What drives the cost of a brand app (and what does not)

The first question brands ask is what an app costs. It is the right question asked too early, because the answer depends on decisions that have not been made yet. Here are the ones that actually move the number, so the conversation can start there.

Integrations

A loyalty app that talks to the till, the payment system and the menu is a different project from one that stands alone. Each integration is a conversation with another vendor, a set of edge cases and ongoing maintenance. The number of integrations is the single biggest driver of cost, and the biggest driver of whether the app works at the counter.

Platforms

iOS, Android, or both, roughly doubles the surface to build and maintain. For a brand whose customers use whatever phone they have, both is often the right answer, and it should be priced from the start rather than added later.

The moment at the counter

Designing and testing the scan flow for the cashier, in real conditions, with real hardware, is work that does not show up as screens and that decides whether the app is used. It is the part we would never cut.

Content and operations

Who updates the menu, the prices, the allergens, the campaigns? If the brand does, the app needs tools for that. If we do, that is an ongoing service. Either way it is part of the cost of the app being true.

Maintenance

Operating systems change, phones change, the till software updates. An app that is not maintained stops working within a year or two. Maintenance is not an extra; it is the second half of the price.

What does not drive the cost

The number of screens. A beautiful design. A long feature list. The cheapest app is the one with the fewest features that still changes customer behaviour, and often that is a stamp card, a QR code and a menu that is true.

How to get a real number

Not from a price list. From a short audit of your counter, your systems and your regulars, followed by a scoped proposal. That is how we start.