6 Benefits of Having an App For Your eCommerce

The pace of the digital world is accelerating every day. One of the key characteristics of the modern digital environment is multichannel.   Organizing an effective presence on those channels that provide contact with potential customers is a vital task for any business. Gone are the days when companies relied on website banners, roadside banners, flyers, email marketing, Facebook/newspaper ads, etc. to reach potential customer audiences. 

Today, mobile apps play an important role in building relationships between businesses and customers. In fact, mobile ecommerce apps are well known for allowing you to get to know your customers better just by being “one tap away”.  All of the above might have you wondering: Why do customers prefer mobile apps when shopping online? What are the advantages of mobile apps in ecommerce?

Іn this article, we decided to provide a list of important benefits that having a mobile application can provide to your e-commers business. Don’t switch over!

What Is an E-commerce App? How Apps Can Boost Sales…

An e-commerce app is software that makes it easier for customers to browse, select and purchase products in an online store. Web versions often lose out to mobile online stores. Apps are important for e-commerce, namely for business owners, for the convenience of customers. Such apps work as a tool to attract customers, and they in turn can personalize and control their experience. Apps are different from social commerce (such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. While social commerce is a growing and valuable trend, the term “ecommerce app” refers specifically to dedicated software associated with a specific brand.  While social commerce is a growing and valuable trend, the term “ecommerce app” refers specifically to custom software associated with a specific brand.

Features of a Е-commerce application

When customers plan to shop online, they are looking for a seamless buying process. All mobile commerce applications have several important and minor features in common. If we talk about such things as presentation and design, they are just slightly different on different e-commerce platforms. Let’s take a closer look at the basic and additional features of e-commerce applications.

The main functions of the application  

• Search and browsing. The main aspect of an e-commerce app is to make product search as accessible as possible. And it doesn’t depend on whether it’s a search for a specific product or browsing the latest novelties. The key should still be simplicity. 
• Shopping carts. This feature is required by all e-commerce applications without exception, where customers can easily add products, change the quantity and delete unnecessary ones.
• Customer support. Often customers need help in using the online store, they may want to exchange their product, return it or change its characteristics. This process is greatly simplified if the mobile application has a certain level of e-commerce customer service. 

Additional features of the application

• Push notifications. This feature allows you to notify customers about replenishment of stocks, remind them of the goods that are still in their baskets, etc. and promotional offers.
• Multiple payment options. The availability of several payment options creates an accessible and smooth checkout process, which also attracts customers with additional flexibility. They have the right to choose between paying by credit card, through the popular PayPal service, or perhaps using a service provider such as Affirm – “buy now, pay later”. 

Types of mobile e-commerce apps

When it comes to selling to consumers, there are two types of mobile commercial applications:

• B2C. Such applications are the most commonly used e-commerce applications today because they connect businesses that provide services and sell goods with individual customers. As an example, applications for online stores such as Amazon and Nordstrom.
• C2C. Such ecommerce app connect two or more consumers so that they can exchange goods or services with each other. Examples include applications such as eBay and Poshmark.

Аdvantages of developing an ecommerce app

Perhaps all the above aspects made you wonder why customers prefer mobile apps when shopping online.  Let’s take a look at the benefits of e-business mobile apps…

• Marketing and communication channel

Conducting various marketing campaigns is the success of a mobile application. This is how the audience of potential customers expands and you can build trusting relationships with them. Own application itself is an advertising occasion that allows you to use other marketing tools. Alternatively, you can publish news on thematic resources or send out press releases. Especially valuable in this context is the ability to receive feedback from users.  

• Increased brand recognition

Increasing brand awareness is the biggest benefit of mobile commerce. Through the mobile platform, trends find an easy way to connect with their customers as most consumers spend many hours on their mobile phones. For this, the mobile app must be user-friendly so that the addicted user does not delete it. Brands should offer consumers the best quality and usability of mobile apps. 

• Enhanced customer experience

Consumers want a consistent and personalized experience with a brand. And using only websites as a means of interacting with consumers will not achieve this. To keep your customers loyal, choose mobile apps that make this possible with ease.

By taking advantage of new technologies such as these, you can collect valuable information related to your users, such as what they like:

• What do your customers like? 
• When do they shop online?
• How much time do they spend on making a purchase decision?

These answers will allow you to offer your customers an optimized shopping experience that will increase your sales. 

• Improving interaction with visitors

You can integrate the features of users’ phones with your app to make navigation easier and more accessible and increase customer engagement. GPS will allow the app to get the current location of users. Also, you can add a feature that links the customer’s address to geographic tags. 

• Offer personalized shopping experience to customers

In this case, you can include relevant offers and prioritize features to provide a personalized shopping experience for your customers. And also, take advantage of the information that customers offer in the app.

• Increase average order value

Consider the most effective ways:

• Exclusive content

Offers that are implemented only through the mobile application.

• Reward system

Inclusion of a loyalty program. This can be a system of points that they can use to win free goods, or give them first access to a new collection, as well as bonuses for use in future purchases.

• Extended support

It is worth establishing flawless communication between customers and the store. Despite the transition to the desktop version, customers should be offered solutions to their questions in the app only through a chatbot or live chat. 

Steps: how to create an ecommerce mobile app?

Step 1. Research

It will be appropriate to conduct consumer and competitor research. This will help you determine the right app platform and feature set that best suits your target audience. 

Step 2. Define the goal

The goal of your business is the basis of mobile app cross platform development. You need to understand to whom you sell the product, what problem you want to solve with the mobile application, and why it will be successful.

Step 3. Right platform

Keep an eye on the mobile cross-platform app development cost, inventory, choose a CMS, database, and scalable framework. You need to focus on the mobile platform where your target audience is.

It is important to think about the technology stack:

• Front-end (application interface);
• Back-end (processing on the server); 
• Development (platform with libraries and interfaces);
• Supporting (technologies that ensure the security and performance of the application). 

When creating an ecommerce app on the Android platform, you need to think about: 

• Programming language (Java/Kotlin for Android);
• Application development tools (Android Studio);
• Interface framework (Jetpack Compose);
• Android interface. 

Similarly, when it comes to iOS, you need to think about the following: 

• Programming language (Objective-C or Swift);  
• IOS mobile development tools (XCode, AppCode); 
• User interface frameworks (UIKIt or SwiftUI). 

For crossplatform mobile app development, read and choose among:

• React Native (JS);
• Flutter (Dart)
• Xamarin (C#). 

Step 4. Define the functionality

To determine which product feature is at the top of the list, you can use popular prioritization systems and strategies.

Step 5. UX&UI design

UX&UI design is an opportunity to make the product bright. The design will become the identity of the business for target customers. Color schemes, eye-catching visuals, and smooth transitions from one page to another are what will make a lasting impression on your customer and keep them coming back.

Step 6. MVP episode

MVP is exactly the place where you need to focus on the most vital features of your eCommerce app. Instead of implementing a full-fledged product right away, it’s worth doing a continuous product evaluation that fuels further improvements. 

Step 7. Feedback

Collecting feedback is the process of checking how users interact with your app, collecting feedback and looking for possible improvements. It will help you find out what works for your target audience and what doesn’t.

Step 8. Iteration.

If we analyze the e-commerce store, we see that design is never permanent. On the contrary, it is constantly evolving and adapting to the needs of users.

In conclusion…

Mobile apps can provide many benefits for almost any e-Commerce business. If you are still in doubt about whether you need a mobile app from one of the top software companies in Europe, we hope the facts in this article will help you make the right decision.

Remember that any product or tool should solve specific tasks and contribute to the development of the company. Based on this, you need to plan the work and make a list of the necessary functions of the future product.

Your business should strive for development, to stay on the wave of new technologies and respond to innovations that can make it more efficient. Mobile application development can help you take tangible steps towards achieving such goals. We will be happy to help you with the ecommerce development of a mobile application for your business, our niche cross-platform mobile app developer will consult you and bring your idea to life. Feel free to contact the professional Omisoft team. We will be glad to see you!

By Yevhen Sakara

CBDO & Co-founder

Nov 29, 2022

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