How to Make an App Like Meesho: Process, Tips & Features

Adrian Nathan
7 min readNov 17, 2020

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App Like Meesho

Reselling is not new as a concept. It has been in existence ever since multiple tiers of retail were in existence. However, the market was largely off-line, and it benefited only specific parties involved in the ecosystem.

An app-based out of India sought out to make the entire ecosystem of reselling available to common people. They wanted to create reselling opportunities for homemakers as they can set up a business of their own without any investment. The app almost created a wave across the nation that the app had to expand from its initial offerings in just fashion and electronics to multiple fields. We are talking about the app called Meesho.

A brief history of Meesho

By definition, Meesho is a social commerce platform found by graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 2015. However, it can be called an Uber for suppliers and resellers by its function, just like how it works for drivers and passengers.

Meesho

The company is headquartered in Bangalore, which is referred to as the Silicon Valley of India. The company boasts an impressive funding sequence by reputed names like Y-Combinator, VH Capital, SAIF Partners, Google Launchpad, and Facebook. Over these five years, Meesho has received total funding of about $215.2 million and is valued at about $650 million.

The relevance of Meesho

There was always a gap between people who can manufacturer/supply and people who can sell. In the world of flat communication facilitated by the Internet, selling does not mean setting up a lavish shop. Selling can happen even through social media and communication platforms like WhatsApp.

Meesho aims to bridge this gap between the manufacturer/supplier and the customer through a resellers network. The resellers can earn a commission on every product that they can sell.

This presents advantages for every party involved. The supplier can witness an increase in the sale and its profit. As a reseller, it opens up earning avenues for people with a vast network and good selling skills. This would mean that a lot of homemakers can even make a living out of an app like Meesho. Finally, the end customers get access to quality products from their known circle.

The avenues of profit

It has already been established that the business model of Meesho benefits almost everyone involved. It is a lucrative business avenue for the owner of the app as well.

Meesho makes its revenue from commissions, just like any other e-commerce app. The dusk of delivering the product to the buyer falls on the app. Therefore, they can charge a shipping fee for facilitating the logistics and get on revenue from that segment. In addition, you can also have a sponsored listing option where suppliers and resellers can be a certain amount to the app to have their listing on the top of relevant searches.

While it may sound like an impressive idea to run ads on the app, it should be remembered that if one of the ads shows a better offering than what is being offered on the app, it might be detrimental to the app in the long run.

Relevance of a Meesho clone app

Meesho has showcased to the world the relevance of social e-commerce and the possibility of making a profit while helping a lot of small scale manufacturers, suppliers, product producers, and homemakers.

This has prompted a lot of entrepreneurs to think about launching an app like Meesho. If you were to go for building the app from scratch, it could be quite a cumbersome affair. Alternatively, you can consider using a white label Meesho clone app. A Meesho clone script is easy to customize and can be garnished with your brand elements.

In addition to being cost-effective and enabling quicker launch, the Meesho clone app also ensures that the app does not have any bugs or glitches that might interfere with the app’s basic functionality.

The market analysis

Social e-commerce is a wonderful idea without an iota of doubt. However, if you intend to start small, you will need to have answers to questions like the definition of your product and the specific niche to which you wish to cater to.

It is crucial to position your product with its unique selling points. The selling points can be in terms of quality, value for money, and the luxury quotient. We will also need to define the product or service that the platform intends to sell. The payment model, the list of benefits, the target audience, and the uniqueness of your offering should be defined if you need to find success in the market.

You can consider garnishing your path with features like free shipping or next day shipping, bonuses with select purchases, customizability, discounted prices, and a moneyback guarantee.

The features

What has been listed above is meant to enhance your business. However, your basic business needs to run with the clone app. To achieve this, your app must have certain basic features. There are dedicated apps for the reseller and the supplier.

  • The reseller should be able to quickly register for the services either with an email ID or a mobile number. The app should also facilitate registering using legacy credentials like Google or Facebook. This makes the entire process of registration faster, easier, and more straightforward.
  • The registration process should also include an authorization mechanism that verifies the email or the phone number. It is only upon this authorization and authentication that the profile is considered complete.
  • The way in which Meesho functions might be different, but deep within, it is still an e-commerce app. Therefore, the app should have proper search functions in place. The search functions should also include adding filters like price, size, brand, location, and product type.
  • The product feed should be customized according to parameters like past purchases, browsing history, brands, preferred product types, and interest. The feed should be dynamic and should be updated continuously while at the same time learning from the user’s browsing patterns.
  • Just like an e-commerce platform, that should be a dedicated product details page that gives information like the product description, the price, the delivery period, and seller info.
  • The reseller should have an option to share a complete product catalog using social media and messaging apps like WhatsApp. While the information is automatically shared along, the reseller should have an option to edit the information before they post it.
  • Your social e-commerce platform like Meesho should have a shopping cart integrated. The users should be able to add products to the shopping cart in a single click.
  • People should be able to make their payments using multiple payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, Internet banking, and wallets. Your app should partner with a versatile payment gateway for this purpose.
  • That should be a comprehensive review and rating system that can help rate products and services.
  • There should also be a few additional features like referral programs, localizations, and loyalty programs that can enhance the intensity of engagement.
  • You can also make your app congenial for the New Age shopper by including virtual trial rooms, transitive badges, and image recognition.

The seller app

  • Just like the buyer, the seller should also be able to register for the services efficiently.
  • The sellers should be able to manage their inventory on their item management module. They should be able to edit details like price, description, material, return policy, and product images.
  • They should be able to manage orders once the reseller has confirmed the check out and payment.
  • They should be provided with a dashboard that gives them statistics on the performance of their shop.
  • The app should be provided with a chat interface using which they can connect with the seller support department.

The admin panel

  • The administrator is responsible for the proper maintenance of the app. They should be able to verify the users who sent authentication and authorization requests.
  • They should be able to manage resellers using a dedicated reseller management system.
  • In the same manner, they should also be able to manage the sellers using a dedicated dashboard.
  • The administrator should be provided with the dashboard that shows all the statistics of the app.
  • They should be able to manage customer support, and if need be, delegate it to a team.
  • They should have the authority to suspend or disable users based on specific behavior patterns.
  • The administrator has the responsibility of maintaining the app’s content, including but not limited to discounts, offers, and the pattern in which the feed is shown.

Conclusion

Now that you are aware of the possibilities and features of an app like Meesho, all that is left for you to do is get in touch with the company that specializes in creating and customizing a white label clone. They will take care to understand your requirement and customize the app in line with what your business model needs.

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