The E-commerce industry is booming in India. Propelled by the Covid-19 crisis, more and more businesses and consumers are increasingly going digital to provide and purchase goods and services online. This rise, coupled with the advancements in mobile app development, presses the need for E-retailers to rethink their platform strategy: Website vs. Mobile App.
Even though the decision depends upon various factors, including the product offering, target consumer segment, and competition, investment in mobile app development is essential to stay ahead. The advent in the digital age is enabling consumers to quickly adapt to new technology and keeping E-retailers on their toes to devise new ways of offering their services. Making services available via a Mobile App has become a bare necessity.
Numbers don’t lie: Mobile Commerce is Taking Over
According to a Business Insider Intelligence report, m-commerce volume is expected to rise at a 25.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019 to hit $488.0 billion in 2024. The latest reports published by Statista highlights that approximately 80% of the internet population in India access it via their mobile phones.
A survey conducted in 2018 concludes that mobile devices comprise 67% of global E-commerce sales. Consumer surveys over the years have concluded that consumers prefer mobile applications to websites, with the average time spent on a mobile app is 3-4 times longer than on websites.
Besides being supported by numbers and surveys, presence on a mobile application has various benefits that can help trigger sales, strengthen the customer base and boost your brand presence, converting into long-term profitability.
Increase Customer Loyalty and Retention
Installation of mobile app filters to include a user base that has a higher investment intention in your brand. The presence of your brand icon on mobile phones increases the probability of your brand becoming the user’s first shopping choice. Mobile application developers, across iOS and Android, offer various add-on features that can further enhance customer interaction:
- Personalization: based on customers’ previous interactions and purchases on the app, you may employ app development software to personalize the home feed and search results. By carefully choosing your app development service provider, you may include customized messages to include customer names, target their birthdays,
- App-exclusive offers: by offering deals and special prices exclusive for mobile app users, you may incentivize app downloads and increase purchase conversion
- Enhance customer support: live chat or automated chatbots on mobile apps help to create 24×7 support
- Gamification: you may introduce reward systems to offer free items, collectibles, badges, etc. to increase the number of return customers. These accompanied by referral codes help to acquire new
- Push notifications: some of the basic push notification advantages include the announcement of special offers and discount schemes, the introduction of the new item, a reminder about cart items, and information about restocking the items they
Save up on Marketing Budget
Monitoring of user interaction and detailed analytics on mobile applications help to devise an efficient marketing strategy. You may use and customize push notifications to enhance and create targeted marketing communication.
Increase Average Order Value
Accredited to increased ease in browsing, mobile applications have the ability to showcase more products per session compared to desktop screens, hence converting into an increased number of items purchased.
Reduce Cart Abandonment Rates
Mobile application developers have come up with features that fight the most common reasons for cart abandonment. These include seamless checkout processes, saving previously used preferred information like address, one-click-ordering, and various payment gateway technologies compatible with both iOS and Android app stores.
Load Content Faster on Mobile Application
Research shows that even a lag of 3 seconds in loading a website can result in 40% of visitors moving to another source/ website. Working with quality app developers enables your mobile application to provide basic functions, such as product lists and prices, to load without an internet connection. This provides a huge advantage over websites that require a stable internet connection to load.
Leverage Smartphone Features
A major contribution of mobile applications is the ability to use inbuilt phone features like camera, microphone, location, voice recognition functionality, and the ability to integrate and share on social media platforms.
Enhance Usability
Mobile applications give room for more creativity, make the app design look stylish and modern, including animation or high definition images. Enhanced UIUX allows developers to introduce exclusive and intuitive navigation helping customers to easily find what they are looking for.
Mobile applications are rapidly becoming a deeply connected part of people’s life by helping them to keep with the fast-moving and busy lifestyles. Interacting with customers on mobile apps not only offers short-term and instant profits but also helps reap benefits in long run. Consequently, the development of a mobile application should be of high priority for E-commerce companies.
