If you are a retailer of today’s world and has a website for yourself which you feel is well sufficient to grab great business then that’s not true. Because a website isn’t enough anymore!!
Your so-called potential customers mostly spend their time on a mobile phone daily to cater to their specific needs. In the worldwide scale, there are over 2 billion active smartphone users.
So it definitely seems like a horde of opportunities for your business that you can reach by furnishing your potential customers with a retail mobile app.
These days, a retail mobile application is an unquestionable requirement for any cutting edge retail business. It isn’t the only advantage, but a fundamental factor to remain on top of the market. In fact, half of the retailer brands have officially published their retail store applications to the network.
That is the reason we chose to reveal some insight into this theme and demonstrate to you a few different ways of how your organization can profit by a retail mobile application.
What exactly is a Retail Mobile App? Does Your Business Need It?
Many of you might definitely know the benefits of various food ordering apps and car booking apps.
A retail mobile application essentially enhances the purchasing procedure, increases the in-store involvement for clients, and sets up better ways to keep in contact with them. So, whenever an entrepreneur approaches us for retail mobile app development, we ensure them that the retail app is a boost to their retail business rather than just being a substitute for their website.
Moreover, since 60% of most online purchases are made through smartphones, an app could help you boost your sales.
Why is a website not enough anymore?
Sales through a mere website is not enough anymore, because the online retail app sales have proved to be more profitable for most kind of retail businesses these days. Name any product you are selling, you can definitely grow your business using a retail mobile app.
Since half a decade, it’s been noted that online retail sales through smartphones have a steady growth of 10-15% every year. But, just enticing the users to use your mobile app wouldn’t do, rather they also need to be motivated every now and then.
This might raise the question as to why a website can’t achieve all these results. The main reason is, as we have discussed, the increase in the number of active smartphone users around the globe.
And 90% of the time on Mobile is spent on Apps and just 10% on browsing. Though websites are built to be mobile friendly these days, the shopping experience a customer experiences on an app is way appealing than browsing a website on a smartphone.
User experience (UX) is one of the reasons for better apps usage as when compared to the UX of websites. Also, websites don’t provide a range of features which apps do like Push Notifications.
Moreover, an app with a good icon could always be in the user sight which in turn helps to build loyalty and helps in creating awareness.
Benefits of creating a mobile retail app for your business
- Boost your sales.
Since the last few years, it has been seen that more than 85% of users who have downloaded the mobile retail apps actually use them on a regular basis. Moreover more than half of these figures make an online purchase from these apps. Online purchases seem to increase when further loyalty and cash back offers are provided which again is an app exclusive feature.
2. Stay up-to-date
When we look around, we see that many companies irrespective of their size owns a retail app for itself or is about roll out one. This clearly shows the customer tendency to make purchases from retail apps that provide them with a better visual of the products they choose to select thereby making it more appealing thereby meeting their needs and preferences.
When there is a bunch of people looking out for such services none of us would like to lose out on customers just because you lack a mobile retail app.
3.Brand Loyalty
Building loyalty with customers is the prime focus of mobile retail apps than financial goals. It’s these loyalty features that bring back the users to these retail apps and provokes them to make purchases. Some popular ways of building brand loyalty include cash back offers, coupons for that extra discounts, gamification, personalized offers etc.
4.Better in-store Experience
There has been a wrong perception taking rounds that says apps however efficient, can’t provide the efficiency of an in-store purchase which is completely false. A retail app can help you purchase all you wish and avoid clashing up in long queues at the checkout lines. Apps provide the facility to preorder goods, pick them from a storefront or get it delivered at your address with cash on delivery facility.
Also with the help of features like QR-Code Scanner, one can get to study the product information before purchasing it.
Must-have features list for a retail mobile app
A great product catalogue
An attractive catalogue is one of the reasons why users prefer apps over the website and keep revisiting. It is, therefore, a necessity to keep the UI/UX of the apps well attractive with good quality photos of products.
Each product should be given a well written and brief description of the product, its price, well defined to be in the category it fits into, and most importantly its availability factor and its approximate arrival date.
Further features like price checker feature, to compare the prices of similar products ,can also be included while building the catalogue. Better product preview helps in making the product more appealing to the users. Use of 3D modeling and Augmented Reality technology helps to get better results in this regard.
Smart Search
If your business provides hundreds of products to your customer you can’t expect them to navigate through the products on their own. Their search opportunities should be taken care of. The in-app search facility should be fast, precise and flexible so that they get to see the products they search for with minimum effort. If the apps fail to provide a hassle-free search facility users tend to leave your apps without making a purchase.
Sorting And Filter
Sorting helps users to sort their search result to change the way the products are shown in screen based on popularity, new arrivals, or price range. Users can use this feature to start browsing the highest rated products or see the cheapest offers first. Filtering, on the other hand, helps the user to filter out products based on size, material, color etc. to see only those items that correspond to their preferences.
Both these feature helps in increasing sales because the user gets to save a lot of time by finding the desired product in a few minutes thereby increasing the chances of purchasing the products in the cart.
Faster Checkout Option
Once the user has added their desired items to the cart, they should be directed to the check-out page. The checkout page should include all the price details of the products added including all the additional costs like tax, delivery or shipping charges. The price shown on the checkout page should be the final amount the user has to pay.
Payment Gateway
The users, once they have confirmed their order at the checkout page, should be redirected to the payment gateway. It’s necessary to have a secure and swift payment system to ensure maximum security for the customers. You could use PayPal or CCavenue as a payment gateway for payment integration in the mobile retail app.
Push Notifications
Push notifications can be used as a marketing tool to target both existing as well as new customers. It can be used to share new deals from time to time. It helps to keep the users engaged with the app in order to keep the app engagement factor consistent rather than just keeping the app in idle mode. Push notifications can also be used to remind the users of the items they have left in the cart without making a purchase.
In case you are thinking about the chance to build up an app –Contact our managers to get the estimation of your idea and free consultation.
