How to Build a No-Code eCommerce App

Why Adalo Is the Smart Choice for Your eCommerce App

Launching an online store that works seamlessly across every device is now within reach for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This means you can build a fully functional eCommerce app without writing a single line of code, reaching customers wherever they prefer to shop.

Having your store available as a native app in both app stores builds trust with shoppers and keeps your brand just one tap away on their home screens. You can send push notifications about flash sales, restocked items, and shipping updates—proven tactics for boosting customer retention and repeat purchases. Let's explore exactly what makes Adalo the ideal platform for bringing your eCommerce vision to life.

Why Adalo Is Perfect for Building Your eCommerce App

Building an eCommerce app that reaches customers on every device—phones, tablets, and desktops—used to require separate development teams for each platform. Adalo, an AI-powered app builder, eliminates that complexity by creating database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. One build publishes to the Apple App Store, Google Play, and web simultaneously.

Having your eCommerce app available in both app stores gives your brand credibility and puts your products directly in customers' pockets. With native app capabilities, you can send push notifications about sales, new arrivals, and order updates—keeping shoppers engaged and driving repeat purchases. Over 3 million apps have been created on the platform, with users describing the visual builder as "easy as PowerPoint." Let's walk through exactly how to build your eCommerce app from the ground up.

Creating an eCommerce App: Getting Started

You'll need to draw up a plan before you start building your eCommerce app. First, jot down the features you want your app to have—product listings, shopping cart, checkout, user accounts, order tracking, and any unique functionality that sets your store apart.

After you've got your list of features, it's time to sign up for Adalo. The platform leverages a drag-and-drop interface so you can start making your app right after signing up. But Adalo doesn't sacrifice power for simplicity: you'll have all the tools you need to bring almost any app idea to life, including AI-assisted features that accelerate the building process.

Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description, while Magic Add adds features through natural language.

Magic Start generates complete app foundations from a simple description. Tell it you need an eCommerce app for selling handmade jewelry, and it creates your database structure, screens, and user flows automatically—what used to take days of planning happens in minutes. Magic Add lets you continue building by describing features in plain language: "add a wishlist feature" or "create a product review section."

How Your eCommerce App Will Work: Its Parts

The eCommerce app you build will, like all other apps, have the following three components:

Here's one of the many advantages of building with Adalo: You won't need to create any of these parts from scratch. Before you make your app, you'll select a template with a pre-made frontend, backend, and database. All you'll need to do is change the appearance, layouts, and contents to meet your exact brand needs and tastes.

Importantly, paid plans include unlimited database records—no caps on how many products, customers, or orders your store can handle. With the right data relationship setups, Adalo apps can scale beyond 1 million monthly active users. The platform's modular infrastructure, completely overhauled with Adalo 3.0 in late 2025, delivers 3-4x faster performance and scales automatically with your app's needs.

Building an eCommerce App: Our 7-Step Guide

Armed with your Adalo membership, plans, and a little bit of knowledge, it's time for the fun stuff: Building your app! While this eCommerce app-building guide will help you navigate the basics, you might have a few questions while making your app.

Don't worry—Adalo has a thriving ecosystem with tutorials, help documents, and more. Here are the main resources you can use to get your questions answered fast:

It's time to jump in!

Step 1: Grab the Adalo eCommerce Template

Adalo has nearly 40 premade templates, but you'll need to get the one specifically made for eCommerce apps. It's full of all the features and functionalities you'll need, like:

Alternatively, you can use Magic Start to generate a custom eCommerce foundation. Describe your store—"I'm building an app to sell vintage clothing with size filters and a favorites list"—and the AI creates a tailored starting point with the appropriate database collections and screen layouts.

Step 2: Customizing Your eCommerce App

Since you've got your template, let's quickly look at the Adalo building interface. At the top of your screen, you'll find the navigation bar with your profile button, a "Preview App" button, and a drop-down list to select the other apps you're working on.

The center of your screen is your building canvas, which is a blueprint of all your app's pages (pages are also called "screens"). You'll be able to see your app as you build it. Unlike some builders that limit you to viewing one or two screens at a time, Adalo can display up to 400 screens at once on a single canvas—giving you a complete overview of your app's architecture.

You can click on certain components on each screen, and an editing box will appear on your left. Use this to reconfigure your app's appearance.

On the left-hand side of your screen, you'll find the drop-down editing dashboard. With 8 different functionalities, this will serve as your main toolbox.

Here's a list of your functionalities and the tasks that each one executes:

Step 3: Customizing Your Database

While Adalo integrates with databases like Google Sheets, Airtable, and Xano, I'll assume you don't have your own external database. Customizing your eCommerce template's preloaded database is easy.

If you do have product data in a Google Sheet, Adalo's SheetBridge feature turns that spreadsheet into an actual database for your app—the easiest way to get started without learning database concepts. Your existing product catalog becomes immediately usable.

Click on the "Database" button on your drop-down editing dashboard, and a Database Collections tab will appear.

Collections are individual data groups organized like a spreadsheet in rows and columns. For instance, your eCommerce template contains 7 different collections, including:

Here's how displaying database information works: Users enter their information on the frontend, and the backend takes it to the database. You can also enter merch, cart, and category data straight into the database, and the backend makes it visible to users on the front end.

Customizing your collections can be done at the push of a button. Just click the "Add Collection" button and type in your database's properties, which are found in each collection's vertical columns.

Properties in your eCommerce template's Users Collection include name, password, email, physical address, order items, and orders.

Customizing properties is like customizing collections: Simply push the "Add Property" button at the bottom of each collection's list of properties and enter your desired property. With no data caps on paid plans, you can add as many products, variants, and customer records as your business requires.

Step 4: Adding New Screens, Elements, and Features to Your Frontend

Adalo's templates provide everything your eCommerce app needs on the front, but you can add new screens or features by selecting the "Screens" button on your left-hand drop-down dashboard.

Want to delete a screen? Find the one you want to part ways with on the "Screens" list, click the three vertical dots button to the right, and select "delete screen."

To add new screens, hit the "+" button at the top and select "Add Screen." You can start from scratch or go with a pre-made screen.

You'll probably want to add new elements like pictures, buttons, forms, and more. To do so, go to the "+" button, scroll down to the desired element, and add it to a screen. You can customize the size of each element and configure its placement by moving, stretching, or shrinking it with your mouse directly on the building canvas.

Magic Add accelerates this process—instead of hunting through menus, describe what you want: "add a product review section with star ratings" or "create a size selection dropdown." The AI generates the appropriate components and database connections.

Step 5: Previewing Your eCommerce App

Want to see how your app looks live? Go to the navigation ribbon at the top of your screen, press the shiny green "View App" button, and select "Staging Preview." You'll be able to see how your app appears and get a feel for its functionality on several devices like an iPhone 13 and Galaxy S20.

Before publishing, use X-Ray to identify performance issues before they affect users. This AI-powered diagnostic tool highlights potential bottlenecks—slow-loading screens, inefficient database queries, or oversized images—so you can optimize your app for the best customer experience.

You can also share your app with the "View App" button. Select "Share Your App" and send the link to your app to people via SMS or email. Post the link to your app on social media to get more users. People will then access your app with their web browsers.

Step 6: Publishing to the App Stores

Adalo lets you publish as a native mobile app to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This capability can get your app in front of more users. Unlike platforms that create web wrappers, Adalo compiles to true native code—your app performs like it was built specifically for each platform.

Publishing to the app stores requires preparation. First, ensure you have the following before you begin:

  1. A unique icon: A sleek, well-designed icon will help your app stand out from all the others it will be listed next to on the app stores. Create your own brand-specific app icon using a service like Looka.
  2. A well-written meta-description: First, search for other eCommerce apps that sell products similar to yours on the Apple App Store and Google Play Stores. Read through their meta descriptions and jot down keywords.

    When you write your own meta description, work in these keywords and use synonyms for them. For instance, if a keyword is “nutritional supplements,” also use the synonyms “wellness products” and “mineral boosters.”

    Doing this can increase the chances that you’ll “catch” folks searching for the same thing (supplements) but doing so by entering different keywords into their search bars.

  3. Gorgeous, eye-grabbing screenshots: While it may seem obvious, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to provide only professional-looking screenshots that display your app's key functionalities. Your screenshots are usually the first thing people will see, so they'll need to shine. If they don't, people might not download your app.

How to Publish to the Apple App Store

Navigate to Apple's iOS developer web page, make an account, and pay your annual $99 iOS fee. Then, register for TestFlight, which allows Apple users to test your app and give you feedback. Use this to improve your app's functionality.

Then, go back to Adalo, hit the "Publish" button, and follow the instructions. Apple will take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months to approve your app for publishing. Once approved, you can push unlimited updates to your published app—no additional charges or republishing limits.

How to Publish to the Google Play Store

Go to the Google Play Console website and create a developer account, which requires a one-time $25 fee. Opt-in for Google's testing program and consider all the feedback Android testers provide.

After returning to Adalo, click the "Publish" button. Unlike Apple, Google's wait time is much shorter—only a few weeks max.

If you want more information about publishing to iOS and Android, our guide breaks down the costs associated with app store publishing.

Step 7: Taking Payments

Because you're building an eCommerce app, you'll want to be able to receive payments—use Adalo's Stripe integration to do so. Setting up this feature takes minutes.

First, head over to Stripe's registration page and create an account. Go back to Adalo, and click on the "+" button at the top of your left-hand drop-down menu. Select "Forms," find the Stripe one, and provide your info. Drag your Stripe form to the desired screen, and you're all set!

With Adalo's unlimited usage on all plans, you won't face surprise charges as your transaction volume grows. There are no App Actions or usage-based fees—your monthly cost stays predictable regardless of how many orders you process.

Getting New Users, Maintenance, and Analytics

After publishing your app, your work is far from finished: You'll probably want to get more downloads (and more customers). Doing this takes planning, time, and patience. However, you can juice up your marketing strategy by reading our app-promo guide.

You'll also want to visit your analytics page every day. Do this by clicking the "Analytics" button near the bottom of your left-hand drop-down dashboard. This feature allows you to track how much time users are spending on each screen, which screen/items are the most popular, and where your users are from.

Take this valuable information and use it as fuel for your marketing strategy.

It's super important to immediately address any problems, like slowly loading or crashing screens, as soon as you find them out. Doing this will keep your app in pristine shape, which will reflect well on your professional image. X-Ray helps here by proactively identifying performance issues before customers encounter them.

How Adalo Compares to Other App Builders for eCommerce

When choosing a platform for your eCommerce app, understanding the alternatives helps you make an informed decision.

Bubble offers extensive customization but comes with trade-offs. Their pricing starts at $59/month with usage-based charges and limits on records due to Workload Units—calculations that can be unclear and lead to unexpected bills. Bubble's mobile app solution is a wrapper for their web app, which can introduce performance challenges at scale. One app version doesn't automatically update web, Android, and iOS apps deployed to their respective stores. Claims of millions of MAU are typically only achievable with hired expert help.

Glide excels at spreadsheet-based apps with fast deployment, but creates generic, simplistic apps with limited creative freedom. Pricing starts at $60/month for custom domain capability, but you're still limited by app updates and data record rows that attract additional charges. Glide does not support Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing.

FlutterFlow is a low-code option for technical users. Users need to manage and set up their own separate database, which requires significant learning complexity—especially when optimizing for scale, as suboptimal setup creates problems. Their ecosystem is rich with experts because so many people need help and end up spending significant sums chasing scalability. Pricing starts at $70/month per user for app store publishing, but that still doesn't include a database.

Platform Starting Price Native Mobile Apps Database Included Usage Limits
Adalo $36/month Yes (true native) Yes (unlimited records) None
Bubble $59/month Web wrapper only Yes (with Workload limits) Usage-based charges
Glide $60/month No Yes (row limits) Record and update limits
FlutterFlow $70/month Yes No (external required) Per-user pricing

Adalo's combination of true native app compilation, included database with no record caps, and predictable pricing at $36/month makes it the straightforward choice for eCommerce apps that need to reach customers across all platforms.

Key Takeaways

FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. With unlimited database records on paid plans and no usage-based charges, you get predictable costs as your business scales.

What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?

Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building through Magic Start and Magic Add lets you go from idea to published app in days rather than months. The platform handles the complex App Store submission process, so you can focus on your app's features instead of wrestling with certificates and provisioning profiles.

Can I easily build an eCommerce app without coding experience?

Yes, with Adalo's visual builder—described by users as "easy as PowerPoint"—you can build a fully functional eCommerce app without any coding experience. The drag-and-drop interface and pre-made eCommerce templates let you create professional shopping apps with product displays, shopping carts, and checkout functionality.

How do I accept payments in my Adalo eCommerce app?

Adalo integrates with Stripe for secure payment processing. Simply create a Stripe account, add Adalo's Stripe form component to your checkout screen, and connect your account credentials. The entire setup process takes just minutes and enables you to start receiving payments immediately.

Which is more affordable, Adalo or Bubble?

Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and database records. Bubble starts at $59/month but includes usage-based Workload Unit charges and record limits that can increase costs unpredictably as your app grows. For eCommerce apps with growing product catalogs and customer bases, Adalo's flat pricing provides better cost predictability.

Which is better for mobile apps, Adalo or Glide?

Adalo creates true native iOS and Android apps that can be published to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Glide does not support app store publishing—it creates web apps only. For eCommerce businesses wanting their app in customers' pockets with push notification capabilities, Adalo is the clear choice.

Is Adalo easier than FlutterFlow for beginners?

Yes. FlutterFlow is a low-code platform designed for technical users and requires you to set up and manage your own external database. Adalo includes a built-in database with unlimited records on paid plans and uses a visual builder that non-technical users can learn quickly. FlutterFlow's ecosystem has many experts because users often need help—Adalo is designed to be self-service.

How much does it cost to publish my app to the app stores?

Apple charges an annual $99 developer fee, while Google requires a one-time $25 fee for a developer account. Apple's approval process typically takes a few weeks to a few months, whereas Google's review is much faster at only a few weeks maximum. Adalo's paid plans include unlimited app updates after publishing—no additional charges for pushing new versions.

What does the eCommerce template include?

Adalo's eCommerce template comes with all essential features pre-built, including signup and login pages, product display screens, a shopping cart, and checkout functionality. The template also includes a ready-to-use database with collections for users, merchandise, orders, categories, and cart items that you can customize to match your specific needs.

Can my Adalo app handle high traffic and large product catalogs?

Yes. Adalo 3.0's modular infrastructure, launched in late 2025, delivers 3-4x faster performance and scales automatically with your app's needs. With proper data relationship setups, Adalo apps can scale beyond 1 million monthly active users. Paid plans have no database record limits, so your product catalog can grow without hitting caps.