.webp){kind=small}
An in-house mobile team is the most expensive way to get an ecommerce app. You need at least 4-5 people (iOS developer, Android developer, product manager, designer, QA), which runs $700K-$1M+ per year in fully loaded costs.
You spend time interviewing and finding the right people - then they still need 6-12 months to build the app. That's 9-18 months and over $1M before a single customer downloads anything.
MobiLoud gets you a native iOS and Android app, built on your existing website, live in the App Store in about 30 days, for $799/month. Every integration, every feature, every page carries over automatically. No hiring, no codebase to maintain, no turnover risk.
Here's how the two approaches compare:
An in-house team makes sense if mobile is your core product (ride-sharing, banking, delivery) or you need capabilities your website fundamentally can't provide (AR, offline functionality, hardware integration).
For most ecommerce brands, the goal is a native app that drives repeat purchases, push notification revenue, and higher LTV from your best customers.
That doesn't require a permanent engineering team - or even a full rebuild. Your site does all of that; you just need someone to extend it to a native app.
The rest of this page breaks down what an in-house mobile team actually costs, what the hiring and build process looks like, and how MobiLoud works differently.
You’re building a full in-house team; which means significant staffing overhead.
At minimum, you're hiring:
That's the lean version. A more realistic team for an ecommerce app with real complexity adds backend developer support for API work ($120,000-$150,000/year).
Salary is only part of it. Benefits, payroll taxes, equipment, tooling, and office overhead add 25-40% on top of base salary.
Sources: Glassdoor, Salary.com, PayScale
On top of that, you may run into costs such as:
Your realistic Year 1 total: $830,000 - $1,000,000+.
Year 2 and beyond still runs $700K-$800K+ in team compensation.
Not only does building an in-house team cost a lot, it also means potentially a year and a half until you even get the chance to start recouping your investment.
Before any code gets written, you need to find, interview, hire, and onboard your team. The average time to fill a software engineering role is 40-60 days, and mobile specialists are in particularly high demand.
Need ecommerce-specific experience? The pool gets smaller.
Realistically, 3-6 months from "let's build a mobile team" to having everyone in place.
Once you have a team, they still need to build the app. Standard ecommerce features (product browsing, search, cart, checkout, account management, order tracking) take 6-12 months of development before the first version hits the App Store.
During this time, you're paying full salaries for a team that hasn't delivered revenue yet. At $65,000-$80,000/month in team costs, a 9-month build means $585,000-$720,000 spent before a single customer downloads the app.
Your website runs on dozens of tools: search (Algolia), email and SMS (Klaviyo), reviews (Yotpo, Judge.me), loyalty (Smile.io, LoyaltyLion), subscriptions (ReCharge), personalization (Nosto, Dynamic Yield), live chat (Gorgias), payment processing, shipping, tax, fraud detection.
A typical mid-market ecommerce store runs 20-40 integrations touching the customer experience. Each one needs to be rebuilt in your app.
A single integration takes roughly 150 engineering hours to build and 300 hours per year to maintain. At 20 integrations, that's 3,000 hours for the initial build, 6,000 hours per year to keep them current.
Your small team will spend more time on integration plumbing than on the features that actually differentiate the app.
Software developers change jobs every 2-3 years on average. When a key developer leaves, they take knowledge about your codebase, integration layer, and architecture with them. The replacement takes months to hire and months more to get productive.
For a small team where each person covers a critical function, turnover doesn't just slow things down. It can stall the entire mobile effort.
MobiLoud replaces the need for an in-house mobile team. No hiring, no codebase, no turnover.
Your website powers the app
Instead of rebuilding your store as a separate mobile codebase, MobiLoud takes your existing website and delivers it as a native iOS and Android app. Every integration, every feature, every piece of content carries over automatically.
Zero integration work
Your entire tech stack works in the app because it works on your website. Swap out a tool, add a new loyalty tier, update your checkout flow. The app reflects it automatically. Your team never touches mobile code.
A dedicated team without the headcount
MobiLoud handles the build, App Store submission, ongoing maintenance, OS updates, and technical support. You get a named account manager and direct access to engineering.
Native features built in
Push notifications (unlimited, with automated abandoned cart and behavioral campaigns), deep linking, native navigation, App Store presence. The features that actually drive mobile app ROI, included from day one.
Live in about 30 days
No hiring phase. No build phase. Your app is in the App Store roughly a month after you start.
For most ecommerce brands doing $5M-$500M in annual revenue, the mobile app goal is straightforward: a native shopping experience for your best customers, push notifications to drive repeat purchases, and the conversion lift and higher LTV that apps deliver. That doesn't require permanent mobile headcount.
Here are some highlights from our latest Ecommerce Mobile App Benchmark Report:
These numbers come from brands that launched in weeks, not from teams that spent a year building. The ROI starts from month one.
Here’s how to get your brand in the App Stores, and on your customers’ home screens, without a six figure investment and a year-long dev project.
MobiLoud has built 2,000+ apps since 2013, including apps for global ecommerce brands like Jack & Jones, John Varvatos and Estee Lauder. We bring predictable monthly pricing, no revenue share, a dedicated team managing your app from day one.
Book a free strategy call to see what your store will look like as a native mobile app.
