As with everything, the retail business too is evolving with time. With the rise of the internet, we have seen a proliferation of e-commerce year by year. Nowadays, it is an integral part of our daily lives. Often, even when we peruse a physical store, we try out and pick stuff to go back home and order it online for a better price. It is just so comfy and convenient! Though, e-commerce itself is now a word that is getting antiquated a bit… Today is the day of m-commerce. Everything is going mobile, and shopping has already went there in force in all the biggest markets. Mobile apps and devices has long since surpassed desktop and web browsers in those markets. E-commerce mobile apps are the way to go for the future. Let us take a look at why it is so, and how can you enjoy its benefits!
Why apps are overtaking the web in e-commerce?
Well, that’s easy to see, the apps are everywhere, they are with us all the time! A well made mobile app is pretty much the very definition of convenience. Young or old, women or men, we all use apps daily to achieve lots of things. A small smart device in our hands is a much more friendly and tactile system to lug around and use than a computer.
From little ones to uncles and aunties, we see people using their devices and apps to communicate, play, watch things, listen to music, and… to shop! It is an “anywhere, anytime” kind of deal after all… Convenient to peruse the apps to see the latest going ons, or the hottest deals! Be it on your comfy couch at home, or an otherwise dreary evening trip in public transportation, smartphones, and mobile apps are always with us.
This, of course, had led to a great shift in customer behaviors in e-commerce. If an online store has a mobile presence, this made it more likely for users to browse it often.
If you want your potential customers to be able to shop from your wares online, you should consider getting an app too. Such an e-commerce mobile app will enable you to make use of the power our mobile devices have over us 🙂 This much is clear, but how to go about it? What are the specifics of doing e-commerce mobile apps?
Getting mobile in the world of e-commerce
As with most things, there are multiple ways to go about it, with various ups and downs according to your needs. First off, if you already have a shop set up with popular e-commerce providers like woocommerce, magento, shopify, etc, you’ll probably want integration with those in your app. If you don’t, you have the options of either setting up one over those platforms or create your own digital storefront from scratch.
>Finally, you will need to create the app itself. Or apps themselves, as depending on how you go about it, you may or may not need to create two separate apps for Android and iOS. Thankfully though, there are options to simplify the creation process. If you use hybrid libraries, you can code once for both platforms for example. Though, these libraries tend to have their quirks and hoops at times. Though, they still need coding skills.
A step further, you have app builder platforms like MobiRoller. Here, you don’t need to do any coding, at all! Just like building a Wix or WordPress website, you can click your way through creating the professional app you want. Though, you need to research a bit and find the right app maker platform for you. Some are better for content or community side of things, others are all for making shiny looking apps, and yet others give you the tools and integrations for good e-commerce mobile apps. Obviously, you want to use the latter.
The cost of making an app can vary from one method to another, but generally speaking, an app maker is the most hassle-free and cost-saving approach you can have.
E-commerce vs m-commerce, what’s the difference?
The difference, of course, mainly lies in where the transaction occurs: on mobile apps vs web and/or desktop apps. Though, the mobile comes with a multitude of advantages as we’ve touched above. To tidy them up in a list:
- Location tracking: This unique power coming with mobile apps and devices let you market things to people according to their locations.
- Convenient and secure transactions: It is usually easier to pay on your mobile than on a website. With new technologies developing at a rapid pace, mobile specific payment options are improving as well. Additional security options like fingerprint or retina scans are already coming up!
- Wide audiences: The reach of mobile tech has far outgrown that of the traditional web. You will often see many, many aunties and grandpas perusing the digital world inside their smartphones. You won’t see them trawling through e-commerce sites on a computer anytime soon.
- Accessibility: Mobile apps are with us anytime, anywhere. A user on an e-commerce site may look at the wares once a week, or a day, or they may not… On the flip side, people check their apps many times a day, leading to much better user engagement and customer retention.
- Customer engagement: Apps offer by far the greatest engagement with your audience. You can use the power of push notifications to let them know something in their wishlist is on sale, or that you have the perfect swimsuit for the beach they are passing by!
Start your mobile journey, get your e-commerce mobile apps now!
Shopping behaviors steadily shifted from offline to online through the last couple of decades. Now that same evolution is happening from websites to mobile app, but much more rapidly. You really shouldn’t miss this trend. The earlier you catch it, the better.
Here in MobiRoller, we offer you some of the easiest to use and affordable approaches into the world of mobile apps. You can start creating apps right now, no need for coding skills, and it’s free to use!
