How To Create a Sales Order App for Your Business in 7 Steps

Why Adalo Works for Building a Sales Order App

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 makes it the perfect solution for creating a sales order app that your customers can download directly to their phones, browse your products, and place orders with just a few taps.

Having your sales order app in the app stores matters more than you might think. Native apps deliver push notifications to alert customers about order updates, special promotions, or new products—keeping your business top of mind. They also offer faster performance and offline capabilities that web apps simply can't match, which translates to happier customers and more completed orders.

If you need an app that lets clients place orders for your products, a sales order app is the answer. It doesn't matter what you sell—clothing from your online store, food from a restaurant, services from a small business, car parts, consulting, or homemade doggy treats. Any business that takes orders can benefit from a dedicated mobile app.

The challenge? Building a native mobile app traditionally requires developers, months of work, and significant budget. Adalo, an AI-powered app builder, changes that equation. It creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase, publishing directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. With over 3 million apps already built on the platform, Adalo has proven it can handle everything from simple ordering apps to complex business systems.

This guide walks you through building your own sales order app in 7 steps—no coding required.

Why Adalo Works for Building a Sales Order App

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. This makes it ideal for building a sales order app that users actually want to download and use.

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.

The platform's Magic Start feature generates complete app foundations from simple descriptions. Tell it you need a sales order app for your business, and it creates your database structure, screens, and user flows automatically. What used to take days of planning happens in minutes. From there, Magic Add lets you add features by describing what you want in plain language.

With unlimited database records on paid plans and no usage-based charges, you won't face surprise bills as your customer base grows. The modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of monthly active users, with no upper ceiling.

What Is a Sales Order App?

A sales order app lets clients browse your products or services and place orders directly from their phones. Here are just a few goods and services you can sell through a sales order app:

The key advantage over a website alone? Native apps live on your customers' home screens, send push notifications, and typically see higher engagement rates than mobile web experiences.

What You Need To Get Started

Here are 3 things you'll need to develop your own sales order app:

An Adalo account: You'll need a platform to create your sales app. Adalo's AI-assisted platform handles even complex sales order apps while remaining intuitive enough to figure out right after signing up.

The platform has been described as "easy as PowerPoint" for visual building, with the AI Builder promising vibe-coding creation speed. You'll find integrations, plugins, and add-ons that make your sales order app pack a serious punch—without sacrificing ease of use.

A list of your app's features: You know you'll be selling products or services, so you'll need product listings and payment integration. But do you want extra features to make buying more appealing? Chat functions, push notifications, loyalty programs, or order tracking? Jot them down before you start building.

Wireframes (digital blueprints): Draw up plans for how your screens will appear and what functions you want on each one. This organizes your thoughts and makes the app-building process much more manageable.

Instead of drawing plans on paper, consider using a wireframing service like Figma. You'll see how your sales order app's structure appears on an actual screen and make seamless edits using their drag-and-drop interface.

App Fundamentals: The Foundational Parts of an App

Before we talk about the steps to build your sales order app, here's a quick lesson about the 3 parts that comprise any app:

The Frontend

Users see, tap, and place orders on the frontend, also known as the "User Interface" (UI). Your frontend includes every screen, button, color, and text element. A good-looking yet simple frontend is essential—failing to deliver one might result in fewer app users and abandoned carts.

Adalo provides everything you need to build a gorgeous frontend: premade screens, customizable elements, image uploads, and more. You can customize every part of your frontend to match your brand and tastes.

The Backend

Think of the backend as your app's "brain"—it answers commands by retrieving data, delivers messages, connects to third-party platforms and APIs, and processes orders. With Adalo, you design and configure your backend to execute the precise tasks you want.

The platform's X-Ray feature identifies performance issues before they affect users, helping you maintain smooth operations as order volume grows.

The Database

Your database is the app's storage center, containing every byte of information. Here are a few database items you might find in a sales order app:

Adalo comes with a built-in database with no record limits on paid plans—you can customize, expand, and edit it to your liking. If you already have a database with Airtable, Google Sheets, or Xano, you can connect it to your Adalo account in just a couple of clicks.

Adalo's SheetBridge feature makes this especially easy—it turns a Google Sheet into an actual database for the easiest control without database-related learning curves.

Adalo's Ecosystem

Now that you know what you need for sales order app development, here are resources Adalo provides to help you get the most out of your app-building experience:

  1. Adalo's Coaches: Want one-on-one tutoring from a bona fide Adalo expert? Connect with a coach who'll help you with your app-building for an hourly rate, answering questions and providing expert tips along the way.
  2. The Adalo Forum: Connect with other first-time app builders, ask questions, and become part of the Adalo app-building community.
  3. The Adalo YouTube Channel: Packed with about 200 videos, you'll get visual lessons showing you how to leverage all the unique functionalities of Adalo's app-building interface.
  4. The Adalo App Academy: Visit Adalo's "school" to learn the platform properly. You'll find enough classes to teach you every detail about building with Adalo.

Now, let's jump into building your sales order app!

7 Simple Steps to Crafting Your Sales Order App

Step 1: Get Your Sales Order App Template

When you build with Adalo, you can start with a premade template that includes all screens, databases, and backend functions. Adalo has a specific template for sales orders of all kinds: The ordering template.

Although it's initially designed for restaurant ordering, you can customize the ordering template to create nearly any sales order app you can imagine.

Alternatively, use Magic Start to generate a custom foundation. Describe your business—"I need a sales order app for a boutique clothing store with size options and shipping tracking"—and the AI creates your starting point automatically.

Step 2: Customize Your Sales Order App to Your Tastes

Just like medical school transforms people into doctors, you can use Adalo to transform your ordering template into a sales order app for your business. Using the platform's app-building interface, your final product will appear much different than the template you started with.

Before we get into configuration, let's cover Adalo's building interface, which comprises 3 components:

1. The Building Canvas: This is your app's "living blueprint," where you'll find all your app's pages at the center of your screen. To edit a page, simply click on it from the building canvas.

When you change any page, you'll see it on the building canvas. You can use your cursor to position pictures, text boxes, buttons, and more on all of your apps' pages. Unlike some competitors that limit you to viewing 2 screens at once, Adalo can display up to 400 screens at a time on one canvas.

2. The Horizontal Ribbon: This stretches across your upper screen. Its main functionality allows you to access your Adalo account information and preview your app as if it were live.

3. The Editing Dashboard: Arguably the most essential part of Adalo's building interface, this vertical drop-down dashboard on the left of your screen is where the building happens.

The Editing Dashboard contains buttons for adding or deleting pages, publishing to the app stores, configuring colors, connecting APIs and integrations, accessing analytics, and performing other vital functions.

The Pieces of Your Editing Dashboard

Your editing dashboard has 9 buttons. Hover your cursor above each one to see its function. Here's a shortcut naming each button, starting from the top:

Step 3: Configuring Your Sales Order App's Database

Adalo comes with its own built-in database, and like your app's screens, you can customize it to your needs. Here are the 3 parts of your Adalo database:

1. Records: Records are your sales order app's actual data, found inside the database's cells. These can be items, purchase dates, users, etc. With no record caps on paid plans, you won't hit storage limits as your business grows.

2. Properties: These are at the top of each database collection—they're the title of each row. You can add or delete them by pushing the "Add to Properties" button in your editing box.

3. Collections: Collections are groups of similar data stored in a spreadsheet. You can change each collection's name in the editing box that appears after you click the "Screens" button.

Want to build a brand new collection? Just click "Add to Database" and start customizing the properties you need.

How To Plug In an External Database

You can connect your pre-existing database to Adalo easily. Push the "Add External Collection" button in the editing box, follow the directions, and your database will be good to go.

For Google Sheets users, SheetBridge provides the easiest path—turn your existing spreadsheet into a functional database without learning database concepts.

Step 4: Creating New Screens

Because sales order apps vary significantly from industry to industry, you'll probably want to create a few new screens to meet your business's needs.

Press the "Add Component/Add Screen" button at the top of your Editing Dashboard and select "Add New Screen." A brand-new, customizable screen will appear on your building canvas.

You can also use Magic Add—describe the screen you need in plain language, like "add a screen showing order history with status tracking," and the AI generates it for you.

Let's talk about customizing all your screens and components so they're 100% congruent with your tastes. After clicking the "Add Component/Add Screen" button, you'll find functionalities to customize components and screens at the top of your editing box.

The "Add Components" section includes fonts, submission forms, elements, lists, and the option to add plugins from the Adalo marketplace. You can tailor-make your own payment submission forms, workflows, and anything else you need.

Similarly, the "Add Screens" button lets you duplicate or add blank screens. Adding new functionalities is as easy as dragging them to the desired screen on your Building Canvas.

If you want to delete a screen, press the "Screens" button, go to the screen you want to remove, click the 3 vertical dots button near the screen's title, and then hit "Delete Screen."

Step 5: How To Preview Your Sales Order App

You can see how your sales order app looks and functions on mobile and desktop devices by pressing the green "Preview App" button in your Horizontal Ribbon. Next, click "Staging Preview," and a live version of your app will appear in a new tab.

Click through your app and ensure everything is up to par. If you encounter any issues, get them fixed on the fly. Nipping issues in the bud makes your life easier before publishing to the app stores.

The X-Ray feature can help here—it highlights performance issues for scalability, catching problems before they affect real users.

Step 6: Publishing on the Web and in the App Stores

Here's the advantage of building with Adalo: You can publish your app on the web, the Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. The platform allows you to publish the same app version to all three platforms from a single codebase—one build updates everywhere.

Because it involves fewer hoops to jump through, you'll most likely publish your app to the web first. Users will find your web app using their phone browsers.

Follow these directions to publish your app on the web:

  1. Go to your profile in the Horizontal Ribbon.
  2. Click "Settings," scroll down to "Domain," and enter your domain (www.domain.co)—if you don't have a domain, buy one from GoDaddy.
  3. Navigate to "Publish" on the Editing Dashboard.

Once you've completed these steps, your app will be live on the web.

Publishing to the Apple App and Google Play Stores

Publishing your sales order app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store requires more steps than web publishing. However, the hard work pays off: The Apple App Store and Google Play Store have a combined monthly visitor count in the billions. Getting your app in front of such a large audience can pay enormous dividends.

Get the following done before undertaking publishing procedures:

Competitor research/description writing: Go to the app stores and search for "sales order apps" similar to yours. Read their descriptions, look closely at their screenshots, and jot down meticulous notes. Write down keywords you find in their app descriptions.

Start writing your app description and slip in their keywords and your synonyms. This helps you reach more users in app store search results. Although the app stores limit your description to 4,000 characters, err on the side of brevity—make your description short, sweet, and to the point.

Build a fantastic app icon: Your icon appears beside your app's title in search results, so ensure your logo is well-done and original. Try an online app-icon-building platform like Looka to create something beautiful.

Take gorgeous screenshots and videos: Only submit the best-looking screenshots and videos showing your sales order app's functions—the ordering and checkout process, messaging features, profile creation, and more. Poor videos and screenshots reflect poorly on your app and professional reputation.

Once you finish these, it's time to begin the publishing process.

Publishing a Sales Order App to the Google Play Store

Head to the Android developer account page and create your account. Pay your one-time $25 fee and enroll in Google's app-testing program. Several people will download the app, test it, and provide feedback.

This is important because you'll get valid third-party opinions about how well your app works. Take the advice testers give you and implement changes.

Once you've made the necessary changes, return to your Adalo account and go to "Publish" and follow Android's directions. Google's app approval generally takes 1-7 days, depending on complexity and your developer history.

Publishing a Sales Order App to the Apple App Store

Go to Apple's iOS developer page and create your developer account. Pay the $99 yearly fee.

Like Google, Apple has its testing program, Testflight, so sign up for this. Get feedback from users and tweak your app as necessary.

Once you've made updates, return to Adalo, select the "Publish" button, and follow Apple's directions. Apple's approval process tends to be stricter than Google's and usually takes around 1-3 days, though delays can sometimes extend this timeframe.

With Adalo, you get unlimited updates to apps once published—no restrictions on how often you can push improvements to your users.

Step 7: How To Integrate Payments

Now that your sales order app is published, it's time to start making money with Adalo's Stripe integration. To get paid with Stripe, navigate to the Stripe homepage and set up a Stripe account.

Return to Adalo's Editing Dashboard and select the "Add Components/Add Screens" button. Scroll down and find the Stripe form, drag it over to your payments screen, and you're ready to watch that bank account grow.

Next Steps: Expanding Your User Base, Checking Analytics, and Upkeep

Now that you've published your app, your main focus shifts from building to maintaining it. Adalo is designed to do just that.

On your app-building interface, press the button that was neglected during your app-building: the "Analytics" button. This shows you how well your app performs, how many users you're getting, and your most popular screens.

Bugs, glitches, and other issues may occasionally arrive. Address these problems at once. If your user experience is poor, your reputation will suffer, and no one will want to use your app.

As your user base grows, Adalo's modular infrastructure scales with you. The platform handles apps with over 1 million monthly active users—with the right data relationship setups, there's no upper ceiling on growth.

Interested in marketing your app to get an eye-popping number of monthly downloads? Read our app-marketing guide. You'll learn tricks, strategies, and tactics that will help market your app to the masses.

Keeping your app humming is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay consistent in your marketing efforts and don't neglect maintenance, and you'll increase your chances of having your own highly successful and super-functional app. Best of luck!

FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase—the hardest part of launching an app handled automatically.

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 faster than traditional development. The platform handles the App Store submission process, removing technical barriers that typically slow down launches.

How long does it take to build a sales order app?

With Adalo's ordering template and AI features, you can have a functional sales order app ready in a few hours to a few days, depending on complexity. Magic Start generates your foundation in minutes, and customization time varies based on how many features you want to add.

Do I need coding experience to build a sales order app?

No coding experience is required. Adalo's visual builder has been described as "easy as PowerPoint," and the AI Builder lets you add features by describing what you want in plain language. The platform handles all the technical complexity behind the scenes.

How much does it cost to build a sales order app with Adalo?

Adalo's paid plans start at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. Unlike competitors that charge based on database records or usage, Adalo's paid plans include unlimited database records and no usage-based charges, so you won't face surprise bills as your business grows.

Can I publish my sales order app to both the App Store and Google Play?

Yes. Adalo creates native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. One build publishes to web, Apple App Store, and Google Play Store, with unlimited updates once published.

What payment options can I integrate into my sales order app?

Adalo integrates with Stripe for payment processing. Simply create a Stripe account, add the Stripe component to your payments screen, and you're ready to accept credit card payments from customers.

Will my sales order app scale as my business grows?

Yes. Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of monthly active users, with no upper ceiling. With the right data relationship setups, Adalo apps can scale beyond 1 million MAU without hitting platform limitations.

Can I connect my existing Google Sheets data to a sales order app?

Yes. Adalo's SheetBridge feature turns a Google Sheet into an actual database for the easiest control without database-related learning. You can also connect external databases from Airtable, Xano, and other providers.

What features should a sales order app have?

Essential features include product listings, shopping cart, checkout with payment processing, order confirmation, and user accounts. Enhanced features might include order tracking, push notifications, chat support, loyalty programs, and inventory management.