Cost of a Custom E-commerce Ordering and Delivery App

The price of an ordering and delivery app for an online business starts from €5,000 for a robust initial version, then evolves according to the logistics complexity of your deliveries. Developing your own tool allows you to permanently eliminate commissions charged by third-party platforms while maintaining full control over your customer data.

Why create your own e-commerce ordering and delivery app?

Selling online often forces you to deal with intermediaries that eat into your margins. Whether it's general marketplaces or rapid delivery apps, the commissions charged on every transaction erode your business's profitability. By creating your own application, you regain direct control over the commercial relationship.

The first immediate benefit concerns total ownership of your purchase data. When your customers place orders via a third-party platform, the contact details, purchase preferences, and history remain the property of the operator. By having your own proprietary system, you can directly leverage your customer file to send targeted notifications or reward repeat purchases without paying any access fees.

The second challenge lies in breaking free from recurring percentages. On a €50 order, paying 15% to 30% to an intermediary drastically reduces your operating profit. With a custom solution linked directly to your bank account, you only pay standard fixed payment processing fees.

Finally, the customization of your shipping rules becomes total. An urban business managing its own bike couriers has different needs than a boutique shipping fragile items in rural areas. You can configure precise click-and-collect store pickup slots, restrict certain local routes to defined postal zones, or apply dynamic shipping fees based on cart volume.

What factors influence the price of the application?

The budget required to build your tool depends on several software architecture choices and your field requirements. Analyzing these items upfront avoids unnecessary spending.

The technical choice: PWA, hybrid, or native

A Progressive Web App (PWA) runs directly in the smartphone browser without mandatory download from app stores. It is the most economical option to get started. To offer a smoother experience, with native push notifications and a presence on the App Store and Google Play, hybrid technologies like React Native or Flutter represent the best budget compromise. They allow you to maintain a single codebase for both iOS and Android. Applications developed in native Swift and Kotlin are justified for highly specialized hardware needs but require two separate development tracks, which increases labor time.

The complexity of logistics tracking

Displaying a shipping status updated in stages ("Order prepared," "In transit," "Delivered") is quick to implement and easy for the customer to read. Conversely, integrating an interactive map with live GPS tracking of the driver involves recurring background geolocation calculations, a dedicated app for the courier, and increased consumption of paid mapping APIs. This technical difference directly impacts development time.

Synchronization with your existing tools

The app does not exist in isolation. To avoid double-entry inventory, it must communicate seamlessly with your web store or management software. You can also consult my guide on synchronizing stock and online stores to understand the technical flows involved. It is often necessary to connect the catalog to a custom e-commerce management software or to integrate a secure payment gateway via the Stripe API.

What budget should you expect based on complexity levels?

To structure your investment, it is useful to distinguish between the essential initial foundation and advanced automation modules.

Beyond initial development, some recurring operating costs should be planned to keep the service online:

• Server and database hosting: budget from €25 per month for a secure cloud infrastructure capable of handling traffic spikes.
• App store developer accounts: $99 per year for the Apple Developer program and a one-time fee of $25 for Google Play.
• Payment gateway: no mandatory monthly fees with most modern providers like Stripe, which charges a fixed commission per bank transaction. To learn more about this mechanic, discover how to secure a system with Stripe and PHP in production.
• Optional third-party services: transactional SMS or mapping route requests, billed based on actual usage.

Custom app or SaaS subscription: which is more profitable?

Many publishers offer online ordering software as a ready-to-use monthly subscription. These solutions seem attractive at first because they do not require a large initial capital outlay. However, the business model of these platforms is almost always based on a fixed subscription plus a commission on every validated order.

Let's take an online store that processes 400 orders per month with an average cart of €45, for a monthly turnover of €18,000. If the SaaS platform charges a monthly subscription of €150 plus a 4% commission per sale, you will pay them €870 each month, or €10,440 in a single year. Over three years, you will have spent more than €31,000 without owning a single line of code.

A custom application transforms an indefinite monthly expense into a technological asset that your company fully owns.

Amortizing a custom tool is simple to calculate: as soon as the savings on commissions and subscriptions exceed the initial design cost, the operation becomes financially profitable. Furthermore, holding a proprietary tool significantly increases your company's value during a sale or when seeking financing, as your logistics processes and data remain internal.

How is the app creation process with SunderDev handled?

I have been developing web and mobile applications since 2017. To design an efficient ordering tool, I prefer React Native and Expo for the mobile side, combined with a solid server environment in PHP or Python. This approach ensures a fast interface for your customers and simplified maintenance over the years. You can discover concrete projects I have designed by viewing my custom application case studies.

Creating your platform follows a methodical and transparent timeline:

1. Logistics flow scoping: we formalize every step of the process together, from the click on the cart to the confirmation of package delivery by the driver or in-store pickup.
2. Interface and API development: design of the customer mobile journey, payment integration, and configuration of the order preparation panel.
3. Real-world testing phase: technical validation of payments, verification of immediate notification receipt, and simulation of delivery routes on various smartphone models.
4. Deployment and publication: production server configuration, submission to Apple App Store and Google Play Store requirements, and team training on the interface.

What are the next steps to get a quote for your project?

Before requesting a financial estimate, gather the fundamental parameters of your organization to accurately scope the need:

• Main shipping method: in-store click and collect, internal local route, or external carrier.
• Catalog structure: number of products, customization options, and variation management.
• Preferred mode of operation for invoicing and direct payment collection.
• Existence or not of an active customer file and stock tool currently in use in your organization.

Once these elements are identified, we will be able to define the strict scope of your first version to keep costs contained while meeting your customers' expectations. You can contact me directly to discuss your shipping constraints and receive a clear and detailed estimate for your future application.