Contents
    Eugene Saturow Head of Flutter

    Building a Flutter Shopping App: Best Practices in 2023

    Flutter shopping app development  requires careful planning. It is essential to understand user needs, choose functionality, design solutions, and this is the only beginning of your journey. 

    At Surf, we’ve passed through it 25+ times while developing Flutter-powered apps for our e-commerce clients. In this article, we share some tips to help you decide on best practices to follow while building your shopping app with this UI framework. 

    Start developing your Flutter shopping app with pre-project research

    In creating a Flutter shopping app from scratch, pre-project research will help you outline the requirements and develop the right plan of action. Just don’t forget to ensure that the main goals are achievable and that resources are appropriately allocated. 

    The pre-project research should focus on the scope of the work, potential risks, and identify any external factors that may affect the product success. 

    An analysis of competitors and the marketplace should be conducted to gain insight into customer preferences. This research will help take informed decisions about product features, pricing, marketing strategy, etc. By evaluating e-commerce industry trends and customer feedback on an ongoing basis, teams can ensure that the app remains competitive and relevant.

    Customer research results
    Curious to learn more about pre-project research at Surf?
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    Add features designed with customer experience trends in mind

    When developing your app, it is important to consider the needs and preferences of users. Features should allow users to easily complete their desired tasks without driving them confused or frustrated. 

    It is beneficial to include features that are tailored for specific user groups such as students, professionals, or senior citizens.

    car service app

    Features such as personalization and customization should be included to ensure that the user’s experience is tailored to their individual needs and preferences. 

    pet shop app

    Shopping and online store applications should also have features such as product reviews, customer support, order tracking, convenient payment flow and, of course, offer users a high level of security.

    retail app mockups and description

    Offer customer-friendly UI/UX

    User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design are both important components when creating an app. UX focuses on the overall experience of the user, including the flow of their journey, usability, accessibility, and engagement with the app. UI focuses on how a user interacts with elements within the app, such as menus, buttons, and visuals.

    When designing a shopping app, it is essential to consider the user’s needs and desires, as well as the retailer’s goals. 

    case description

    The UX should ensure that users can easily navigate through the different pages and access relevant information quickly. 

    grey mockups
    Screen prototypes we offered for an online bookstore for excellent UX

    UI should be designed with an eye-catching visual style to help a seller demonstrate any item in the best way, showing as many details as possible. Thus, a  user will be more likely to order and buy it.

    product card description

    Careful attention should also be paid to user feedback and reviews, as these can offer valuable insights into how the product can be improved.

    A successful mobile app will provide your online shop buyers with an enjoyable experience that facilitates their journey and encourages them to return. By creating a well-thought out UX/UI design, retailers can ensure that their application stands out from the competition.  

    pharma app description
    How we helped our client save 40% of the budget on creating pharma retail apps
    Read the full story

    Last but not least: don’t forget thorough testing

    Testing the deliverables and ensuring they meet client requirements is critical in shopping app development. To ensure nothing slips through the cracks, QA engineers should review everything from the very beginning of the project. 

    Completeness, correctness, and consistency are the key points for effective designs, that’s why we pay so much attention to testing and follow the best community-recognized practices worldwide. Combining both manual tests and autotests, we help our clients stay ahead of competitors in the e-commerce niche that expands as fast as possible to imagine and offers uses so complicated to be surprised.

    cost vs time graph

    Wrapping up

    To build shopping apps, businesses focus on numerous factors: choosing tech stack, testing approaches, security tools, UI/UX trends, and, of course, development cost. 

    Flutter covers all the needs modern e-commerce companies can have. Using the framework,  it’s pretty easy to launch a new app for iOS, Android, web, and other platforms, saving your budget and attracting your audience with top-notch products.