With the continued growth of the tech industry, retailers have partaken in this trend and expanded onto custom mobile commerce application development for their eCommerce businesses and websites. This venture provides businesses with a stake in the thriving industry of mobile retail apps. On average, a person spends over 2 hours a day on their phones making use of the various mobile apps at their disposal, including retail apps. An eCommerce mobile app is in the top 4 most frequently used applications. As of 2015, an estimated 85% of the purchasing demographic own a mobile phone. This statistic continues to grow and is reflected in the 93% of individuals that use mobile for research and continued on to make purchases.
Mobile App Usage
As of 2017, there have been over 178 billion mobile applications downloaded worldwide and this number is estimated to reach over 242 billion by 2022. This shows that mobile apps development and design are highly in demand and have become a prolific market. Not only is the mobile app consumption increasing, but the revenue from these apps as well. It has been calculated that, worldwide, mobile app revenue had reached over 133 billion USD in 2021. Because of such high mobile app usage and demand for a wide variety of mobile applications, its development has been a boon for freelancers and software developers in the application development industry. With the evolution of technology and gadgets, so does mobile app design and mobile app developers evolve. Through various methods and hands-on experience gained, learning how to make a mobile app has been wide and varied. This led to a boom in the volume of skilled mobile app developers available in the market.
eCommerce Market Boost
Electronic commerce is a booming industry with big players like Amazon, eBay and Walmart on the horizon. Retailers set up their marketplaces and online stores by establishing a website and, preferably, building a mobile eCommerce app. Various marketing channels and strategies are used in order to reach the target audience, encourage new purchases and, as a result, increase both sales and revenue. Top online shops and marketplaces thoroughly approach mobile app development and make sure their websites and apps are not only functional but have an intuitive user interface and pleasant user experience. Using this strategy, companies are able to increase brand awareness and build up its reputation. One of the permanent goals is to expand their reach to a wider audience and provide an enhanced and personalized shopping experience to the already existing consumers.
Reasons To Have An eCommerce Mobile App
Aside from being able to reach a wider audience, why should businesses, especially eCommerce businesses, even venture into mobile retail apps? Why go the extra mile and invest in such a venture?
Customers prefer shopping through mobile apps
With the statistics for mobile usage and mobile app preferences, it is can be said that mobile app marketing is a major avenue for business. According to ThinkWithGoogle, people check their smartphones for products before proceeding to physical stores, which becomes a more convenient way of shopping. Not only can customers shop easier, but they are also provided with product reviews and ratings in many forms, all through their smartphones. This preference for shopping using mobile commerce apps provides retailers a bigger picture of the consumer and market activity. This then leads to improvements to their strategies.
Take the most out of device capabilities
With mobile apps, retailers are able to establish a stronger connection with their customers and support them on a new level. Mobile devices rapidly evolve and provide a lot of useful mobile commerce built-in features such as GPS, voice control, push notifications and anything that can ease the shopping experience and make it easier for potential customers to purchase products (fashion, beauty, cosmetics, food eCommerce, etc.). These days, mobile devices are more affordable and have everything you might need for your daily activities. They can even be referred to as personal assistants. On average, modern consumers spend most of their free daytime on a smartphone and having a mobile retail app is, at least, a great opportunity to attract attention.
Better access to goods and services
With mobile apps, retailers are able to provide customers with a built-in window to their products. Consumers are able to do all of the transactions available through websites or physical stores, but with just a click of a button or a swipe of the screen. Mobile apps can be versatile enough to provide a wide array of services to customers; from browsing, recognizing preferences, looking at reviews, and checkout counter processes. Mobile eCommerce makes shopping convenient for customers.
The improved user experience for customers
With mobile eCommerce apps able to engage with built-in mobile apps and its various features, retailers are able to collate and aggregate a lot more consumer data. With data such as purchase history, location, preferences, and such, retailers are able to analyze customer activities and use the results to provide a more tailored shopping experience. Mobile eCommerce apps are able to provide assistance to consumer shopping by providing suggested products close to their preferences and provide reviews and ratings. This enhances the shopping experience and makes it more personal for consumers.
Mobile eCommerce apps increase customer loyalty
Mobile commerce software can be a platform for retailers to aid customers in their shopping experience. This shopping assistance can be through providing product ratings and reviews that will help customers decide on their purchases. Mobile eCommerce apps can also be a way for retailers to personalize the shopping experience, which can be made by collating and analyzing preferences, purchase history, location, and other customer information. With this, retailers are able to provide purchase options tailored to their customers. Both shopping assistance and personalized shopping experience can increase customer loyalty, and will then lead to a stronger relationship between retailer and customer, as well as on the market overall.
Mobile eCommerce For Everybody
Taking part in the growing mobile app industry, eCommerce businesses have adapted to the venture of expansion through mobile eCommerce apps. Collaborating with mobile app designers and developers, retailers are coming up with a wide variety of cross-platform apps to reach a wider pool of consumers. This eCommerce marketing strategy benefits all those involved in the process, from the eCommerce businesses, mobile app developers, and customers.
- Capitalize on consumer preference for mobile apps.
- Provide better connectivity and communication between retailers and consumers.
- Create improved access to products and services.
- Enhance consumer shopping experience.
- Strengthen retailer and consumer relationship.
Because of such high demand for mobile apps, retailers have taken this boom as an avenue for expansion and marketing. And, for top eCommerce companies, has since proven to have high returns. But this is not only limited to large companies, everyone - from the simple startup to even the pillars of business and marketing - can make their mark and benefit from this booming industry.
nopCommerce platform is not an exception. Learn more about our mobile applications and plugins.
Author BIO: Anastasia Stefanuk is a passionate writer and a marketing manager at Mobilunity. The company provides professional staffing services, so she is always aware of technology news and wants to share her experience to help tech startups and companies to be up-to-date.