15 Reasons Why your E-commerce Store needs a Mobile App

Due to the negative impact of the pandemic on physical shopping and purchases, business owners have moved to online retailing for the continuation of their sales. E-commerce has made transactions such as groceries, scoping for essentials and other needs, and the exchange of money safer and easier.

In April 2020, there has been an expansion in e-commerce for the US and Canada by 129% and a boost of 146% among online retailing purchases.

Even prior to the pandemic, e-commerce stores have already shown great potential among mobile app users. With the fast-growing market, it would help you to bolster your e-commerce stores by engaging customers with a mobile app.

Here are a few points on the importance of mobile apps for e-commerce.

1. Boost buyer’s experience

Speed of loading data is an important factor for consumers to continue subscribing to the site of an online seller. Since mobile apps provide better loading speed than websites, they ensure a positive experience for customers.

2. Expand user base

Data showed that smartphone users around the world will grow up to 3.8 billion by 2021. Using mobile commerce or Mcommerce will amplify the existing audiences of companies and will prepare them for venturing into newer markets.

3. Click with consumer’s timing

The use of push notifications minimizes the cost of updating smartphone users on changes or news on services and products provided by the company or business owner. If the customers agree to be prompted, push notifications are more accessible compared to emails and easily catch the attention of users.

4. Enhance interaction with the user

The element of Gamification is a trend in apps that is hard to ignore. The design and functionality of the app are critical to the user experience. Including features of gamification in development will improve the usability and interactivity of the app.

5. Provide user accessibility

Improving the features of the mobile app and enabling them to be available offline would increase consumer usage. User inclusivity is important to attract various audiences and would cater to the needs of different consumers.

Not including travel and event tickets, global retail e-commerce sales had a projected increase from 7.4% to 14.6% starting 2015 until 2020.

6. Cement market loyalty

Linking e-commerce stores with mobile apps is practical to ensure ties with customers. Mobile users and online shoppers choose to shop online and carry out transactions with apps affiliated or promoted by companies and brands they are familiar with. Stores would also maintain omni-channels, wherein they would utilize different channels online and offline. This experience shows how business owners value the accessibility and preferences of customers.

7. Encourage consumer feedback

There are features that can be added in mobile apps so that sharing links of products on e-commerce stores is quicker and simpler. If users are satisfied with your online store, they may promote their content and post it for their social circles to view and access.

8. Smoother dissemination and navigation

Related to the previous point, there are components and specifications of mobile devices that make them easier to use compared to laptops and desktop computers. Built-in cameras and voice control work faster on smartphones. These features help a user maneuver effortlessly through menus or decrease the time it takes for the exchange of information. For example, if a user’s ID photo or documents are needed, it would be quicker for them to just link their phone cameras to mobile apps.

9. Offer locations easily

It is at the user’s discretion to enable the GPS features of their mobile devices. Normally, allowing their real-time location to be tagged would prove beneficial if they want to track online orders or if they want to book couriers for exchange of items or designation of transactions.

Furthermore, customers can easily locate physical stores, in the event that it is safe to visit them and see the products for themselves.

10. Personalize content

Monitoring user activity has been augmented due to the function of mobile apps. This increases the marketing strategy of business owners, such as making additional or further recommendations to the consumer.

If allowed by the user, information such as contact details or physical and email addresses previously inputted would be recorded for speeding up processes and for later transactions via the same mobile app.

11. Ease shopping

With the touch feature of mobile devices, a user can just complete a purchase by minimized movement or clicks. One-touch shopping and cataloging are more convenient to customers in terms of maintaining their attention span and in saving time.

Ecommerce trends in the US in 2016 also found that 28% of senior citizens and 41% of consumers within the baby boomer bracket purchase what they click.

12. Observe trends

With mobile app analytics to obtain user information and habits, compiling and examining user behavior and preference has been made easier. Being attentive to the interests of users starting from when they manifest intent to purchase and their habitual buying would help build information on current and potential consumers in your market.

Studying these trends and integrating them with the demographics of your audience would give companies or sellers informed decisions in forecasting future patterns and in further improving their online stores. During holidays, e-commerce stores may also be advised to reduce costs and resources to lessen risks in sales.

13. Attract using social media

In 2019, Ypulse indicated that 51% of ages 18-36 and 44% of ages 13-17 were influenced by products posted on social media and were enjoined to search for these items. Mobile apps such as Snapchat, Pinterest, and Instagram have made it easier for users to access links and photos and to view similar items to what they have purchased or what they have shown interest in (by liking, following pages, etc.).

It is also profitable to invest in advertisements through social media to further promote your products. Ypulse also provided that young people (aged 18-24) browsed social media apps for approximately four hours daily. This was noted for 53% of teenagers (aged 13-36) that visited social media to search for possible purchases.

14. Reduce payment hassle

According to Google, price monitoring and scoping out discounts, and reading product reviewers were done by almost 60% of mobile users with their smartphones in 2016. Moreover, 66% of this sample had bought items weekly, but it should be noted that 38% check items online using their phones but move back to their desktop computers or laptops in completing these transactions.

Mobile banking and contactless payments are widely accomplished through mobile apps. By integrating these connections to your e-commerce store, completing purchases would improve customer satisfaction and convenience.

15. Communicate with users

Customer service is one of the prime factors that retain customer loyalty. If buyers encounter issues with their product or wish to inquire regarding its features, there should be an immediate and accessible contact to connect them with the store. There is a 76.8% chance that buyers will not go through with their purchases if their concerns are not resolved.

Mobile apps make use of chatbots where customers may access and provide information easily. In the event that mobile features are linked to the app, buyers may provide their contact information to be reached by agents. There should be initial contact and acknowledgment of the concern through the chatbot.

Conclusion

In summary, mobile apps are critical for e-commerce to flourish, especially at this period. This pandemic has affected various businesses in different ways, and the response of customers may change within the next few months. You may not be able to reach your clients in the shortest distance, that is why it is important to sustain e-commerce through your mobile app and a keen strategy. The best way to stay in the game is to adapt to the trends of the market and then develop your mobile applications and regulate e-commerce stores accordingly.