How To Build An On-Demand Service Marketplace Mobile App – Cost & Features

One of the highly fragmented industries – the service industry has now entered the online marketplace. Whilst people have stopped going outside to avail of most services, they can now get the same service at lucrative offers from the comfort of their homes. On-demand service marketplace apps are just a click away, and you can avoid the hassle of making calls and booking appointments, waiting in queues, and making payments in cash. It can all be done at the digital marketplaces now. From beauty services to house cleaning services and finding service professionals like photographers and choreographers, everyone is available at these marketplaces.

Have you ever faced any issues with going out to a salon or a spa, or trying to fix up a time with the salon? Why do you want to wait for them to give service to others while out waiting in the waiting room? All you have to do is install an app like the Urban Company and book yourself the service of your choice. You will enter the league of mobile users who are used to taking online services and avoiding the extra trouble of going to a place.

A look at how Urban Company started and excelled

One of the most popular online marketplaces, which made the industry popular among users and sellers, Urban Company started as UrbanClap (UC) in 2014. The revenue started just like any other mobile app, but its turnover reached USD $17 million in the Financial Year (FY) 2019. The app came a long way in just two years as its revenue in FY 2017 was just USD $1.6 million. The company has had eight rounds of funding in which they raised a total of a whopping USD $110 million and it has been forecasted that the revenue will increase three times it is right now in the coming year. This will be a big jump for the company.

With this we can figure out the demand for the service market and that it is a safe investment. However, with big fish already making big in the industry, the newbies will have to think of ways to survive the competition and make their way up the ladder.

Understanding the on-demand service marketplace

What are the major problems with going to a place to get service? Book an appointment or take up a slot that you are not comfortable with. Stick to the appointment time and then take out time to go to the place of service. Finally, you make it to the place and take the services and follow the same tedious routine the next time.

Now, widen your horizon and think about ways to overcome this problem. What can be done to manage the schedule according to your time and let the services happen in the comfort of your home? This is when the on-demand service marketplace comes into the picture. This helps the services come to you, rather than you having to go to a place to avail of the service. The main aim of these apps should be to get a wider perspective of what services the users are looking for and help them in giving all sorts of small and big services at home. It should be a one-stop solution for people looking for AC repairs, carpenters, fitness trainers, and beauty services.

These apps do not only help in giving employment opportunities to the people but will also let them showcase their talent in the real world.

Take a look at some more on-demand marketplace apps, other than Urban Company

TaskRabbit, Job, Thumbtack, Handy, GoFantastic, Housejoy, Anyservice, LocalOye, Doormint, TimeSaverz, Zepper

Also Read: How to develop an eCommerce Mobile App – Complete Guide

Most Popular Categories On Any On-demand Service Marketplace

When we think of an on-demand marketplace app, the first thing that comes to our minds is a salon, but did you know there are a lot many services that these apps offer and you don’t know of? One can use these benefits for a lot of things and get all work done with just a simple online booking. Now, take a look at the categories that should a part of such apps:

1. Tutors and lessons

• English tutor
• Hindi tutor
• Science tutor
• Mathematics tutor
• Music tutor

2. Home interior and construction

• Painters
• Architect
• Interior designers
• Interior decorators
• CCTV camera installers
• Modular kitchen

3. Home cleaning and repair

• Plumber
• Carpenter
• Electrician
• Water heater/geyser repair
• Deep cleaning personnel
• TV repair
• Fridge repair
• Washing machine repair

4. Home shifting

• Kitchen
• Sofa
• Carpet
• Water tank
• Movers and packers
• Home cleaning
• Pest control
• Washroom

5. Health and wellness

• Dietician
• Fitness trainer
• Yoga trainer
• Physiotherapist
• Doctors

6. Wedding services

• Bridal make-up
• Beauty services
• Pre-bridal beauty packages
• Wedding services
• Wedding planner
• Pre-wedding photoshoot
• Wedding photoshoot

7. Business Services

• Lawyers
• Chartered Accountant for tax registration
• Web designer and developer
• Chartered Accountant for small and medium businesses

8. Event services

• Makeup artist for party
• Event photography
• Birthday parties

Monetization Opportunities Offered by On-Demand Service Marketplace Mobile App

Worried about how one makes money through these apps? Well, the most effective way of making money is through the professionals themselves. The app makers charge a percentage of the earnings of the professionals who get themselves registered on the app. The professionals are the main source of earning revenue for such apps.

Over time, these applications start to look at other streams that contribute to their revenue. Let’s look at two such streams which are major revenue contributors to the app:

Sponsored Profiles

Not all professionals enjoy the regular benefits provided by them to the app developers. Some of them would mind spending extra money on their promotion and visibility on the page. This is when they pay an extra amount to get featured on the top.

Advertisements Selling

All online web pages and mobile applications make some sort of money from advertisements. Once you build a strong user base, and you make a website of your app, you can start cashing in from this source as well. It might not start happening right from the initial phase of the app launch, but gradually this also becomes a source of revenue.

General features of the On-Demand Service mobile apps

Introduction of the app

Users will take a lot of time to understand the working of an app, therefore the app developers should make sure to give an introduction of their interface to them. The professionals should put up an easy explanation of the app functioning and let the users know how to easily navigate from one category to the other. While not all users might want this introduction, some might just think of it to be a waste of time. For such users, there should be a skip button to take them directly to the functions of the app. Such apps are location-based, therefore, it must record the place of a user before taking them to the result, so that unnecessary results are not displayed on their screens.

Services page and search

Make each screen look less crowded and more informative. If you are offering too many services, you can always put them under different categories for better results and easy navigation for the users. Sub-divide your page according to each category so that the users don’t get confused and get the service they are looking for easily.
Another important point to take into consideration in the search bar. Make your app so powerful that only the relevant results are displayed when a user types something in the search bar. The search experience should be unperturbed; therefore, the developers should be really careful about the service providing script promises.

There are a lot of categories under which you can list down the services. Take a look at some of them for reference:

Home | Tuitions | Beauty | Events | Health | Fitness |  Plumbing | Repairing  | Electricians

Intro pages of the services

Next comes the description of each service on the landing page of all services offered through the app. Use limited and only relevant text, so that the user gets the idea of what the page has to offer. Loading it with a lot of content might just make them lose interest and navigate away.

Add Service Questionnaire

This one is not really a part of the development, but the developers can take care of the customer’s needs and preferences by adding this feature to their app. All users are looking for something specific and to offer them the best results it is always beneficial to ask them questions about their likes and preferences. This one is important because the preferences of one customer might vary from service to service.

Gathering information

An app developer should always know certain details about his customers for transparency and service deliveries. It is a smart decision of the developers to place this point after the questionnaire and asking for the following details:

• Mobile number
• Address
• Email ID
• Name

This is not enough for this step as any person might register twice or thrice with his/her name. Therefore, the next step should be customer verification either through an SMS message or an email sent to that person’s personal email ID.

Favorites Service List

How important do you think it is the switch from one page to another with ease? Well, no one would want to go through the entire process of searching for service again and again. Therefore, there should be a provision for them to save their most searched services in favorites and pick them anytime they want it the next time. This helps in saving a lot of time and effort from the user.

Menu button

Like most other apps, the menu buttons on these on-demand marketplace apps should also have tabs like a sign in, sign out and settings. The following can also be added on the menu:

Call Support

This option lets the users connect with the app developing team when there is any doubt or if they get stuck at any place.

Share Service option

If you like a service and want to recommend that to your friends or think it will be of use to them, this feature allows them to share it easily and quickly.

Login with social id’s

Let go of the tedious and lengthy processes of users registering and entering their entire information each time they install a new app. An app should allow them to link their accounts to any of the social media apps like Facebook or Google, from where their information can be verified and account be created.

Payment options

An app should not limit their payment on cash on delivery on online banking. With several trends of payment set in, one must explore all options and allow the users to link their online money wallets to the app. This will not only help in making easy purchases of apps but will also help in maintaining transparency in all cases.

Service History

Gone are the days when manual details of the history of purchases were recorded on registered. With everything coming online and things easing out to a great extent, it has become simple to record the history of purchases made by the users. This will help them in making future purchases, and the seller of the service will know the kind of services a user is looking for.

Customer Feedback

No app is complete without having a separate section of feedback. App developers offering services of various kinds should know what their users think about their service and ask them to provide their feedback and ratings of the service availed by them. This will also help increase the demand for services and will build the goodwill of the app.

Checking reviews of the service provider

No feedback should be hidden from the feedback page, as it might set a wrong example for the users. All of them like to see the ratings of a person they are taking service from. A customer would always check the profile of a service provider before letting him do his job.

Data security

With time the users have become very careful about sharing their data and do not want to put up their personal information anywhere. Therefore, an app should take the users into confidence by keeping their information secure and not letting it out at any cost. This is how the users will imbibe their trust in an app.

Features for Services Providers

• Social Login/Signup– The login should be quick and easy for service providers as well.
• Manage Pricing & Commission – Their charges should be set to bring parity in the service providers. These can be fixed on an hourly or per-service basis.
• An in-app call and chat feature should be available for them as well.
• GPS navigation should be installed in the apps to help them locate the customers’ addresses easily.
• Manage Earning – Check the payment made by the user online and manage their paychecks.
• A dedicated profile page should be made of each service provider to give them a sense of belonging.

Also read: How to develop an On-Demand Laundry Mobile App

Innovative & Advanced Features to Include

Chatbot Implementation

This is an effective tool for answering the users on their queries and getting engaged in a conversation, A user can either speak or type in his phone and the chatbot will display the results of the search input. This provides users with assistance on any topic.

Voice command booking

These are basically the voice assistants that help you navigate through the application. With the help of this feature, one can easily speak into the phone and give a command for booking any service, without having to type anything or touching the phone.

Behavior tracking

The admin should be able to understand and keep a tab on the behavior of the service provider and the customer. This feature helps them in keeping a track of their behavior according to their ranking and review on the app.

PIP mode tracking

The picture in picture mode tracking allows the user and the service provider to use a multi-window format on the app. While using an app and doing a video call, the user can see a small window of their video call in the corner of their screens.

Real-time Analysis

The admin can keep a tab on the people who are out for services at one point in time, along with the bookings that are being made simultaneously. The real-time analysis helps them know about the performance of their app and the number of personnel who are working at the same time.

Heat map view

To know the conversation rate on your app pages, one must definitely get the heat map view feature added to their application. Through this, Service provider and admin both can understand various od services demand for instance on what kind of services in demand and on what time throughout the year, thus, the service providers can e

Efficient CRM integration

The customer relationship manager is someone who can interact directly with the users and answer all their queries. It is important to have a CRM team to guide the users so that they don’t get stuck anywhere while using the application.

Contact number masking

Users might want to protect their privacy while making a booking on an on-demand mobile application, and would not want to share their number with the service providers. The contact number masking works exactly this way and prevents the number of any user from being shared with the service providers. There is an inbuilt feature of making calls without revealing their contact numbers as well.

Tax and finance management

This feature allows the admins to integrate their tax payments with the service marketplace apps. This allows them to directly pay their taxes and helps them manage their finances.

Ad and promotion management

The admin should be able to keep a report on how much money is being spent on advertisements and the promotional activities of the app. Now there are features that enable the on-demand service marketplace mobile apps to do this on its own, giving a detailed report on the same to the app developers.

Tech Stack for On-Demand Service App Development

• Push Notifications – Twilio, Push.io
• SMS, Voice, and Phone Verification – Nexmo, Twilio
• Payments – Braintree & PayPal, Stripe, EWallets, Netbanking
• Database – MongoDB, HBase, Cassandra, Postgress,
• Email – Mail Chimp Integration
• Cloud Environment – AWS, Google, Azure
• Real-time Analytics – Hadoop, Spark,  Apache Flink, Cisco, IBM
• Map Navigation – Google Map

On-Demand Service Marketplace Mobile App Architecture

How much does it cost to develop an On-Demand Service Marketplace Mobile App

It is quite tough to calculate the exact cost of developing mobile applications. However, the cost of an On-Demand service mobile application depends upon 4 factors –

• the complication & size of the mobile application
• the number of platforms (Web, Android, iOS, PWA, Wearable)
• Number of 3^rd Party Integrations,
• the location of your mobile app development partner. This is because different countries have different hourly charges, for instance:
  • Eastern Europe based developers: $50 to $150 per hour
  • USA based developers: $80 to $250 per hour
  • South Asia based developers: $10 to $80 per hour

Team Required for An On-Demand Service Marketplace App

An app developer invests a lot of money and time in building an app like this, therefore, it is important to make a note of the professionals he would need to work on the app in the future.

The first and foremost task is to look for a team of professional mobile app developers who either work for you full-time or part-time. They should have the kind of experience you are looking for and should be able to deliver the best output. One can talk to an app development company and ask them to get the best developers on board for a certain period of time. However, it is also important to keep in touch with the app developers in the later stages as well, as the app will require regular updates and changes according to the changing trends in the app world.
An efficient and skilled mobile app development team required for building an on-demand service marketplace includes the following:

• Android app developers
• iOS Application developers
• Project Manager
• Front-end developers
• Back-end developers
• UX/UI design professionals

Conclusion

Before starting to think of developing an on-demand service marketplace app, you must try to figure out the problem that your app will resolve. This will help you identify the real need for your app and you can start working accordingly. Get the app developed and launch it in the market only after testing. Here is the mobile app testing checklist for app development. Once the app starts functioning smoothly and you start witnessing a rise in the number is app installs in both the Play store and the Apple app store, this means you are doing well and people are relying on your app. In the case of such apps, you do not have to only take care of the users but have to provide full satisfaction to the service providers as well, else they will shift to some other app that provides them a better scope of services and better profits.