How to develop a logistics app and how much will this development cost

Digitization of the logistics and transport industries is growing every year. According to Values Report research, the digital logistics market is projected to grow 2 times to US$ 22,170 million in 2028 compared to 2021 data (US$ 10,230 million). The growth dynamics of the digital logistics market will reach 11.5% annually during 2022-2028.

According to the Allied Market Research - The global logistics automation market was valued at $49.7 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $147.4 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2021 to 2030.

Logistics automation involves integration of machinery, control systems, and software (logistics application, SRM and ERP systems) to improve the efficiency of logistic processes. Logistics automation offers improved efficiency, control, and organization for procurement, production, inventory management, distribution, customer service, and recovery. Logistics automation systems comprise a varietreay of automated storage and transportation systems such as automatic guided vehicles, robotic arms, autonomous mobile robots, automated storage & retrieval systems (AS/RS), warehouse management software, and freight management software. Logistics automation provides several benefits such as real-time access to loading & data analysis, organizational control, improved customer service, and scalability & speed.

In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about logistics apps (types, functionality), how to create a logistics app, how much logistics mobile app development costs, and we will also demonstrate the estimation of the development cost on a real example.

Logistics app development can drastically improve your business and change the game for your company. With a top-notch custom transport and logistics app development, you can improve your supply chain, ensure the transparency of transportation, better warehouse management. 

All of these improvements might result in the rise of profits and smoothing of processes. As an outcome, you will have a more seamless workflow, agile business processes, and spotless management. 

Logistics app development: what is it?

Logistics application is a tool used for coordinating and moving resources, such as people, inventory, equipment, goods, materials, etc. While you may often see supply chain management and logistics management used in similar ways, they reflect different processes. Logistics processes define the transportation of goods within one company while supply chain refers to a large network of organizations that works together. 

Logistics app development is a process aimed at the creation of such an application. Most often, transport and logistics app development is a process of the implementation of custom and heavy software that requires a big team and lots of effort. Despite logistics app development being a large investment, it is highly proficient.

According to MarketWatch, the logistics market will grow by $28.71m by 2024.

Types of Logistics Mobile Applications

We’ve shared ideas in the field of logistics app development solutions yet it’s also important to know what types of mobile apps you can get from the logistics app development team.

All these types of logistics mobile applications can be integrated into one solution or developed separately. It’s not the end of the list yet as every business may have its own specifics that require custom solutions to be the most efficient ones.

What is the difference between logistics and transportation apps?

These terms are often misunderstood since they are very different and might be seen as synonyms. Transportation is purely moving the goods from one place to the desired destination, while logistics also includes the important step of coordinating. 

Logistics includes truck dispatch processes, route planning, inventory handling, warehouse management, feedback and analytics, and transportation as well. So, transportation is an aspect of logistics. 

Essential features for logistics mobile app

There is no better way to succeed than being unique. However, despite unique and custom features, your software also needs basics that we will tell you about right now. 

So, the key features for logistics mobile app development are: 

1. Driver and vehicle tracking 

This might be considered a niche in the logistics industry, however, this feature will not only create a logistics app software better but might improve the profits you get from it. 

Vehicle tracking is a useful technology that will allow you or your customers to track the goods within an application and watch the transportation online that is crucial feature for transport and logistics app development. This allows you to evaluate the drivers' performance, find better routes, and build a more time-efficient workflow. 

2. Pre-planned routes 

This feature can be extremely helpful in terms of time efficiency and might change everything for companies like Uber. Basically, your driver will see the best route to the destination as soon as they start the ride. It makes the workflow safer, quicker, and in some cases even cheaper for you as a business owner. 

3. Multilingual app 

This is essential for almost every application since about 70% of users prefer the software that supports their native language, according to Intercom. However, for logistics mobile app development that is planned to function in several countries, being multilingual is crucial. 

Top-5 Logistics App Development Solutions

As there are various solutions you can be interested in when planning to get your custom logistics app, we’ve glad to share the hottest of them with you to boost your ideas. Here are our top-5 best solutions for logistics apps.

What team do you need for logistic app development

The team is one of the most important things if you want to make a successful cross-platform application. Everyone responsible for logistics app development will make their impact on the final product, so choose wisely the people you’ll be tied to within this project. We know who you should have onboard to ensure quality logistics app development, take a look at the list below!

Logistics app development process 

We at RexSoft have several working stages for any logistics mobile app development. Here are the stages we have in our logistics app development process: 

Research and discovery 

We prioritize features you’d like to see in your software on a product roadmap creation step. After this, we tackle each section of the roadmap with a build sprint. This iterative process allows us to gather feedback and be flexible according to the end-user and customers’ needs.

Product conception 

Based on assumptions we made during the previous stage, we will sketch possible solutions and ideas for the logistics app development. In the product conception stage, we will determine the team structure as it may vary when you need a complex enterprise solution or just logistics mobile app development services. This is also a stage when our designers will create interactive prototypes of your logistics software app, so you can test it and give you feedback. 

Design and build 

The logistics app design and development teams will unite to create a logistics app with wide functionality and a great user experience. 

Launch preparations 

In this step, we will help you successfully launch the project. RexSoft also offers training services for your staff

Maintenance and growth 

We offer post-release maintenance that includes updates, bug fixing, performance monitoring, and new functionality development.  

The best technologies for the logistics app development 

Now, when you know how the process of development looks like and who you need in your team to ensure a seamless start, let’s find out what are the best technolgies to use in logistics app development.  

For logistics web application development

Logistics web application is good for you if you aren’t excited about mobile devices variety. It still needs to support mobile devices but will work via the browser. 

React.js for front-end 

React.js is one of the most popular technologies since it is component-based. It means that it is possible to create reusable UI components which drastically improve the time-efficiency of the logistics app development process. 

Node.js for back-end 

It is an open-source JavaScript environment. It is the best technology for server-side large-scale applications. It allows to fasten up a server’s response, handle users’ requests, and maintain a lot of operations on the browser’s side. 

For logistics mobile application development

Mobile logistics app development will open a new wide world for you since statistically, people prefer mobile to desktop devices. So, here are the technologies we advise you to use in this project. 

Flutter for front-end

Flutter is a cross-platform solution that allows developing a logisitcs app for Android, iOS, and Windows. It uses a single codebase for all platforms, so this cross-platform development is cost-effective and will allow you to outcome the competitors in no time. 

ReactNative for front-end

ReactNative is useful for native mobile app development and can streamline the processes. It provides the app with a responsive user interface, reduces load time, and is a much faster and cheaper solution to use in work compared to other frameworks for native app development. 

Node.js for back-end 

We’ve already told you about the benefits of Node.js. The same goes for the mobile Node.js development. It is a great tool to be used for the back-end in any project including logistics app development. 

 Logistics app development costs: a real case example

Recently, our team worked on the logistics app development both web and mobile. It is the logistics CRM for transportations of second-hand vehicles and the cooperation of the customer, dispatchers, and drivers. Let’s take a look at the short description of this logistics app’s functionality through its work process: 

• Customer contacts the dispatcher. 
• The dispatcher sends the form to the customer. The customer fills the request in the web version of an app. 
• The driver receives the request on the mobile version of an app. 
• The driver has to track the transportation of the second-hand vehicle. They also are obligated to take pictures of this vehicle; those pictures will be saved in the transportation request and can be viewed by the dispatcher, driver, and customer.
• The customer (or their representative) signs the request with the electronic signature to confirm that they acknowledge the state of the second-hand vehicle. 
• In the place of the destination customer (or their representatives) take the vehicle. If any questions occur, they can check the pictures again as a confirmation of the vehicle’s state before the transportation.

The dispatcher can view the route and the driver’s movement thanks to the tracking system. The application also has features that allow the planning of future transportations to save time and make the business process more profitable. 

Such an application would be developed in 3 to 4 months. This one in particular took us about 1110 hours to create. We have 6 people working in our team to bring this logistics app to life, and each of them spent a different amount of time working on it. 

A logistics application development from scratch like this one will cost you approximately about $40,000. We are offering different cooperation models, so you can engage our experts part-time to power up your in-house development team.