How Much Does It Cost to Build a Store Like Wayfair (Home Decor & Furniture Shopping App)?

Buying furniture and home decor items can be tedious sometimes when choices take time to make. However, the rise of multiple online shopping platforms has made lives easier for those who have limited time to check every seller outlet. Indeed, online stores like Wayfair provide a convenient and smarter way to choose and buy elegant home decor and furniture items. 

Many entrepreneurs are gravitated to the success story of the Wayfair app and inspired to create their own online stores like this. However, creating online furniture stores like Wayfair is easier said than done. Developing such an application takes plenty of investment, time, effort, and research. 

In addition, there are many questions to find an answer to like what features your app need, how to earn like Wayfair, how much does Wayfair-like app cost, and much more. There is also a crucial decision regarding mobile app development services because you need the right tech partner to develop your app.  

But worry not! This all-inclusive guide on the cost to develop an app like Wayfair enlightens you on every nuance be it the features, development process, earning model, and cost. So, stay tuned for full details. 

Let’s first close look at what Wayfair is. 

What is the online furniture shopping app Wayfair?

In order to build a mobile application like Wayfair, it’s essential to understand what actually it does, how it functions, its market share, functionalities, etc. We will cover all this here. So, let’s begin. 

To begin with, Wayfair is not just a simple online furniture buying app but it is a complete solution to build a home with all the furnishings and decorative items. Indeed, this app helps you choose the right furniture and home decor items and purchase them seamlessly. 

The best thing about this app is its AR functionality. With AR furniture shopping, buyers get the advantage of visualizing virtual items in a physical environment. It simply means that buyers can view the future and home decor items in the real world just like you use Snapchat lenses. 

As a result, buyers can easily check future placement in different locations in their homes. So, they can choose the best items that fit their requirements and accommodations. Not just can you choose furniture and home decor items based on aesthetics and styles, but you can also explore options as per different price ranges. 

Wayfair is counted among the best online furniture shopping apps and its over 19 million user base is a testimony to this. There are many other popular apps like this including IKEA Place, The Home Depot, and Target. It leverages the advanced tech to enhance user experience. 

Easy functionality and simple UI are one of the reasons for the Wayfair app’s success. Users can search for products and click on the “View in Room” button under a product’s image to activate the AR feature for visualizing it in the real world.  

The app got some amazing features like View in Room 3D, Room Planner 3D, and Integrated Camera, besides basic functionalities like sign-up, push notifications, multiple payment modes, search and filters, category management, etc. 

View in Room 3D allows users to see how products look in their spaces, users can visualize search with the Integrated Camera feature, and Room Planner 3D allows them to create an interactive 3D room and see it from any angle virtually.

Must Read: How Will AI Take Forward Mobile App Development In 2023?

Must-have Features to Create an App like Wayfair

Determining the cost of a mobile app can be difficult because it varies due to multiple factors. The key factors to Wayfair app development include the platform, technology, features, maintenance, and security testing.

Hence, if you are planning to develop a Wayfair-like app, the features integrated into it will affect the overall cost of developing the application. 

Features on the User Panel

• Sign up/Sign in
• View product catalog
• Custom search and filters
• Multiple language support
• Push notifications
• User profile management
• Reviews and ratings
• Multi-mode payment
• Seamless checkout

Features on the Admin Panel

• Managing shipping and delivery
• Managing users and vendors
• Generate reports
• Manage payment options
• Product category management

Apart from these basic functionalities above, your app must have the following advanced features to make it the Wayfair furniture shopping app. 

Augmented Reality (AR)

As already mentioned, the AR functionality in Wayfair provides a competitive edge over several online furniture shopping apps in the market and elevates the customer experience to the extreme. Hence, your app needs this feature to be like Wayfair. This will allow users to preview furniture and home decor in their spaces to help them choose the best-fitting products. They can even take a photo of their spaces and preview the products using it. The app offers AR indoor navigation to view and move inside a space. 

3D Room Planner

It allows users to build an interactive and virtual room in 3D. The users can pick any style, dimension, layout, etc, to make their dream room. They can add furniture and decorative items to different locations in the room to find out the best setup for the home. 

Navigation

The Wayfair app is quite user-friendly with easy ways to search for products using texts or images. Further, the large images for products along with clear descriptions and other details also enhance user experience. You must pay more attention to the UI/UX design of your app and choose the best mobile app design services to be at par with the Wayfair application. 

Technology Stack to Develop a Wayfair-like Mobile App

The cost of developing AR furniture shopping apps like Wayfair is largely affected by the technology you choose to build it. However, the tech stack you choose depends on the type of application you wish to build. There are three popular types of mobile apps these days that entrepreneurs choose for businesses. Here are these types.

Native Apps

Native apps are specifically built for a particular platform like Android and their code complies with the guidelines and specifications of that platform. There are benefits with native apps like fast performance, intuitive interface, full access to device-level features, and more. So, you can have an application like Wayfair for Android.

However, creating native applications is very costly because you will need separate apps for different platforms like Android and iOS. Plus, the development charges are high for native apps. 

Cross-platform Apps

To save cost and get more control over your app like Wayfair, you can choose to build a cross-platform mobile application. It’s a kind of app that has a single codebase for both Android and iOS platforms and functions on each platform. Hence, you don’t invest in separate apps for Android and iOS but create a single app that will be supported on both platforms. 

The cost of creating a cross-platform mobile app is much lower than creating native apps for each platform. You can choose services like Flutter app development services to build cross-platform apps. 

Hybrid Apps

These days, the popularity of web apps is increasing and businesses are creating PWAs and other types of web apps. They offer tons of benefits including lower costs and access to every device. However, you can choose a hybrid model between a web app and a native app that is also cross-platform. A hybrid app is dependent on the internet for many of its functionalities and uses web technologies. 

It can be cost-effective to develop a hybrid application and provide a greater user experience. However, downsides do exist for these types of apps as well including lower performance, less access to device-level features, and more. 

How to Build an App like Wayfair

Now that you understand what Wayfair is, we can move on to the next question of how to build an online furniture-buying app like Wayfair. The Wayfair app development cost also depends on the method you choose to build. For example, you may outsource the full project or hire developers to complete it. Here we will discuss the process to build a mobile app like Wayfair and how it affects the cost. Let’s move ahead. 

Research and Planning

Firstly, you have to do enough market research and planning to find the scope of your idea. You need to decide the features of your application. Document your requirements, features, and other specifications to allow developers to understand your goals. 

UI/UX Design

UI/UX design is a crucial step and has a significant impact on the cost of developing an app like Wayfair. The app is designed based on user stories and your requirements. Designing an app like Wayfair can take 3-5 weeks. The average cost of UI/UX design for a mobile app like Wayfair can be $10,000 – $30,000 depending on the complexity of the design. Look no further than a professional mobile app design company to create your app.

Features and Backend Development

The cost to develop an app like Wayfair is dependent on the features like AR functionality. Creating features for such an app requires almost 240-480 hours costing $30,000 – $75,000 on average. Plus, the backend development includes the data and servers. The cost can go above $100,000 when it comes to creating complex backend and features. 

Testing

Once the app is created it needs to be tested thoroughly to ensure everything works as expected. When it comes to the cost of creating a Wayfair-like app, testing is also a factor in it. App testing can cost you between $5,000 – $25,000 depending on the app’s complexity and features. 

Launch

Once your app is developed and tested, it is ready to be launched to the public. It is the post-development cost that involves expenses on marketing and customer relationships. 

Must Read: Best Tech Stacks for Mobile App Development Projects to Choose in 2023

The cost of an app like Wayfair is based on the development team

Besides the above development process, the cost of developing a mobile app like Wayfair also depends on the development team you choose. If you hire an in-house team to build the app there will be very high costs because you will be incurring all expenses related to salaries, insurance, rent, etc, for an in-house team.

Hiring a mobile app developer from outside is cost-effective depending on where you choose from. If you hire an app development agency from competitive markets like the USA, Australia, and Europe, there will be high costs because of higher rates. 

Hence, businesses prefer hiring developers from locations like India where developers are cheaper compared to any other parts of the world. You can choose professional developers at a much lower rate and build your app on a low budget. 

The following table shows the hiring rates for different regions.

Hence the cost of an online furniture shopping app like Wayfair is affected based on the location of the development team. You can lower the cost of development by choosing a developer from a location where the hiring rates are low. 

Also Read: How Much Should It Cost to Hire Mobile App Developers?

How Does an App like Wayfair Earn?

Although its revenue model is simple as it earns from selling products online. However, the monetization also includes earnings from advertising and installation services. You can make your more interesting by adding more features like allowing customers to buy digital furniture that they can use in their virtual rooms. 

You can find new revenue streams to make your online furniture shopping store different from Wayfair and make a unique solution for customers. Even you make it a furniture-building app that allows customers to create their own customized furniture and order them. 

Final Note

Wayfair is an amazing app with features that kept a large number of users addicted to the app. The AR functionality takes the app to the next level allowing users to preview furniture in different locations to check their positions and understand their needs before they can make a purchase decision. If you wish to build an app like Wayfair, look for reliable mobile application development services to make this come true. 

MobileCoderz is a leading mobile app development company with years of expertise in the domain. We are proficient in creating apps for various industries. Our professional developers have built complex apps for many brands ranging from startups to enterprises. You can rely on us for cutting-edge mobile apps enriched with features like AR, AI, Blockchain, and more. 

We are well-versed in the latest technologies and help our customers from concept to developing a unique mobility solution. MobileCoderz can help you build an app like Wayfair with our experience and expertise.

Contact us to experience our services.