Important Reasons to Create a Mobile App for Your Online Store

A highly optimized and well-designed online store with a wide range of products is usually considered as the main asset of every eCommerce business. But retailers still hesitate to create a mobile app that will work faster on mobile devices than their existing website. Nonetheless, they definitely should do it and here’s why.

“It is expensive”.

The money that was spent on the development of a mobile app is an investment at a good percentage that pays off quickly and then brings good income. For example, if the development will cost $10 000 and 5 000 users will install it – you’ll get 5 000 loyal customers and you’ll spend $2 on each of them. And this was just one of the many examples of successful mobile apps that we’ve developed. We’ll gladly provide you the full price for development and promotion of your app via the phone.

“It is difficult”.

During the development we won’t bore you with the technical aspects of this process and in the end you will receive a mobile app that is working fully automatically. We will also attach a convenient admin panel for those things that should be done by hand. You won’t need any additional resources.

According to the study that Google has published in 2017, 58% of mobile users use their smartphones to monitor prices, offers and discounts, check reviews, compare products, and even buy things. Moreover, 66% of these people used their mobile device to shop online at least once a week. It may seem that 38% of purchases is not that high of a number for mobile devices. But every online store owner has to remember that in 58% of cases, customers first use their smartphones to check available offers and prices, and only then they use desktop to checkout.

Given these statistics, a fair question may arise: isn’t the adaptive website a better alternative to a mobile app? Or, will the adaptive website be enough for a successful eCommerce? It can be enough, but not for a successful and effective eCommerce. Let’s take a look at the main advantages of mobile eCommerce apps.

Reason 1: An online store app is creating a loyal audience (loyalty of customers)

One of the main advantages of mobile apps is their ability to create loyalty to a particular brand. At first glance customer loyalty is a very ephemeral indicator and it is very difficult to calculate and express it in numerical form for analysis and decision-making. But, on the other hand, this invisible indicator plays a huge role in the customer’s decision to purchase something, as it acts like a trigger in his mind when he needs one last argument to decide whether to buy a particular product.

Customer loyalty can be defined as a positive attitude towards a particular product, brand, store, service, etc., which (although it is a consequence of factors significant for the customer) lies rather in the parts of the brain where human feelings live. And the feelings are the most important and powerful factor influencing human decisions, because we are emotional beings.

According to data provided by Adobe, 67% of online shoppers, who use their mobile devices to shop, prefer apps offered by their favorite companies and brands. Pay attention to keywords: prefer apps and favorite brands. These are the words associated with our feelings, which suggests that our positive emotions are the most important factor when choosing and buying a product or service. Therefore, mobile solutions make the connection between online stores and their customers stronger. In other words, 67% of your success in eCommerce is customer loyalty. Just like this we got a completely accurate numerical indicator of what loyalty is and how to evaluate it in terms of the importance of relationships with the client.

How to get people to download and install your mobile app?

Simply offer them exclusive personalized deals based on their history of interactions and purchases, or give your customers limited discounts to encourage them to install your mobile app.

Mobile eCommerce apps load content faster than websites.

Not many online store owners understand that a slow website can lead to business losses and even collapse. Customers hate slow websites, especially on mobile devices, and often buy from competitors due to a lack of positive user experience. According to data provided by Kissmetrics, if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load a page, 40% of visitors will immediately go to another site. This is why online stores must be fast enough to form a core of loyal customers and this is where mobile apps have a huge advantage over websites.

Since mobile eCommerce apps do not need specific web protocols to provide users with basic functionality and required content, such as product comparisons, promotions or price checks, they effectively use the entire performance abilities of the device. And websites need a constant Internet connection to update any part of their content to keep offers and prices up to date.

However, this does not mean that speed is irrelevant for mobile applications. They also should be fast and “lightweight” because the same rule is relevant in their case as well.

Users usually delete the app from their device if it takes too much time to load it, or if the weight of a mobile app  is too large and requires the use of a large amount of resources of the device. 

Apps provide better UX/UI for the user

There’s no need to have constant access to the Internet for the apps to work, and it increases the convenience of their use. Also, the improved in the development of the interface design UX / UI can significantly improve the usability of a mobile app. This allows applications to load heavy animations or high definition images much faster, making the UX / UI of eCommerce applications stylish, modern and vibrant.

The architecture of the app allows developers to create exclusive and useful features with intuitive navigation. Another advantage that provides an online store on Android or iOS is the ability to implement elements of gamification in the app. It has become a steady trend in mobile app development as gamification creates higher levels of interactivity, engagement and user experience.

Apps are more interactive than eСommerce websites.

EСommerce mobile apps encourage mobile users to share links to their favorite websites or ask friends to share their opinion on a particular product or service in social networks and instant messengers. This marketing channel — is one of the most effective, and inexpensive ways to promote your products. Each loyal customer that has your mobile app automatically becomes a “live” marketing agent to advertise your online store and your products on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, as well as in Facebook and Whatsapp messengers. People admire exclusive items and quality products and services if they perfectly meet their needs and desires, and they actively promote such brands, products and applications to their friends and family. Give a special offer to those who have installed your application and they will be happy to share a few links to your website.

Reason 2 The app usage and mobile eCommerce market are evolving and growing.

Part of mobile commerce in eCommerce.

The fast-growing mobile eCommerce market is helping online business owners strengthen their relationships with their customers.

It has become much easier to buy any product in a store located in another city or even another country, sitting at home or in the office in your own chair. Some of the largest players in online trading, such as Amazon or Walmart, trade not only in the United States, but also in other countries. The percentage of Americans ordering goods online has already exceeded 70%. 91% of Americans have searched for goods and services online on mobile devices in the past 6 months. In big cities, 75% of residents visit online stores, in small cities – 62% or less.

Online shopping has revolutionized the way people shop today. There has never been a better time to develop a mobile app for an online store. In some cases, a mobile retail app becomes a more efficient sales channel than the online store itself. 

The shopping revolution

The mobile market has grown over the past few years and by the end of 2018, mobile traffic had reached 70% of the whole eCommerce traffic.

The growing ubiquity of mobile devices in eCommerce is driven by the desire of shoppers to complete transactions without the need for a PC. They want the opportunity to buy something to be at hand at any time. With their mobile devices, shoppers can now view, analyze and purchase items anytime, anywhere.

With $195.4 billion revenue in mobile eCommerce in 2020, mobile shopping will be particularly relevant in the next few years. This means that your eCommerce business should participate in the mobile shopping revolution by optimizing the mobile website and launching your own mobile app.

TOP categories in mobile eCommerce with high sales level

• Digital and home appliances
• Goods from China
• Clothes and footwear
• Tourism
• Goods for children
• Health and beauty

Recommendations for retailers:

• All stores should make an adaptive version if there is no budget for the development of mobile sales. This will help assess the growth potential.
• For companies with a turnover of more than $200,000USD per year, or in niches with a greater share of mobile sales, assess the need to create a mobile application for an online store.
• Use Instagram and Facebook as a marketing tool to increase brand popularity and promote your products and services.

The situation in the market

Internet Retailer study found that the volume of the global eCommerce market in 2019 grew by 17.9% and amounted to $ 3.46 trillion. According to expert analysis, the volume of online retail sales in 2016–2019 grew by an average of 20% per year, while retail sales in offline stores increased by only 3.5% per year. China and the United States are the world’s leaders on the eCommerce market, taking about 40% of it.

The retail market is growing mainly due to online commerce, according to research made by experts in eCommerce, and the share of online sales in the retail sector increased from 10.5% in 2016 to 16.4% in 2019.

90% of online consumers in the country have made at least one online purchase in the past few years. In the United States, 37.3% of all digital transactions were made with mobile devices in the first quarter of 2017, according to Statista. These numbers have doubled over the past three years, and the chart has been steadily growing since the second quarter of 2010, although at that time, the share of mobile commerce in total digital spending was only 1.8%.

In the United States, the main eCommerce market players generated $ 101.85 billion in sales in 2019:

Most Popular US Online Stores by Sales ($ Million)

• Amazon.com – 62,850
• Walmart.com – 14,668
• Apple.com – 9,944
• Homedepot.com – 7,859
• Bestbuy.com – 6,525

The global eCommerce market is developing through two formats:

• Online stores

Websites through which you can view information about the product or service and place an order. The number of offered assortments varies widely. This is the most numerous class of online trading platforms.

• Marketplaces

Aggregator sites or specialized intermediaries that automatically collect and process information from various suppliers (offline and online) for different product groups. On many of them you can now order and buy goods without going to the supplier’s website.

If this trend continues, then the volume of the global eCommerce market will exceed the volume of traditional retail by 2035.

As consumers gain confidence that they will have a good online shopping experience, they are looking online for higher quality products at lower prices. They also love large online stores for a wide variety of products and a large selection of price offers.

More than 50% of online shoppers in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America already choose goods on foreign sites, according to a study of the payment system PayPal.

For example, the 1000 largest online retailers in North America sell $ 143 billion worth of goods to customers outside the United States. At the same time, Amazon’s share of these international sales is 44%.

67% of retailers believe cross-border eCommerce is the most important source of future growth for their company. 52% agree with the statement that international eCommerce suits them because it has a lot of international clients.

Experts say that online retailers need to tackle a number of issues, including fraud, payment types and foreign currency acceptance.

People started to use mobile apps on their smartphones more often. 

According to Flurry Analytics users spend 90% of their time interacting with their mobile device in apps.

Internet technology experts suggest that the “time of mobile applications” has come. 

Statistics show that 79% of smartphone users have one or more online store apps installed, and 10% of mobile device users have about 6 online store mobile apps installed.

Mobile eCommerce trends

Convenient payments

The trend for mobile purchases and payments is actively growing. More and more customers “live” on their mobile devices, so companies started thinking about using and setting up payment services for mobile devices more often. 

Voice assistants

The number of mobile platforms that use voice assistants is also growing. In the future, the trend will only grow: by 2022, ordering goods or services using voice may become a standard function for eCommerce. 

Intelligent robots

Chatbots, machine learning, artificial intelligence and personalization are being used more and more in eCommerce. Machine learning and big data will allow you to simulate the entire process of communication with a client, and a properly configured chatbot will put this process into practice. This will result in higher conversion rates and lower personnel costs.

Many companies tend to personalize their offerings to customers. By collecting data, conducting surveys and tests (including those made with the help of chat bots), you can not only more accurately identify their needs, but also offer your clients an individual product.

For example, Scent Bird are using surveys and machine intelligence to study your tastes and preferences, and then they’re sending out a sample of perfume that you are more likely to enjoy. And some services will create them according to your preferences.

The same goes for online clothing platforms. The customers no longer need to sit for hours choosing products from thousands of offers. An experienced chatbot will find out about their preferences and select a wardrobe in a matter of seconds. The personalization trend will only keep growing. 

Pay in installments 

Many companies implement installment plans for purchases. They’re not loans and are issued as a subscription with a bank card. Thanks to this, the conversion in mobile applications and on websites increases up to 30%. 

Augmented reality

Virtual and augmented reality technologies are being actively implemented. This allows a client to view the product online in detail, which also increases the conversion significantly.

At Amazon, for example, you can “try on” a purchase to your home interior. Are you buying household appliances and do not know if they will fit your kitchen? With the help of augmented reality technology, you can point your phone in the kitchen and find out how the device or furniture will look there.

Reason 3: Online store mobile app allows you to create an advanced marketing strategy 

The enhanced functionality of mobile apps allows online stores to have better control over user interactions compared to websites and get more detailed analytics.

These advantages help business owners to personalize content more accurately and, as a result, implement better customer recommendation systems to increase conversions. 

The mobile online store can use the built-in functions of the smartphone.  

Modern mobile applications provide various options for user interaction. The website cannot provide customers with the ability to use the built-in camera to show their new outfits to their friends without leaving the said website. With an app it becomes a simple act of a few seconds. Another way to increase user engagement is to implement a voice recognition feature that will allow users to navigate menus, add items to cart, or subscribe to newsletters. Your application can also show the location of the nearest offline store using GPS. 

Apps allow you to increase conversions through push notifications.

Most of the popular mobile eCommerce apps regularly send push notifications to smartphone owners. Compared to traditional SMS, push notifications are a cheaper and more effective advertising channel. They eliminate the need for databases that contain user phone numbers. Moreover, push notifications are more effective than emails, as they are always available to users if they haven’t turned the notifications on their device off. In addition, there is no spam folder for push notifications and it is difficult to ignore them.

Developing a mobile application is a necessary and essential step for eCommerce business owners.

An online store website with a responsive design is a sufficient measure only at the first stages of a project — to test a business idea or probe the market. To win a significant part of the market, it is necessary to develop an online store for Android and iOS platforms, which will create an advanced marketing strategy to attract more customers and increase revenue. Also, a mobile application for eCommerce will allow you to increase the loyalty of your customers and conduct direct advertising campaigns.

The Front Desk Helpers team will be happy to help you create an effective and optimized mobile application with a modern design for your online store, as well as offer additional marketing tools that will increase the efficiency of the store. 

Get a free online consultation from our marketing specialist and get more sales with your mobile app.