You’ve probably heard the news of brick and mortar retail’s trouble. Many industry giants are closing their hundreds of stores.
So are we all going to do the shopping at home in our underwear? Will physical storefronts go away?
Scroll down to dig answers for these questions. We’ve curated a few things you can expect to see based on current technology that’s in the works.
Some recent news…
According to a survey from Sensor Tower, “In shopping apps, there is a 16.3% increase in the new app users this Black Friday.” This growth was noticed by shopping app giants like Amazon, Wish, eBay, Fashion Nova, and Shein.
Also, Amazon is the most installed shopping app in 2018 with Walmart as runner-up. So, what has made Amazon such a successful shopping app?
“One of the main factors that helped Amazon app to capture hearts and minds of its customers was the extreme user-friendliness of its interface.”
Overall new shopping app installs on the platform grew 9% year-over-year to approximately 1.8 million. Below is a chart of top 10 overall, brick and mortar and online shopping apps for Black Friday 2018.
In addition, according to American Customer Satisfaction Index, online shopping apps users are more satisfied with their purchases when compared to traditional retail customers.
Add-On…
U.S. consumers spent an estimated $52 million on Apple’s App Store this Black Friday, setting a new single-day revenue record for the store. [Source: Sensor Tower]
Feels now, it’s indeed an opportunity to invest in developing an online shopping apps for your retails business. Isn’t it?
Captive Mobile Audiences & New App Growth Stagnates
Mobile app usage data by Flurry shows a growth of 6% year-over-year. Again not surprisingly, the app category eCommerce was booming.
So if you own a physical store and do not have your online presence whether by website or an app, it all starts with a few basic and core features, which whether a startup or entrepreneurs can’t miss when it comes to develop an ecommerce shopping app.
If that’s the case, then what features should be the first to consider in a shopping app?
1. Easy Sign Up
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A pleasant login will make a good start for a better user experience. Even if this feature is obvious allow users to browse items as guests. With your sign up form, don’t force the users to input volumes of personal information. An additional sign-in with social media or email can also be beneficial.
2. Powerful Product Search
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Long story short, it should be lightning fast. Further use a lot of different filters and high quality indexing, and this helps users to find anything quickly.
3. Push Notifications
Push notifications is yet another core feature that makes your shopping app more personalized. This not only will increase your app’s usage but also help you to retain customers for a long time. Notifications based on micro-moments of customers like discounts, big day deals, and sales notifications, make shopping app more successful.
4. Speed Up Your App
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The faster your app loads content, more it allows users to focus on their intent rather than waiting. Research shows that 25% of users abandon app that takes more than 4 seconds to load. It’s important to optimize your shopping app for speed, because each additional second of loading time can reduce sales by 7%.
5. Referral Codes, Coupons & Rewards
One of the most effective way to boost sales of your online ecommerce store through an app is the referral codes and discount coupons. This may do wonders for your sales.
6. A Reliable & Safe Payment Gateway Integration
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Convenient and safe payment gateway module is the main essence of your app’s success. Your shopping app should support ever modes of payment like Credit Card, Debit Card, Netbanking, Wallets, Paypal and Cash On Delivery.
Use only payment gateway with a good reputation. This will increase the sense of security among customers. Don’t annoy users with additional forms they need to fill out to make the payment.
7. Ultra-Fast Delivery
The norm today has gone to one day delivery from 7 days. If you have been paying attention. You know that’s changing to even “a same day delivery.” In fact, almost 25% of consumers said that they would abandon their orders if one-day delivery wasn’t available.
Of course this is just a beginning and can be optional for time being. Amazon is already talking about 30-minute drone delivery.
8. Shipment Tracking
Proactively offering shipment tracking options has become am ecommerce app’s best practice. It not only provide a better shopping experience but it avails certain benefits like:
- Encourage users to return to the app, which increases chance of additional purchase.
- Reduction in costly calls from customers inquiring about the delivery status.
- Make your business appear trustworthy and reliable.
9. Organize top-notch customer support
Image source: thinkwithgoogle.com
Online support is a must have feature for any shopping app. It adds another level of convenience for users. Majority of shopping app users prefer to seek support without leaving an app or making phone calls. It is necessary to have a staff ready to deal with user complaints 24/7.
10. Promote you app
This is last but not least. Make sure you promote your app and reach to your right audiences. A lot of shopping apps fail because they underestimate the importance of digital marketing of app. It is recommended to spend at least twice as much time marketing an app as on its development.
Not just after launching the app, but the shopping app has to be promoted even before launch with a pre-launch strategies.
Not sure what could be a pre-launch strategy for your app? Reach us to discuss.
Wrapping Up…
Convenience, experience, and options — it will be a whole new world.
It should be noted that the development of shopping app doesn’t end here. The need of new features may always rise due to users’ feedback and latest business requirements. But if you start your ecommerce app with one or more of these tips, we are sure your app will be in a position to succeed.
If you would like to know how we can help you with it, feel free to contact us. Further, we have been recognized by DesignRush as one of the top eCommerce Design & Development Company.
