Do you wish to advance your mobile application? By implementing a well-planned mobile app redesign, you may improve user experience (UX) and increase engagement. 

Users expect mobile apps to have a high degree of functionality and usability because they have become a crucial part of our everyday lives. An app’s poor design can cause annoyance, unfavorable ratings, and ultimately user churn. A well-made app, on the other hand, can improve the user experience and foster loyalty. 

We’ll lead you through the process of a successful mobile app redesign in this tutorial. We tried to cover as many topics as possible, including user research, analysis, and testing, as well as design implementation. You can design a mobile app that is visually appealing, user-friendly and caters to the demands of your target market using the insights and techniques you learn in this guide. This can boost user interaction, boost retention rates, and eventually result in commercial success.

What’s an App Redesign?

Redesigning a mobile application involves making it look and feel better in order to make it more appealing and user-friendly. In other words, it entails assessing the app’s present design and determining areas that should be improved in light of user feedback. A redesigned software should offer a simple and intuitive user interface to entice repeat usage. To increase the performance, engagement, and retention of their software, product managers frequently start a makeover.

The redesign process might result in more functionality and a user-friendly design by bringing new ideas to the table based on user behavior analysis and unbiased feedback. Two equally significant steps are involved in the process of redesigning an app: 

• UI design 

User interface (UI) design is mostly concerned with the app’s visual elements. Layout, typography, color scheme, and other visual components fall under this category. The aim of a UI designer is to produce an interface that is aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly, and intuitive. 

• UX design 

When we talk about an app’s total user experience (UX), we mean it. In order to satisfy user needs, a UX designer attempts to create an intuitive, simple-to-use interface. To do this, UX designers carry out user research to comprehend the wants and objectives of the user. They build wireframes and prototypes to test and iterate on their design concepts after analyzing user behavior to determine how the app is utilized.

Benefits of Redesigning Your App

The process of redesigning an app is time-consuming and expensive. It will, however, earn back its cost and effort. Following an application redesign, product owners may benefit from the following:

• Creating a knowledgeable impression. Trend-following products appear to be enjoyable to use on a regular basis, which makes users admire the designers who created them;
• Becoming more visible on the market. Mobile apps that are updated regularly form a very compatible offer;
• Receiving higher conversion rates. Redesign affects not just the rates, but also other user experience (UX) changes, such as recommending the app to a broader audience, natural promotion, and loyalty;
• Increasing brand recognition. A mobile app’s brand awareness can help set it apart from competing products in stores and establish its credibility with users;
• Boosting the likelihood of additional investments. Your product makes a statement for you in front of investors. The regular release of new features and upgrades by a program is a strong argument;
• Becoming proud of your product. Any app makeover starts with swapping out old patterns and concepts for fresh ones. The software, which was released in a manner consistent with the newest design trends, will undoubtedly make you feel proud of the higher quality of services you now provide. And let’s not remember that a feeling of belonging to a bigger mission is what drives motivation.

6 Reasons for an App Redesign (With Solutions)

For a product to succeed, its functionality, intuitiveness, and stability are unquestionably crucial. However, when a user launches your app, the first thing they notice is how the design. The major part of first impressions is influenced by design. And in many circumstances, poor design can easily push a user away from your product. Now that you are aware of the design’s potential, let’s discuss some scenarios in which you might want to think about rebuilding your application:

Outdated Aesthetics

Modernization is a normal stage in the development of any brand because it enables a business to perform at a higher standard. In the context of rapidly evolving trends and user preferences, upgrades are unavoidable. Even the most effective UI will eventually seem old-fashioned despite originally appearing elegant and cutting-edge.

You don’t have to create an interface from scratch or adhere to every new UX/UI design trend, but it makes sense to update the product from time to time to keep up with the market standards. Apply modern design components and color schemes so that the app is both aesthetically pleasing and simple to use.

Negative Customer Reviews

What problems do users of your mobile app bring up? You need to update the design of your apps if you have low app ratings, poor customer evaluations, or reviews from clients who have issues. Even negative feedback brings about benefits. Having any user comments and real-life experience makes it simpler to identify the parts of your app needing fixing and improvement. 

Find the parts of the software that are frustrating consumers, such as the cluttered UI or the confusing navigation. To make it more logical and user-friendly, streamline the design and user experience. To fully understand the “why“ behind how users interact with your app, use session replays and analytic tools. They will help you obtain insights into unique user behavior patterns and identify chances for UX enhancement with the use of touch heatmaps, funnel analytics, crash logs, and event analytics.

Complex Interface

Applications frequently grow overly complex with time, especially when new features are added and the interface gets cluttered. It is particularly relatable for SaaS apps because they are often highly sophisticated and fulfill many different roles.

When Uber added new service options, it seemed that the screen was too small to show all the options at once, leading users to select the incorrect item. The answer to this problem was to ask them where they were going in the first place (include a “Where to?“ area) and only after that to display the price, the route, and other pop-ups. 

Rebranding

Sometimes, it makes no sense to hang onto an outdated perception because the design may not be the only thing that has to be updated; a new look and an effective marketing strategy might give a brand-new vitality. It piques the curiosity of current clients and aids in attracting new ones.

Despite being a popular platform, Airbnb’s brand over time didn’t align with its new product goal. In order for consumers to grasp its essential beliefs and guiding principles, Airbnb chose to develop its distinct brand identity in 2014. They updated the typeface, the logo and even added a new color they named Rausch during the overhaul. As a result, they positioned their product as being clear, approachable, and engaging to their customers with the help of design.

Platform Updates

Keeping your app updated is crucial as mobile platforms and technology develop. A redesign will help ensure that your app is compatible with the newest gadgets and cutting-edge frameworks for developing mobile apps. The solution will be to keep up with the most recent developments in mobile technology and make sure the app is optimized for these platforms. Enhance compatibility and app performance, this may entail altering the design or user experience.

Your Conversion Rate Is Not What It Could Be

Do you follow your drop-off rate? Visitors can easily become irritated by a poor UX design. Whether a visitor becomes a devoted customer depends on the experience they have with the app. The majority of people link poor design to poor service. The halo effect refers to this phenomenon. New trends in user experience develop over time, making even the most fashionable designs appear old. 

When the Redesign Is Not a Solution

Redesigning your application’s UI/UX might be useful if you, as the product owner, know what issues you want to address and what user behavior you want to modify. If you’d like to simply “add amazing animations to make it pop“ and “make the application cool“ rather than turning it into a work of art or transform the design into something truly exceptional, it is preferable to take extra time to investigate and consider exactly what you want to accomplish.

Don’t redesign merely for the sake of redesigning. It is unquestionably not worthwhile to change the appearance and feel of a program if it does not provide the end user with anything novel or beneficial. The redesign is also not a solution if:

• the cost of redesigning your app is higher than the revenue generated from that investment;
• most of the functionality will be changed in the near future anyway;
• there is no configured analytics for key metrics (adjust and collect indicators for 2-3 months and only then proceed to redesign in case there is a need).

And finally, redesign is not a designer’s job, despite how strange that statement may sound. Instead, it is far from just their job. A comprehensive team of experts, including a designer, marketer, business analyst, etc., is needed to rebuild an application or create an interface from scratch completely. Changing some parts of the app’s aesthetics or color design alone probably won’t help you for this reason.

Top 3 Factors to Consider Before Redesigning Your App

It’s important to remember that designing a mobile app for your company has the potential to revolutionize the way you do business completely. A well-executed redesign can raise engagement, enhance user experience, and even generate revenue. 

Prior to starting a mobile app redesign, it’s crucial to examine user behavior and feedback, identify problem areas and opportunities for growth, and develop a comprehensive plan that takes these issues into account. Here are some considerations to make:

• What objectives does the redesign have? Do you want to update the app’s appearance and feel, boost revenue, or improve user engagement?
• Who are your intended customers? What are their wants, actions, and objectives? Are there any issues with the present app that need to be fixed?
• What are the existing app’s advantages and disadvantages? What functions well, and what requires development? What kind of user feedback have you received?

Following our discussion of some important factors, let’s delve further into the main approaches you may choose to conduct redesign. 

Revolutionary vs. Evolutionary Redesign

Regardless of the choice of strategy, you need to address user behavior. Apps can be redesigned using either comprehensive changes or incremental interface improvements. Each of these strategies shows its efficacy in various scenarios:

• A revolutionary redesign involves rewriting an application from scratch. This strategy is frequently applied when an application’s original design is out-of-date or does not adequately address user needs;
• Evolutionary redesign involves a number of little adjustments that improve the usability of the program. Instead of creating a whole new interface, it involves making minor changes to an existing one. With this strategy, you can gradually roll out incremental updates without overwhelming people.

Your redesign goals will determine which of these two solutions you choose. The greatest alternative for you may be revolutionary if you’re seeking for a new beginning and want to develop something completely original for your audience. However, evolution may be more successful if you wish to keep things the same while still making improvements along the way.

The 4-Component Process for a Successful App Redesign

When we engage in this kind of cooperation, the redesign process is essentially split into the UX audit and the redesign process itself. Between them is the data analysis that interlinks two parts. Each of those stages is then broken down into smaller levels. They are depicted in the diagram above. After that, go testing and iterating changes logical before launching any kind of app update.

The first and perhaps most crucial pre-stage for you as a product owner would be to establish the purpose for a redesign, even though we just indicated that there are two key steps in the redesign process when improving the UI/UX of the application.

Set the objective. We’ve already spoken about one scenario in which you could want to make changes to the product. However, keep in mind the following elements in order to define the purpose correctly: 

• Do you have any definite knowledge of UI or UX issues to be fixed? Remember that “I don’t like the look of my product“ is not a sufficient response. 
• Have you looked at the attrition rate? You may better understand the moment of truth in CJMs — crucial moments when users either become frustrated and quit interacting with your application or choose your brand — by creating a user journey map.
• Are you aware of what consumers think of your product? Keep an eye on the reviews that users leave for it, solicit feedback, and speak with your users.

Always gather proof to back up each of your decisions throughout this phase. Once you’ve established the objective, keep it in mind and proceed to further auditing.

Step 1: UX Audit

Any application’s primary goal is to address a concern of its intended user base. An app must be functional, with a consistent and intuitive layout and appealing design, in order to rapidly and efficiently achieve this goal. Gather all the data you need to uncover the flaws in your current design by conducting a UX audit.

In plain English, a UX audit helps us to:

• Determine UX issues based on human factors principles, comprehend how users interact with various product aspects, and determine which features of rival goods they find most beneficial;
• Identify the target audience’s preferences, needs, and behavior patterns;
• Set the essential needs that your target market has for your product;
• Learn about the advantages and disadvantages of your product and gather suggestions for enhancing the design.

The audit’s findings are typically delivered in the form of a report that includes a thorough explanation of the issues within the app. It could be a customer journey map, an empathy map, or report visualizing approaches/methods that suit best the type of audit or query context, as well as results that need to be visualized to serve the base for further discussions. A pre-made manual for enhancing the user experience is the UX audit following, which requires the next steps:

Carry out market analysis 

Market research is the first step in any app design process, including comprehensive makeovers. Your mobile app needs to offer a unique value since you are undoubtedly aiming for the top places of the store charts. Market research helps in focusing and discovering what products or services rivals are offering and how to outperform them.

Heuristic analysis

Ignoring the current interface is quite a big mistake. Instead, analyze the present app design while paying close attention to the user experience. A heuristic analysis is used to pinpoint a product’s typical usability problems so that they may be fixed, hence enhancing user pleasure and experience and enhancing the likelihood of a digital product’s overall success.

In a broad sense, heuristic analysis, which focuses on usability, is an evaluation technique where one or more specialists assess a digital product’s design against a set of predetermined design principles (often referred to as heuristics) and pinpoint any instances in which the product deviates from those principles. Check out our Instagram to see how we conducted the heuristic design analysis of the Sahseh app.

Analyze consumer comments  

Evaluation of user feedback is the third foundational element of app redesign research. This involves compiling reviews across social media, the App Store, and Google Play. Additionally, business owners frequently conduct customer surveys.

Determining design concepts

Practically nothing has changed with the strategy. Wireframing. Prototyping. Make sure the redesign concept accurately captures the new identity if your organization undergoes rebranding.

Step 2: Data Gathering and Analysis

Businesses naturally involve data analysts in redesigning to understand consumer behavior better and produce user-friendly and effective digital experiences. 

Let’s dispel a frequent misunderstanding before we examine how data analysts and UX/UI designers collaborate: data analysts can play a role at the beginning of a product life cycle. You may be wondering how a data analyst may be beneficial before there is a product for which to collect data, but data analysts are also charged with making sure that organizations are in accordance with the legislation regarding the collection of data. 

Creating a user experience that is both legal and data-rich can benefit from the assistance of data analysts. They can also be beneficial by providing information gleaned from comparable goods or experiences. In the end, every position on a development team can be helpful at any stage of the product life cycle.

User Research

To produce something that users would love, designers must first comprehend precisely what people want from their products. Data analysts can close the user-designer gap by researching what features users value and why. It’s crucial that designers understand what users like, dislike, and wish they could have.

Product Design

With knowledge of the users’ priorities, designers can develop, iterate, and enhance products while giving priority to the most pressing problems already in existence. Designers can build user-centric designs that are optimized for usability, engagement, and general satisfaction by using a data-driven approach.

Usability Testing

This process, which takes place after a product or feature is delivered, is comparable to user research. The main goal of usability testing is to gather information on user interactions and behaviors so that it is possible to evaluate a design’s effectiveness and efficiency. Usability testing is one of the numerous methods that designers employ, similar to the scientific approach, to be able to adapt products to satisfy the unique needs of their consumers. 

Step 3: Redesign Itself

After successfully passing all the previous stages, you may proceed to the redesign process itself to organize all the insights into the efficient design solution. Typography, colors, icons, illustrations, element style, and the relationships between them are all included in this. In other cases, it could also include completely redesigning entire screens or even sections of the product, which might mean removing some elements, renaming, or rewriting entire pages, among other things.

Visualizations for all product screens

When redesigning a product, a designer will:

• Build a dynamic prototype of the application to thoroughly assess the appearance of the application and the logic of interaction between elements;
• Test the prototype to find flaws and areas for improvement before the application is finally sent to developers;
• Create a wireframe that presents all the most crucial interface elements and describes how they should interact with one another.

UI Kit

A UI Kit is a collection of all the UI elements that make up the user interface of your product. UI Kit implementation helps to visualize the user’s interaction with the interface.

The use of UI Kits can streamline, unify, and integrate large projects. It is the primary design document of the project, utilized by designers and developers at every step of work on a project, and it enables you to rapidly and effectively produce each subsequent app component based on the sample of the preceding ones.

Step 4: Final Testing and Iterating Changes

The final stage is to extensively test the app before making it available to the public once you’ve made the necessary alterations in light of the findings of the usability testing. Product owners distribute the software to a few users in order to get feedback and spot any problems that still need to be fixed.

It’s crucial to include software developers in this phase’s testing and launch procedures. They can collaborate with the design team to make sure the app is created in accordance with high-fidelity prototypes and satisfies all necessary criteria. This entails performing technical tests to make sure the software is compatible with various hardware and coding frameworks and optimizing it for performance, security, and dependability. 

The effort doesn’t end once the app has launched. Through ongoing testing and user input, it’s critical to keep track of and enhance its performance. Make sure that the software satisfies user needs and offers a satisfying user experience by thoroughly testing and continuously enhancing it. Users may become more engaged and devoted as a result, which will ultimately help the app succeed.

Top Mistakes of App Redesign Process

Here we have created a list of the most important mistakes to avoid during the app redesign process based on our expertise:

No Budget for Development

The ability to more easily adapt design thinking to financial restrictions is made possible by learning the typical expenses associated with creating particular concepts. Budgets shouldn’t be seen as a source of aggravation but rather as a beneficial design restriction.

Slowly, Then Suddenly

Your team needs a lot of time to complete the task successfully. Setting a strict deadline may lead to unneeded pressure and subpar performance. Being realistic and persistent is crucial, even if your website relaunch date is just used for internal planning. Your team needs a lot of time to complete the task successfully. Setting a strict deadline may lead to unneeded pressure and subpar performance.

“I Just Need a Talented Designer“

A collaborative effort creates a remarkable product. Although developers may be the first role that comes to mind, the product team and the finished product can greatly benefit from graphic designers, UX designers, and UX researchers. Important customer insights regarding the intended users can be obtained through UX research. Usability testing is also important to remember. Prototyping and design workshops can enhance team collaboration and foster an agile atmosphere. They are excellent for settling issues as well.

Not Organizing Design Assets Into a Design System

A design system is a set of guidelines for managing design at scale by minimizing duplication and establishing a common visual language and simple style across many pages and channels. Great UX places a strong emphasis on simplicity. Many make the mistaken assumption that people desire all-inclusive, feature-rich apps that can perform any task. However, having too many options can cause indecision. 

Don’t Break What Already Works

Don’t assume that everything needs to be entirely rebuilt right away. Most of the time, you simply need to modify the application’s components that get in the way of reaching the desired results. Users want to feel safe and at ease while navigating, free from the fear of unintentionally performing undesirable actions.

Release for a Limited Audience

An excellent strategy is to personalize the app by limiting the features that are shown to a user to those that are relevant, hence limiting the options. However, don’t assume you know your TA well (that is without assumption basis and subjective experience and expertise, instead define findings/reasons/data to transform them into important actions), conduct research, and you may discover new findings about the people interested in your app you would never guess blindfolded.

Choosing the Wrong Strategy

A strategy’s lack of or improper construction raises questions about the outcome. Laying a foundation is similar to planning. Spend some time creating a detailed plan. An app needs to be designed with your business plan in mind in order to be profitable. Choosing the wrong redesign strategy that does not correlate with the available resources (for instance, revolutionary when you have many features) will make your redesign go wrong from the very beginning.

How Much Does It Cost to Redesign a Mobile App?

In addition to the technology stack you choose, which is one of the most important factors in determining the price of redesigning a mobile app, there are other elements that you must take into account. The numerous variables involved in an app’s complexity, which naturally affect the redesign, involve:

• the complexity of the UI kit (the kit size, the complexity of construction and interactivity of elements, animations);
• the chosen strategy;
• the skill level of the designer;
• the uniqueness of the mobile application (competitor research or best cases).

Another element is the redesign strategy, whether you choose an evolutionary or revolutionary approach. Selecting the composition of your development and design team also matters. Will you be working with an internal team, independent contractors, a consulting firm, a larger team, or a combination of these? A mobile app’s redesign price is influenced by who works on it and how they work, in addition to the app itself. Even the project participants’ locations must be taken into account.

Additionally, when giving you a cost estimate, software development, design, or mobile consulting companies may choose between two methods: time and material or fixed price. You must also take into consideration this option. The time and material method rarely produces a precise cost; instead, it is based on hourly wages and the length of time needed to rebuild your mobile app. On the other hand, a fixed price proposal will provide you with a cost estimate for the entire project based on the specified scope.

Final Tips for Conducting Redesign

The user experience should be fluid, and they shouldn’t have to struggle to figure out how the product functions. Know your target audience before you begin designing a mobile application. Developing lean personas and customer journey maps and doing user research can help you understand the target market when product redesign. The ideal experience can be made for your audience the better you understand them. Now here are more tips:

• Before you start designing, you need to form a true vision and desire for your final product. This will help the designer with the relevant options and accordingly optimize costs;
• Establish clear objectives and KPIs, conduct user research to obtain audience insights, and keep an eye on the market to ensure a seamless and professional redesign;
• Before launching a major overhaul, do some preparation. Consider the budget and timeframes, consult with stakeholders on the plans, and choose someone to bear the brunt of the process management on your behalf;
• Carry out analysis of client reviews, coding, testing, and release. Following the rollout, collect user feedback to determine whether you are heading in the correct direction;
• DON’T hard reset your current design. Many businesses view a makeover as a complete restart. If you intend to radically redesign its appearance, rearrange its structure, or add new screens. You can apply a lot of the lessons you learn from your consumers’ actions and interactions with your current app’s language as you design a new one.

The post How to Redesign an App — Complete Guide with Recommendations from Devlight appeared first on Devlight.

Mobile eCommerce has reached $3.56 billion in 2022, according to Statista. Chances are you consider entering the eCommerce app development sector. The solution is creating an eCommerce app.

Despite the difficulties affecting the retail industry, we have observed that more and more people are turning to their mobile devices to meet their needs, and apps are becoming important to the buying process. To maintain our competitive edge and brand distinctiveness, business owners should continuously improve the user experience on their apps. This will help them stand out from the competition, stay relevant in the worldwide market, and achieve long-term success.

In this article, we’ll outline several processes for creating an eCommerce app similar to the market giants, discuss e-commerce trends, estimate the cost of developing a mobile-commerce app, and list the features your eCommerce app has to have.

E-Commerce App Development Market Overview 

The worldwide e-commerce market’s size, estimated at USD 9.09 trillion in 2019, is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 14.7% from 2020 to 2027. The global population of smartphone users is growing as internet usage becomes more widespread. Among the many eCommerce possibilities available to the client base that uses the internet more frequently are financial services, e-tailing, travel and leisure, digital content, and travel.

Unsurprisingly, the number of internet shoppers is rapidly increasing. Online shoppers increased from 1.32 billion in 2014 to 1.52 billion in 2016 and 2.14 billion in 2021. This trend will continue as more customers use the internet for shopping. Despite accounting for a sizable portion of retail expenditure (27% in 2021), the mobile commerce app development sphere is expanding more slowly than traditional retail sales (32%).

This mismatch may be caused by the fact that many eCommerce businesses have started investing in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to tailor their content recommendations and suggest comparable products based on historical customer purchasing patterns. As a result, brands that successfully apply AI tactics have higher levels of social media engagement, which helps them draw in new clients and retain existing ones.

Consequently, consumer technical awareness would have a favorable effect on market expansion. In addition, the need for speedier surfing has increased connectivity, which has sped up the development of 4G and 5G technology. So now, let’s talk about other mobile commerce app development trends. 

eCommerce App Development Trends in 2023

New technologies that are introduced into the e-commerce industry have the potential to change the market in less than a year completely. Most e-commerce enterprises regularly follow the digital industry to adopt new solutions on their platforms. This enables companies to remain relevant and offer the finest consumer experiences, enhancing and personalizing them.

Follow (or even get ahead of) the latest e-commerce app development tech trends to ensure you keep up with client expectations and can compete in the market if your main goal is to develop an app offering a fantastic experience. Let’s examine the prevalent tendencies in this market more closely:

• Voice search is increasingly common. In the US, smart speakers are already installed in around 28% of homes, and by 2025, that number is expected to reach 75%. Voice assistants like Alexa or Siri embrace speech recognition, natural language processing, and speech synthesis to engage with users depending on the predefined scenario, in contrast to chatbots that are solely focused on text communication. This trend is primarily seen in voice-activated shopping apps that process complex queries to improve search outcomes and dialog. As a result, customers may browse and purchase goods using only their voices.
• AI-assisted upselling and cross-selling — according to Amazon, cross-selling accounts for 35% of their overall revenue.
• By adding the AR capability to their app at the most appropriate time, IKEA has amassed 8.5 million downloads. Augmented reality is used to visualize purchased goods.
• Due to the widespread in-store restrictions, the omnichannel approach has become another key component of retail practices. Thus, 60 to 70 percent of US shoppers across all categories conduct in-store and online research before making purchases. Therefore, it makes sense that in 2022, the development of mobile commerce apps will be smoothly included in a unified customer experience that combines offline and online channels to engage customers. 
• The prevalence of subscription-based services offers suppliers 65% conversion rates during the global pandemic.
• The majority of B2C organizations rely on big data to evaluate user activity, boost conversion rates, and provide actionable consumer insights. Personalized suggestions, dynamic pricing, demand forecasts, and trend projections are all supported by big data and its analytics. When used together, these strategies provide retailers control over the supply chain and enable them to maximize sales.
• A well-proven marketing strategy called geofencing is anticipated to generate more than $3 billion by 2026. It allows retailers to send in-app notifications based on a customer’s position, powered by radio frequency identification (RFID) or the Global Positioning System (GPS). This technique, also referred to as geo-targeted advertising, encourages more specific marketing messages and increases regional spending.
• Another trend that is expanding quickly is real-time shopping. This trend is anticipated to be worth $35 billion by 2024. Livestream shopping originated in China and is now a widespread phenomenon combining video, influential people, and E-commerce. Since users may remark on and respond to streams in real time, the phenomenon is also predicated on increased engagement.

The State of M-commerce as Predicted of 2023-2026

According to Statista, retail m-commerce sales in the United States are expected to amount to 710 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

Consumers Spent Nearly 110 Billion Hours in Shopping Apps in 2022

Source: data.ai State of Mobile 2023

Creating an effective mobile user experience should be a priority for E-commerce brands. Here’s why you should take mobile commerce seriously:

60% Of E-commerce Purchases Happened on a Mobile Device

This stat alone should prompt you to look at your site’s mobile experience. Shoppers used a mobile device to make more than half of the online E-commerce transactions which happened in 2022. That’s a 1.2% increase from last year. Brands should ensure their mobile websites are on point to take advantage of this.

Source: Data Report, January 2023

Insider Intelligence Predicts M-commerce Sales to Hit $534.18 Billion, or 40.4% Of E-commerce Sales, in 2024

The m-commerce revolution is being driven primarily by smartphones and tablets. Seven years ago, conversion rates dropped due to customer annoyance from having to complete an order on a smaller screen, and m-commerce was roughly evenly split between tablets and smartphones. Nowadays, smartphones make up 87.2% of all sales made through mobile commerce; m-commerce trends are essentially smartphone trends. The main distinction is that overall, m-commerce is still growing more slowly than smartphone commerce.

Despite a two-year rebound, tablet commerce will lose share and absolute order value this year. By 2026, tablet m-commerce revenues are projected to drop from $61.08 in 2022 to $54.01 billion. This decrease is probably the result of fewer people using tablets overall and better mobile buying experiences.

29% Of Internet Users Make an E-commerce Transaction on Their Phones at Least Once a Week

In 2023, 29.3% of mobile users shop on their devices at least once a week. This is only expected to grow in the coming years. In some countries, that percentage is actually much higher. Here are the top 10 countries by mobile e-commerce purchases:

• South Korea – 44.3%
• Chile – 37.7.%
• Malaysia – 37.7%
• Taiwan – 37.7%
• Philippines – 37.5%
• Mexico – 37.0%
• Indonesia – 36.8%
• Turkey – 36.8%
• Singapore – 35.3%
• Vietnam – 34.4%

The USA’s mobile E-commerce purchase ratio is on 32.2%, while the UK’s comes in at 29.3%.

Source: Data Report, January 2023

E-commerce App Development: Why Your E-commerce Business Needs an App?

The benefits of e-commerce are difficult to sum up in just two words, but the key one to highlight is providing the finest service to each client individually. The following reasons are to accomplish this objective:

Consumers Choose Apps Over Mobile Browsers

There are currently about 15 billion cell phones in use worldwide. The majority of people turn to their mobile devices to swiftly and conveniently make online purchases anytime they want. Websites cannot offer many entertaining elements, such as scanning QR codes with a camera, using GPS to find nearby businesses, or taking payments over the telephone, which can be done directly by applications. E-commerce app development for your company is no longer a luxury but rather a requirement.

Image source: Compuware

Apps for Mobile E-commerce Increase Consumer Retention

Client loyalty matters. Making mobile applications could aid in increasing your clientele. How? The first step is continuous presence. Your app and logo should be seen whenever users use their phones. 

Reduced Response Time

Measuring response time enables the identification of the application’s slow-moving and optimization-required parts. The app reacts more quickly and offers a better user experience making users more inclined to stick with your business and refer others to it. Mobile users choose m-commerce apps because they load way faster and do not cause user journey obstacles common for websites.

Enhanced UX

E-commerce UX refers to the user’s experience while making a purchase on a website. Every touchpoint influences how a user views your brand, website, and goods or services. Users begin to create an opinion about how simple, practical, and effective your e-commerce experience is as soon as they land on your mobile application. 

Thus, this implies that they start doing so right away. UX is essential to e-commerce as it guarantees that customers can quickly explore your app, find what they need, buy it, and move on. They’ll also buy more frequently if you make it simple for them to do so. Because of this, you need to ensure that your business provides the finest UX possible and implements enhanced UX best practices.

Increased Conversion Rates

Due to clients having access to your application from any device at any time, the business will see a significant rise in conversion. Additionally, smartphone features like push notifications, one-click purchases, and easy payment maximize every potential for a sale.

Applications that store data locally and use frameworks that are much faster than JavaScript on the part of websites allow for operation one and a half times faster than that on mobile sites. The best e-commerce applications also allow for offline basket adding and product viewing, which makes them handier than e-commerce websites and more tempting to customers.

User Behavior Changes After Covid-19

The e-commerce boom was considerably hastened by COVID-19, which greatly impacted how individuals make purchases. As a result, the total amount spent on e-commerce in May 2020 was $82.5 billion, up 77% from the same month in 2019. If we were to use the conventional year-over-year gains, it would have taken 4 to 6 years to reach that figure.

Additionally, there are other reasons to start mobile commerce app development besides only having a decent adaptive web view, such as:

• access to a user quickly;
• the ability to contact users through push notifications;
• improved alternatives for monitoring user behavior;
• effective data collection;
• prototype new features and test hypotheses.

Lower Mobile Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

The user experience is what is causing this significant difference between the cart abandonment rate for mobile apps and sites. The online purchasing experience on apps is typically more user-friendly for customers. Challenges on the websites include trouble seeing text and figuring out where to click, which are a barrier to checkout.

Having said that, if a large portion of your store’s online traffic comes from mobile devices, you might want to take additional measures to improve your customers’ mobile website experiences in order to increase revenue and benefit from a lower cart abandonment rate. Offering discounts, being open and honest about your fees, and reclaiming abandoned carts are all examples of great tactics.

Higher Average Order Value

Because it represents the typical amount each client spends, average order value (AOV) is a crucial number for any e-commerce company. A greater average order value shows that a company is generating more revenue through cross-selling or pushing more expensive products. Mobile apps offer a better environment for high AOV because of their seamless UX and all other aspects deciding customer loyalty.

Detailed Analytics

The performance measurements are useful in identifying and resolving issues in real-time. E-commerce application development analytics focuses on the most important issues to the business. Analytics for e-commerce are useful for assessing user behavior, performance trends, and ROI. Marketers use analytics to highlight campaigns’ return on investment (ROI) and help them decide how to boost sales, save costs, and enhance their company’s operations.

Tips to Build an E-Commerce App That Your Users Will Definitely Love

An outstanding user experience and assistance in achieving your business objectives are key components of a successful mobile app. The chosen features contribute to your app’s performance the most, so functionality should be of great focus:

MVP Level Features of an E-commerce App

When searching online, people don’t need more filters; they need better results. Therefore, the essential features are determined by the product itself. If you are constructing Shazam, you only need one button to test the concept. If you’re building the next Amazon, you only need features that offer your clients the most value.

• Simple registration 

Creating a simple sign-up and sign-in process is the first step in creating an e-commerce app. The process often starts with logging in using your email address, username, or phone number. A multifactor authentication system, such as fingerprint scanning, may also be helpful.

• Profile management

The second essential component of e-commerce software is profile management, which allows users to view prior purchases, the status of forthcoming orders, stored addresses, and payment information.

• Search and filter

An e-commerce app aims to make filtering things as simple as possible, whether searching for a specific item or looking through the newest products. The items offered in your store should be easy to find, displayed properly, and interactive (complemented by “add to favorites,” “add to cart,” and “buy now” buttons).

• Product details

The product description is examined in this e-commerce mobile app development section. This information includes the product name, specifications, price, cost of delivery, ratings, reviews, and estimated delivery date.

• Add to cart 

Every mobile commerce app must have a shopping cart so users can quickly add products, modify quantities, and place an order. Users can utilize the function to save things they like and purchase them later. The best way to use this facility is to make it omnichannel-friendly, which basically means that no matter what device your users use to access your e-commerce app, the cart details should duplicate without any issues.

• Purchase the Product

This is the point at which browsers convert to customers. Having a simple checkout sequence with remembered payment options, autofill form fields, and transparency on the timescales for product delivery is one method to make sure it goes smoothly.

• Track the order

Order monitoring comes next on the list of features. After the customer purchases the item, the app should provide tracking information with information on how the purchase is moving and an estimated delivery date.

• Push notifications

Push notification is one of the most important features for notifying users about important updates in e-commerce software. A simple reminder can be used to let a client know that the product has been dispatched, there are new sales up, or new product launches going on.

• Customer service

Customers occasionally require assistance navigating an online retailer when making a purchase error, initiating a return, or exchanging an item. However, the process becomes significantly simplified when there is some e-commerce customer care within the mobile app.

• Admin panel 

The admin panel is a component of e-commerce app development that simplifies the management of processes like orders, clients, and stores for the app administrator. In addition to a filtering mechanism, it eases the promotion and award arrangement process. 

Advanced Features E-commerce Mobile App 

You can incorporate phone functionality into your app to make navigation easier and boost user engagement. Additional e-commerce app development features include engaging your clients’ devices or those that are secondary to the main user experience, e.g., more entertaining than necessary.

• GPS

It enables a program to obtain the user’s current location. By adding a feature that geotags the customer’s address, you can do away with the need to input shipping information manually or allow the user to find the nearest offline stores and departments in case your business has one.

• Visual Search

This feature enables customers to use a smartphone camera to shop. They post pictures from any website, mobile photo bank, or social network profile and the inbuilt visual search will find products that are comparable in terms of color, shape, and size on your e-commerce app. As Gen Z and millennials prefer visual search capabilities to construct retail apps, this is an increasing trend in the internet world. 

• Social Media Integration

This feature of e-commerce applications makes it simple for customers to recommend the item they are thinking about purchasing to their friends or acquaintances on social media platforms.

• Voice Search

Encourage the clients to express their search terms verbally, which will speed up the search process. This feature should be added at any stage of the e-commerce app development, for example, during product scaling.

• Several Payment Methods

A simple and seamless checkout procedure is made possible by having a variety of payment alternatives. The option to pay with a credit card, through a service like PayPal, or possibly with a purchase now, pay later company gives clients some further options.

• In-App One-Click Purchases

According to Barilliance, 85.6% of the time, items added to the app’s shopping basket are never bought. A one-click transaction is incredibly helpful for preventing cart abandonment. The first company to incorporate this function into its app was Amazon. Besides, putting this technology into practice is not too difficult. It enables customers to make immediate purchases from product pages without first adding items to carts and then proceeding to checkout.

• Livestream Shopping

The live broadcast function is one post-pandemic feature that has changed the way internet purchasing is done. Social media giants like Instagram and YouTube were the first to popularize live streaming. Typically, during a live stream, brands present their goods from a variety of profiles and pin a link to them on the screen.

• Buy-Now-Pay-Later

As an alternative payment option, consumers are increasingly expecting a buy-now-pay-later feature service like Afterpay. Users can apply this option to make a purchase and pay for it over time in a number of installments. In fact, it is anticipated that BNPL transactions will rise by nearly $450 billion through 2026. Consumers and shoppers are reportedly more likely to use BNPL than credit cards when making large installment payments.

• Great User Experience

Because there are so many clear-cut, user-friendly apps available, users won’t hesitate to uninstall an app if it doesn’t meet their needs. You can only imagine how crucial UI/UX is for your app’s user retention. Make a unique and superior user experience your main advantage. Your app should be worthwhile for anyone to invest their time and money in.

E-Commerce App Development Best Practices

Mobile e-commerce best practices are key to increasing user retention, and websites and apps that ignore them risk being left behind and losing out on billions of dollars. Adhering to these mobile e-commerce UX design best practices will make your e-commerce development experience more professional and easier:

Create a Sales Funnel

When creating a sales funnel for an e-commerce app, you are essentially guiding a user through the app to the last stage, which is a purchase. The typical actions a user would do are listed below:

• Discovering a product;
• Providing details on the goods;
• Evaluating the item in comparison to similar ones;
• Possibly providing a promotion or discount code;
• Activating the “Save for later” option in their purchasing cart;
• Checking-out;
• Payment;
• Receiving a message of congratulations and shipping information.

Painless Onboarding

The onboarding process for e-commerce apps can make or break a user’s expectations. Be sure to hold the attention of consumers, but avoid terrifying them with excessive commitment! Maintain a clean, straightforward design. 

Quick Checkout

A seamless customer experience starts with the checkout process. Users should have the freedom to navigate as they like, but the experience should be as straightforward and uncluttered as possible. Users are more likely to leave your checkout process if it is too lengthy and complicated. 

Keep the User Interface Smooth

On a small screen of a mobile phone, things might quickly appear cluttered by having too many user interface components. Users must maintain attention on certain CTAs, such as “Add to Cart,” on each screen. The number of items on each screen should be minimal to keep the interface simple and focused solely on the most important buttons.

Consider the Visual Hierarchy

The term “visual hierarchy” also applies to a content arrangement. On the mobile app interface, a certain hierarchy appears when the elements, headings, buttons, etc. are arranged in accordance with their level of importance.

For e-commerce apps, a visual hierarchy is employed to emphasize the key components on each screen. For instance, you may highlight the image of an item and enlarge the CTA button relative to other elements on the display.

The names and descriptions of products should be structured to make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for, whether it’s a product description, additional information, or shipping details.

Substantial Branding Components

Brand recognition is important in e-commerce apps. To effectively communicate a brand identity, colors, fonts, images, and language should all tie together in a unified way. Your e-commerce app should have each of these components shown on all screens to give it a unique appearance and feel.

Social Media Integration

For e-commerce apps, social media integration is a requirement! And this is something more than just one-tap user login made possible by this. If businesses appear on users’ Pinterest, Instagram, or TikTok feeds, it helps to keep them top of mind. They will get the chance to learn about sales, promotions, and new products at this time. Additionally, it’s an opportunity to develop user-generated content, which can greatly expand the brand’s visibility!

Put a Progress Bar There

Daniel Engber made the observation that a progress bar transforms the experience of waiting into this fascinating tale that you’re watching unfold in front of you in his TED talk titled How the progress bar keeps you sane.

An e-commerce app may benefit greatly from this functionality. Users want to know where they are in the purchasing process and how much is still required of them before they finish. A progress bar makes it simple to understand these specifics.

Maintain Consistency

For an e-commerce app to be consistent, identical elements must appear, operate, and feel the same. Because of this, users won’t have to figure out how to use or navigate your app each time, making it more predictable (in a positive way, of course).

The three key levels of visual consistency are as follows.

• Consistent buttons, fonts, and color schemes provide visual coherence.
• Functional consistency: On each screen, interactive features (such as buttons or navigation elements) should function consistently.
• External harmony: Whether it’s a website, social media feed, or advertisements, try to keep the mobile app experience consistent with any other external assets or products.

Add a Wishlist Feature

A wishlist is a fantastic feature, but a shopping cart is a need! The major goal is to enable customers to save products they intend to buy in the future. This is a low-pressure alternative because most consumers dislike being pressured into making hasty purchasing decisions.

Allow people to add items to their wishlists so they can buy them later if they find something they want but are hesitant to buy. It’s nice because wishlist items might give you information about your customers’ preferences so you can send them reminders or exclusive offers.

Reviews and Ratings

Reviews significantly increase credibility and customer loyalty. Create a section where customers may comment on and rate the goods they’ve previously purchased. This part can be structured simply using stars, a review headline, and a description. Along with assisting new customers, existing customers are made to feel valued, which increases the likelihood that they will continue to support the business.

Things To Consider for A Successful E-commerce App Development

There are always limitations in developing an app that requires specific consideration. E-commerce app development is no different. Thus, Devlight recommends keeping the following in mind:

Data Protection

As consumers sign in to your mobile e-commerce app, the first thing they do is provide you with personal information, such as their home address, credit card number, phone number, etc. You can’t let your audience down. Take precautions to prevent unwanted access to their data:

• Employ a personal cloud. Ensure your provider offers a personal cloud regime and establish access controls if you store user data in the cloud. For instance, some services are only accessible to those with premium subscriptions.
• Set a strong security system. Then, even in an emergency, you should be immediately aware of the danger and have time to take action to reduce the harmful effects.

Scalability

Proper mobile commerce app development aims to make your business scalable to accommodate a constantly increasing user base. Of course, you can skip the app’s scalability prospects. However, the reality is that you must design the architecture to predict the growth of your app at different stages of its development.

Will your application be able to support 1,000 users at once? What about ten or a hundred thousand? Will it function well and not crash immediately? You must thoroughly test the mobile application before releasing it by responding to these inquiries. You should take great care in this in case you plan to scale the app one day.

Stability

Other factors dramatically reducing your app’s performance include instability and frequent crashes. Users would want to use something other than an unreliable and unbalanced app. To get performance stability for your app, you should conduct QA tests, create many product versions, obtain customer input, and publish updated fixes.

How to Build а Successful E-commerce Mobile App in 8 Steps?

Providing a good mobile experience is not only beneficial. If you wish to conduct business online, it is crucial. Retailers must prioritize and maximize shopping applications or risk losing money. But how can you develop a successful mobile e-commerce app that attracts more customers, sales, and one-time buyers? Discover the precise actions Devlight took in our collaboration with e-commerce firms by continuing to read.

Step 1. Create the E-commerce Project Requirements and Plan

You should first write a plan and the specifications for your product before you can begin developing a relevant e-commerce mobile application. To keep the entire process detailed and coordinated, you must follow a certain procedure. Accomplish the project more quickly and effectively by adhering to the plan.

In order for your design and development team to know exactly what they need to work on, the requirements for your product also need to be thoroughly documented. The following items are typically included in the project requirements:

• A detailed project overview;
• Main goals and needs;
• Target market and audience analysis;
• Functional specifications and the intended feature set;
• Design features;
• Details that aren’t functional;
• Prohibitions and recommendations;
• Questions.

Step 2. Select Your Development Partner

After you have finished all the stages involved in gathering and creating the necessary data, you now need to choose a reputable eCommerce app development firm that can offer you a qualified team to assist you in developing the best application for your project. Here are a few ways to find such a company:

• Browse sites like LinkedIn;
• Compare teams using rating websites like Clutch.co;
• Consult with friends and coworkers to receive their recommendations on whom to choose;
• Choose Devlight for a Productive Team Collaboration Experience!

Step 3. Carry out Product Discovery 

If you want to understand the target market for which the product is being developed, carrying out the discovery phase of the product development process is a must. Customer feedback is gathered in this stage, and the product’s end-user pain areas are researched. Product discovery typically consists of

• discussing expectations and wants concerning timeframes for current company processes or a potential startup concept;
• analysis of the target audience; 
• examining your market’s competitors (direct and indirect);
• providing pain point solutions;
• determining the work’s scope;
• defining priorities and timelines based on the complexity of the project and market trends;
• role allocation in a diagram.

Step 4. UX/UI Design

Because the visual data will drive your sales, quality UI/UX design is essential. If you want to realize your app’s all aesthetic potential, these design principles work well:

• Simplicity. By UI/UX design simplicity, we refer to content optimization for mobile devices and a structural model that enables the simplest possible purchasing experience. It must be done following the visual hierarchy’s rules so that a significant object catches the user’s attention immediately.
• Convenience. The most user-friendly user interface, which won’t divert attention but will stimulate purchases, is what you need to offer to optimize sales. 
• Attention to sales. This rule applies to e-commerce app development, heavily emphasizing internal product sales rather than brand building and communication. These apps are a substitute for actual stores, and their design is centered on underhanded ways to encourage users to make purchases.

Step 5. Get Down to Software Development

Core, back-end, and front-end developers should work with UX/UI designers to create engaging services and interfaces. The Project Manager must correctly coordinate this concurrent process. The excellent quality of the code is ensured by compiling the documentation, building and running a foundation of automated tests, and using code-coverage techniques.

Step 6. Hold Product’s QA (Pre-release Stage)

The life cycle of product development has always included critical software product testing. Product testing is crucial for both finding and fixing bugs in the product as well as ensuring that the development process is organized and effective.

The only method to identify flaws and faults ahead and ensure that a successful and trustworthy product is introduced to the market is to carry out software product testing effectively. The QA role includes the next responsibilities:

• Guarantiing the software product’s predictability and dependability;
• Addressing any product bugs by updating packages to fix flaws and errors in the system;
• Technically, testing and documentation standards are enforced by quality analysis in the product development environment. This aids in system-level testing as well as other testing requirements for any software product, including functional testing and environmental testing.

Step 7. Release Your E-commerce App Into the Market 

Designers should confirm that the visual adheres to the style standard again. Errors that have been fixed or appeared due to these fixes are checked in the previously tested code. In addition, you may now share a list of each sprint’s code changes with the QA team. If an application passes the testing, it is prepared to be published on the market.

Step 8. Ensure Product Post-Launch and Scale the App

E-commerce app development continues even after the app is released in stores. You’ll be able to continue working on your business by regularly monitoring the many trendy mobile app business ideas. Libraries that record information about the user’s actions at the time of the crash, the device on which it occurred, and other information will help track down app bugs. Sending a crash notification can be integrated into the application’s design or added later.

A mobile application must adhere to current software standards, receive fast updates, and include bug patches. In addition, support monitoring is done to determine future e-commerce app development scaling. To fix the errors, iterate changes using analytics and customer feedback. Later on, this will aid in increasing app revenue and retention while fostering brand loyalty and recognition. The process of creating a mobile app is very dynamic. Therefore, constant work is required to stay afloat.

The Technical Stack Needed for an E-commerce App Development:

The mobile world’s digital arena has been split between iOS and Android. To construct an e-commerce app rapidly, you should be aware of the variations in development since each has advantages and downsides of its own. We have noted the principal ones:

• Programming Languages

The code terms represent the key distinction between iOS and Android. Use Java or Kotlin to create an Android app for online shopping. Choose Swift if you want to design iPhone apps for online shopping. These collections of programming languages have a vibrant development community and rich ecosystem. Depending on your e-commerce app development goals, you may create an e-commerce app utilizing any of the few remaining mobile languages and the wide range of server-side languages used for m-commerce apps. 

• Development Complexity and Speed 

The gap in speed and complexity of development between iOS and Android is due to the proliferation of smartphones. In addition, Android has a huge range of supported devices, whereas iOS is happy with the iPhone/iPad/iPod trio. Thus, developing an Android app for e-commerce will take longer.

• Deploying Method

Android apps can be published on Google Play far more quickly and easily than their Apple counterparts, in contrast to how quickly they can be developed. The verification tenets of both platforms account for this. While the AppStore review team exhaustively checks for flaws, which typically take a week to fix, Google Play runs apps automatically for a few hours. 

Besides, Apple’s policy is much stricter and this is also one of the reasons why it takes longer to deploy an application on iOS — there are simply more requirements. Luckily, iOS has more in-app purchases revenue than Google Play, surpassing it by as much as 80%.

The Team Needed to Develop an E-commerce App

A full-stack development team is necessary for an e-commerce app development from scratch. Depending on the project’s type, budget, and other elements, its size and cast may change. The project needs the proper people with the right expertise to succeed:

• Project Manager

The development process is coordinated by a project manager, who keeps it on course. The best practices for developing e-commerce software are widely known to an e-commerce project manager.

• Technical Lead

A professional software engineer with in-depth knowledge of industry-specific technology is called a tech lead. Instead of being managers, tech leads are mentors. These experts don’t focus on something other than coding as their main task.

• IT Business Analyst

Typically, a specialist with extensive experience in the e-commerce industry shapes the project’s vision. These professionals help to establish the fundamental KPIs and establish major product benchmarks. The business analyst should check the technical task from the client to see if it is possible to implement it at all, and not just assign the task to the developers. In other words, he not only translates the requirements into a language understandable for developers but also writes a clear TOR. BA keeps in touch with stakeholders throughout the development process and ensures their feedback is considered.

• Account Managers

This person oversees effective communication between the client and the team developing the outsourced e-commerce software. Such an expert frequently updates internal and external stakeholders on the project’s status.

• Developers

To quickly produce a high-quality product, the developers you hire should be well-versed in e-commerce systems. Experienced programmers know the best practices for designing all crucial components of an online store, including different product pages, user accounts, shopping cart systems, and more.

• Designer of UI/UX

Your storefront in e-commerce is your mobile app’s design. The top e-commerce UI/UX designers know the ins and outs of e-commerce app development. They can create an interface that is easy to use, has strong branding, and supports the offer rather than obscures it.

• QA Engineers

Although contemporary e-commerce frameworks include automatic tests for some fundamental features, they don’t account for all the subtleties. QA experts create software testing scripts to expedite the quality assurance process.

E-commerce Mobile App Development Cost

Everything depends on the app’s work scope and the chosen software services provider. It comes down to who you are investing in and how much you are investing in the end. The budget is, without a doubt, the primary concern for developing the app. Here are some reminders for you to keep in mind as you move forward with app development in order to spare you from this budgetary predicament:

• You can choose to launch your e-Commerce app with the minimum viable product (MVP), a mixed bag of MVP and advanced features, or a fully functional mobile e-commerce app with advanced features.
• iOS or Android? Because iOS is more expensive than other operating systems, choose which device will serve as your main business tool. You can always grow your company later.
• The low-budget, high-maintenance third-party APIs or the low-maintenance, pricey backend development?
• Hybrid app development offers a better time to market, but native app development offers better sustainability. You’re in the business game for the long haul, so choose wisely!

The approximate cost can be determined by multiplying the number of person-hours needed to implement all essential features of the app by the fees charged by your preferred supplier. So, a fundamental e-commerce app would include:

• Implementing a user profile, which requires 35–45 person-hours;
• 30-45 person-hours are needed to complete the main screen;
• Product screens – implementing thorough sections with a slider would take 30 to 40 hours;
• A shopping cart’s implementation could take 80–110 hours, depending on the extra features.

Devlight wants to remind you once again: all the prices and hours estimates are approximate. You must consider the functionality and labor hours required to implement the app’s functionality when calculating the cost of developing a mobile e-commerce app. There is a direct interdependence between the product cost and the number of features (product complexity), release dates (speed to market), team composition (backend development, analytics), and selected technology (cross or native). The essential features you will find in mobile e-commerce apps are

• Registration;
• Profile management;
• Search and filter;
• Product details;
• Add to cart;
• Payment;
• Order tracking;
• Push notifications;
• Customer support;
• Admin panel.

This list is good for MVP and full e-commerce app development – they almost do not differ in basic function sets. Including features like social network integration, push alerts, wishlists, and similar goods can help you create an e-commerce application that not only functions well and completes the intended goal but also lives up to the high standards set by the sector. Here are the approximate rates for app development in Ukraine in terms of hiring rate breakdowns:

Since our full-cycle development strategy is adaptable and can be set up following each customer’s specific needs, Devlight’s team will support you regardless of whether you want to start from scratch with a mobile e-commerce app, establish a website, or continue developing at any point. Finally, we cannot provide you with a specific development price without knowing the details. In case of any questions, contact us, and we will help evaluate your application cost individually, taking into account all the parameters above.

Main Pacesetters of the E-commerce App Development

Here are a few e-commerce apps that are nothing short of outstanding, from personalization to enhancing user experience:

Sephora

A sizable cosmetics retailer, Sephora offers both online and offline sales. The business’s mobile app is visually appealing, slick, and clear — aspects highly vital for the e-commerce app development success. The app includes easy loyalty program connection, tailored product suggestions, list saving, in-store stock checking, and product scanning for search and review. In addition, users may view an augmented reality representation of makeup on their faces using the Virtual Artist function. 

H&M

H&M is a clothing brand that gives you access to the newest trends at a low cost. Their smartphone app allows you to explore and purchase individual clothing items and complete ensembles. Discounts, notifications, intuitive product navigation, and an in-app store finder are all available on the H&M app. The ability to scan an item in-store and buy it right away online is a nice feature for omnichannel customers.

Home Depot

The Home Depot app combines cutting-edge technology with practical tools and is a great example of a successful e-commerce application development. Users may browse through products on the app or scan the product barcode if they’re in-store to learn more about it. A toolbox with a unit measurement converter and even a DIY measuring trick, depending on the user’s shoe size, are also included in the app.

ASOS

A large selection of apparel is available inside the ASOS virtual shop. Customers can access over 850 distinct brands with more than 85,000 products. The app has the Apple Pay feature integrated, sale alerts, wearable product videos, and 360-degree product views. Customers benefit from free shipping and returns, tailored outfit suggestions, and a simple buying process. In addition, the convenient Style Match function allows you to quickly browse for clothing or upload a photo to get clothing advice. 

Devlight Experience (Case Studies)

ELDO.UA

About the client

ELDORADO is a Ukrainian retail group of online/offline household appliances and electronics stores. It was founded in 1999. The network has more than 120 stores in 57 cities of Ukraine. ELDORADO has a wide range of more than 60,000 models of modern electronics of the top world brands.

The key goal

To develop the #1 e-commerce application and to satisfy all user needs with necessary features

Project scope (iOS and Android apps)

– New features development

– Promotion of the app to the TOP App stores Ranks

– Sales increase through apps

– Enlargement in cross-selling (accessorises, services, etc)

– UI/UX app constant improvement

– Boosting user’s personalization

App’s state before us

ELDO’s app needed a full reboot because of the number of critical issues we had to solve using the next approaches:

– Fix all critical errors and crashes in the shortest possible time

– Reconstruct all the application architecture

– Reorganise the code base for further development

– Solve the critical user experience problems

– Return and increase user loyalty and number to the application

– Enlarge the communication interactions with users in the app

– Boost the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

– Setting up correct analytics from the app

Our solution

• Code Review phase+project documentation audit. Code and documentation review is necessary for a complete understanding of their structure, quality, and technology.
• UI/IX Audit phase. UI/UX analysis of the current application for the planning stage of the development scope and redesign
• Acceptance QA Testing phase. Current bugs documentation.  Forming the description report on the testing results. Photos and videos are also provided.
• Code refactoring phase. Updating and correcting the project code step by step
• UI design + product phase. Visual component design and detailing. Finalization of product and functional requirements collection.
• Development phase. Features development and bug fixing according to the approved documentation, design, and selected implementation methods.

Novus

About the client

NOVUS is a Ukrainian chain of supermarkets founded in 2008. In July 2020, the Novus chain had 80 stores in Kyiv, Kyiv region, Rivne, Cherkasy, Ternopil, and Mykolaiv. From April 2022, online sales and delivery of products were successfully launched. 

The key goal

Develop easy and powerful e-commerce application to satisfy clients needs and solve their pains.

Project scope (iOS and Android apps)

Create the first MVP version of the product and then spice it up with the E-commerce part by using the following steps:

Full and rich project Discovery to define main functionality and key features

Detailed Design phase to create application appearance

Materials preparation to enhance the app with unique and self illustrations and descriptions

Base application Development

Further Discovery phases and Designing for next application versions

Continuous application support and improvement

App’s state before us

Before our cooperation, NOVUS had one more Discovery experience with another company. But the results of that Discovery did not meet the expectations. The results were not enough to start a development or even to estimate preliminary works in the project.

So with that artifacts, NOVUS reached Devlight and asked for our expertise. Here is where our cooperation began.

Our solution

Based on our own experience and the improvements we bring into each project, we’ve prepared and presented a solid plan for NOVUS so we could proceed with the project implementation:

• Initiation phase. The starting point for all from-scratch projects is to gather general information and base features planned. Here we prepare the project’s Backlog describing key User Epics and User Stories, defining our clients and their needs.
• Requirements phase. Deep business analysis session to gather all the needed requirements and understand the overall project scope. Based on the Backlog, the detailed PRD is created. Our Business Analyst proceeds with subject area research, as well as with investigation of current client’s solutions. After collecting information, they describe Acceptance Criteria for each Epic and Story. So-called Q&A sessions with our clients are held so we can dig deeper and understand better the main functionality and what they expect from the product.
• Design phase. Requirements visualization as UI/UX Design based on the existing brand book. With the completed PRD, we can now proceed and create rich visuals of our product. Similar to the Requirements phase, our designer specialist does their own research to investigate similar solutions and understands main patterns. Then they develop a full UI/UX Design of the product relying on the existing client’s brand book.
• Development phase. The Development itself. Creating dream applications based on gathered Requirements and Visuals. Having a precise description of the work that needs to be done, we can now continue with the project development phase.
• Iterative process. Repeat the plan above for each version to achieve the best results in the next releases. Now, if we want to proceed with further versions, we can just stick to the plan and iterate through the steps to enrich our existing product with new features.

Choose a Reliable Business Partner — Work with Devlight

We are prepared to help you if you consider updating your online store to take advantage of the most recent developments or creating a brand-new business solution from scratch. Our experts in software development have a lot of practice integrating the newest digital technologies into e-commerce software and are passionate about constructing it.

What makes Devlight one of Ukraine’s most experienced app development companies?

• Our mobile app engineering company, which has been operating since 2016, creates excellent apps for well-known brands in the market. We presently collaborate with the Forbes top 100 companies to establish digital category leaders;
• We have cases of working with e-commerce app development giants; our portfolio of 100+ projects includes collaboration with Nova Poshta, Eldo, and Epicentr; 
• We know how to work with large volumes of data and scale products. We serve more than 450,000 active user sessions every month;
• Our team launches digital leaders — our application for new mail is #1 in the Business category in the Ukrainian app store and Google Play;
• Devlight has its own Mobile App Development School; we launched a project where we taught people how to code on Android. 

Finally, Devlight has more than 6 years of experience developing mobile apps, 35 million installs, and more than 100 completed projects. We do sound like a great option for your next development company, don’t we?

The application is an effective digital tool that will promote client loyalty, boost revenue, and make your company more competitive. We raised in-app purchases for one of our retail clients by 313% on iOS and 244.5% on Android. We can ensure the quality and durability of our products with the basis of a professional development strategy. Feel intrigued? Contact us to set up a time to discuss the ideal option for your company.

The post The Ultimate Guide to a Successful eCommerce App Development appeared first on Devlight.

There can be multiple reasons for a project vendor switch: the app has matured to significant improvements, or the MVP didn’t live up to the client’s expectations. Many cases result in a software transition plan, creating conditions in which technical support and development of the project have become the most popular service of mobile and web development studios. 

Relay races with the transfer of the project from one team to another have not yet become firmly established in everyday life. Many companies would rather choose to stick to the same development supplier because of the risks that creating a stable knowledge transition plan for software projects imposes. However, we are here to prove that even the most complicated solutions can be implemented seamlessly if you pay attention to detail. 

Why Do You Need an Established Application Transition Plan?

Sometimes, the old manager leaves the project, and you start noticing that the dev team went off the beaten track. Alternatively, working with the old team may become too expensive for the client and force them to look for a cheaper option. 

The question “Why did you part ways with the previous vendor?” is always the first one we ask when we start developing an IT project transition plan. Nevertheless, there can be multiple reasons for this, and the human factor is far from being the most important.

Buggy application and negative feedback from users

This situation arises when your application relies on technology that is not keeping up with the times, either unintentionally or on purpose. The publisher may, in fact, decide not to release new updates to its technology for various reasons. Of course, this is a solid reason to start searching for another vendor.

Unmotivated delays on releases

The previous contractor may not be meeting important deadlines. Is their lack of necessary competencies clear? Remember: missing deadlines is an important reason for coming up with a software transition plan checklist. Of course, switching to a new vendor doesn’t mean rebuilding the app from scratch. Despite requiring immediate, unforeseen solutions, switching saves you much more in the long term.

No dynamics and lack of efficiency

You will likely be faced with a frozen application if your dev team shows no consistency in their progress. The efficient separation of roles and responsibilities is crucial for dynamic development. If you notice tremendous irrationalities in how the software team’s work is arranged, you should consider moving to another architecture. An IT project transition plan template will allow your app to evolve. 

No sufficient communication

What do you want as a client? In addition to advancing your competitors, be sure to meet your users’ expectations. If your application no longer resembles the initial plan, you feel frustrated because of the lack of communication, and correcting each minor error takes ages — you should switch the vendor. 

Distorted focus

Indeed, an IT transition plan is also an opportunity to clean up or enrich an application or to reformulate its evolving needs. In a computer development project, it is estimated that almost half of the desired functionalities are never used. Using the Agile methodology in your projects allows you to focus first on the most important features and limit this percentage.

Slowing down the scaling process

This can quickly become problematic because your application, developed at a given time on a certain version of the technology used, risks falling behind if the updates are no longer installed. This risk is all the greater if your application uses peripherals that would continue to benefit from new updates. It could end up not supporting them anymore, and the scaling will become even harder over time.

Exceeding budget and deadlines

Several factors directly impact the development costs. Evolutions that make any maintenance operation laborious, the economic situation, new technology used, or bug accumulation cause going over budget. The vendor should feel free to reconsider the initial budget, but the procedure should be clear and within the legal terms of the contract. 

Lack of automatization

Tools like Jira and Confluence allow you to follow the development process and see each feature’s progress in real-time. If your company keeps everything behind closed doors and you often feel a lack of transparency — do not settle for less. It’s time to move on. 

Lack of tech documentation and requirements

A code or application audit will help us see more clearly and let you determine the aspects where your software can evolve or if it will be necessary to restart everything. However, the old vendor should be ready to cooperate as sometimes the knowledge transition plan for software projects is bound to people. Responsible documentation handling should always result in a clear SDLC process.

Challenges in Switching the Vendor: Overcome Them With a Reliable Application Transition Plan

Even a minor refinement, in the form of the remaining 15%, results in huge expenses not provided for by the original budget. If the previous contractor completed only half of the work, it would most likely be more profitable to start from scratch. Sometimes, dealing with the legacy of a previous developer can be much more time-consuming and difficult than starting over with an IT project transition plan template. What other challenges might you face?

The Current Vendor Denies to Cooperate During the Software Transition Plan

If a manager introduces people to someone else’s team, it’s worth finding out if it’s a product team or freelancers. We noticed that freelancers do not have the habit of working according to corporate principles. They very rarely hold on to the product with their heart and soul. They just make money and have no interest in the release’s success. 

Previous vendors may also sabotage the project transfer because a software transition plan is a painful procedure for their ego. In the worst case, they won’t share all the necessary documents, and we will have to carry out most audits by ourselves. However, this is not the end of the world.

How to check the vendor for quality (professionalism, seniority, and maturity)

The search for a contractor must be approached thoroughly, and especially if you do not have much experience in dealing with IT companies, the main thing to focus on is interviews with performers and management. It is important to understand how transparent the project management processes are in the company and how well-established their methodology is. Talk to them to get a better idea of what it will be like to work with this IT company. You can also study any IT project transition plan template to have a better understanding.

Here are four aspects that define software development quality:

• Vendor’s professionalism — A responsible approach with attention to detail should be seen in everything, starting from the offered solutions to documentation.
• Team seniority — Choose development companies that are able to retain talent and take care of their employees. The team consisting of senior developers, business analytics, and designers is a good sign.
• Software company’s maturity — The product is constantly evolving, taking into account user feedback. The vendor keeps track of all processes and carries out detailed measures to ensure them.
• Vendor’s experience — Has the company dealt with the same/similar projects before? How successful were these cooperation cases?

Very often, an IT project transition plan opens up a new look at your product and can ultimately solve the accumulated problems by bringing your project to a fundamentally higher level. 

Agreed SLA

SLA (Service Level Agreement) is a document that regulates the working relationship between the client and support. It describes the situation in which this document was required, the amount of support (number of hours per month), roles on the project, response time depending on the status of the task (critical, urgent, normal), what the result of the response will be, as well as how it is planned and the terms for paid time for the project manager, developer, tester, analyst and designer.

SLA work is the result of negotiations. So, taking over a project means new discussions based on the current conditions. Every development team is free to define its comfortable format of cooperation. Thus, the SLA will differ from one vendor to another, but such things cannot be left in the form of an oral agreement.

Users shouldn’t notice the switch to another vendor

If your goal is to serve the end user and make them more productive, integration is a no-brainer. Today, it is often said that employees are “timeless.” And, because the software market is so saturated, users are bound to have high expectations. 

An IT transition plan should take this into account and create the base for a smooth transition. Finally, after you exchange the development process for a tangibly more qualitative provider, a new company will take care of the previous bugs, thus making the user experience even better.

Challenges in Switching the Vendor: Overcome Them With a Reliable Application Transition Plan

Building a new web of audits and human connections is difficult. Thus, an application transition plan requires maximum cooperation between the client, the previous software team and the new software team. Of course, we won’t do everything from scratch, but to know where to start, Devlight carries out a few important audits as well as analyzes the current workflow.

Documentation, access, and communication channels brief

The longer a team works on a project, the more it covers functionality with good code. At first, these are partial edits, but over time, this code covers the entire project. Of course, can be painful to hand over your masterpiece to another vendor. The team may not agree with this, but evidence is needed.

The acceptance test document, which includes all the functionality and bugs, will be used to analyze the current situation and determine the success of the project. Both the client and the performer are responsible for it, so they should take care of each other’s time and effort. A brief can be used as insurance against counterproductive showdowns on the topic “Is this specific bug new or inherited?”

Even Google Docs can be used for bug documentation: attach photos or videos and describe the actions step by step and what they lead to. Problems should be described as specifically as possible. Some of the bugs may be less critical than others. Whether we should fix them now or wait — it’s up to the client. 

Finally, let’s not forget the IT transition plan is also an analysis of the reasons for the transfer of the project (inability to fulfil the strategy, poor understanding of the requirements, etc). We usually ask the client for their point of view to avoid possible miscommunications in future cooperation.

Knowledge transfer 

Sooner or later, everyone has to accept the knowledge transition plan for software projects. In order to do this effectively with minimum risk for the client/project, we recommend following the scheme above, created and perfected by dozens of successful Devlight cases.

Of course, modern development frameworks are extremely helpful in project management, and in general, all the ceremonials and roles in the team are known, but there is always room for improvement, so it’s better to understand the team’s activities from beginning to end when designing an application transition plan.

It is worth noting that it is best to conduct KT when it is possible to keep 2 teams in parallel so that new employees gradually join the development process, deal with system configuration, and process systems together with knowledge holders. For example, using JIRA, which helps us deal with the life cycle of a defect, requires knowing many details of the previous workflow. Nevertheless, this step is often skipped.

Code Audit as a Part of Software Transition Plan

Knowledge transfer, mentioned earlier, does not reveal all the problems of the project. To fully comprehend the code, the team needs to start coding. The code review should result in developers saying: “OK, we know what to do and how to handle the project further.” But implementing new features and dealing with dependencies is another story.

If the performance of your current contractor raises questions, it is best to seek an audit from a third party. A professional view from the outside will allow you to assess the situation and find the least costly way to solve the problem. The Devlight code review means the customer receives a specific list of what needs to be fixed. Even if they later decide to choose another vendor, they can use this document, which summarises what is wrong with security, scaling and other aspects.

Design audit

We conduct interface audits according to the same principles as we develop the design: feasibility, reliability, convenience, and acceptance. You can call them the four qualities of the interface. During development, we create these qualities, and during the audit, we check them.

The interface should allow the user to perform their basic tasks. This doesn’t just apply to buttons — scripts may not work either. At the same time, we check if the interface allows scenarios to be passed in alternative ways. The principle of convenience helps to evaluate how effective the patterns the designer has chosen are — in other words, how quickly the user solves problems. We then attach the screenshots to your IT project transition plan template.

Finally, can we discuss the UI? Yes, but we that’s not all we focus on. Everything influences the perception: understandable texts, brand voice, animations, illustrations and the number of menu items — each element works to ensure that the interface establishes a positive relationship with the user.

QA audit

QA helps us assess how much the IT transition plan client is potentially losing based on Firebase analysis. Firebase is Google’s mobile app development platform that provides state-of-the-art features for developing, repackaging, and enhancing apps. Firebase is, at its core, a set of tools that developers can use to create and modify applications based on their needs. The goal of Firebase is to solve three main problems for developers:

• Quickly create an application
• Issue and provide robust health monitoring
• Engage users

Some of the most popular features of the Google Firebase platform include databases, authentication, push notifications, analytics and file storage. We analyse these features and more as part of an IT project transition plan.

Analytic analysis of the product

As a code review is based on the technical side, the marketing department deals with measuring app performance in terms of user efficiency. Analysing the business model and product processes must get us answers to key questions:

• Who is this product for?
• What is its central service?
• What is its priority functionality, and how is this priority supported?

Perhaps the client has been moving in the wrong direction with their old team. The task of another vendor is to find the right path, believe in this path and convey this confidence to the client.

Software Transition Plan Demo + Conclusion 

The more entropy in the project, the longer drawing a software transition plan checklist will take. Our practice shows that it can last from a week to a month. This is enough time to understand the nuances of the code and study the architecture and technologies. In the result, we summarize our analysis and make up a short budget conclusion: 

• Everything is ok, so the client has to pay just for a few new features;
• We cover the technical gap (in case there are too many product bugs to start immediate work)
• The final option is to rewrite the code from scratch

Although the client wants to know the exact terms and plans, any IT transition plan should start from the stage: “let’s figure it out first, let’s see how things work there.” Meetings should be very frequent at each stage.

How Our Team Creates Software Transition Plans That Work

Regardless of the reason why the project is going to other hands, the new team is expected to be rescued. The job of the manager is to set the frame for the whole team’s cooperation: talk, ask, answer, and explain.

Once the client understands your goals, we make sure to measure their success in achieving them by setting appropriate key metrics. The stated goal reflects the intended result. At the same time, we need some kind of benchmark to assess the success of achieving this result. This is why we set SMART goals. SMART goal setting provides clear and measurable indicators of success that can be easily identified at the end of the project, describing to what extent these goals have been achieved.

The Devlight software transition plan checklist also contains the next questions for the client:

• “What did you not like about the old team, and what did you like?”
• “What are your plans for the project?”
• “What audits/briefs/documents can you provide?”

After that, the manager and the client agree on the time that the team will devote to getting to know the code. A week, two weeks, or a month — the term depends on the size of the project. Sometimes we can refuse to review the code if we plan to rewrite it fully. Partial refactoring acts as a lifeline, which will simplify and reduce the cost of development in the future.

We will start working on the acceptance document after the software transition plan contract is concluded. It describes the project, its functionality, and its bugs. The acceptance document will insure the new team from liability for problems left after the previous team and save time and nerves for all project participants.

We make sure to arrange the knowledge transition plan for software projects according to SLA, determining the arising tasks according to the degree of criticality, response time and required result. Devlight understands that it is necessary to predict the timing, taking into account possible risks that the client should be aware of.

Project Transfer Blockers

Changing a contractor when developing an IT product (whether it’s a mobile application, website development, desktop application, or customization of a ready-made solution for yourself) is always painful. Clients want to avoid it with all their might. Why? Because specific pitfalls accompany the whole application transition plan process. 

Occuring budget override

Implementation of a knowledge transition plan for software projects costs money. Whether you’re hiring freelancers to write content or a catering service provider to host an event, you’ll likely need to spend a certain amount of money.

Since you have already identified the goals and stakeholders in the project plan, this information can be used for budgeting. For example, if this project involves multiple departments, will the costs of the project be shared among them? If you have a certain measure of success, such as the number of participants in an event or the number of new users, is your estimated budget capable of meeting that measure?

Creating a budget during the IT project transition plan (before you start any spending) will ensure that the financial side of the contract is fully agreed upon. Devlight will take over the entire setup of the process and show you all the materials — audits, artefacts and documentation. 

The slowdown of the release process 

Clients don’t want to wait a long time for the next releases, but following the software transition plan checklist is essential for preparing the project release. Without a stable new base and correction implementation now, the project won’t be able to scale. As a solution, we may set a lower price of ownership — fix less and spend less time on refinement or support. This will result in a new revenue stream.

The boundary against client dissatisfaction is again drawn in the SLA: we determine the response time to client requests in advance. This way, we guarantee to bear legal responsibility for not fulfilling our side of the contract. Naturally, even a perfect software transition plan can cause some release slowdowns because the period needed to teach a completely new team was not included in the initial development timing.

Overestimating the state of the project

Often, a software transition plan manager makes confident promises that a new team will pull it all off. We at Devlight do not guarantee anything we are unsure of. Responsible managers must ensure their promises with a buffer of time in case of unforeseen obstacles. A negative result of the audit may scare the client away as they were unprepared to see the real state of things. And it is our responsibility to have your back.

So, if you plan to start drawing a software transition plan, mentally prepare yourself for the fact that your app may be doing worse than you thought. The sooner you understand the real situation and decide to fix it, the easier it will be to start. 

Intellectual property

Intellectual property in the IT field is no different from intellectual property in other areas. It allows its owner to get the full benefit of a product that has gone from idea to market launch. Only the owner agrees to copy, modify, distribute, sell or modify the intellectual property during the application transition plan included. Thus, we will need a lot of permissions from the previous vendor before we can start full-scale work.

On the other hand, you shouldn’t worry that we will use the result of your programmers’ creative activity. If our team needs access to any object code protected as a literary work, we will contact the author and ask for permission to do so.

The previous vendor sabotages cooperation

For a software transition plan manager, relationships with another team can be a nightmare. We try to deal with things professionally and aspire to make the transition process as painless as possible for all parties. However, the vendor may sabotage an application transition plan in a different way: incompetence accusations, slowing down the cooperation process or holding back documentation. As a client, you should be ready for such pitfalls.

Using ready libraries or your own archives

Taking a ready-made lib seems like a great solution to speed up the application transition plan. Everything has already been written or invented before the new team arrived. However, projects are growing, getting covered with more and more logic, and sometimes it becomes more difficult to understand them. After several years of project development, any new developer can easily get used to the project, so a clear project architecture is needed. However, some libraries may reduce project maintainability to zero.

If the app was coded using ready solutions, it may be hard for a new vendor to handle it. One of the necessary IT project transition plan steps that is often overlooked is deciding on using own resources only or sticking to the previously made libraries. Choosing either option will lead to a completely new perspective.

The app’s general incapability

Even the best IT project transition plan template will not help if the app is impossible to assess or transfer properly. Outdated apps that have not been taken proper care of will require serious time and money investment. If we notice a great technical gap between the current state of things and what we strive for, we will need a lot of effort to cover this lack. However, we don’t usually refuse projects, so even the worst scenario is not the end of the world!

If you feel that your project needs a software transition plan, we can carry out a surface analysis before you decide to transfer your project to us! 

The post How to Make the Transition of Your Software Project From One Vendor to Another appeared first on Devlight.

About the client & the story behind them

Moneyveo is the biggest microcredit company in Ukraine. They are the main hero of today’s story — the client. Let’s take a closer look at them.

As stated above, Moneyveo is the absolute champion in the MFI\microcredit business in Ukraine. They are completely digital and online; there are no physical branches in Ukraine. But there are a lot of happy clients and loyal employees. The numbers will say it all:

• 44 million dollars — the amount of net income Moneyveo received during the first half of 2021 (the most among competitors) 
• 1.4 million dollars in net profit
• More than 700 employees
• 1.8 Ukrainians regularly use their services
• 6 million loans issued in the service
• 1 billion dollars issued in total

It is a large, modern, and properly organized company. This allowed them to think about diversification and new directions of development.  

Why did the client decide to develop the solution?

Moneyveo’s business model was really effective. In fact, it was one of the fastest-growing on the market. But over time, the pace of growth slowed down, and by August/September 2021, Moneyveo realized that they had hit a glass ceiling. The volume of the market that they had didn’t allow for further expansion. The target audience had exhausted itself. It was no longer possible to grow at such rates as they grew before.

The time had come to look for new solutions. It might be a new business model or differentiation options that would give the business a new push for growth. They weren’t certain at the moment about the direction they were going to move. But they knew for sure that they had to act. 

The obvious decision for the client was to move further into fintech, a promising field in which they already had considerable experience. Their goal was namely to create a neobank that would touch a target audience that was opposite to the one they had at the time. These are customers with medium and high incomes. They also were interested in credit products, like the main target audience of Moneyveo, but on completely different terms.

The client set himself the task of expanding his business, diversifying his product portfolio, and entering a new market.

Pros and cons of current solution

Moneyveo’s main products were loans. It was the main pro of the solution that brought it a big success. But over time, it exhausted itself and didn’t allow for further scaling of the business and the target audience. And thus, it went from being a pro to a con.

The cost of attracting clients was higher than the commission income from one client. And overall, the country’s population was decreasing. The target audience was running out and there were no signs of an influx of new people into the market. There was no one to work with for new clients further. 

Moneyveo is a fully profitable company without creditors, credits, or obligations. It meant that they had a sufficiently powerful resource to experiment, invest in new niches and try to enter new markets. And they decided to stop at neobank.

Users behavior and new trends

Neobank has been the main fintech trend since 2016. The business model and product are clear, and the client understands what it is and how to use it. The cost of attracting a customer is not too high, and the business model calculation is usually very accurate. Especially in Moneyveo ‘s case, as they had a lot of data: how much it would cost to acquire a user, how long they would stay, how much revenue the product would generate, etc.

For the end client, it is a clear, obvious, and expected product, which is why Moneyveo’s team chose neobank and not some other financial product.

Competitive landscape

The neobank market in Ukraine was very competitive at the time (as it is now). But let’s look at the landscape of 2021, when the project was at its very start. 

We had an absolute neobank leader in Ukraine — Monobank. At the time, they had 4 million customers (25% of the market). PrivatBank is a classic player, but they also had their digital solution and had 4 to 6 million customers according to various estimates. There also were products with much smaller volumes: Neobank from Concordbank, Sportbank, Todobank, Izibank, Sense Bank, and Alfa Bank.

Competition in the market was very high. And the market was divided by business models. Some projects were based on lendings and installments (and Moneyveo was among them). They knew their target audience as well as their target audience knew them. Other players were projects with mixed business models such as PrivatBank or AlfaBank. Keeping this image in mind, we understood that in order to enter the market, it was necessary to find a sophisticated solution. On the one hand, it had to be logical, on the other hand, it had to be truly necessary for the user.

Another important point is that the Ukrainian banking market was definitely driven by loans. This was the most obvious and understandable business model — free issuing of a bank card and free issuing of a credit limit with a grace period. This is how it works: you provide a credit limit, and when a person leaves the grace period, they start consistently paying interest for using the credit limit. This results in consistent income from the client to the bank.

Moneyveo had a large credit system and an understanding of how it all worked. They made a key bet on large credit limits with a long grace period as the main competitive advantage, and it has borne fruit. But in order to maintain the growth rates of the company, they had to start looking for new directions of development.

Request to Devlight

How did they come up with the idea?

Our cooperation with Moneyveo started long before this project. We’ve been working with them since 2017 by providing different consultations on the implementation of mobile applications, improving the performance of their mobile applications, implementing design solutions, and more.

The Board of Directors had approved the idea of creating a neobank as a way of diversifying business in August 2021. Right after that, the Moneyveo team contacted us as they knew that we were one of the leaders in neobank development in Ukraine. At first, they requested a series of consultations. At this stage, we conducted a market survey and user profiling for them. This allowed us to take a more focused look at the market opportunities, possibilities for Moneyveo in that market, and, of course, Ukrainian users. The survey helped us to better understand their problems, values, motivations, how the competitors’ products satisfied all these areas, and what can we do to find and occupy our own niche.

Exact request

The plan was to first conduct a series of consultations, and if they proved we share the same values, worldview, and level of competence, and saw one common goal in this project, we would move forward to the next stage, which the discovery stage. This part includes market research, research of customers and competitors, and the development of a future digital product based on the unique value proposition. Other tasks of this stage include:

• making a high-fidelity black-white prototype
• testing prototypes on the target audience in order to make sure we are making the most accurate, understandable, and usable interface for the client, before the development stage
• creating a technical task based on it, which will include the technical and functional parts for the creation of the product

After the discovery stage, the UI and development stage starts.

Customer thoughts and references 

A CPO, a CBDO, and two project managers — representatives of Moneyveo who walked with us all the way, side by side. They had extensive banking expertise and a a strong background in banking, with a deep understanding of the banking market, methodology of the products, and an understanding of the correct formation of certain bank operations and transactions.

What they also had was a vision and a broad understanding of what the new product should be. They needed our expertise to sharpen the blurred vision and combine it with their thoughts and desires and the results of our research. As a result, we had a clear understanding of what the product should be, its user interface, and a mobile application.

The client was actively involved at all stages: whether it was the creation of a value proposition, some discussion, or research — we always worked as one team.

Moneyveo’s team saw the competitiveness of the market as one of the biggest challenges in this project. We could not afford to enter the market with a mediocre product. A product that wouldn’t fully cover the needs of the user. It’s everything or nothing. The expectations of the end user are very high. The market has set a very high bar of competition.

How do we make the right first impression on our end user? All our client’s thoughts and all our work revolved around this question. We cannot create a second impression, and trying to change a bad first impression would be expensive.

How do we make such a great first impression that the client wants to stay with us? This was a key question for the client. It requires strength in many important areas: UX, functionality, product content, and the entire customer experience.

Expectation

Product performance

Moneyveo’s expectations were more than clear. Their goal was for their new neobank to become the #2 neobank in 3 years in Ukraine. We started our work in August 2021, so the plan was to become the #2 neobank in Ukraine in August 2024. 

2.5-3 million active customers were expected, which would determine the product’s performance. The project was expected to profit within 2-2.5 years at most. The business model built by the client’s team confirmed that with the basic scenario that we pictured for ourselves,  2-2.5 years would be an adequate period for payback.

Deadlines

We planned to finish the active session of market research and discovery in 6 months, so the deadline was the middle of February 2022. Our team fully met this deadline. By that time, Moneyveo already had all the artifacts and materials that were agreed upon.

By August 2022, the product was expected to be released.

Devlight’s service

Ownership and living role in conducting discovery and building product value and the product functionality model — this was our service. As well as adaptation of all the artifacts that we got as a result of research to a mobile application by creating interfaces ad designs. At the other stages, our responsibilities would be completely leading the development of the mobile platform on both iOS and Android. And after that further work with the product and development of the product after the release.

Our solution

Research & preparation. Series of meetings with client

An important phase of the preparation for the project was to immerse in the client’s thoughts. To do so, we held 5-6 online meetings with the client to understand their technologies and business model better. It is very important for us to understand that we share the same picture with our clients: how we see competitors, how we evaluate the players and their competitive advantages, how we understand what drives the competition in the market, and how we should develop our product. It is crucial for further success to be on the same page with the client at the very beginning of the cooperation. As such, the final goal of all these consultations and preparatory talks was to develop a common vision of everything: from potential user profiles to product expectations. 

What the clients’ team did at this stage: 

• Commissioned an in-depth socio-demographic study of Ukrainian bank users in 2021, which gave us an understanding of the market. 

This research allowed us to see a detailed list of the costs of Ukrainian bank users, to understand from which banks to which banks users transfer money, and why exactly they choose those banks. We spent 2 meetings discussing this research.

What we did at this stage:

• Prepared a trend canvas synchronization exercise. Before starting our cooperation with the Moneyveo team, we did a synchronization exercise that we do with all clients — we filled out the trend canvas in order to understand the banking market in Ukraine better, synchronize our values, mission, and drivers of the future project, determine the market context in which the future product should exist, and also generate the first ideas.

• Prepared a large study of competitors on the market. Used the Porter Diamond methodology. This allowed us to analyze the market for existing players as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
• Analyzed new players who are just entering the market, their market entry strategies, their expectations about the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, and about the target audience.
• Analyzed substitute products that could replace our product, and other services that users could start using instead of using neobanks.
• Analyzed the competitive forces that exist on the market now and that is driving the market further.

A series of these preparatory synchronizing meetings allowed us to develop a common vision of the current market situation, competitors, and market drivers. With this, we could start moving further to in-depth research. After we were immersed in the thoughts of the client, it was time to immerse in the thoughts of users. 

Solution hypothesis and internal discussions 

Meetings with the Moneyveo team gave us a better understanding of their technology, product, capabilities, vision, and passion. With our extensive experience working with Ukrainian non-banks and our understanding of the market, we realized that we can reach our final goal. We can create a product that is functional and necessary to the user, which would be based on the lending model, but we called it «advanced lending».

The Ukrainian banking market of 2021 was entirely credit oriented.

As of 2021, the Ukrainian market was entirely loan oriented. Users willingly took loans for everything from personal expenses and small household purchases to cars and businesses. Loans were part of the culture. It was normal, an everyday phenomenon that customers were well familiar with.

But offers that existed on the market didn’t satisfy users enough. They were unpersonalized and monolithic. We realized that we can play a competitive fight exactly on this weakness. Depending on their credit score, we can provide various users with flexible credit limits, or large limits with a long grace period. For example, a large credit limit of UAH 100,000 for 100 days was absolutely unique on the market. We would be able to acheive this quite easily due to Moneyveo’s extensive expertise in the credit business.

The ability to effectively work with credit scoring and possible risks was one of the strongest points of Moneyveo’s business model. These strengths allowed us to create a hypothesis of a flexible product credit engine, around which we could build a defining competitive advantage for the product.

Of course, this hypothesis had to be tested on the key target audience. But at this stage, we were already quite sure that it would become the basis of our proposal.

Proposal structure and final discussion with the client 

Before our final handshake, we prepared the proposal for the client. Here’s what it looked like:

• It was assumed that we could build a highly competitive product that the user needed based on working with credit limits.
• We acknowledged that we had to enter the market with a highly functional product, talking about added functionality, as well as the list of functions and its usability. We aimed for absolute leadership in the field. We also understood that we had to release a product that the client would love at first sight. For that, we had to research the best practices of neobanking in Ukraine and the whole world, and then implement these practices in our product.
• We planned to conduct at least 100 in-depth interviews to identify those micro needs of users who are not satisfied with other products. The market is mature and competitive, and the competitors have professional teams that know their job. There were no obvious insights in the market, like some feature that would attract the audience of, for example, gamers, because no one else has it. All products on the market were functional, although they differed slightly in depth, in functionality, and in usability. But, as stated above, the market was at a stage where super-obvious deep insights weren’t easy to find. So we realized that the key to success could be working with micro needs: an additional tick or dot when transferring, shortening some flow by one click, and adding some functionality for small groups. Due to the closure of a large number of such micro needs, and due to usability, we would be able to create a highly competitive product,and thus, be remembered as a necessary and valuable product in the users’ eyes.

The client was completely satisfied with our proposal and strategy, and after our commercial proposal and deadline were accepted, we began our work.

The process of value creation

The process of value creation in this project consisted of a lot of stages. Let’s start with the first one:

Deep competitors research

We already had some info about the market and competitors, but it was time to go even deeper. We analyzed the competitors according to the following criteria:

• analysis of banking products, tariffs, commissions, cashback, and loyalty programs
• a separate comparison of credit products
• the speed of opening an account and the speed of issuing a card to start using
• analysis of the application functionality and its usability 
• analysis of the user acquisition model, retention model, LTV model, and awareness model
• analysis of amount of app downloads, reviews, and other product metrics that we could get using Data.io

Thorough research on the target audience from open market sources, determining users’ needs, pains, motivations, and expectations regarding the future digital product

• Profiling users according to socio-demographic characteristics
• Describing specific customer jobs for each individual profile
• Determining which services currently close specific user jobs
• Analyzing user comments on PlayMarket, AppStore, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages of competitors
• Analyzing the reasons for opening an additional account in another bank
• Study and description of criteria for choosing a new bank (rational and emotional)
• Creating custom hypotheses based on the information obtained above
• Preliminary prioritization of target groups

Conducting exactly 100 in-depth interviews to test, refute, or confirm user hypotheses

• Sorting user hypotheses
• Creating a survey script for in-depth interviews with respondents
• Forming the respondent base
• Choosing a reward for interviewers for conducting an in-depth interview
• Scripting and systematization of data, and development of an analytical note based on surveys

Ideation session, systematization of ideas that we received based on research and in-depth interviews

Through the entire process of interaction and research, some ideas were created by respondents and the team; ideas that came from analyzing all the available sources on the internet. And we collected each of these ideas right away. 

We put them on the dashboard, and it already had more than 170 ideas even before the start of the ideation sessions. Our task was to consider each idea, decide if we want to place them in the product, and come up with more ideas if needed. Each idea went through the process of discussion, brainstorming, analysis, and understanding of its feasibility in the future product. This process reduced the final number of ideas to 25, which would be the basis of the product.

Creating a product’s value proposition and testing the value proposition on respondents

All the preparatory work was completed. The moment had come to carry out the most important exercise — creating a product’s value proposition.

As a basis, we took the Alexander Osterwalder framework. It is a strategic management tool to design, test, build, and manage products and services. Before the start of the workshop, our team completely filled the right side of the value proposition canvas, using the ideas we selected during the ideation session. The results of in-depth user interviews and competitor analysis were included here as well.

The workshop with the client’s team lasted 5 hours. During this time, we managed to generate enough ideas for services, pain relievers, and gain creators to say that the product’s value proposition was ready.

Creation of user stories based on the value proposition, formation of the product backlog

This stage included forming the product backlog based on VPC, sorting using the KANO model, and determining the volume of the first release, and after that, the approval of the first release by the client team.

Since the value proposition of the product was formed, we approved the list of services, functionality, pain relievers, and gain creators of our future neobank. The time had come to form a product backlog and move toward its detailed study.

This work took about 2 weeks. As a result, we received about 640 lines of the product backlog, which had to be sorted to understand its impact on the future product.

When performing such work, we at Devlight usually use the Kanno model, which allows us to analyze each functionality for its purpose in the future digital product:

• must-have functionality
• delighters
• wow effect

After several conversations with the client’s team, we decided on the scope of the first release. It was based on the team’s budget and deadline expectations. Thus, we approved the scope of the first release of the product.

After that, we moved to write user stories and acceptance criteria for each element of the backlog. At Devlight, this type of work is typically done by a team of business analysts, project managers, and quality assurance engineers.

Here is the result of this stage of work:

All work on gathering all the requirements for the future digital product was done by that time, and the phase of active prototyping and usability testing began.

During the prototyping phase, we use the Figma environment, where we create high-fidelity black and white prototypes. It allows us to fully reproduce the user experience of the future digital product and the user’s interaction with it. Each element of the backlog is also worked on in detail by a team of product designers, project managers, and business analysts to create the best possible digital user experience.

At this stage, we usually receive 400-500 black-and-white screens. We combine them into an interactive clickable prototype, and later use them for usability tests with the target audience.

Before the start of the development, we use Maze to fully test the entire interface for user understanding of:

• customer flow
• interface buttons, actions, pop-ups
• general interface convenience

And thus, we get an understanding of how obvious and user-friendly our digital product will be. As a rule, usability testing gives us 3-4 iterations of changes. It allows us to be completely sure that the target audience will perceive our future digital product positively.

At this stage, the black-and-white prototype was agreed upon and approved by the client, and we moved forward to preparing for the engineering work, namely, designing the API methods using a UX-driven ADI design approach. For this, we use the Postman environment. The result of this work gives the entire team comprehensive information about which integrations should be carried out and which data points from the client side should be created for product functionality.

The API project serves as the basis for the entire product development cycle, which is why we at Devlight are extremely careful and meticulous about this stage.

Limitations and challenges

Problem we faced us during the process

The process of research, interaction, and discovery went quite smoothly, as the workflow was built right both from our side and from the side of the client. With a client who showed tolerance and patience, we kept a good work pace. This allowed us to complete the preparatory phase and the discovery phase without any problems.

Biggest challenge we met while creating the solution

Working with respondents was the biggest challenge for us, as it was the largest piece of work. We conducted the exact amount of 100 interviews, but after it was done, we still had work to do: we needed to transcribe them, systematize, and find insights.

Respondents had great motivation to be genuinely involved in the interviewing process as they were rewarded for it with a gift certificate. As respondents were happy to share as much of their thoughts and insights as possible, the interviews lasted a bit longer than we expected. Each interview lasted approximately 1.5 hours.

How we solved the problem

Our decision was to connect additional interviewers to complete the process on time. There were so many materials that we received after this phase that our whole team had to work for several weeks without days off to analyze them and find the insights they needed. But after weeks of hard work, we managed to meet our deadliness and get the results we needed from this stage.

Results and Outcomes 

Solution launch and going live

The deadline for discovery was February 20, 2022. On February 10, the entire process was completed, and the results of it were handed over to the client for approval. 

We presented the results of the discovery to the Moneyveo team with pride. The management board of Moneyveo felt our excitement and was sure that this product had to be built and released. All doubts that existed before that disappeared. We saw the green light in front of us, and we were ready to move forward to the next stage.

Meanwhile, the branding agency was finalizing the work on the development of the name, visuals, key message, and color guideline for the product. We were waiting for the results of their work to start the UI design phase.

But then the war started.

Compliance with expectations

The entire process of interaction with the client was as productive and efficient as possible. We didn’t have any tension, except, maybe, during the interview conducting phase. Due to long inverviews with the respondents, we had to spend twice as much time as was expected. But we still managed to meet the deadline. A little (or not so little) overtime works wonders.

Clients’ feedback

The management board was impressed by our presentation; they stated that the results exceeded their expectations and they recognize the overdelivery we’ve made. They also stated that they wanted to continue moving forward in this project with us. 

We exceeded expectations the most at the prototyping stage. Two experienced designers worked on it, and every time we presented the result, the client was shocked by how well everything worked out.

Some market numbers, proofs, and results

• More than 100 interviews were conducted with users
• The total duration of the interviews was 120 hours
• 250 customer hypotheses were developed
• At the ideation session, we worked on more than 400 different ideas
• Less than 10% of them were chosen to be the basis of the product
• 660 screens for the prototype were developed

Conclusions 

Market & users insights

The market was and still is very competitive, but we managed to find a unique competitive advantage and the niche for our successful work in the market. That was our most important and biggest insight.

After close work with the target audience, we clearly understood that despite there being a lot of different products in the market, clients were still ready to consider and try our future product. Flexible crediting and management of their own credit mechanism is what gave us users’ attention and interest.

What we’ve learned from this project? 

• Satisfying a large number of users’ micro needs can become the driving force of a product.
• Customer interviews should be planned to take at least an hour, preferably for an hour and a half.

How our skills shaped after the case 

Retrospective

We realized that customer interviews require more time. Customers genuinely wanted to share; they were involved in the process and wanted to be a part of the product creation. 

That is why, when working on our next banking projects, we now invest more time in this phase.

The post App Development for the Biggest Microloan Organization appeared first on Devlight.

The invention of the Internet and spreading it among the masses has become a big leap all over the world, but especially in the world of business. Small businesses that decades ago couldn’t dream of expanding over the borders of their local market now can right away go selling stuff to people from another corner of the world. And the PSP is one of the things that make it available.

Through the years online payments are becoming more and more convenient for people. 

Statista states, that during 2020 only 3% of customers in Spain chose to use cash on delivery. 98% of users prefer different types of online and card payments. 

There are plenty of options one can choose: paying via debit card, credit card, e-wallet, cash card, etc. And one of the most important aspects of online payments, no matter what type of them you are using, is security. This is a vital part of any modern business that sells products or services. If you can’t guarantee the security and quality of your payments how can you ensure the quality and efficiency of your products or services? Payment is one of the first experiences your customer goes through before using the product and it is the essential part of the experience, that can ruin the impression in case something goes wrong. And in case everything goes smooth at this stage, it is much easier to retain current customers and acquire new ones. 

So, to be short, the more convenient and versatile ways of online payments you suggest, the more satisfied your customer gets, and the more customers will choose to stick with you. But maintaining a wide variety of payments can cost a lot including all kinds of support, infrastructure building, security issues, and labor. That`s where PSPs (Payment Service Providers) are entering the game. Let’s take a closer look at them, what they are, what they do, and how can they make your business perform better. 

What is a Payment Service Provider? 

A Payment Service Provider (PSP) is described as a third-party company that enables business owners to accept online payments securely.  Businesses that accept all types of online payments can be PSP users: from credit and debit cards to bank transfers and e-wallets. PSPs are responsible for assuring a safe and secure way of money transfer from the buyer to the seller. 

Each of these businesses could of course use a usual merchant account but that would be much more expensive due to constant support costs and other fees. While a merchant account would be separate for each merchant individual, PSPs act like an umbrella for numerous merchants. They all become a part of one single account, with a subaccount for each individual customer. As they all share one account, they also share all the costs and fees and it makes PSP much cheaper, while security and risk management remain at a high level.

Once you decide to stick with PSP and sign up for cooperation, you no longer need to worry about online payment transactions. All the responsibility is on the PSP side. From the moment the user initiates the payment to the moment the business gets its money through the payment gateway to their bank account — everything is secure and safe that is guaranteed by the Payment Service Provider. They connect a broad range of acquiring banks with multiple cards and payment networks, to get the smoothest and most secure payment experience for both sides.

To see how PSP works we will need to go through an example of a basic online transaction. We will start from its initiation and end with funds being transferred to the business merchant account. 

How does the PSP work?

It all starts with one button — PAY.

The client enters his card details and presses the button, and after that PSP enters the room.

Verification

PSP verifies customer card details, sends transaction requests to the payment gateway, and checks if the card has sufficient money on the balance to pay for the purchase. The payment processor is the tool that helps PSP go through this stage.

Initiation

Customer card details are verified and PSP knows he has a sufficient amount of funds on his account? Great. Now PSP initiates the transfer of funds from the customers’ bank to businesses acquiring bank onto the merchant account.

Notification

Once the payment is approved by both customer’s issuing bank and acquiring bank, each side will be notified about the completed payment.

But there can be problems in this flow. Card details could be invalid or fund insufficient. In these cases, PSP will terminate the payment and act as described above — send a status notification to both sides about failed payment. 

Each this step will not only facilitate the payment process but also ensure the safety and security of the transaction of funds. There are a lot more advantages of PSP than that, and we can dive deeper into them soon. 

Types of PSPs

There are three different types of PSP. They differ in fees, contracts, and payouts but still cat quite alike. Let’s take a closer look at them and discover which one suits better for which kind of merchant.

Distributing PSPs

Distributing PSPs build connections to variable payment methods and maintain them. Thus, they remove technical obstacles for e-commerce merchants. If you will choose this type of PSP, your business will have the facility to accept several types of payment methods.

Distributing PSPs will suit those merchants who want to offer their customers only a few payment options. 

Collecting PSPs

In a world where there would be no PSP, merchants had to receive a separate settlement for each payment method they accept, and each separate settlement would consume sufficient time and cost. Having a lot of separate settlements would be unprofitable and inefficient for a business. Thankfully we live in a world with collecting PSPs that can combine all payments from divergent payment methods into one settlement, reducing time and money consuming and simplifying payment reconciliation. 

Collecting PSPs are a great choice for businesses that offer a lot of online payment methods. 

Aggregating PSPs

Aggregating PSPs deviate a little bit from collectors and distributors in a different way. What differentiates them from collectors is the ability to contract with the payment companies on behalf of numerous merchants. And from distributors, they differ because of their ability to collect funds on their own internal account, power to settle the merchant’s bank account, and negotiate the terms of the payment. 

Aggregating PSPs would be favored by merchants who prefer not to contract with banks, financial institutions, and other companies that provide online payment methods.

Payment Service Providers vs Merchant Service Providers

One of the main differences between Payment Service Provider and Merchant Account Provider comes to risk. Let’s see how and why it works.

Both these tools have one aim — they make it possible for businesses to accept online payments. But merchant account provider creates a separate account for each merchant, while PSP collects hundreds of thousands of merchants under one account.

In providing online payment services there always is some risk. In the case of merchant account providers this risk is concentrated on one merchant — thus to be approved and start getting paid to this account may take days or weeks, as the vetting process is thorough and businesses individual risk is estimated. With PSP that collects a lot of merchants under one «umbrella», this risk on the approving stage spreads among all the merchants and thereby approval process becomes simple and almost instant. And the cost of the account maintenance is also divided among all the users and that makes PSP much more affordable, especially for small businesses and startups than maintaining a single merchant account. 

But, while approval goes smoothly and fast, some other problems can be raised with PSP later on. A designated merchant account is being verified with details and it results in a stable account that won’t be disturbed by any extreme circumstances. At that time, as PSP holds a collective risk of several merchants, they can from time to time terminate, hold or freeze accounts they decide are somehow risky. 

Another considerable difference between PSPs and merchant account providers are types of solutions they provide. PSPs usually have on their list turnkey solutions that have a set price and a set range of features. On the other hand, merchant accounts are more flexible and provide customizable solutions that may be changed according to businesses’ needs. 

Pros of PSP

There are a lot of pros as well as cons of using PSP for your online business. Let’s go through each one of them:

Flexibility

This one continues the topic of the differences between Payment Service Providers and merchant service providers and flexibility is the reason why one would choose the first over the second. Payment Service Providers are a lot more flexible than merchant accounts. They allow you to change the services and tools you use and explore different payment methods and options. That’s what you wouldn’t be able to do in case you choose to stick with the merchant service provider. Flexibility and availability to change decisions when needed are crucial to small businesses and those who are just at their start. 

Low cost

As we already discovered, PSP collects a lot of merchants under one account, that is what’s making it much more affordable. While being not at all an expensive tool without a monthly fee and a required minimum for transactions made monthly, PSP provides a lot of different tools, payment security, and other advantages. That is a perfect decision to choose for businesses that are growing. 

Easy and fast start

If you want to start fast Payment Service Providers are definitely a choice. Just fill in the application and you can start accepting payments for your acquiring bank account almost instantaneously. There is nothing to be intimidated with at the first stage: no contracts, underwriting processes, and no need to wait a few weeks until you are approved and go through vetting processes. Nothing can guarantee as easy and smooth start as PSPs can guarantee today.

Fraud prevention

Setting up the PSP makes your business comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). The PCI DSS is vital for accepting online payments. 

What this compliance does is simply protects cardholder data and at the same time business data from fraud.

Also, PSP has safety limits on users’ accounts that can catch unusual transactions and deny them.

Multi-currency processing

PSP account allows accepting almost all kinds of currencies your clients might want to use while paying for your product. And Payment Service Providers work on staying abreast of new trends in the industry like new payment methods and multiple currencies and make them available for users as fast as possible. 

Accepting multiple online payment methods

Credit card and debit card, online banking and e-wallets, ACH payments, American Express, and more — all these payment methods are available via Payment Service Provider. You will have quick access to each of them as each account is already set up with all tools — you just need to choose from them what suits best for you. This is especially important for international businesses, that need to accept all types of payments that are popular in the most different and remotest corners of the world. 

Cons of PSP

Support

While merchant account providers are much more costly, they also provide a lot more support. With a Payment Service Provider, you don’t get as much attention as an individual user, as you share one account with a dozen other merchants.

Account stability

Once you’ve signed up for a PSP, you have full access to their merchant account. This means that you have to stick with the rules of the merchant account holder, acquiring banks and payment service providers. You are not obliged to be aware of those rules, but they do leave you with the necessity to process payments at the payment service provider’s discretion. This may cause problems with account stability as you process transactions via Payment Service Provider. 

Final thoughts

It is obvious that Payment Service Providers facilitate payment processing, provides a wide range of different payment methods and multiple currencies, and don’t take a big monthly fee for it. But indirect benefits that PSP may bring to your business are less obvious. It is the ability to shift focus from taking care of payment processing to issues with a bigger perspective: achieve business goals, scale, and drive sales. 

We recommend considering using PSPs first of all for small businesses. They get the most out of the advantages of PSP and, as they don’t have massive customer flow, don’t have to worry about disadvantages. You will be able to expand your business by accepting a big variety of payment methods like debit cards, credit cards, e-wallets, cash cards, and different types of currencies, allowing your customers to use the most convenient method and encouraging them to start a long-term relationship with you.

The post What is a PSP – all you need to know appeared first on Devlight.

The last two years can without exaggeration be called turning points for the fintech app development sector. The main reason is global digitalization caused by COVID-19 and quarantine restrictions. The virtualization of fintech stimulated the emergence of new tools for the provision of financial services, the growing popularity of neobanking, cryptocurrencies, mobile applications, and innovative IT technologies. 

Devlight invites you to dive right into the world of fintech mobile application development to discover its latest trends, pitfalls, and tips together.

The State of Tech and Apps in the Finance Industry

Today we can notice a change in the positions of key fintech applications. Pandemic and social distancing forced the number of contactless and online payments to increase significantly, which has led to an aggravation of the issue of the cost of transactions. Of course, in the coming years, international payment systems will retain their key positions, and financial institutions will play an irreplaceable role in the legal part of this. However, business interest in alternative payment methods has increased. 

At the same time, during the pandemic, the popularity of electronic wallets and cryptocurrencies has increased, and many countries are moving towards the creation of digital currencies. What is more, the variety and convenience of fintech solutions forced banks and financial organizations to reconsider their attitude toward user experience. If earlier focused on their tasks, today the needs of users are at the forefront and are the driving force of fintech application development.

Customers no longer have the patience to fill out long forms or tolerate the tedious processes of downloading printing, and scanning documents. The higher the user awareness of existing fintech apps, the higher the demand, and, accordingly, the faster the pace of development. In 2019, the EY company conducted a study according to which the level of use of fintech solutions in countries around the world is 64%, and 3 out of 4 consumers use the services of fintech payment platforms.

Today these indicators should be even higher. 2022 user is more active and interested, but also demanding, which will significantly affect the market, its participants, regulation, and the versatility of products and services. Besides, we should not forget about Generations Z and Alpha, who are growing up and whose needs influence the formation of a significant part of app development trends — banking in messengers, voice assistants when using financial products, etc.

Recent events in the world have taught us to quickly find solutions to the most unexpected events. The ability to respond to tomorrow’s needs in connection with today’s events is a necessary skill in modern fintech application development.

Types of Apps in the Fintech Market With Best Examples on the Market

Fintech application development starts with defining your niche — the type of application you want to work with. Fintech has grown in scale, influence, and several players over recent years. Thus, fintech app development attracts billions in investment every year and has logically fallen apart into several specific categories. 

What do you need to know to build fintech apps? Remember that your product can either belong to one category or combine several characteristic features, forming something new and phenomenal for the market. We will now consider the types of apps you can develop with the help of the Devlight team.

Neobanking

Different applications allow access to the bank account via a completely dematerialized system and low fees. These meet important challenges in terms of reliability, simplicity, and security of information. Neobank is a mobile banking app that has no offline representations and functions solely in the virtual space.

The global mobile banking app trend remains relevant for highly digitalized countries and those only entering this exciting world. We should expect not only the appearance of new local players but also the merging of fintech companies around the world and their entering new markets.

The popularity of neobanking is explained by the convenience and quick response to the client’s request. In 2022, neobanks will continue to supplant traditional banking. Now individuals go to banks much less often than two years ago. Digital banks will actively expand their share in the fintech industry.

Examples: N26 (Germany) — neobank, Monobank (Ukraine) — neobank with hybrid budget-planning features.

Payments and Money Transfers

Apps for mobile payments process the transactions on the behalf of a company and perform the role of an intermediary between the credit card company and credit card holder. This approach enables everyone to carry out contactless payments for whatever they want wherever they want. Small businesses get the possibility to sell goods and services that customers can purchase in one click. Such fintech apps help all users receive payments for private needs and carry out transfers daily.

All reputable businesses need to implement payment processors on their platforms and apps. This not only helps to transfer money instantly but offers customers various payment options to choose from depending on the convenience, fee, and accessibility of each. Payment app development has a functional purpose but adds to the user experience and increases personalization. 

Examples: PayPal (USA) — payment processor, Square (US) — payment software and app for businesses, Wise (UK) — a fintech app for international transactions.

Crypto Wallet App

The digital wallet working principle stays the same independently from the currency you are using. When it comes to crypto, you can use your wallet to send, receive, buy, or exchange cryptocurrency. Your assets are encrypted with a special key and safely stored inside the app. Of course, such a high level of data protection requires fintech software development services to enable some distinctive features. Two-factor authentication and data encryption are a must. 

Storing crypto is similar to storing any other currency in mobile banking in a way that you get two keys: a public (it resembles a bank account number) and a private one (your password to access the account). Of course, you can only share the first one while the second should stay confidential. 

Thus, a wallet is a middleman between a blockchain and a customer. It doesn’t necessarily store your currency — it enables you to access it and remembers the private key for you so that you don’t have to enter it manually each time.

Examples: Coinbase (US) — great for beginners, Electrum (US) — Bitcoin-specific, Exodus (US) — altcoins.

Investing/Neo Trading

Such apps represent digital platforms democratizing investments for everyone. Trading fintech app development substitutes middlemen that you would need to invest in the past by introducing tools like pro-tips, AI advisers, and Robo-brokers. You can assess risks and make favorable predictions all by yourself. 

You receive obvious safe options for investing or can set your Robo-adviser to make automatic investments for you. Such apps can be super intuitive or offer pro tools for knowledgeable stock market players. Devlight, a mobile app development company, helps you introduce the functionality suitable for the audience you are targeting.

Examples: SoFi (USA) — simple all-in-one trading shop, T.D.Ameritrade (USA) — mobile stock trading app.

Insurance

Insurance financial technology (also called Insurtech) applications upgrade the insurance market by enabling policyholders to assess risks easier. Applying for process claims or coverage is a part of their purpose. You can now meet many modern apps focusing on insurtech devoted to specific roles: from car to property insurance. In general, they help you close safer deals.

Mobile app development in terms of insurtech broadens the fintech user coverage helping regular people apply for insurance for various purposes. No more long queues in the physical insurance company or paper mountains — some native apps let you receive a signed insurance certificate in a matter of 60 seconds.

Examples: Lemonade (USA) — makes everyday insurance claims easier by introducing AI and chatbots.

Loans

Mobile apps for taking apps speed up the lending procedure by connecting the borrower and the lender directly. They do the job for you and you just have to read all the conditions carefully and choose a favorable rate. What is more, they don’t focus just on massive financial institutions like credit unions or banks but often use P2P lending (peer-to-peer). It means you can take out a loan and earn on its interest.

P2P financial apps will typically ask you to provide proof of income or clear credit history. It means you are a reliable borrower and can claim an application for a fast loan. Then, lenders, who are registered in a separate version of the app, look through the applications and respond to them. Both parties can negotiate the terms directly and sign a virtual contract on favorable conditions. 

This fintech market innovation is profitable for all: the lender, the borrower, and the app itself. As a borrower, you can carry out financial transactions straight inside the app: withdraw money, top up your account, or repay the loan. However, the development process is quite tedious in terms of design, legal issues, and back end since you have to come up with two versions of the platform for different parties.

Examples: Brigit (USA) — membership-based loan app.

Budgeting and Financial Planning

Thanks to fintech, you can also take advantage of applications allowing you to abandon your good old Excel file to manage your budget. Thus, financial planning apps allow you in particular to:

• categorize your expenses;
• analyze your credit reports;
• better anticipate your budget;
• make transfers;
• visualize your savings using graphical tools.

Fintech sector aggregators have forged close and secure links with the historic banks. On the one hand, aggregators attract and improve user comfort, on the other hand, traditional banks allow full and fully secure access. The partnership is an element at the heart of the success of these new applications. Thus, if you develop a fintech app for budget planning, you should emphasize user-friendliness, simple account management, and exciting features.

Examples: Mint (USA) — a free app that syncs with all your income and expense sources on all mobile devices to analyze them for you, Goodbudget (USA) — great for planning future investments and expenses.

What to Look Out for Before Developing Fintech Applications

Technology does not stand still, as shown by fintech apps development, the sphere which has begun to challenge various traditional methods related to banking. More and more banks have become interested in integrating virtual operations with their regular offerings and want to build a fintech app. Therefore, it is not surprising that this demand requires and attracts a large number of developers.

If you are a fintech mobile app developer or a business owner, here are some simple and effective tips to keep you moving in the right direction towards building a successful fintech app without any confusion.

Take Care of Legal Compliance

The first thing you need to do before you build a fintech app is to study, analyze and, most importantly, understand fintech and its legal side. You can be tech-savvy and know everything about building apps but not the banking sector. You cannot be unambiguously good at everything, financial knowledge included. However, finances and banking services are the most important components of fintech, so you should study them.

The purpose of financial apps is to help users in investment, budget planning, or insurtech matters with maximum ease for them. Once you align your trajectory with the goals of your target audience, it will be easier for you to move forward. Thus, it is a great idea to introduce a business analyst, a financial consultant, and a lawyer to your development team.

Plan a Marketing Budget

Advertising costs can reach 100-150% of the total budget for building mobile apps (depending on the scale) and are fully justified. Advertising is a profitable investment that allows you to understand whether your idea is relatable to the market or such apps already exist. How do you plan to advertise your fintech startup and make people download the application after they find out about it? Having well-developed lead flows, the customer may not be afraid to release any Android app.

As for market testing, here some people prefer to save money. In any case, testing finished banking apps on real smartphone users is an essential step before entering the market. 

Plan a Development Budget

Many factors affect the cost of developing a finance app. What operating system is it being developed for — iPhones or Android? Perhaps it will be a web version? What tech stack is required to launch an investment app? What about user-friendly budgeting apps? The initial discussion stage should help you understand the needs of the project and the tools that are needed to develop a fintech that will work.

Each technology and tool embedded in an application requires market research. Will it bring maximum customer satisfaction? Is it needed for this specific project? Do you launch new fintech solutions that will take time and money to advertise? This increases the cost. 

In addition, integration with third-party resources, thorough data security, and connection banking services are often required. Of course, a detailed price can be estimated only after discussing the project. Then the tasks will become clear, and the time for their implementation as well.

To carry out technical testing, it is necessary to have devices with different versions of the operating system available or use universal platforms (for example, Device AnyWhere), which allow testing the application for all models of mobile devices of interest to the customer. Therefore, when deciding on a cross-platform app or a native app, make sure you understand the budget scale.

Think Through a Clear Concept

New technologies are considered to be the backbone of fintech applications. Various technologies that include artificial intelligence and blockchain are considered to be the demand of the times and you simply have to include them in the application in some form. Blockchain can help with record keeping and AI should be used for purposes like personalized recommendations, data analysis, customer interactions, etc. 

The market place you will launch your app will also define its final look. Apps for Google Play Market and AppStore have a different designs, functionality, and target audience. Of course, as a progressive app development company, Devlight will help you tackle all of these preparation stages before we move on to the next.

A Step-by-Step Guide to FinTech App Development

The process of mobile application development for the fintech industry requires integration with a large number of partners and compliance with clear regulatory norms. It may sound unrealistic, but the fact remains: Devlight is the professional helper that will take over the majority of functional procedures and liberate you from the burden of making everything yourself. Here we will share our experiences and tell how to gradually turn the dream of a fintech application into a full-fledged ready-made solution.

Step 1: Discovery Phase

At this stage, the main goal is to understand exactly what the customer needs and what competitive advantages the fintech product will have. Market research should be conducted. Business analysts are irreplaceable for this purpose.

Check our article how to conduct discovery phase in software development

Step 2: Design Phase

Design is what users interact with. It must be not only convenient but also attractive to the client. An important task for our team at this stage is to create a recognizable style of the application and come up with digital solutions that will make the design intuitive, which is vital for fintech software development.

Step 3: Development and Testing Phase

Architecture development and partner selection are part of developing an architectural proposal for every fintech solution. It usually includes a mobile app, a fintech platform that orchestrates third-party integrations, plugins, and a back-office dashboard that serves the needs of the treasurer, customer support team, and compliance committee.

The stage of active development ends with a minimum viable product that you put to the test. All parts of such an application should be developed simultaneously and with no loss of quality because you should conduct a real-life test then. It is worth noting the important role of our specialists at this stage: architects, backend and mobile fintech developers, DevOps, QA specialists, Delivery managers, and product owners.

Step 4: The App Launch and Maintenance Phase

At this point, the activities of any project change, as a division into pre-release and post-release life appears. The app starts working with real money from customers. The product team should constantly analyze user behavior and developers should learn about new age cases or problems that needed to be fixed. If machine learning is implemented in the app, then studying the lead behavior gets easier.

Step 5: Constant Product Improvement

Further development of the project consists of the introduction of new features. For example, within 6 months after the public release, you could be still developing an investment platform, mobile payments, bonds, supporting bank accounts, international transfers, and many other fintech mobile functionalities. Taking the strategic plans of the client company into account is vital after the release because this will greatly influence the architecture of the project.

Types of Revenue Streams in Fintech App

Choosing a monetization frame is vital as you build fintech apps. You can combine several types of them or launch a pro version of your existing app a few months afterward. However, the main service options will be determined by the type of app you build and should be taken into account during the fintech mobile app development. Let’s talk about the main revenue options that you can implement for your apps in the financial services industry.

Loans

If you develop a loan fintech mobile app, it is logical that your service will serve as an intermediary between the lender and clients. Thus, you should take a fair fee for your help in speeding up such a lengthy legal procedure. All parties to the transaction can then share some part of the profit with you.

Paid Features

Enriching your app with paid features is another way to benefit from knowledgeable users who want more. Studying your target market during the app development process will enable you to find out what competitive features will make users pay (advanced Robo-advisers, AI predictions, and credit history).

Fees

Fintech mobile apps offering payment and transaction services are in full right to take a small percentage of the fee for their part of the procedure. This monetization option can be applied to currency exchange apps, trading, and investment apps.

Subscription Model

For other apps, providing a monthly or a yearly subscription can be a great solution. Budget planning apps, for instance, often offer their users premium features and cloud services that they can access for a monthly payment. It is rare for investment apps to stick to such a model, but the Robinhood app is an exception. This fee-free trading app and crypto wallet benefit from charging their users a $5-worth subscription every month.

Selling Non-personalized Behaved Data

NPB data is used for ads and referrals. This option will work if you have a large user base that creates high customer flow and activity inside the app. Clicks, visits, and any interactions can be monetized. Of course, they won’t cover all the development and maintenance costs but can be a great bonus for a company.

Challenges in FinTech Product Development Processes

Fintech applications development has its pitfalls connected with the specifics of this fast-growing and rapidly changing market. Since fintech is still a young industry, legal issues and data security remain big issues. Besides, customers quickly get used to a high level of quality services and force fintech startups to come up with more and more advanced features. What other challenges will you meet? 

Challenge 1. Fit the Market — Competitive Landscape

Each task or each process requires separate tools that you need to combine in one fintech application, which will be developed specifically for the tasks of your business. Cross-platform development of a multitasking resource that will help you reach a new level is quite a high bar. However, this threshold is real for fintech.

When choosing a company to develop a fintech app, you need to pay attention to many factors so that the contractor does everything you need to do well and the final tool helps you grow and develop, not just exist on the market. After you set the initial goals high, you will also need to correspond to this level all the time. With Devlight, this task becomes easier as we work on the market analysis together.

Challenge 2. Barrier to Entry

Fintech app development is an expensive project since the stakes are high. Key market players invest millions into the design, user-friendliness, specialist recruitment process, and new data security protocols. We adhere to a reasonable price-quality ratio, we always warn customers about the cost and possible additional costs. You will find out the price for the fintech mobile app development as soon as you tell all the details about it and we agree on the structure and functionality of your fintech tool.

To start discussing your business models or clarify any details, just leave a request on the site, or contact us in any other way convenient for you. Our managers will advise you, answer all your questions and tell you what to do next.

Challenge 3. Cybersecurity and Data Protection

Given the specifics of the application, your users will be forced to trust you and provide all confidential and personal data. But if all of sudden such information is somehow leaked and falls into the hands of scammers, it is obvious that your application will come to an end. Especially when it comes to big data, encryption and protection require great attention and unusual solutions.

Since your application will interact with the main systems of the bank, you simply have to ensure security and follow all legal requirements. Therefore, you should devote enough time to developing a back-end system with firewalls and proxies.

After completion of work, you should check fintech apps’ security, up to load testing for hacker attacks with the aim of vulnerabilities in the system. This is the only way you will understand if your financial technology product is well protected or if it needs any improvements.

Challenge 4. User Retention Issues

From the push notifications design to insufficient load speed — you need to be prepared for the fact that users will speak out about your application with all sorts of suggestions or criticism. What is more, they will be completely right because they have their own opinion on this matter. Listen to them and be ready to implement all the features.

This will save you time since it will be enough to put in extra effort during the research of the application so that you can protect yourself from future redesigns. To avoid user dissatisfaction, make the application interface more comfortable for them. Make sure your development includes the right features like gradient color transitions, motion graphics, etc. And remember that users are constantly using app-based services to manage their financial data and control their debt situation, therefore, they need to trust you 100% and receive all the appropriate features from you that will make them stay.

Fintech Industry Trends in 2022

The year 2022 shed light on the shortcomings and gaps in the fintech industry that faced the market during the previous pandemic. This, in turn, actualized and accelerated the development of many trends that deepened and expanded against the background of the impending world crisis and political processes. Let’s talk about some obvious and less so ones of them.

Enabling Crypto to the Banking

As practice shows, people want to make money transfers through well-known banking and financial institutions with a history, because this creates a sense of security. After all, brands and personalities are important to people, and it is big companies that inspire trust. 

People will also want to borrow money easier and faster than banks do it, without proof of income, etc. Therefore, companies in the future need to provide an alternative and determine for themselves how their centralized services are better than decentralized ones. It is where crypto will come in handy.

The Dawning of the Super-Apps

Superapps help the user not only clear the phone’s memory of digital junk, but also make the use of digital services convenient: without switching from one program to another, use all the necessary services — buy plane tickets and book a hotel, and at the same time — a transfer from the airport. Choose dishes for dinner not from one, but several restaurants, pay a single invoice and control delivery. One place to check payroll, pay for the phone and buy an insurance policy. An you as an enterpreneur can benefit from one team composition for developing all those apps.

The birthplace of super apps is Southeast Asia. It all started 10 years ago in Indonesia with Gojek, a mobile call center for motorcycle taxis and courier services. After 5 years, 4 services were combined in this application: GoRide, GoSend, GoFood, and GoShop. Their purpose is easy to determine by their names. Today, two dozen services have been united under the roof of Gojek.

The most striking example of the Asian experience of creating super apps is, of course, WeChat. It has long ceased to be just a messenger and now has dozens of financial services integrated. The Chinese prefer to watch movies, call a taxi, order food without leaving one app. This year, it also added a map that shows places where cases of COVID-19 infection have been recorded. And, most importantly, with the help of WeChat you can pay for purchases.

This functionality is especially in demand among Asian financial institutions, despite the fact that many of their residents simply do not have bank accounts. WeChat has hundreds of millions of users and, along with AliPay, has become the backbone of the mobile app ecosystem for the Asian market. As a result, many stores, service providers and other businesses are readily developing their own applets (add-ons) for WeChat in order to sell their goods directly on it.

Embeded Solutions Will Become More Popular

Companies that choose to integrate financial products into their platforms will discover the best ways to add value to their customers. Embedded finance is based on building symbiotic relationships with all stakeholders — banks, non-financial companies and fintech companies.

Brands trust fintech companies or third-party service providers for building a fintech app on the brand’s app. Fintech companies and financial service providers hope that banks will provide accurate and fast responses to API calls to their databases, and banks hope that fintechs will not abuse their secure models and will not put them at risk by providing access to their database data.

Embedded finance, blockchain technology in particular, gives companies more control over the user experience and helps them meet all user needs, whether financial or not. Another noteworthy benefit of embedded finance is the reduction in product launch times, allowing startups to launch and scale products quickly and cost-effectively.

Demand for Dealmaking in Underdeveloped Regions

Fintech finally reaches underdeveloped regions as progressive countries are making their banking sphere futuristic and more complex. African, South Asian, and Latin countries are slowly entering the market. Thus, we are sure to see a tremendous breakthrough in terms of software products development from there and should get ready to deal with many frech industry players.

AI and Machine Learning

Today fintech companies are creating trends in the field of improving customer experience thanks to the introduction of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are the basis for determining the client’s portrait and, accordingly, improving the user experience. They allow us to offer products and services relevant to the client’s needs. ML and AI will only consolidate their positions in the automation of security processes, targeting of financial products, communication, and improvement of customer experience.

Web3 WIll Get More Mainstream

Web3 though still at the development stage is a pretty revolutionary concept. As opposed to Web2, which unites centralized data storage platforms, Web3 will enable corporations and regular users to create anonymous platforms and acheive higher privacy rate. New technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence will be a part of this process. Of course, these changes will concern the fintech development as well.

New solutions will be delivered starting with the year 2022 allowing banks to make their apps and services more accessible. P2P transactions will reach a whole new level of privacy. However, this switch will require a stable legislative base to prevent frauds and data leaks.

Open Banking

In 2007, the European Union passed the Payment Services Directive (PSD), a bill that created a single market for payments in the EU and stimulated the emergence of safer, more innovative payment services. PSD aims to make cross-border payments within the EU as easy, efficient and secure as payments within an EU member state. This has forever revolutinized the app development in the field.

A growing number of fintech companies led to a revision of the bill, a new Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was issued, which brought with it open banking. Open Banking is a set of solutions and processes that allows banks and third-party service providers to exchange financial information and services electronically with the permission of customers. 

The key thesis of PSD2 that is vital for building a fintech app : the bank is obliged to provide the payment service provider with financial information about the client and debit the money from his account without concluding a separate agreement. For the procedure, the order of the client is sufficient. 

The growth of open banking will definitely stimulate synergy between representatives of the financial market and attract investment in fintech products.

Why Hire Devlight as Your Financial Software Development Service Provider?

Properly selected fintech solutions will make life easier for all parties involved and make most processes automatic. Here are some aspects of our competitive advantage for your fintech app development:

Approach

We accompany our customers from the first iteration to the winning one, we make products from scratch so that you do not have to look for additional solutions and try to establish the interaction of many teams.

Devlight managers are always ready to help you and answer all your questions. During the entire interaction process, you will be assigned a personal manager who will guide you by the hand through the entire process. Our pricing policy is simple and transparent, you always know what you are paying for and at what stage the development of your fintech app is.

Values

The main thing for us is the result. We immerse ourselves in the business of our customers and do our best to ensure that our fintech apps bring maximum benefit to our partners.

Expertise

We have been working in the field of fintech mobile app development for a long time, we know well which solutions work and which ones are not worth wasting time on, how to choose the right technologies to produce a quality tool, and how to correctly implement solutions to avoid errors, shortcomings, and revisions. 

If we managed to reassure you, let us know if you are interested! Devlight will be glad to accompany you on your fintech mobile app development journey.

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