Why Your eCommerce Store Should Have a Mobile App in 2022?
It is no news that smartphones are now an inseparable part of our lives. According to a recent study, 81% of Americans have a cellphone of some kind, and 79% of them have bought products online. With everyone having these devices glued to their hands, online businesses have more opportunities than ever to reach out and make sales.Budding entrepreneurs need not worry about the documentation, costs, and other complexities of a brick-and-mortar enterprise. The ease of online business allows them to run any business ideas, be it starting a sticker business, selling home-cooked meals, or monetizing their skills in writing, editing, designing, and other in-demand services.
The sky is really the limit for eCommerce businesses nowadays. The power of the internet has made it possible for us to sit comfortably at home and shop anytime we want. So, if you are ignoring mobiles as a device, you may be missing out on a channel that has a major impact on your company’s success. You need to recognize this and adapt right the way.
But which is the right way for the mobile direction? Simple: A mobile app!
Your eCommerce business won’t reach its potential with just the website. While some may argue that responsive mobile design is enough, a mobile app allows shoppers to connect with your brand anytime and provides a way for you to proactively reach out to consumers with new products, deals, and promotions.
If you want your business to stay relevant in the coming years, read TheWebAppMarket article and find out why your eCommerce store should have a mobile app!
1. Mobile Apps Are Proven To Be Beneficial
As the number of mobile shoppers increases, the need for a mobile-centric shopping experience will grow as well. Many big brands have found the tremendous benefits of creating a branded mobile app to enhance the buying experience. Here are some stats that can prove the benefits of a mobile app for an eCommerce store:
- Mobile apps have the lowest cart abandonment rate of 20%, while desktops’ is 68%, and mobile sites is 97%.
- 78% of mobile users would access a store via a mobile app rather than a mobile site.
- Customers spend time on a mobile app 3-4 times longer than on desktops or mobile sites.
- In-app customers tend to spend twice as much as people who shop on desktops and mobile sites.
- The average order value in apps is 140% higher than on mobile sites.
All of the statistics above suggest that mobile apps are a more superior way to shop than mobile sites and desktops. So, if your eCommerce store doesn’t have a mobile app, you are ignoring a large part of the market while providing a less optimized shopping experience.
2. A Mobile App Provides A Personalized User Experience
Personalization is the key to mobile eCommerce. Customers want to see products and offers that are relevant to their own needs and preferences. When users use an app, they can immediately signal these preferences, making a much more seamless personalization process.
When the experience is personalized, the customer is more likely to come back and shop again, or build loyalty toward your brand. We all like it when the experience makes us feel welcomed as an individual, rather than just another customer.
For example, when customers use your app, you can divide them into a category based on factors such as their age, location, or gender. You can then send targeted notifications to have more relevant messages. An app can also let customers have access to their purchase history and rewards, making it possible for them to quickly reorder previous purchases.
3. Phone-Native Features Are Valuable
The phone’s native features, which can only be used by using mobile apps, are really valuable for your business. The built-in smartphone components, such as camera and GPS, give users an enhanced buying experience. You can create shopping features like augmented reality and virtual tours, which we will talk about later.
Another advantage of a mobile app is the native usage for offline use. This means your company’s app can be used even when the phone is not connected to the Internet, providing a continuous shopping experience for the users. This won’t be the case for a mobile site. Push notifications are also available even without an internet connection.
4. Your Company Can Gain A Competitive Edge
Right now, without a mobile app, your eCommerce business is already at a disadvantage. Customers want to shop from mobile apps, so it’s only a matter of time before they stop buying from your mobile or desktop site entirely. So you have an opportunity to increase your brand awareness on the mobile channel, but you need to act fast.
On the other hand, being early in building an eCommerce mobile app will give you a competitive edge over other businesses that don’t have it. If a consumer is wondering between your brand and a competitor, your mobile app will give them another reason to buy from you.
Here is one thing to keep in mind. Having a mobile app can give you a competitive edge today, but it won’t be like that forever. In a few years, every company can have a mobile eCommerce app of its own. If you create one now, you’ll have a good start over the ones that are slow to join the party.
5. Buyers Have A Faster, Better, And Secure Checkout
Shopping cart abandonment is known as one of the biggest problems online businesses face. If the checkout page is not optimized, customers are more likely to give up on purchasing the products. If you can give what customers need and get them through the checkout process quickly, they will have a memorable experience and may want to shop again in the future.
A mobile app allows buyers to securely save their payment options. Therefore, they can check out in just a few clicks and don’t need to continuously enter information for each purchase. Features like facial recognition and fingerprint scanning help remove friction from the checkout process by allowing for faster authentication.
And, most mobile eCommerce apps can accept all types of payments, including digital wallet options like PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, etc., which further simplifies the payment process. This gives customers more options to complete the transactions using their comfortable methods.
6. Marketing Communication With A Mobile App Is More Efficient
A mobile app gives your brand the opportunity to deliver a multi-channel experience to your customers. Social media integrations within the app can combine different channels of customer acquisition. The app also saves customer preference, resulting in relevant content being shown to the right customers.
More than that, when a customer downloads your mobile app, you can send push notifications directly to their device’s home screen. Notifications are an effective means of communicating with customers and reminding them about your brand, especially for sending limited-time offers. When customers are in proximity to the physical stores, geofencing and push notifications can alert users about your stores and special offers.
Imagine a surefire way to deliver your marketing campaigns’ messages to customers, how efficient would that be? With a branded mobile app, you can do that easily.
7. Advanced Tech Can Create An Interactive Experience
Mobile apps and advanced technology go hand in hand. Augmented reality in smartphone apps is already happening, with brands like IKEA and Sephora using the technology to let users view products in real environments. With virtual reality, mobile apps make products more interactive and provide an engaging experience for customers.
A mobile app also allows the integration of artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots to assist customers in finding their favorite items and simplify the checkout process. Personalized shopping experience powered by machine learning algorithms will soon be available, making shopping easy and fun as everyone would like it to be.
8. An App Helps Create A Great Customer Loyalty Program
A great way to encourage your customers to buy more is to launch a customer loyalty program. With an eCommerce mobile app, it increases the chance your customers will participate in the program. An app allows users to see their status in real-time, which provides a more personalized experience.
Simply put, a loyalty program gives your customers an incentive to spend more money to get more rewards. You can set up a loyalty program based on transactions, like buyers can get a discount on the 3rd purchase. Or you can reward customers based on how much they spend. For example, if they spend over $100 in a cart, they can get free shipping.
Psychologically, the program encourages people to increase their average order cart and the frequency of purchases to reach the next tier of rewards or status. You may already have a loyalty program on the website. But try running the same promotion through a mobile app, you will immediately see a different result.
Final Words
In short, your eCommerce store should have a mobile app.
It is only a matter of time before every eCommerce company has their own apps as a channel to utilize, just as social media and the internet has become a social norm today. With 8 reasons above, you can see why mobile apps need to be a priority for your brand’s growth strategy. Some of the most important benefits are:
- Higher average order value
- Reduce cart abandonment rates
- Increase conversion rates
- Higher retention rates
As a business owner, you definitely would want to see those results. Then it is time for you to start making your own eCommerce app today. Share your app in the comments section for everyone to check out!