In the past few years, online trading platforms have gained immense popularity. Everything is sold online: from products and things to cars, apartments. The popular Wallapop platform has managed to transfer even a jumble market to the worldwide network. Here people sell used things. This site was able to turn a not too interesting activity into a fashionable, in-demand trend. In this article, we will talk about a popular trading resource, its analogues and analyze how to create a clone application.

Story behind

Wallapop is a Spanish company that was founded in 2014. The startup was based on the geolocation of the buyer and the seller, that is, the user sees the products he is looking for depending on the proximity to his location. The resource is mainly accessed through a free mobile application. The creators of the company, Agustin Gomez, Gerard Oliver and Miguel Vicente, did not expect that in just 4 months from the moment of launch, their product will be downloaded about 3 million times. In 2 years, the project cost has grown from 0 to 100 million euros. In 2016 Wallapop and Letgo merged, but the company continues to operate under its own brand.

Analogs

To buy and sell on Wallapop, all you need to do is take a photo of the product, add a description, set a price, and put your offer up for public review. After launch and overwhelming success, the application acquired clones. Let's consider the most popular ones.

1. Letgo is the first competitor that later became a partner. This free application is used by about 10 million people around the world. It works in full analogy with Wallapop.
2. VarageSale is another free mobile application. Its developers focus on 100% real identity of the product and photos, information about it. Here you can see the rating of the participants, read reviews, etc.
3. OLX - this platform also allows you to sell, buy new and used items. You can use the resource completely free of charge. Here it is also enough to upload a photo, come up with a description and set the cost of the product. You can communicate with the buyer / seller in a live online chat.

Actually, there are a lot of Wallapop clones, applications of this kind are very popular both among buyers and sellers.

Wallapop's secret to success

In 2017, Wallapop and Letgo's collaboration was called a real challenge for the already established market for such monsters as Amazon and eBay. Here are the main criteria that allowed the marketplace to achieve such success:

• on Wallapop, users can sell anything, just take a photo of the product and put it online;
• the company has decided to sacrifice a quick profit, therefore listing and trading takes place on the resource without commission;
• the main target audience are modern people using mobile devices;
• communication between the seller and the buyer is carried out via online chat;
• the app software can recognize product photos and classify them into categories.

In addition, the developers do not stop there and plan to add more and more new options to the application in order to overthrow absolutely all competitors and become number one in the market. Below we will analyze the basics of developing a clone application.

Major points of developing a Wallapop analog app

There are several key points to consider when creating a mobile shopping and selling platform. Let's consider them in more detail.

Idea of the future platform

First of all, you need to decide on the idea of a future product. It can be a standard site like a flea market or online garage sale, or a project aimed at a certain category of goods, target audience. Finding the main idea requires a serious analysis of the market, to establish what consumers are most interested in at the moment, and what may be popular in the near future. You also need to establish what problems are present in existing applications and not repeat them in your product.

If you want to make a clone of Wallapop, then it is desirable that the created platform has at least some differences with a well-known brand or be focused on a different market.

Attracting users

For users to choose your application, they need to be stimulated to do so.

• Connection and communication with users.

Practice contains many ways to attract people. These can be promotions or bonuses, special birthday offers or a promotion for every 20th purchase. There are a lot of ideas, and they really work, as people love surprises and gifts.

• Individual offers.

Personalized offers, discounts and sales have always attracted consumers. For example, if a person is most often interested in the heading "cars" or "spare parts for cars", then, first of all, he should be shown the most relevant offers and promotions on this topic.

In addition, people must trust the application, understand that all operations are as transparent as possible.

MVP to test an idea

There is such a thing as the minimum viable product (MVP). This is the version of the application that contains the main options that provide its normal functionality. These functions are able to satisfy the needs of first users and show how viable the platform is, what the audience took with a bang, and what needs adjustment. The main advantage of MVP is that with such a product you can enter the consumer market in the shortest possible time, since the focus is on the most important resource options. The costs for this version are also several times less. Moreover, after the release, you can add absolutely any function and even completely modernize the application.

Main application options

Now let's talk about the main features for users that should be present in the buy and sell application.

Login and registration

In order to sell products and make purchases, users must complete the registration procedure. A password and email address or phone number are used to log in. You can also log in using the social media buttons. Better to have both options.

Account dashboard

Here users can add, delete or change their personal data. It is also available here to read messages, view purchase/sales history, selected products, add wallets and payment systems, and much more.

Determining a preferred location

Here the user will be able to select and install a convenient geolocation. This is available by directly entering data into a special field or by dragging the icon across the map.

Loading images

This option allows you to load a certain number of images for each position, as well as edit and delete them with a description.

Buying and selling goods

The user can purchase the position he likes after preliminary familiarization with the offer, reading the description and viewing the photo. The product is ready for sale after submitting a photo, a detailed description and cost determination. Users can act as both buyer and seller at the same time, from the same profile, without switching.

Viewing offers

Transactions that are currently relevant appear in the main menu, it is their user who sees after entering.

Advertising

It is possible to place advertisements on the resource both for free and for a certain payment. For additional money, you can make access to move your ads to the TOP. Also, for a fee, the user will be able to raise them to the top of the list from time to time.

Product categories

Users can select items from the category they need, as well as customize filters by price, size (with regards to clothes and shoes), and so on.

Search line

This is the field where you can enter the name of the product. You will also need filters here to make your search more accurate and convenient for customers.

Chat

In order for the buyer and seller to agree on a purchase, to find out the details of the product, a private online chat will be useful.

Favorites

Here buyers can save the positions they like in order to return to them in the future and purchase later.

Pop-up notifications

Push notifications will tell the user that someone is interested in their product, a message was sent to him in the online chat and inform about promotions.

Multilanguage

This function is necessary if the reference point will be on customers worldwide. At the beginning, you can add several languages and gradually expand this list.

Integration with social networks and messengers

With this option, users can share information about certain products with their friends and subscribers.

What else needs to be considered when developing

The main base on which the entire Wallapop system stands is product photos. Therefore, you need to take care of:

• servers for storing photos;
• image optimization - the size of photos and the correct architecture of their storage.

You can also take into account the web component, since there is some part of people (albeit not very large) who prefer to use stationary computers and laptops instead of mobile devices.

Features of the system architecture

An application like Wallapop is designed to work with a large amount of information. New users will constantly appear in it, upload a lot of photos, add descriptions to them, and so on. Fast operation of such a system is possible only if there is a good data architecture on the server.

It can be conditionally divided into 4 parts:

• database servers;
• back-end;
• interface;
• mobile applications.

As you can see from this list, a mobile application is just part of a larger system. For everything to function smoothly, you need to work on all the elements.

Interface

This is one of the most important parts of the application. It is on its brevity and simplicity that the quick launch and operation of the resource will depend. If the navigation is understandable for the user, he does not get confused or lost in the variety of offers - this can ensure the quick success of the platform.

In addition, do not forget that if the application is being developed for Android, then the recommendations for designing the interface must correspond to Android. The same applies to platforms for iOS.

How much does it cost to develop an app like Wallapop

The price depends on many factors, but the total cost is determined by the hours spent on work. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that a separate application is required for each platform (Android, iOS). In terms of time, this is from 140 to 340 hours for one platform. Multiply by 2 and get from 280 to 680 hours. If we calculate the average cost for 1 hour of work $ 60, then we get from 16.8 to 40.8 thousand dollars for an application for two platforms.

Conclusion

If you turn to a competent development team, creating an application like Wallapop is not at all difficult. The main attention should be paid to the idea of the future product. It is imperative to conduct a thorough analysis of the market and choose the idea that is not only relevant at the moment, but also has good prospects for the future.

Wallapop Clone app - How to Create an App like Wallapop? key takeaways:

#1. Story behind
#2. Analogs
#3. Wallapop's secret to success
#4. Major points of developing a Wallapop analog app
#5. Idea of the future platform
#6. Attracting users
#7. MVP to test an idea
#8. Main application options
#9. What else needs to be considered when developing
#10. Features of the system architecture
#11. Interface
#12. How much does it cost to develop an app like Wallapop
#13. Conclusion