Why Most Bangladeshi SMEs Overpay for Native Apps—and How I Saved a Dhaka Boutique $4,300 a Year with a PWA
AI-generated illustration It was a rainy Tuesday in Gulshan. My client, a boutique that sold hand‑embroidered saris on Daraz, sent me a frantic screenshot: "App store fees ate BDT 3,900 this month!" Their native Android build, updated three weeks ago, was draining their budget faster than a 3G connection drains a data pack. They’d spent BDT 150,000 on a freelancer’s “native app” and were now paying a 30% commission on every in‑app purchase. I felt the same knot I get when a cold email bounces – a mix of irritation and curiosity. The Hidden Problem Most Bangladeshi small businesses think “native = better”. They hear about push notifications, app‑store visibility, and assume the only way to reach a customer on a phone is through a downloaded binary. The reality? The cost curve for native apps is a steep cliff, especially when you factor in: Initial development (BDT 120‑180k for a basic Flutter app) Store‑submission fees (Google Play = BDT 1,500, Apple = USD 99/year) Annual upd...