Mobile app development for ecommerce

E-commerce, basically a short form for electronic commerce, (also called e-business) refers to any business that uses the world wide web or the internet. With the world becoming more virtual, it makes sense for the traditional mindset of businesses to change with the times. The entire shopping process is slowly moving from the touch and feel kind to the see and visualize kind – with images, videos and audio taking the experience to a whole new level. It is not wrong to say that this is one of the major uses of the internet nowadays. This is inevitable today to understand why mobile app development for ecommerce is an essential factor.

Some of the main advantages of e-commerce as we know it are:

• No barriers of time or distance – people can shop at their convenient time and wherever they want. People are not constrained by the timings of a typical brick and mortar establishment.
• Geography does not matter – with shipping to any part of the world possible, businesses can literally go global.
• Faster – the shopping experience, if found pleasant, would result in a faster sale.
• Cheaper – the businesses no longer have to maintain stone and mortar showrooms and invest in staff manning them. Subsequently, some of these cost benefits were passed on to the customers, who saved on the fuel to travel to the store anyway.
• Convenient – e-commerce is more convenient not only to the seller but to the buyer as well.

In order to understand the different types of e-commerce businesses, let us have a quick look at the terms used:

• B2B – business to business (can be equated to wholesale business)
• B2C – business to consumer (can be equated to retail business and is also called e-tail)
• C2C – consumer to consumer (home-based business or small scale business)
• C2B – consumer to business (e.g consultants to businesses)

 The online shopping process:

The first step is the creation of an e-commerce website or an app that allows people to view what you are offering for sale – be it products or services. This software should allow customers to purchase, pay, track the delivery and give feedback on the product/service and shopping experience. Finally, the software should be able to recommend new products to existing customers based on their browsing and purchasing history.

Applications in e-commerce:

The applications used for e-commerce are many viz:

• Websites
• Email
• Catalogues
• Payment gateways
• Social media
• Mobile apps

It is vital that information security is stringently implemented with suitable controls and encryption of communication to ensure that customer data is safe.

The transformation of mobile phones and usage

The older day phones came with call receiving and making functions, text capabilities and some rudimentary applications like calendar, music, email etc. Some basic games like Snake were included and the mobile browser came in to access the internet. The advent of the smartphone has really opened up the possibilities of the mobile and made it akin to a personal computer.

Studies have found that mobile phones are checked 150 times a day on an average and that people spend around three hours a day on their phones. No wonder it makes sense for e-commerce to transition to a mobile experience.

Why mobile apps instead of browsers?

• Apps are faster – some data is stored locally on the mobile phone and so the entire experience is faster than a browser. A browser has to request data over the web for all the queries whereas the app fetches it from the device giving a faster response.
• Apps are more visible – since apps are hosted on mobile phones which are used for a long time, they are visible to the user and help in brand recognition and brand recall. There are more chances of the app being used than the website.
• Apps are focused – there are no pop-ups or ads within an app and make the shopping experience smoother. A major distraction or irritating feature on a website are the factors that take away the attention of the customer from the sale.
• Apps use the features of the device – like camera, GPS, touch ID, contact list and so on so that payment can be made easier. A camera can be used for the credit card payment, GPS can be used to sell based on user location, touch ID can be used for payment, and sometimes the address book can be used to send ads or promotions.
• Apps can be used offline – some parts can be used when you are not connected to the internet and later on, connect for the payment and other options. The local cache of the device is used to host these features that do not require internet connectivity to give the user access to the app even when data is not enabled or available on his mobile.
• Websites are generally designed to cater to most browsers but sometimes some browsers may not be compatible and the user experience is not too good. There are many browsers and keeping track of the possible upgrades on all the browsers is a herculean task, which may have some misses. Apps work better and are easier to use.
• Apps are no longer difficult to build – with the huge amount of app builder software present on the web, mobile app development is no longer a tedious task. Depending on the type of business you have, small scale or enterprise, type of interface required, number of users, features required, traffic expected, you can tailor make an app to suit your requirements and budget. A few examples of the mobile app builders are io, appy pie, good barber, mobincube,  swiftic to name a few.
• The cost of developing a mobile app is affordable to even small businesses. In fact, apps reduce the marketing and advertising costs since the brand is available on the handheld and communication happens directly to the user on the app using the push notifications.
• Apps have been proven to increase sales because of the ease of shopping and the pleasant shopping experience helps in converting more leads to business.
• Increase in customer base is an added bonus if mobile apps are developed – due to the simple fact that the number of mobile phone users is constantly increasing. Studies have proved that mobile user base is consistently growing and there are very few basic phone users out there.
• Apps are more secure compared to websites. There is no need to float the user ID and password every time over the internet when you want to login to the mobile app. So for tech-savvy users, they are a better bet than e-commerce
• Apps provide a better user experience – since users do not have to remember a URL or their login details when they use an app. Of course, the design of the app plays a major role in the user experience.
• Apps have lesser chances of cart abandonment than an ecommerce website. This is a major problem for all ecommerce which is significantly reduced in a mobile app.
• Apps can improve customer engagement – if you can think of having a helpdesk or chatbots to take queries, give recommendations based on browsing and order history or even remind users of items left in the cart but not ordered.

What should be available on a mobile app?

• Accurate details about the product and the cost. These should get topmost priority in any app design.
• Great images – since the user cannot touch or feel, images are what will sell your product. It makes sense to have professional photos and even a 360-degree view of the product on display to give a great user experience.
• Simplicity in design and ease of use – instead of creating a busy app, it is better to grab the users attention using simplicity.
• Information security – there is a lot of user data available on the app including address, proof of identity and credit card details sometimes. It is mandatory to ensure that this data is kept secure and not vulnerable to theft.
• Integration with other social media – instead of asking a user to fill in multiple details to create a user ID and password, it makes sense to use their social media accounts like Google or Facebook to login. Chances are that more accounts would get created this way since people hate filling up details.
• Push notifications – to market your goods, make the customer aware of discounts and offers etc.
• Geolocation identification – when the app is capable of picking up the location of the user, it is possible to send relevant notifications and customize the user experience.
• App only offers – many businesses run app only offers where they offer discounts if ordering is done from the app rather than the website. When a customer downloads the app, he or she becomes a brand loyalist and a repeat customer.
• Reward points – can be used to bring the customer back for another round of shopping.
• Customer support – both technical and business support 24/7 goes a long way in building confidence and boosting sales.
• Simple ordering and checkout process – the number of steps should be as minimum as possible so that the process is faster. There should also be an option to retain the items in the cart if there is a network failure somewhere in the checkout process so that the process can be repeated again.
• Simple payment options. A payment gateway is mandatory with a backup if required.
• Mobile cloud computing ensures a better experience to the users since the data will be retrieved based on the location and doesn’t have to be fetched from on-premise data centres which may be halfway across the globe.

Looking at all the different advantages, it makes more economic and commercial sense to invest in building up a great mobile app for your business which will help increase your customer base, increase potential leads and improve conversions of leads to sales and improve direct marketing, brand recognition and brand recall. Big businesses (typically B2B) who are already established in the market can use the mobile apps to change their style of marketing and advertising, whereas small businesses and startups can gain business significantly by adopting the mobile apps. The future of ecommerce business is mobile apps and there are some organisations that are looking at doing away with conventional websites and focus entirely on mobile apps only. Mobile apps are thus the way to go, for any ecommerce business.