How Much Does It Cost to Build a B2B Marketplace App?

Over the last few years, B2B marketplaces have become popular among businesses of different domains. But what are these marketplaces? 

Let’s break it down into simpler terms to make you understand. 

The B2B is short for business-to-business, and marketplace refers to a place where buying and selling takes place.

Now, a B2B marketplace refers to a place where businesses can sell and buy products to manufacture items, sell them forward, or for their consumption. 

A few popular B2B marketplaces are Alibaba, Amazon Business, Global Sources, IndiaMART, and more. 

Thanks to technological advancements, these marketplaces have been digitized and can be accessed through mobile apps. Because of the convenience these marketplace apps provide to businesses for trading goods and services, the industry is experiencing exponential growth. 

According to the latest statistics, the global B2B E-Commerce Market is projected to reach a value of $83.5 trillion by 2032 at a CAGR of 18.1% between 2024 and 2032.

This has given entrepreneurs a great opportunity to invest in building a business-to-business marketplace app and set themselves as key players in the industry. For those who are interested, we have provided a custom B2B marketplace app development cost In this blog. 

Benefits of Developing a B2B Marketplace App

Look around, you will notice that mobile apps have made people’s lives easier. Whether shopping or booking tickets, people can do it all using mobile apps. 

Similarly, the major benefit of developing such a marketplace app is that it allows you to provide users who are businesses in this context with a perfect mobility solution for buying products or services for manufacturing or final consumption.  

However, there are more advantages than this. Let’s learn about them in detail: 

1. Increased Market Reach

When you build a custom B2B marketplace mobile application, you can allow other businesses to reach out to potential buyers and sellers beyond their local markets through your mobile application. 

Moreover, the marketplace application can also play a crucial role in facilitating international trade. It allows businesses from different parts of the world to connect with each other.

2. Streamlined Operations

Creating a B2B marketplace mobile app will help you streamline various operations related to order processing, payments, sales, communication, and more. 

Also, its cutting-edge features save your time and resources by automating manual tasks, enhancing your efficiency, and reducing the chances of errors. 

3. Improved Customer Experience

Another benefit of building a custom B2B marketplace app is that it helps improve the customer experience. 

You can add Intuitive interfaces, high-end features, and robust search functionalities that enhance user experience while finding goods and services using your app.

Moreover, a robust marketplace app provides you with data of users that you can analyze and use to tailor recommendations and offers to meet specific user needs. 

4. Diverse Revenue Streams

A custom B2B marketplace app can help you generate revenue in different ways. You can charge commission fees on every transaction that takes place on your application. 

Another way to make income from a B2B market app is to offer premium features or memberships. Lastly, you can also run advertisements of other different businesses on your app and charge them as per clicks or impressions. 

5. Scalability

The marketplace app development can also help in scalability as it is easy to scale in terms of growing numbers of users, transactions, and product listings, with a mobile app. 

Moreover, you can modify the digital platform to meet the changing market demands by integrating new technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain in the B2B marketplace mobile application. 

6. Enhanced Trust and Security

With a custom app, you can ensure trust and security by integrating high-end verification processes for sellers and buyers. 

Also, you can reduce fraud and protect sensitive information by implementing end-to-end encryptions and other authentication processes in a mobile app. 

7. Competitive Advantage 

There are very less B2B marketplace apps that are equipped with novel technologies to enhance user experiences and secure at the same time. 

Hence, developing a robust marketplace mobile application can get you a competitive advantage by standing out from competitors in the market. 

Now that you know the benefits of developing a marketplace, let’s jump onto the cost of building it. However, it is crucial to understand the factors that influence the cost of B2B marketplace app development. So, let’s discuss the factors in the next section.   

Key Factors that Determine the Building Cost of a Custom B2B Marketplace App

The cost of building a B2B marketplace app depends on the combination of various factors. In this section, we have explained the key factors that play crucial roles in influencing the market app development cost. 

#1. Scope and Complexity

The first major factor that determines the development cost for a marketplace app is the project scope and the level of complexity. 

For instance, if you build a simple app, it may cost you around $20,000 to $40,000, or more. 

On the other side, if you develop a custom marketplace application with top features, functionalities, and custom API integrations, the cost goes up to $50,000 to $80,000, or more. 

#2. Design Requirements

Similarly, a highly customized and visually appealing app with the best UI design leads to more development costs than an app with a simple UI. 

A simple UI-designed marketplace app can cost you around $15,000 to $35,000 or more. 

On the other side, when you opt for the best UI designs to enhance user experience, the custom B2B marketplace app development costs you around $40,000 to $70,000, or more.

#3. Technology Stack

The tools and technologies you use to develop a custom business-to-business marketplace app tailored to your needs also contribute to the overall costs. 

The programming languages, mobile app development frameworks, libraries, etc., you use for building the app impact the final cost. 

Also, when you develop an app for multiple platforms, such as Android, iOS, and the web, it adds to the overall development costs. 

#4. Emerging Technologies 

Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, mixed reality, and others, are trending for B2B marketplace app development. Using them in your app also influences the cost of development.  

The cost of adding emerging technologies can cost you around $30,000 to $100,000, or more, depending on the technologies you choose for your marketplace app and other requirements. 

Also Read: How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App

#5. Third-Party Services

Another factor that plays a key role in determining the marketplace app development costs is third-party services.

When you add third-party APIs and SDKs, such as messaging, payment processing, and geolocation, the cost of development for the app goes up. 

#6. Legal and Administrative Costs

There are various legal and administrative costs that you must check while developing a B2B marketplace app. These costs vary from country to country for the type of marketplace app you are developing. 

Moreover, protecting intellectual properties and necessary software licenses also influences the final development costs. 

#7. Development Team 

A custom B2B marketplace app development is a tedious job, hence you must set up a team of developers for a smooth and successful development. Setting up a development team also contributes to the development costs of an app.

For example, if you hire app developers in India, you can get them at $20/hour to $50/hour, depending on their skills and experience. Whereas, the costs rise to $50/hour to $120/hour, if you choose developers from countries like the USA, UK, and Australia.

These are the key factors that influence the cost of developing a custom B2B marketplace mobile application. Additional factors that add to the final costs include timeframe, QA testing, compliance and security, post-development support, app store listing, marketing, and more.

Cost of Building a B2B Marketplace App

It is crucial to determine all the factors discussed before in the blog to estimate the cost of developing a marketplace app. To give you a development costs bracket, a simple app can cost around $20,000 to $50,000, or more.

On the other side, if you go for high-end features and functionalities for developing a custom B2B marketplace platform, it can cost you around $60,000 to over $200,000, or more, depending on the factors mentioned above.

To get exact development costs, we recommend getting in touch with a leading mobile app development company in India and sharing your requirements. 

Their team will list down your ideas and requirements, determine all the factors involved, and get back to you with a detailed cost breakdown for your custom B2B marketplace application.

Check out: Top eCommerce Development Companies

Step-by-Step Process to Build Custom B2B Marketplace Application

Building a custom business-to-business marketplace mobile application includes six key steps. Below, we have explained each of them in brief. 

Step 1️⃣. Planning

This is the first step in developing a custom marketplace app. In this step, you share your specific requirements, such as the type of app you want to develop, features and functionalities, technologies you want to integrate, target user base, and more, with your development team.  

Step 2️⃣. UI Designing

After planning, the next step is designing the user interface for your B2B marketplace application. 

At this stage, the UI designers in the development team create an intuitive user interface using various designing tools and software that users like while using your B2B marketplace app. 

Step 3️⃣. App Development

Following UI designing, the development team starts with the core marketplace app development. 

The developers build the backend and frontend of your app using mobile app development frameworks and tools. 

Moreover, they also integrate additional third-party APIs, and emerging technologies, such as AI and blockchain during this step. In short, all the major development takes place in this stage. 

Step 4️⃣. Testing

Post-development, the next step is testing and quality assurance. In this stage, the testers and quality analysts test the marketplace mobile application to identify and fix bugs so that your app functions smoothly.  

They also run the application on different screen sizes to check that it is offering a consistent user experience. 

Step 5️⃣. Launch 

In this step, the app developers launch the business-to-business marketplace app for general users. They publish the app on stores like Google Play Store, App Store, and other platforms. 

Step 6️⃣. Maintenance

This step does not fall under the development process but is equally important. This is why we have added it to the development process. 

Maintenance includes monitoring the marketplace app’s performance and making necessary changes to ensure its smooth functionality. 

Also, app developers upgrade it with novel features, and technologies to ensure it fulfills user’s requirements and stays relevant in the marketplace. 

Therefore, these are the six major steps to develop a custom B2B marketplace app tailored to your specific needs. 

Key Features of a Business-To-Business Marketplace Application

The following are the main features of a marketplace mobile app. You must integrate these while developing your app. 

1. User Management 

This is the core feature of a B2B marketplace app. Using this feature, users (whether buyer or seller) manage their accounts in the app. 

2. Product and Catalog Management

The product and catalog management feature helps sellers list and organize products with their images and details in the app. 

3. Search and Navigation

Equipped with filters, the search feature helps buyers find a particular product or service from a list of hundreds of products. 

4. Order Management

This feature helps with placing and managing orders and tracking them in real-time. 

5. Payment and Invoicing

As the name suggests, this feature is used by buyers to make payments whereas sellers use it to generate invoices. 

6. Customer Support 

In case, users need assistance regarding product buying, payments, or any other issues, they can use the customer support feature in the B2B marketplace app. 

7. Analytics and Reporting

This feature helps sellers to analyze sales, manage inventories, and generate various related reports. 

8. Security and Compliance

Last but not least, the security and compliance feature plays a key role in protecting user data, ensuring adherence to legal and regulatory requirements, and preventing fraudulent attempts. 

Besides these key features, there are features like integration with ERP and CRM systems, communication tools, and marketing and promotions that you should consider integrating into your marketplace app for businesses. 

Learn more: Role of Artificial Intelligence in eCommerce

Top B2B Marketplace Platforms/Applications

The following are some of the popular business-to-business (B2B) marketplace platforms. 

1. Amazon Business 

Amazon, a leading e-commerce company, has a dedicated B2B platform that caters to business buyers worldwide. The core features of this platform are bulk purchasing options, special pricing for businesses, and access to the vast Amazon marketplace’s product range, making it one of the most popular marketplace platforms in the market. 

2. Alibaba

Another top digital marketplace is Alibaba. It connects millions of buyers and suppliers worldwide and offers a wide range of products and services, ranging from electronics to industrial machinery.

3. Global Sources

The Global Sources is a Hong Kong-based B2B marketplace platform. It connects buyers with verified suppliers in Asia, focusing on electronics, fashion, and home products. At the time of writing, the Global Sources had more than 10 million users from over 250+ countries. 

4. IndiaMART

Another popular name on the list is IndiaMART. It is an India-based B2B online marketplace, that connects businesses with verified suppliers dealing in diverse products, such as machinery, consumer goods, and more. 

5. ThomasNet

Lastly, ThomasNet is also the best marketplace for businesses that focus on the industrial sector. Buyers from different countries use the platform to get in touch with manufacturers, distributors, and service providers who offer detailed profiles and product catalogs.

Conclusion

A B2B marketplace app is a digital solution that connects various businesses and allows them to buy goods and services to create new products for others or for their consumption. 

In 2024, developing a custom marketplace app is a great idea, however, it is crucial to keep the development costs in check. 

In this blog, we provided you insights into the cost of building a business-to-business marketplace app, factors that influence development costs, and more, to help you learn how much would it cost to develop such an app.  

So, if you want to develop a custom marketplace mobile application or platform, feel free to reach out to a top ecommerce software development company and get your app developed today.

FAQs

The following are some frequently asked questions related to the cost of developing a marketplace app.