Over the last few years, the e-Commerce industry is witnessing a staggering growth of mobile solutions development brought forward by customer needs. Online shoppers value the freedom of doing shopping on the go more than anything today. Hence, the majority of customers prefer mobile solutions to web versions, as they offer unprecedented ease of use, flexibility, and convenience. 

So if you aren’t still on the ball, chances are high that you’re missing a lion’s share of profit. But don’t worry, we’ll lay it all out for you and reveal everything you need to know about ecommerce apps.

Why Ecommerce App Is No Longer Optional

Statistics demonstrate that ecommerce mobile app development is a mandate in the modern business world. The number of mobile app users is growing exponentially each year, leaving web versions well behind. 

Also, as numbers show, more than 30% of users turn to retail applications weekly, while 8% of consumers use ecommerce apps on a daily basis. While the latter number might sound small-fry, it may make a difference if we’re talking about generating sales. Not impressed by mathematics? Let’s keep on with the more convincing reasons.

5 Reasons Your Ecommerce Store Needs To Go Mobile

1. Raise brand awareness

The golden rule of sales says that your company should be where your customers are. If we have a glance at the stats again, the answer is simple: your target audience has migrated to smartphones.Therefore, you’re left with no other choice than to go mobile. That is if you want to build a relationship with your consumers, of course. The more downloads your application gets, the higher your chances are to win over a new loyal buyer. Chatbots can add a little automation twist to your solution and ease the strain on the business. 

Push notifications are another lifesaver that facilitates communication with customers and boosts open rates. An interesting fact: it even beats marketing and email newsletter in terms of performance.

2. Sophisticated technologies for the win

Mobile applications also open up a whole wealth of opportunities otherwise unavailable offline. Thus, native app development accounts for better performance and grants access to advanced app-in functionality. This includes such tech comforts as GPS, camera, calendar, and others.

Some of the very well-proven benefits guaranteed by this functionality lie in superior client experience and customer service. Also, it allows you to make your marketing campaigns more targeted and suited to users’ needs.

3. Smart way to collect consumer`s data

Fetching customer data is what sets your business up for success since you get a profound insight into your focal group. A mobile application assists in capturing, storing, and analyzing user`s data, so you can keep tabs on consumer preferences and buying behavior. Moreover, e-commerce applications enable you to offer specific items that may be interesting to the particular consumer. 

4. Faster, easier, and more secure payments

Inbuilt secure payment options are by far the fastest and most convenient way to pay. Since all account details are safely stored in the application, users won’t have to fill out their billing information over and over again.

Mobile payments are catching fire since they have been simplifying the way we transact with businesses. Additionally, they typically process much faster than swipe payments or inserted credit cards, so transactions are managed more efficiently.

5. Increase customer engagement and retention

The physical shopping experience is not rife with brand interaction, since there are practically no touchpoints between visits to the shop. A mobile app, on the contrary, allows for continuous communication and customer engagement. By sending notifications and leveraging app functionality, businesses can update their users about upcoming sales, special offers, or discounts.

And for the record, a holiday season in the USA is the peak time for mobile purchases.

6. Build up social media presence

Your mobile eCommerce app can become an aggregator of all social media resources. This way, you can drive traffic to other company’s platforms and embrace the power of social media to the fullest. Also, users tend to ask their friends for recommendations, and social sharing might become an invaluable asset in making your business more appealing.

Creating A State-of-art Mobile Application for eCommerce

Now that the importance of migrating your store on mobile is evident, let’s go over to the actual process of app development. The eCommerce industry is a special one since it requires a winning balance between design and functionality. Therefore, you should invest a lot of resources into making your app’s facade smooth, convenient, and appealing. 

If we count the numbers, the cost to build a mobile eCommerce app is also largely impacted by the functional UX/UI design.

Here are some essential elements for you to remember:

• Intuitive user interface and straightforward navigation. The user-facing design of m-commerce is of paramount importance for seamless customer experience. Online shoppers need to find their way around the application in a few clicks. Therefore, the shorter your way to checkout is, the better.
• Quick and easy signup. Convenience and speed are the points that we keep hammering home. A lengthy, verbose registration process will have a toll on your customer retention. To avoid that, we recommend implementing a one-step social sign-up, where all information is automatically pulled from social media networks.
• CTA buttons. Remember those over keen sales assistants? Indeed, some customers hate being approached, but how can you encourage them to make a purchase then? Applications for e-commerce eliminate that problem. By including a couple of call-to-action buttons, you can increase conversion while being subtle and unobtrusive. 
• Instagram photo feed. Do not hesitate to take advantage of all the functionality of social media. While Instagram is a mecca of creativity and aesthetics, it’s also a viable platform for generating traffic and boosting sales. 
• Thought-out user scenarios. A user scenario is a cornerstone for UX designer thinking. Therefore, to win over more hearts and minds, make sure to hire a team of UI/UX experts to succinctly and explicitly capture what users’ perfect experience looks like. They will help you create empathy and take action based on user needs.

Top Trends For m-Commerce in 2021:

1. Video content

Video content will help you zhoosh up your product description. The logic behind this is simple: it takes less time and effort to watch a short video, than reading long-reads. Videos also ramp up customer satisfaction, since they offer a 360 product overview.

2. Augmented reality

Immersive technologies are another game-changer for the retail industry and marketing campaigns, in general. Such innovations as virtual fitting rooms or magic mirrors let users put your customizable products in their space, so they make a purchase with confidence. AR is also a no-brainer for piercing a memorable and emotional communication into users’ minds. 

3. 3D effects

3D ecommerce uses a combination of augmented reality and VR to build different experiences that address your buyers’ needs in new ways. It provides a wide choice of engaging interactions so that the users can browse and interact with products in different manners. Also, 3D effects have become especially popular during the pandemic, since they bridge the gap of not seeing an item in real life before making a purchase call.

Essential mobile app metrics for your eCommerce store

Whether you’re a math enthusiast, financial analyst, or an internal stakeholder, metrics are how we all observe the performance of our venture. Mobile applications are no exception. However, unlike the traditional sales processes, mobile app analytics uses unique metrics and KPIs to track performance. 

Here are the key metrics for the eCommerce app:

1. Tracking installs

Mobile app install tracking is when you count the number of users who have downloaded your app. Then, you assess this number against the marketing efforts made. However, tracking this metric is quite challenging, since some app stores don’t disclose the data. 

2. Bounce rate

This figure refers to the percentage of visitors who left the e-store without making a purchase. The constant growth of this coefficient can be a sign of ineffective promotion.

3. Retention

Customer retention is your ability to retain the buyer for a certain period of time. It is the direct opposite of Churn Rate, which demonstrates the number of users who left your app for good. To grow your retention rate, you can use the tools mentioned earlier (push notifications, e-mails, etc). 

4. ARPU

Average Revenue Per User is a metric that helps assess the value of a product from a customer’s perspective. It shows the profit one user brings to the store on average over a certain period of time.

5. MCF report

Unlike standard reports, Multi-Channel Funnels (MCF) reports are a perfect place to get rigorous monitoring instead of superficial checks. It allows for more sophisticated analysis, thus diving into multi-channel sequence data for authenticated users. 

In simple words, if the user jumps from purchasing within the app to the desktop version, this API will track his journey. MCF reports show how the user interacts with different data sources across multiple sessions on the path to conversion, and allow you to analyze the contribution of different marketing channels.

 The Power Of M-Commerce

Times change, and if you don’t dance to the rhythm you’ll hang back. In the world of retail, hanging back usually equals going out of business. A mobile e-commerce application is certainly one of those must-haves that takes your business and profit to another level. As tech advancements gain momentum, the process of buying through the mobile app has reached unprecedented convenience, speed, and security. All these translate into bigger numbers for your company and enhanced UX for buyers.