Cost of Developing a Mobile App Like Best Buy – A Step-by-Step Guide

Mobile applications are now the mainstay in eCommerce, connecting with customers and generating sales. Best Buy is one of the most successful electronics retailers around, and its mobile application allows its customers to browse products, read reviews, check prices, track orders, and, most importantly, purchase items. But how does one build such an application, and what's the cost? In this blog, we will look at what makes such an application costly.

Best Buy-Like Mobile Application Features

Before going to its costs, let's outline the features of such a Best Buy application. 

It must contain:

Product Catalog: It is a considerable, dynamic list with a broad product description, images, product prices, and stock-related information.

Search Functionality: Ability to look for products based on categories, brands, and keywords.

Shopping Cart & Checkout: A smooth cart with payment gateways for checkouts.

Order Tracking: Users can track their order status and get notified once their orders are ready to be delivered.

User Profiles & Authentication: Account for saving their preferences, order history, and managing information.

Push Notifications: For informing new deals, discounts, and other order updates.

Location-Based Services: Store locators, check availability, and promotions according to user location.

Customer Reviews & Ratings: Allowing customers to view and leave reviews about the products.

Now let's look at what affects the cost of development.

Scope of Features and Functionality

The second factor that influences the total cost greatly is the complexity of the features of your app. For an app like Best Buy, you would require a lot of functionalities such as product management, secure payment gateways, user authentication, and strong backend support for inventory management. Adding advanced features like augmented reality (AR) for product visualization or personalized product recommendations based on user behavior will also add cost.

As the level of complexity increases, so do development time and cost. For example, involving a recommendation engine powered by machine learning will require specialized resources, thus hugely increasing the budget.

Design and UX/UI

The success of any eCommerce application will largely depend on how user-friendly and beautiful it is. For the Best Buy app, a simple and mobile-friendly interface would be necessary so the users can easily browse for their products, make some purchases, and navigate within various sections.

The following steps are involved in the design process:

Wireframing: Developing a basic structure for the application.

UI/UX Design: Designing the visual elements of an application including icons, buttons, color schemes, etc.

Prototyping: Clickable prototypes to sketch the user flow

Custom designs, animations, and responsive layouts that work across different screen sizes and devices will increase costs-especially if the design needs to be tailored to both iOS and Android platforms.

Development Team and Location

The cost of developing an application depends on the location as well as the expertise level of the development team.

Major roles involved in the development of an application are:

• The project manager: is responsible for managing the entire development process and ensuring everything falls in place.
• Mobile Developers: build the app for iOS or Android.
• Backend Developers: develop server-side logic and database architecture.
• QA Engineers: test the apps for bugs and performance.
• UI/UX Designers: Designing part of the application.

North American and Western European developers are usually expensive compared to the developers from Eastern Europe, Asia, or Latin America. Developers in the U.S. may charge $100–$200 per hour while developers in India may charge $25–$50 per hour.

Platform Development

Building a mobile application on either iOS or Android alone would be cheaper compared to creating an application on both of them. However, for a larger audience reach, you might have to go for developing both for iOS and Android. In these regards, tools that would allow you to have the capability of building the code base to work on both, hence cutting costs such as Flutter and React Native cross-platform development. Still, the natives tend to offer superior performance and user experience.

Maintenance and Updates

The launch of an application automatically initiates the amassing cost for maintenance. This ensures constant updating to get rid of bugs, bring forth the most beneficial add-ons, and check with newer operating system releases, allowing it to remain viable. A cost estimate for continuous updates would lie between 15 to 20 percent per annum.

Approximate Cost

The cost of an app similar to Best Buy can greatly vary due to several reasons. Considering the features, design, and development mentioned above, here are approximate figures.

Basic App: With the core features, 50,000 – $100,000

Advanced App: Custom design and advanced features along with cross-platform  compatibility 100,000 – 250,000 dollars

Enterprise-Level App: Advanced cutting-edge technology, integrations, and scalability of 250,000 – 500,000 dollars

These estimates often depend on the location of the project, team size, and project complexity. Therefore, a well-defined project plan is important to keep an eye on the budget and business goals.

Conclusion

Building a mobile app like Best Buy is an investment that requires careful planning and execution. The costs can range from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of the app and the resources required. It’s essential to work with an experienced development team, like Osiz, A leading App Development Company,  who can help bring your vision to life while ensuring the app is functional, scalable, and user-friendly.

If you are ready to develop a mobile application for your e-commerce business, Osiz can guide you from conceptualization to deployment. Call us today and learn how we can help you develop a mobile application that drives success for your brand.