Amazon Clone : What is the easiest way to develop an app like Amazon in 2021?
The name “Amazon” does not any longer remind of the gigantic river that flows in South America. It rather reminds us of the e-commerce marketplace that is synonymous with multiple products like video streaming, cloud services, and e-book readers. Although the company might have its tentacles spread across multiple streams, it cannot be denied that e-commerce holds the anchor of Amazon clone. What made Amazon so successful that its founder is a frequent contender for the position of the world’s richest person?
Deep diving into the marketplace
There was a time when e-commerce was considered a technical marvel. Today, however, e-commerce has become more available and people no longer knit their eyebrows to see a person launch their own eCommerce store.
This comfort has created a wide gap between marketplaces and single-seller eCommerce platforms. In a marketplace, there is competition within the platform and your supremacy as a seller can be challenged by counterfeit and illegitimate goods. It also limits the availability of data and there might be some terms and conditions that you might need to comply with a half-heart. Above everything, you also have to part with your revenue that needs to be paid to the platform as a commission.
In all of this, it cannot be the night that e-commerce platforms have brought in a considerable degree of comfort. A small entrepreneur does not have to invest in building a huge platform from scratch. With all the documentation in place, it becomes easy for any business person to launch their products on an e-commerce platform like Amazon. It also means that they do not have to focus on the auxiliary areas of business like shipping, warehousing, and packaging.
This has, without question, made e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon a favorite among the masses. With the number of businesses and products increasing, there is also a constant demand for new marketplaces, and the possibility of success in this stream has been effectively demonstrated by the products like Flipkart, eBay, and Etsy.
What does a marketplace mean for a consumer?
The e-commerce industry is expected to reach about $2.7 trillion in market value by 2021. The current prediction for the penetration is 63.1% by 2025, which is a considerable jump from the existing 50.8%.
While these numbers present a lucrative figure, there are a lot of other factors that contribute to the growth of e-commerce. Consumers prefer flexibility in surfing and would also like to save time. They have also witnessed that e-commerce, almost always, has special deals and discounts. E-commerce platforms also make it easy for people to compare products and choose the best one.
In addition, there are a few abstract influencing factors that determine the choice of e-commerce marketplace a consumer goes for. The resolution/clarity of images, the loyalty programs, the notifications they get regarding promotions and discounts, and the way the brand has built a positive image because of their past experience play a role in determining whether or not a user chooses to shop with your e-commerce marketplace.
Users would also love to have product recommendations, a wish list, social media sharing options, guest check-out, and live chat support. Considering the huge volume of products and the variety, users would also love to have a sort and filter option. Most of them prefer to pay by debit cards.
The future of e-commerce looks promising with the addition of new technology. Augmented reality is one of the most expected features for products like home decor accessories and furniture. It would be easy for users to see how it would look in real life. The way Siri and Google Assistant have evolved has made users wish to have voice search integrated, and if possible, even ordering enabled through voice.
With the growth of social media, people would also prefer to have social shopping integrated. Your e-commerce marketplace can have the capacity to even converge social media and online shopping where people recommend products, connect with people who purchase similar products, and even buy/sell pre-owned products on your marketplace.
The core features
While all that we have talked about above can be considered augmentations that will enhance the marketability of your platform, there are a few features that need to be in place to ensure that your marketplace performs the intended functions.
It is to be remembered that an e-commerce marketplace has distinct applications for the buyer, the seller, and the administrator. There are a few features common to all the parties involved and there are some of them specific to the entity.
Registration
Although it can be considered trivial, registration should be one step that an entrepreneur should pay meticulous attention to. It is to be remembered that a poorly designed registration page can even result in your mobile app being uninstalled. The first step of the registration should be made simple and straightforward. People should be able to sign up using their email address or phone number or existing legacy credentials like Google or Facebook.
Based on the type of user, additional details should be collected during the registration process. The first step, however, should be made easy for people to sign up without any hassle.
Payments
Any business revolves around money! Consumers should be able to make their payments without any hassle. For this purpose, your e-commerce marketplace should be tied up with a versatile payment gateway that can accept payments from multiple payment instruments like credit cards, debit cards, Internet banking, and wallets. If possible, your app should also have a native wallet which makes it easy to process refunds and provide discount offers.
The seller depends on your e-commerce platform as if it were a retail outlet. The profit that proceeds from your e-commerce sales should be credited to the bank account of the seller without much delay. There might be instances where the seller depends only on spaces like Amazon clone for their revenue, and delays in payment would mean that they might lose the trust they have in your e-commerce marketplace brand.
GPS/mapping/navigation
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the entire on-demand revolution revolves around the GPS. Before the GPS became a part of every smartphone, delivery executives found it difficult to find the exact location of the user based on the address. However, with the GPS/mapping/navigation combination in place, it is possible for delivery executives to pinpoint the location without any difficulty and also drive/ride to the location. Your app should ensure that it integrates GPS/navigation within its basic functionality.
The GPS will also let the consumer know the status of their order and, if need be, can also be used to guide/direct the delivery person to their home.
The specific features
The features that we have talked about above are common features for both The customer and the seller. There are a few features specific to each entity that needs to be taken care of.
The user app
The user should be able to search and find items of their choice and should also be able to apply filters to enable easy zeroing down on the product they want. If need be, they should also be able to sort by price, reviews, and any other attribute. The filtering should change with the type of product. For example, a mobile phone list should be filtered by the amount of RAM and a sofa should be filtered by the kind of wood used to build it.
The user should be able to mark products as favorites/wish lists. This will help not only do users come back to these items but also the in sending the right promotions and discounts.
The user should be able to share their purchases on social media platforms with the click of a button. If need be, even discounts can be introduced for users who share the purchase on social media.
The user should be able to review and rate the product based on their experience with the product and the intensity with which it met their expectations.
A user profile should contain bits of information like their location, the default payment methods, and the entire history of the orders. You should also contain the email address and phone number to which the other updates and tracking information needs to be sent.
Overall, the app should make it congenial and easy for users to choose the right product and complete their payment. Following through, the app should also make it easy for users to receive their shipment without any delay and in the shortest possible time.
The seller app
The marketplace serves as a bridge between the user and the seller. The seller should also be provided with features that make it easy for them to get their products listed and sold.
While the login/sign-up should be kept simple, the seller should have a profile that enables management of bank accounts, inventory, products, and orders. They should also be able to manage discounts and offers if necessary.
One of the trickiest parts when it comes to an e-commerce marketplace is managing returns and refunds. The seller should have an option to define proper return and refund policies either by product type or even by specific products.
The seller should have access to detailed analytics that gives them information on the hottest selling products, the statistics regarding the product page visits, and, if possible, the number of users who have chosen competitive products over their products. This will help sellers make informed decisions on their next product or even the selling/advertising strategies.
The seller should have access to support across multiple platforms like email, phone, and chat. It is to be remembered that your e-commerce marketplace runs because there is a total balance between people who buy and people who sell.
The seller should be able to answer questions regarding the product posed by the customer. They should also have options to publish all the details of the product, including but not limited to the product brand, the price, the shelflife, the dimensions, the time taken to ship, the material, and any other attribute that will make it easy for the user to choose that product. The pieces of information provided regarding the product become effective filters for users.
The administrator app
The administrator is responsible for the overall health of the e-commerce marketplace.
The administrator should have the power to enable or disable users and sellers based on properties like reviews, violation of policies, and a host of other factors. They should be able to override certain settings of the user and the seller.
The administrator is also responsible for the content on the website/mobile app. They can manage banners and promotions exclusive to the marketplace. They can also decide on the sequence of information to be displayed on the app/website.
The admin is responsible for customer support. If need be, they should be able to delegate customer support to a dedicated customer support team. They are also responsible for handling feedback and reviews regarding the marketplace.
The administrator should have access to detailed analytics and an intuitive dashboard that gives them all vital bits of information on the total number of active users, the active orders, the revenue, and the existing commission rates. The analytics should help them make calculated decisions on promotions, offers, and discounts.
Conclusion
We have already seen that the market is wide and open to accommodate new players in the space of a multi-vendor e-commerce marketplace. To build an e-commerce marketplace in the scale and magnitude of Amazon clone would be considered almost impossible. Alternatively, to build an e-commerce app like Amazon, you can go for an Amazon Clone.
When you choose one among the best Amazon Clone scripts available, you get a considerable degree of customizability, enabling you to create an Amazon clone app. You can make sure that the app is garnished with features of your choice which any stellar e-commerce app solution would be able to provide you with.
All that is left for you to do is to get in touch with the company that specializes in Amazon Clone app development. They will take care to understand your e-commerce marketplace requirement and build you a perfect Amazon clone app, so you can launch yourself in this lucrative space and start building your profit in a scalable way.
