Reasons Why You Should Invest in Buying & Selling Platforms like Haraj

We’ve listed the top 3 reasons you should invest in an online marketplace like Haraj. Let’s find out:

#1 Rapid Market Growth

The global e-commerce platform market size is projected to reach USD 14.48 billion by 2031.

The eCommerce landscape is rapidly evolving and experiencing significant growth. 91% of people around the world make online purchases using their smartphones. 

More consumers are inclined toward online shopping platforms. So, businesses must invest in online platforms like Haraj to stay ahead of the competition.

#2 Revenue Potential

By 2027, the eCommerce market is expected to total over $7.9 trillion. 

Undoubtedly, online marketplace platforms offer various means of generating revenue. These include transaction fees, premium memberships, listing fees, and advertising. 

Investing in eCommerce platforms opens your way to profitability, eliminating financial risk and enhancing stability. 

#3 Technology Innovations

Tech innovations significantly transform the eCommerce industry, enhancing customer experience and growth. AI leads by offering personalized experiences and improving customer support with advanced chatbots. 

Immersive technologies like AR/VR are revolutionizing the shopping experience by allowing customers to visualize products in real-world settings, which reduces return rates and boosts customer satisfaction. 

Additionally, voice commerce enables hands-free shopping experiences and personalized recommendations via voice commands.

Must-Have Features to Incorporate in eCommerce Apps like Haraj

Below are top features you must incorporate in your eCommerce app like Haraj. You can choose features that align with your project’s objective and requirements. Let’s check:

1. User Registration & Verification

Ensuring secure transactions and personalizing the shopping experience requires user registration and authentication. Streamlining registration procedures, such as two-factor authentication and social media logins, can improve user experience and security. 

2. Product Catalog

A comprehensive and well-organized product catalog is a must for any e-commerce software. It should include prices, detailed descriptions, and clear photographs. An effective product catalog can increase user engagement and sales; 87% of consumers are unlikely to repeat purchases if they don't see accurate product descriptions.

3. Advanced Search Filter

Integrating an advanced search filter allows users to find products quickly by filtering results. These results include price ranges, ratings, categories, and more. With the help of an advanced search filter, users can simply eliminate irrelevant options.

4. Payment Gateway

Businesses must especially focus on providing a versatile payment gateway for handling transactions. Offering multiple payment options, including credit/debit cards, digital wallets, and BNPL (Buy Now and Pay Later) can cater to diverse customer preferences. 

5. Shopping Cart & Wishlist

A shopping cart and Wishlist are essential for any eCommerce app that wants to increase customer comfort and reduce time spent. These features allow customers to add goods to their cart and save items for later consideration, which makes shopping simpler and more enjoyable.

Over 1 in 5 customers abandon their carts because of complicated checkout procedures. Addressing these problems and streamlining the checkout and cart procedures can significantly boost conversion rates. 

6. Order Tracking

Over 70 percent of customers consider order tracking important for online shopping satisfaction. 

Integrating the order tracking feature gives users real-time updates on their order status. It enhances transparency and trust among customers. Additionally, it will encourage users to shop again from your business if they had a positive experience. 

7. Rating & Reviews

Incorporating ratings and reviews boosts transparency and trust among businesses and customers. Over 95% of customers read online reviews and ratings before buying a product online, so it is crucial to ensure that your platform is integrated with this feature. 

8. Social Media Integration

To make your eCommerce business a huge success, you must leverage the full potential of social media. More than half of the world uses social media, which signifies that your customers are online. And that’s where you must target your audience. 

Online stores with a social media presence create an average of 32% more sales than ones that aren't on social media. Social media integration can boost your business visibility and attract more users. 

9. Customer Support Chat

93% of customers will likely make repeat purchases with excellent customer service companies. Therefore, integrating customer support chat features, including live chat or AI-powered chatbots, is highly important. This will enhance customer experience and satisfaction by offering instant customer assistance. 

10. Push Notifications

Research by Urban Airship found that app users who receive push notifications have nearly 3x (190%) retention rates than those who do not. 

To keep your users engaged, you must incorporate push notification alerts. These enables users to learn about new products, promotions and discounts, and order updates. 

Factors Impacting the Cost of Developing an Online Marketplace Like Haraj

Various factors impact the development cost of online marketplaces like Haraj. Here, we’ve listed crucial factors to consider when developing your platform to stay aligned with your budget. 

1. Platform Complexity

The complexity of the platform greatly affects development cost. Building a basic platforms with features like product listings, user registration, and search capabilities is less expensive. 

However, advanced features like real-time chat, recommendation engines, complicated search filters, and extensive user data significantly increase the complexity and, thus, the cost. The complexity of the functionality and user processes increases with the amount of development funding required.

2. UI UX Customization

A well-designed user interface is necessary to attract and retain consumers. Customizing UI/UX to produce an enticing, simple-to-use, and accessible user experience is essential. 

The design phase includes the complexity of the UX and UI, responsive design, customization and branding, localization, and testing.

Ensuring responsiveness across various devices and incorporating accessibility features may also lead to higher development expenses.  

3. Technology Stack

The choice of tech stack for your Haraj like platform will also significantly impact the development cost. Whether you want to develop an eCommerce app on iOS, Android, or both, the development cost varies depending on programming languages, frameworks, and tools. 

Although they may cost more upfront, modern, scalable technologies provide improved scalability, security, and performance. Furthermore, using open-source software can save money on licensing; commercial software may have better features and support. 

4.Location of Development Team

The geographical location of your development team can greatly influence costs. Developers in North America and Western Europe typically charge higher rates than those in Eastern Europe, Asia, or Latin America. 

However, it's essential to balance cost with quality and communication efficiency. Hiring remote teams can provide cost benefits but require additional management to ensure alignment and productivity.

5. Third-Party Integration

Integrating third-party services such as payment gateways, shipping providers, analytics tools, and social media platforms can add to the development cost. These services assist in enhancing your app’s functionality and performance but incur additional cost, time, and testing to ensure seamless security and operation. 

Build an Online Marketplace like Haraj: Step-to-Step Development Process

Following, we’ve thoroughly discussed a step-by-step guide to developing an online marketplace like Haraj. Let’s understand the development process:

Step 1: Market Research & Planning

Conducting thorough market research is the foundation of developing a successful online marketplace. Identify your target audience, understand their needs, analyze competitors, and define your unique value proposition. 

This phase also involves planning the business model, revenue streams, and key features of your platform. Effective planning helps set clear objectives and align your development process with market demands.

Step 2: UX UI Design

To attract users to your eCommerce app like Haraj, you must design an intuitive and attractive design. Designers must focus on creating a seamless user experience, visually appealing layout, user-friendly features, and smooth navigational flow. 

The design should prioritize ease of use, ensuring customers can effortlessly browse products, add items to their carts, and complete purchases. Incorporating user feedback during this phase can help refine the design to meet customer expectations better.

Step 3: Development

Now comes the most crucial phase—the development stage. It includes front-end development, back-end development, and third-party integration. Make sure to choose the right tech stack, programming languages, and development frameworks to ensure the marketplace's security, scalability, and performance. 

Step 4: Testing & Quality Assurance

Testing and quality assurance (QA) are vital to ensure your buying and selling platform is free from bugs or errors. This includes various testing types such as usability testing, functionality testing, security testing, and performance testing. 

Rigorous QA processes help identify and fix issues before the platform goes live, providing users a smooth and reliable experience.

Step 5: Launching & Continuous Support

Once the testing phase is completed, it’s time to launch your buying and selling platform like Haraj. Develop a marketing strategy to attract users and generate buzz around the launch. 

However, it is also important to ensure continuous support and maintenance after the launch. This will help address any issues, update features, and ensure the platform evolves with user needs and requirements. 

Moreover, it is essential to regularly collect user feedback and analytics to improve your platform and make informed decisions.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Buying & Selling Platform like Haraj?

Although it depends on various factors that determine the development cost of buying & selling apps like Haraj. 

However, the estimated development cost ranges from $25,000 to $50,000 for basic features & functionality with minimalistic design. 

Incorporating advanced features & functionality with amazing design will cost around $80,000 or above. 

Note: You can opt for a cost-effective MVP (Minimum Viable Product) approach to building your eCommerce app like Haraj. Here, you can incorporate limited features and functionality with a basic design and launch it in the market. 

Once you have checked its key improvement areas, identified your audience's needs and requirements, and decided which advanced feature would best complement your app, you can reach out to investors. Then, you can obtain funds and develop fully-developed eCommerce applications like Haraj. 

Join Apptunix to Build a Robust eCommerce App like Haraj

Apptunix, a leading mobile eCommerce app development company, offers comprehensive solutions to help you build ecommerce app like Haraj quickly and efficiently.

Our team of skilled developers and designers specializes in creating user-friendly, feature-rich, scalable mobile applications tailored to your requirements. 

With years of experience in the industry, we understand the intricacies of eCommerce app development and can guide you through every step of the process

From initial concept planning to final deployment, Apptunix will be by your side, providing expert guidance and support. We'll help you navigate through all aspects of app development, including cost estimation, key factors to consider, essential features implementation, and more.

With our dedication to quality and client satisfaction, you can trust our app development company in Saudi Arabia to deliver a top-notch app that stands out in the competitive marketplace. Let us help you turn your vision into reality and propel your business to success in the online marketplace.