How do eCommerce mobile apps help small business owners?

"In today's modern world, people are either asleep or connected."

The popularity of mobile commerce is turning incessant with every passing day. The modern customer base has always wished for a much simplified and smooth shopping experience, irrespective of the device type. With mobile apps taking over the traditional browser-based digital commerce, customers are getting a more compelling and impressive servicing, not to mention the incentives and fringe benefits.

As one can deduce, mobile commerce has mostly taken over the consumer market today. According to market reports 2019, mobile commerce alone facilitated a total worldwide sale of $2.3 trillion. This number will soon cross $3.5 trillion by the end of 2021. But why do we need mobile apps when there are responsive websites built already? Businesses can optimize their eCommerce websites for a simplified mobile experience and serve the users well. Though it might seem a viable option on papers, mobile responsive sites are nowhere comparable to a fully-functional mobile app. Mobile apps are the backbone of mobile marketing strategies today. While users get a highly personalized shopping experience, enterprises capitalize on the myriad of user data to improve their marketing and branding. The benefit of proximity and "anytime availability" helps enterprises add a personal edge to their servicing and improve engagement, loyalty, and social outreach.

Here are some of the benefits that enterprises can gain by building a business app for their eCommerce store

• Stay connected with the customers 24/7
• Improve customer servicing and outreach
• Mobile app marketing
• Push Notification
• Social sharing and branding
• Implement strategies for customer engagement
• Improve User-experience

It is quite evident that user data is the lifeline of modern-day marketing and branding strategies. Brands banking on the merits of user activity and preferences have seen substantial progress in areas like customer satisfaction. On the other hand, brands with lesser or no attention to personalization have fallen considerably in business strategy and user experience.

Let's dive deeper into the current market trends and understand how a mobile eCommerce app can add value to your business.

Easier Outreach

Market research by eMarketer shows that "nearly 90% of mobile internet time is spent on mobile apps". By re-routing customer interaction to a mobile app, brands can form better relationships with their end-users. Such close association allows enterprises to learn through the user behavior and get past the user expectation in no time. With a business app, the interaction between the customers and the brand is completely transformed. Thereby creating a win-win situation on both sides of the spectrum. For the most part, mobile commerce apps serve to be ideal platforms for delivering customer servicing beyond conventional limits.

Better Conversion Rate

A significant challenge for business owners is to maintain profitability in the intensely competitive field of eCommerce. While the traditional methods serve well, brands need to up their game with better conversions and consistent revenue streams. The modern-day customer base requires a seamless and convenient way of carrying purchases. With a mobile app, the process becomes simplified yet practical for the end-consumer. Also, elements like easy checkout, push notifications, and integrated payment gateways further enhance the user's shopping journey, thus hiking up customer satisfaction and overall profitability by several notches.

Improved Customer Experience

End-customers demand personalization and consistency in their shopping journeys. Enterprises that do not focus on customer trends often fail to serve a CX remarkable enough to attract customers. With a mobile app, businesses can ease their customer journeys by incorporating emerging technologies like AI, ML, AR & VR to offer an experience beyond conventional delight. By gathering valuable insights, businesses can deliver an optimized shopping experience that attracts new customers and ensures retention.

Better Work Efficiency

Contrary to popular belief, the efficacy of mobile apps goes beyond the end-user segment. Enterprises, too, can obtain great value by employing mobile apps to simplify operations and communication within their workplace. It is undeniable that mobile apps are far more manageable than the conventional pen-and-paper approach. A custom business app can ease a lot of backend work, allowing eCommerce store owners to acknowledge and serve their customer demands effectively. Since a lot of manual work is automated, employees deliver better customer service for a much larger consumer base.

Customer Loyalty

Customer relationship is the most crucial factor behind eCommerce success. Brands that fail to establish and nurture a good relationship with their end-customers tend to fall behind in maintaining the Customer Loyalty Index (CLI). As a result, they struggle to make it big in the user market, and profit margins gradually dry out. A business app can significantly improve the loyalty index by bridging the gap between customer demands and enterprises. Customers can have their preferences met with just a 'finger tap', leading to a more satisfied and productive customer base. With personalized offerings & relevant suggestions, customers feel more valued and commit to a specific brand for a much longer time. Loyalty programs like special offers, seasonal discounts, purchase bonuses, and priority updates are few other methods to improve brand loyalty.

Time-saving

A fair share of today's consumer base comprises millennials and Gen Z buyers. They are far more demanding and impatient when it comes to online shopping. Anything that isn't quick and easy has little chance to entice the consumers today, leading to higher cart abandonment cases and business loss. An eCommerce shopping app can adequately solve the issue. Mobile apps offer up to 1.5 times faster loading time in comparison to traditional websites. Customers have to wait for no more than a couple of seconds for the entire data retrieval in mobile apps. The efficiency pleases the customers, delivering a seamless shopping experience without wasting much of their time.

Improved Analytics

Data is the most valuable entity in today's fast-changing digital world, and eCommerce businesses cannot stay profitable for long without investing in an effective data strategy. Mobile commerce delivers much more efficient and refined information, critical to understanding user trends. With relevant and conclusive data at hand, companies can focus on personalized content, suitable marketing strategy, and effective promotional campaigns to maximize user interest and interaction.

Summing it up

The last decade has briskly changed the user trends related to the time spent on mobile devices. From just a few minutes to spending nearly three hours each day on mobile devices, the digital audience has emerged to be the most accessible userbase today. Out of the average 3 hours spent on mobile, about 90% time is spent interacting with apps, making the app market a potential game-changer in the eCommerce world. Biz4Group is a globally renowned eCommerce development agency with a seasoned team of expert developers, designers, and project managers. We deliver a fully-functional custom eCommerce business store within 4-6 weeks with top-notch quality deliverables. Looking to build your eCommerce website and mobile app? Reach out to our experts to get a free consultation now!!