A Guide to Developing a Daily Deals & Discount Coupon App

Daily deals and coupon apps are not the latest innovation, but their development is advantageous for both eCommerce startups and smartphone users.

On the one hand, businesses get a lucrative digital product, a marketplace that connects various stores in different industries. On the other – users can find daily bargains and, thus, save money plus look for the necessary goods and services among the numerous options.

Unsurprisingly, the global digital coupon app market is growing by over 18% annually and will surpass $29 billion by 2031. As more and more people want to make bargain purchases right from their smartphones, daily deals application development is promising.

Today’s article is your detailed guide on creating an online coupon app. Softermii will leverage its profound expertise in developing such applications to share the must-have features, design tips, and tech stack with you. We’ll also examine our discount app Hollar and eCommerce store Dollar Shave Club as decent examples of such software.

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A detailed guide to building a daily-deals and discount-coupon app — the app types, must-have features per panel, and the business upside.

The digital coupon app market grows 18%+ annually and is set to top $29B by 2031; 177M+ US adults redeemed digital coupons in 2022.

These apps are essentially marketplaces connecting stores with bargain hunters — you earn a fee per purchase.

Revenue can be substantial: Groupon generated $153M in Q1 2022 alone.

Three related app types: coupon apps, daily-deals apps and online discount platforms (similar architecture, different purpose).

Three panels each need their own features: a user panel, a merchant panel and an admin panel.

User panel features: sign-up, profile, browse offers, deal listings, favorites, coupon codes and social sharing.

Examples drawn from Softermii's Hollar discount app and Dollar Shave Club.

Benefits of Daily Deals Mobile Application Development

Of course, daily deals apps attract users. For shoppers, it is an opportunity to get products or services at the best prices. But what will you get by developing a daily deals app? Consider the following advantages:

Reach a Wider Audience

Applications with daily deals and discount coupons are quickly gaining popularity among users: more than two-thirds of American adults redeem digital coupons, making up over 177 million users in 2022. You also benefit from the fact that such apps are essentially marketplaces that connect stores with discount hunters. It means that users can make the necessary purchases from various sellers simply through your mobile or web app.

Invest Less, Profit More

Investing in discount coupon app development is very profitable. And here’s why. You connect numerous stores to your platform and charge a fee for every purchase made by their customers. Plus, such a system development is relatively inexpensive.

At the same time, profits from such an application are substantial. For example, the popular daily deal platform Groupon generated $153 million in the first quarter of 2022 alone. You can also boost your revenues by developing your discounts, coupons, and daily deals app.

Save Time

To start with daily deals and discount coupons, you must upload special offers to your platform. It is quick and takes little time. In addition, it significantly reduces shopping time for your users.

Offer Competitive Rates

Since customers are looking for the best deals, you’ll benefit greatly by offering competitive rates to your users. Insider Intelligence states that digital deals can increase the consumer basket size and help you attract a loyal audience.

Types of Daily Deals & Discount Apps You Can Develop

You may have noticed that today we mentioned different types of apps. They are coupons, daily deals, and online discount platforms. Their architecture is generally similar but not identical, as these applications serve slightly different purposes. Let’s look at each of them separately:

Coupon Apps

These are applications where users can receive coupons for purchasing goods or services and use them at any (or specified) time. Such platforms are especially relevant for beauty salons and restaurants.

Daily Deals Apps

These apps allow users to find hot deals on products or services daily. Such platforms are great for various businesses, from fashion to the grocery industry.

Online Discount Apps

Building a discount coupon app implies creating a platform with discounts for various products and services. Like daily deals apps, these applications work well with different eCommerce businesses.

Key Elements for Different Panels of Daily Deals and Discount Coupon Apps

Regardless of the type of application you build, be it daily deals or a discount platform, such software has several main elements. They are a user-facing part, a merchant-facing part, and an administrator panel. Each of these elements has its features. Look at them in the table below:

Let’s dwell on each panel involved in online coupon app development in more detail.

User Panel

This panel is visible to customers who visit your app. Users typically need the following features:

• Sign up & log in. This feature allows users to sign up by entering their personal information, such as an email or phone number, and creating a login name and password.
• Invite friends. Add this feature to attract an even wider audience to your platform.
• Complete profile. Let your users fill out their profiles and personalize the app for them. For example, add a photo, specify preferences, etc.
• Browse store- or category-specific offers. This feature will help your users find the products or services they need.
• Deals listing. Thanks to this feature, your users can view the deals available on your platform.
• Favorites. Add this feature so users can save products or services they like.
• Use coupon code. This feature will allow customers to use a coupon code when making purchases.
• Share deals on social media. Add this functionality so users can share special offers on their social networks.

Merchant Panel

This panel is for merchants who have joined your platform. Features for store owners are as follows:

• Add & manage deals. The ability to add and manage deals is critical for store owners. Therefore, make sure that this feature is in your application.
• Manage coupons. In addition to managing deals, you also need to add the ability to manage coupons.
• Coupon redemption. Thanks to this feature, merchants can manage used coupons.
• Statistics and dashboard. Add this functionality so sellers can view detailed information about their store.
• Acquired deals. This feature will display a complete list of discounts and deals available to users. Sellers will also be able to track which deals are the most popular, thanks to this functionality.
• Share deals on social media. Like buyers, sellers should be able to share their offers on social media.
• Track status. Thanks to this feature, sellers can track the status of discounts, coupons, and deals.
• Manage orders. This functionality allows sellers to manage all orders in their store easily.
• Mail system. Add this feature so sellers can send special offers and other store-related info directly to users’ email.

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Admin Panel

This panel is for you, the owner of the daily deals and discount coupon app. You most likely need the following features:

• Manage deals. Thanks to this feature, the administrator manages all deals and discounts offered by merchants on the platform.
• Deals categories. This feature allows the admin to manage deal categories and store information on the platform.
• Website & app tracking. Add this functionality to track the activity on your platform.
• Statistics and dashboard. You must add a dashboard that will display all the information about your platform in graphs, tables, etc.
• Review user comments. Thanks to this feature, the admin will be able to study feedback from platform users.
• Manage coupons. This feature allows admins to manage and view all information about coupons and stores that provide them.
• Manage merchants/consumers/etc. Thanks to this feature, administrators will be able to easily manage all users of the platform: sellers and buyers.
• CMS. The content management system allows the admin to add and edit all content on the platform effortlessly.
• Share deals on social media. Admin should also be able to share deals on social networks.

Additional Features for a Daily Deals Application

What else can you implement during coupon mobile application development? Let’s take a look at the following additional features that you can add to your platform.

Cloud Environment

The cloud environment is a way to create a marketplace mobile app that is easy to scale and maintain. This technology significantly reduces expenses and does not require building your infrastructure.

Price Comparison

Such an advanced feature will make the life of buyers on your platform even easier. Thanks to it, users can find the most profitable offers for them.

Payment Gateways

You can add payment gateways to your platform to enable instant payment for goods and services. Some popular options include PayPal and Stripe.

Push Notifications

Make your app even more engaging by adding push notifications. Thanks to it, your users will always be aware of your platform’s latest offers and discounts.

Gift Vouchers

This feature will help you attract even more users and encourage them to use coupons and discounts. So consider adding it to your platform.

Reviews & Ratings

This feature will be handy for your users because, in this way, they will be able to learn more about stores, goods, or services that interest them.

Navigation & Tracking

Thanks to this function, users of your application can view deals and discounts in their location. This feature can be implemented through Google or Apple Maps.

Real-Time Analytics

This feature allows you to track activity in your app in real-time. Thanks to it, you can generate more accurate statistics. You can use these insights to improve your platform and its offers.

Advanced Search

You can integrate advanced search into your platform. This function provides many filters and categories and significantly facilitates the user’s journey from searching for a product to its purchase.

Multilingual Support

Since daily deals apps attract a wide audience, adding support for multiple languages would be good. Analyze which countries you have the most users from and add the appropriate languages ​​to your platform.

Loyalty Program

This feature will allow you to retain your users. Thanks to it, you can deliver unique and personalized offers to your audience.

Tech Stack to Build a Daily Deals App

The tech stack is another thing to learn about to create a daily deals application. Let’s look at some technologies and tools you’ll require:

Mobile development: Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android

Frontend development: Angular, React

Backend development: PHP, Node JS

Database: MySQL, MongoDB

Email notifications: Sendgrid, Mandrill

Push notifications: Firebase, Twilio, Bandwidth

Geolocation: Google Maps, Apple Maps

Payment gateways: Stripe, PayPal, Braintree

Cloud environment: Azure, Google Cloud, AWS

Real-time analytics: IBM, Cisco, BigData

UI Design for Your Daily Deals App

Interface design plays a critical role in the continued success of your platform. Therefore, if you want to create a daily deals application that is profitable and competitive, consider the following tips:

Make It Simple

The user interface of daily deals and coupon apps usually contains many elements. It would help if you made the layout look clean and minimalistic but simultaneously displayed all the information users need.

Ensure Consistency

It would help if you also took care of the consistency of your platform. It means that all application pages and their elements must be designed in the same style. This way, you will not confuse your audience and make your platform more user-friendly.

Provide Smooth Navigation

Make your app easy to use by taking care of navigation. Look at your platform from the users’ perspective and make their journey as intuitive as possible.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Daily Deals & Coupon App?

If you are interested in how much it costs to develop an online coupon app, you should consider some factors. First, the final cost will largely depend on the number of basic and advanced features you implement. Also, the design characteristics and even the composition of your development team affect the price.

To develop a discount app, you typically need the following specialists:

• Project manager
• Android developers
• iOS developers
• Backend developers
• UX/UI designers
• QA specialists

We have calculated the cost of such a development team’s step-by-step process below:

Nevertheless, it’s the approximate cost of developing a daily deals app. If you need more accurate estimates, feel free to contact our team directly.

Softermii Experience with eCommerce and Daily Deals Application Development

Our company has been specializing in eCommerce website, mobile, and web application development with its dedicated application development team for more than eight years. During this time, we have delivered numerous successful solutions that have helped our clients gather a significant audience. Here are some of them:

Hollar

Hollar is an online discount retail platform that our team developed for a client from the USA. In particular, we helped to update the mobile application.

Initially, the client had a website and a basic Hollar mobile app. Our team had to work on creating iOS and Android applications to increase the online presence of our client’s business.

As a result, we developed iOS and Android app MVPs, in which we implemented many helpful functions. They are Apple and Android pay, special offers upon app login, daily content updates, friend invites, improved search, and more. On top of that, we ensured user-friendliness by implementing decent UI/UX design.

The Hollar app got significant achievements hitting thousands of downloads and obtaining five-star ratings from users.

Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is an online store offering men shaving products. The main goal of this eCommerce business is to provide inexpensive but, at the same time, high-quality grooming goods.

Our team had to work on a Dollar Shave Club mobile app. In particular, we had to improve the application’s design and make it efficient.

As a result, we met the highest standards of mobile development and design and delivered a top-notch Android and iOS app. Notable achievements include growing Dollar Shave Club from 3,900 to over 500,000 users thanks to our services.

Final Thoughts

Daily deals and discount coupon apps are gathering steam as they allow users to buy their favorite products at reasonable prices. That is why the development of such solutions is particularly profitable.

We hope our guide on how to make a daily deals app helped you understand this process better. If you need someone to handle the development, then Softermii is your best choice. We use the latest innovations and can add advanced features like Livestream commerce or cloud environment to your platform.

You can be sure you’ll get top-notch software by leveraging our profound experience in eCommerce and discount app development. Thus, do not hesitate to fill out the consent form on our website.