Ecommerce App Development: How to Build a Mobile App for Your Store

Mobile is the dominant surface in ecommerce today. Most of your customers shop from their phones, and globally, mobile makes up over 60% of ecommerce sales.

Stats like these make having your own mobile app a no-brainer.

App shoppers browse more, buy more often, and spend more over their lifetime than people who only ever visit your mobile site. The app is a stickier experience - it’s a direct line to your best customers.

The good news? Ecommerce mobile app development is not as complicated and costly as it once was. Any successful ecommerce brand today can have their own native apps, living on their customer’s phone next to Instagram, Amazon and Uber.

This guide walks through everything you need to know about launching your own ecommerce mobile app, from why you need an app, how to build it, and how to launch and grow your brand’s mobile app.

Why Your Brand Needs a Mobile App

An app is a direct line to your best customers; and the ultimate retention channel.

The biggest advantage is retention. An app icon sits on the customer’s home screen. That means returning to your store takes one tap, instead of relying on the customer to remember your website URL, find you in search, or dig up a bookmark (and no one uses bookmarks on mobile anyway).

That convenience adds up: data clearly shows app shoppers browse more often, place more orders, and spend more money than mobile web users.

The second advantage is push notifications. Unlike email or SMS, a push message lands directly on the lock screen in real time, and it costs nothing to send. For new product drops, back-in-stock alerts, and abandoned cart reminders, push is incredibly powerful; and ultimately one of the highest-ROI channels in ecommerce.

Apps also let you build things the web can't match: a VIP channel with app-only discounts and early access to launches; a shopping experience optimized for repeat buyers, not new visitors; personalized experiences; and an always-on presence in your customer’s mind.

For any brand that relies on repeat customers to stay afloat, an app is a must. It’s not as important for newer brands, or brands where customers traditionally only purchase once. 

But if retention and purchase frequency are important, you need to have an app.

Ecommerce Mobile App Goals and Core Features

Before you choose how to build, get clear on what you're building and for whom.

In most cases, you’re not looking to build a brand new, completely unique surface. You’re extending your current storefront to a new channel.

The goal of your app (at least for most operators we talk to) is to provide a smoother, lower-friction way for repeat customers to come back and buy again.

To do that, you’ll want the following features:

• A product catalog that syncs with your store in real time (prices, inventory, images)
• Search, filtering, and product pages
• Cart, wishlist, and a fast checkout
• Secure accounts and order history
• Push notifications
• Reviews and ratings
• Loyalty program, subscriptions, shoppable lookbooks, if applicable to your brand

Most of this already exists on your website. The most efficient path to a mobile app is carrying over these features to your app; not rebuilding them.

There are some app-specific features that you need to build, like:

• Push notifications
• App-specific UI tweaks
• App-exclusive deals, promos or pages
• The native framework that lets it function as a proper native app

But for the most part, you’re looking at two steps: carrying over what you’ve already built for the web, and native additions that make it look and feel like a true mobile app.

Four Ways to Build an Ecommerce Mobile App

There are a few different ways to build a mobile app. And each can be viable, in the right situation.

It pays to understand each approach, what it takes, and how it impacts the end product. This will help you settle on the best route to go down for your store, in particular.

Let’s break down each option now.

No-Code App Builders

No-code app builders are self-serve, template-driven tools you operate yourself. They're typically the cheapest and fastest way to get to a live, working mobile app.

Like any software category, there are many sub-categories of no-code app builders. In the ecommerce context, there are two types to be aware of:

• General-purpose, “from scratch” mobile app builders. These tools give you a blank canvas to compile a mobile app, and everything runs through their platform (orders, inventory, content).
• Ecommerce-specific app builders. These are no-code tools built specifically for ecommerce. They use platform APIs (e.g. Shopify’s) to sync data across your website and app.

In almost all cases, for ecommerce mobile app development, the second option is what you want.

Data sync between your website and app is crucial. It’s the biggest thing that, if it goes wrong, will cause everything to fall apart. You need to know that customer accounts, inventory and stock numbers, product details and base pricing etc all work the same in your app and website.

The first (generic no-code app builders) are only an option for ecommerce apps that are “standalone” apps - like a shopping assistant for a retail store, or an app for a restaurant.

Learn more about the Best Mobile App Builders for Ecommerce brands

Managed App Platforms (MobiLoud)

A managed app platform is something halfway between the no-code and agency routes.

You essentially get all the benefits of both. You get a team doing the work for you, managing the app build, ongoing maintenance for your app, and supporting you in all aspects of app development.

At the same time, the investment and time to market is similar to mid-market or higher-end no-code tools.

MobiLoud is the standout option in this category. MobiLoud helps ecommerce brands turn their website into full-featured, custom mobile apps that take minimal work to maintain.

Every feature from your website carries over to the app, and all the content and features of the app are managed from your existing web backend.

"The app's been invaluable to us. The cost we're paying versus what we're getting back is tenfold."
-- Nick Barbarise, Director of IT, John Varvatos

It’s a great way to build a mobile app for ecommerce brands with custom web features they want to carry over to the app, and for those who want a custom app channel without a separate storefront to maintain.

Custom Development

Custom development means coding a new app, completely from scratch, either fully native (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android) or cross-platform (React Native or Flutter), against your ecommerce platform’s APIs.

You’ll need either an in-house development team or a development agency for this. Either direction is going to be a lot more expensive than a no-code tool or a managed app service, it’ll take a lot longer to launch, and it’ll be more work and cost to maintain.

There’s not a lot of reason to go with custom development for ecommerce apps today - not when the two prior options deliver everything you need from an app.

AI App Builders

The newest option is AI code-generation tools that can produce a working app quickly and cheaply.

You can find more and more AI-driven app builders everyday. There’s also the “vibe coding” route, using LLMs (e.g. Claude, ChatGPT) to write the code for your app.

Realistically, for a serious ecommerce brand, AI-built mobile apps are not an option. The downside is too much; you don’t want to risk your revenue on code you don’t understand, hoping that the AI hasn’t made any mistakes.

AI can be good for a quick prototype. But if you’re expecting real revenue from your app, you want to build something with more substance.

How Ecommerce Mobile App Development Works on Your Platform

An important consideration: the platform currently powering your ecommerce store.

The reason for this is, you need your website and mobile app moving in sync. That means your app needs to be compatible with the backend of your website. And depending on the platform your site runs on, that could look a little different.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what you need to know about a few of the top ecommerce platforms.

Shopify and Shopify Plus

With Shopify, you’ve got the biggest ecosystem of no-code tools to choose from: nearly 100 app builders available on the Shopify App Store.

These all use Shopify’s Storefront API to power your app. That locks your app to their platform, and restricts, to a degree, what you can do in the app.

It’s a solid way to get an app, but for more custom stores (especially once you start getting into complex Shopify Plus builds and headless Hydrogen stores), it will be hard to fully recreate everything from your store in the app.

You can also build a custom app against Shopify’s APIs; but again, this is the kind of investment that doesn’t make sense for most Shopify brands.

MobiLoud’s managed app service is the best alternative for Shopify stores that don’t want to work with the limits of no-code app builders. Unlike these tools, it doesn't rely on Shopify’s APIs, so the result is more flexibility, fewer limitations, and complete feature parity across your website and app by default.

Learn more: The Complete Guide to Shopify Mobile App Development 

Magento and Adobe Commerce

Magento gives you strong foundations but no native app out of the box. Adobe's official PWA Studio lets you build a Progressive Web App storefront on top of Magento, which improves the mobile web experience but doesn't produce an app you can list in the stores.

Both regular Magento and Adobe Commerce have APIs you can use to build a native app. And while there are some API-based app builders for Magento, there’s not nearly as many to choose from as with Shopify.

Again, MobiLoud is one of the best ways for Magento and Adobe Commerce stores to launch a mobile app. MobiLoud already powers a number of high-end Magento brands, including luxury fashion brand Tadashi Shoji and automotive parts supplier GSF Car Parts.

"At first, we explored the viability of building our own native apps from the ground up. And while that was achievable, managing them effectively moving forward would not have been feasible due to the disconnected nature of such an approach."
-- David Chamberlin, Lead Developer, Tadashi Shoji

For simple stores (SMBs, small boutiques), a no-code tool may work.

For higher-end, complex Magento stores, MobiLoud is the ideal way to build your mobile app.

Learn more: All You Need to Know About Magento Mobile App Development

WooCommerce

WooCommerce runs on WordPress and exposes a full REST API, which makes it friendly for developers, and a solid foundation for a native app.

Outside of MobiLoud (which is platform-agnostic, and works with every ecommerce platform, including WooCommerce), there are a few no-code tools that work with WooCommerce. But like every non-Shopify platform, the selection is pretty thin. 

BigCommerce, Headless, and Enterprise Stacks

Brands on BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, commercetools, a fully custom or headless stack, or a legacy enterprise platform will find it difficult to find reliable, low-cost tools to build their app.

That’s because the complexities of an enterprise platform don’t carry over to no-code app builders. They’re built for mass-market appeal, not niche, high-end customers.

The headless/composable nature of platforms like SFCC, BigCommerce, commercetools and others is built to let you extend your store to native apps. But this still requires dedicated developers to build and manage your app surface.

MobiLoud, on the other hand, lets you build an app powered by your existing website.

It’s essentially a headless approach; you manage all the content and data from one place, shipping custom experiences to app and web.

It’s the best approach for enterprise brands who don’t want to massively reinvent the wheel with their mobile apps, and don’t want the app to morph into a whole new storefront to manage, with a multiple-person team required to manage it.

What It Costs, and How Long It Takes to Build an Ecommerce Mobile App

With any project, cost and time are key considerations. Here’s what to expect from ecommerce mobile app development.

Cost to Build an Ecommerce App

The cost largely depends on how you decide to build your app.

It can be a small cost, or it could be in the hundreds of thousands. Here are some rough estimates, based on build path, platform and requirements:

• A no-code app for Shopify: anywhere from ~$149 per month to $1K+ per month. The cost covers access to the platform, and keeping your app live. Consider the cost of your team’s time on top of this.
• Managed service like MobiLoud: low-four figures per month, plus a one-time setup fee. The cost is a little higher than a no-code app builder, but comes with more hands-on service, plus all the advantages of this approach as discussed above.
• No-code apps for non-Shopify platforms: this varies wildly. App builders for platforms like Magento and WooCommerce split into either ultra-cheap (as low as $29 per month, or a one-time payment) to multiple thousands per month. 
• Custom mobile app for Shopify: roughly $100K to go live. More, if your app has any really complex requirements. On top of this, you’ll have to budget a minimum $50K per year to keep it running.
• Custom enterprise mobile app: Expect much more, potentially $250K+ upfront, and $100K+ annually on maintenance.

On top of the build itself, there are two fixed costs everyone pays to publish: an Apple Developer Program membership at $99 a year, and a Google Play Developer account at a one-time $25. These are tiny costs in the grand scheme of things; but worth mentioning nonetheless.

Read more: How Much Does It Cost to Build an Ecommerce App

How Long It Takes

For timelines, it again splits massively depending on the build route.

No-code tools can get you an app in an afternoon, if you’re happy with a default template and minimal customization.

It’ll take you at least a week to get your app approved by Apple and Google; but you can go live fast. That’s the option if you want an app live as quickly as possible - but be aware you’re sacrificing quality to do so.

MobiLoud’s managed service gets you live in around six to eight weeks. Potentially faster - Shopify-based retail pharmacy Pharmazone launched their app in just two weeks (and it now drives over 60% of their total online revenue).

For custom development, you can expect a bare minimum of 3-6 months. For more complex builds, it could take a year or more to get a fully working app in the app stores.

After the Building: How to Test, Launch, and Grow Your Ecommerce App

Building a working app is the start, not the finish. 

Testing it properly, getting through store review, and driving installs is what turns it into a channel that pays off.

Test every flow before launch: browse, search, add to cart, checkout, account, and push, across different devices, operating-system versions, and network conditions. 

TestFlight for iOS and closed testing on Google Play let real users try it before everyone else does. If you’re using a no-code tool, see what kind of tools they offer to let you test your app on real devices before putting it out to the world.

To publish your app, you'll need active Apple Developer and Google Play accounts plus store assets: an app name, description, keywords, screenshots, and an icon. Apple's review usually takes up to a week, and Google's is often faster. 

A managed service like MobiLoud typically does all the testing and publishing work for you.

Then comes growth. Once your app is live, you need to let people know about it. You don’t need any flash or expensive promotional campaigns here - just make it visible in front of your regular customers.

Promote it on your website, via email, social media. Use app banners and QR codes on your website to make it easy for customers to download it.

Aside from the basics, promoting regular app-exclusive deals is a great way to encourage people to get the app - and to keep it on their phone.

Getting Started

Building a mobile app for your ecommerce store doesn’t have to mean hiring developers or writing code.

Today, it’s easier than ever to have your own app as an ecommerce brand. The breadth of tools and services built for ecommerce app development has made it almost a no-brainer for brands to launch an app.

There are many “right” ways to launch a mobile app. If you want one approach that works regardless of platform, and regardless of how complex your site is, check out MobiLoud.

MobiLoud handles everything for you, from build through to testing, app store submission and ongoing maintenance, helping you launch the perfect mobile app.

Get a free preview to see what your app could look like, and walk through the process.