← Back to blogHow to create a shopping app like WishBy Kyrylo SavytskyiApr 1, 20207 min readshoppingecommerceLooking for ways to develop an app like Wish and make it thrive? Check out our article before developing your own app! Table of contents Shopping in 2020 What is Wish Main features of a Wish-like app How much does it cost to build an app like Wish How to facilitate sellers to sell on your platform Takeaway Shopping in 2020 Over the last decade, e-commerce has changed the way we buy and sell products or services. In most cases, we do shopping online. We buy clothes, groceries, order food without leaving our apartment. Currently, online shopping remains the largest and steadily growing web industry. But when everyone has a mobile phone, e-commerce goes mobile and becomes m-commerce. Over recent years, the desktop market share has dropped to 44.2%, and mobile market share has reached 51.1%, according to Tech Jury report. In other words, the mobile shopping market has become more profitable than online retail. And if you want to enter the mobile retail market, that’s the right time and the right road to hit. But before developing your own app, it’s better to explore the market and check its possibilities. The perspectives of the shopping app market E-commerce market is expected to reach $4,878 by 2021 63% of online traffic comes from tablets and smartphones in the US Nearly 79% of smartphone users buy items online with their smartphones regularly Most of the presents for the 2018 holiday season were bought via mobile devices US people spend over 3 hours on their mobile phones daily And m-commerce revenue continues to grow and prosper. The reason is quite simple. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities for millions of people all over the world. And there is no reason that the growth of mobile shopping will drop. So it’s time to invest in developing a shopping mobile app like Wish. Let’s start exploring what has made Wish so popular on the app market. What is Wish? Wish is a multi-platform mobile app for online shopping. The app was founded by Peter Szulczewki, a former Google software engineer in San-Francisco, 2010. According to Similar Web, Wish gets to the top-ranked shopping apps on the App store. The platform’s statistics don’t leave anyone cold: 500 million users 75 million active users per month 2 million active sellers Worth $8.5 billion Raised $1.3 billion in revenue Wish was first built as the app to create shopping and wish lists. While creating lists, users were able to visit websites and buy items directly from the merchant’s websites. Soon Wish started collecting recommendations and promoting items similar to those in the user wish list. With its growth, Wish started establishing partnerships with sellers that allowed users to buy the items they’re looking for without leaving the Wish app. That’s how Wish became a multi-platform e-commerce app. Nowadays, users can buy everything from perfumes to sneakers and iPhones. Thanks to the excessive partnerships with sellers, Wish has the largest variety of goods. Let’s find out how Wish generates revenue and what makes it so popular. How does Wish make money? Wish generates its revenue by taking 15% of the price of every purchase you make. The monetization scheme of Wish differs from that of Amazon or Alibaba since they charge 15% on top of the purchase cost. Despite its relatively high commissions, users love Wish. Since it’s a marketplace, the platform isn’t liable for any content published by sellers. Sellers are responsible for providing e-commerce services to buyers. Wish only connects buyers and sellers, but in fact, it isn’t involved in any transaction. Multi-app approach Wish decided to roll the dice and develop separate apps for every product category. There are 6 m-commerce apps selling different products. Wish, a multi-category app Geek, a shopping app for gadgets Mama, an app for mothers-to-be and mothers Cute, a beauty shopping app Home Design & Decor Shopping, an app for home accessories Wish for Merchants, an app for sellers Main features of a Wish-like app Every app has its own peculiarities that make it stand out from the crowd. Some apps have a flawless and intuitive design, some apps have top-notch features, and others have a spotless user journey. So it’ll be a great idea to test and break down into features. Let’s find out what features make Wish so popular. User-friendly design Wish apps are designed to be simple and easy to use. Even taking into account its excessive set of features, apps have the intuitive design. So try to make your app feature-rich, but keep it simple. You may also be interested in App development costs. Browse feature Wish tries to get to know you as soon as you open your app. It asks about your interests (decor, clothes, devices, etc) to pull in items you’re likely to buy. For the best results, you need to enter your gender, age, and shopping preferences. We’ve tested the app and were surprised how Wish perfectly picked out the products from gadgets to clothes. It was a perfect match. Wish takes advantage of deeper analytical algorithms to pitch buyers things they really want to buy. Deal Dash Deal Dash helps engage users and facilitate buying. It’s a spinning wheel that a user needs to spin once a day to get a discount. And taking into account that the Wish goods are extremely cheap, with Deal Dash users can buy the items they want for a song. Bonus for a daily login Getting a bonus for using apps encourages buyers to use the app every day. While opening the app, users get a stamp with a discount. And if users open the app 7 days in a row, they can get 50% off on any item. Easy order delivery Wish has the same delivery system that Ebay has. It means that sellers are fully responsible for the organization and management of delivery. Sellers must ship the goods within 10-20 days, according to Wish’s policy. We’ve also analyzed feedback users leave about Wish. Users often complain about long delivery that often takes more than 10-20 days. That’s the point you can improve and win over users and make a shopping app like Wish. How much does it cost to build an app like Wish It’s hardly possible to estimate how much it’ll take to develop an app like Wish. Before getting estimating the project, we need to find out: The number of mobile platforms The features you want to add to your app The location of your developers Here’s a ballpark estimate of the cost required to build a shopping app like Wish. The whole scope of features is divided into few blocks for a detailed estimate of your Wish-like shopping app. Features Hours Price Registration & Account Setup 180 $6,300 Users' Profiles 60 $2,100 Wish List 60 $2,100 Cart & Checkout 200 $7,000 Browse 120 $4,200 Search and Filters 60 $2,100 Total ~680h ~$23,800 Overall, the client part of apps like the Wish app will take around $23,800. Note, the following estimations aren’t exact. If you need more about how to create a shopping app like Wish, drop us a line. How to facilitate sellers to sell on your platform Wish tries hard to attract new users to the platform. The platform attracts users with its low prices. But what attracts sellers to start working with Wish? Of course, the first reason is its huge base of users. When Wish became a marketplace, it already had a large user base. And this became the main reason why merchants are selling with the Wish app. Furthermore, Wish doesn’t have any monthly fee. Sellers are charged when users buy their products. Wish ensures the highest quality of goods sold. Every seller needs to meet the specific criteria to sell on the platform. There is also the list of prohibited items that includes weapons, bike and motorcycle helmets, alcohol, lighters, and tobacco. Moreover, Wish protects its providers. For example, if a customer returns items more than twice, a seller can report customer fraud. And then Wish will send the refund to the merchant, not the buyer. Takeaway The m-commerce market is only developing and customers are looking for a shopping app like Wish. And since Wish has some weak points, you can analyze them and build another app like Wish but better. But before making an app like Wish, here’re a few points you need to consider: Offer something unique not similar to the Wish app Find ways to attract both sellers and buyers Take advantage of trusted payment options like PayPal Create your own loyalty program Don’t forget about support Make delivery your strong point Don’t know how to build an app? Contact us and we’ll help you develop an app without breaking the bank. Have a question? Just write to us at: 📮 mail@mova.io Or leave your contact info, and we will write back!
