internal Advertising: The users can publish action offers, special offers for getting easily discovered on search results.
2. Delivery: You can provide delivery services to the retailers and charge customers for this.
3. In-app purchases: You can provide special offers, premium membership, VIP membership, etc. in the app.
4. Commission: If customers pay through your app, you can charge a sort of commission from the sellers.
MVP Features of a buy and sell app:
Even implementing the features of an app like LetGo or OfferUp in your buy and sell app would be the best idea but you should definitely have originality in the app. It would be great to consider the drawbacks of your competitors’ app. Also, you can start with basic features and then add additional features. This approach is better as you can analyze whether the idea is having potential or not in the market. If results are affirmative, then you can invest more. It is called the MVP development. An MVP is a procedure in which initially the mobile app comes with essential features that are required to go live, and find out whether the user wants an updated and more sophisticated version of this app with additional features.
After getting the feedback from the users, you can decide what features you should add, what is not necessary, how to improve UI & UX, etc.
1. Social network login: The users can’t fill up a long registration instead prefer to register and login in the minimum possible time. With the social media log in, you let the users sign up and login without any hassle.
2. Creating Profile: The users would be able to create a profile by adding basic information about them.
3. Search: The search should be implemented on the basis of the users’ location. You can identify the users’ location through the smartphone GPS
4. Filters: The users should be able to filter the products on the basis of price, chronologically, categories, subcategories, etc.
5. Listing items: You need to provide many listing options to the users as per the domain of the product. For e.g. for a necklace, there can be options for color, length, material etc. of the necklace.
6. Camera: The users would be able to take snaps through the camera on the app. It means the app will have permission to access the camera of the smartphone.
7. Chat: Seller and buyers should be able to contact each other through the built-in chat app functionality.
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8. Reviews and ratings: The users should be able to give reviews and ratings to the sellers. This will also help buyers from unreliable merchants.
Advanced Features To Implement:
If your app becomes an instant hit, then you must stop and start to implement more and advanced features into the app. Here are a few features that you can take into account:
1. Pricing Comparison: The users should be able to compare the prices from different sellers
2. Better Deals: The ability for a seller to offer hot deals, discounts, or coupons is great. If you make this feature one that has to be paid for, it can bring you some extra income.
3. Scan Photo Feature: Using this feature, the users can be guided on how to fill article descriptions, categorizations, etc. It is also helpful in tracking the quality of the photos.
4. Payment Integration: If you want that the users should be able to make payments through your app then you must integrate a payment solution such as Paypal, Stripe, Braintree, etc.
5. Delivery Feature: Make an agreement with outside delivery services to provide your customers with the best experience.
Steps of How to develop a buy and sell app
These are the main steps:
Think about a catchy name:
The name shouldn’t just be attractive but also catchy. The users should be able to remember the name of your app for a long time. It should be short, and associative so that the users just listen once, and remember forever.
Interactive UI & UX:
After getting the perfect name of your app, you need to think of its looks and interaction. There should be a highly captivating user interface that users find really attracting. On the same side, the user experience shouldn’t be ignored. It should be very easy for users so that they can easily understand its working and can use it without irritation.
As people are buying various products from the app, they should be able to add different products to their virtual shopping cart.
Read more: The Importance of Flexibility in Mobile App Development
Integrating Payment Gateway:
There are many options for payment gateways. Some of the popular ones are PayPal, Braintree, Stripe, etc. You can choose any one of them as per your choice. You can also check what your competitors are using.
Marketing:
If you don’t already have a brand reputation then it is almost impossible to gain users without a marketing plan. You need to do brand promotion and increase your customer base after creating a proper marketing plan. It will also help in increasing customers’ loyalty and engage users.
Fraud Protection:
Gaining customers’ loyalty and trust is the foremost thing in business. In a buy and sell the app, you need to make sure that the sellers and buyers will not do any fraudulent activity. The above-mentioned are using strict fraud detection algorithms. Fraud protection is an important factor while working with merchants, who are used to a partnership with highly-regulated payment processing networks to buy and sell apps. Investing in fraud protection now, targeting the cooperation with merchants and mobile network providers is a well-considered step for long-term market growth in the future. You can also use customers’ comments as a preventive measure against fraud.
How Amplework can help?
At Amplework, the best mobile application development company in USA, we are having expert mobile application developers who can develop mobile applications exactly as per your requirements. So, whatever the type of application you wish to develop, we can. We are having expertise in every niche.
