We are right in the middle of the shopping season which is a good enough reason to once again remind ourselves how e-commerce, and m-commerce, in particular, has gained prominence in the recent years. The m-commerce revolution is led by cleverly designed secure mobile apps. If you want to design one yourself, here are some tips for the same.
Cyber Monday, 2013 was the biggest online shopping day in the history of both shopping and Internet with a 20.6 % increase in online sales as per the findings from IBM. Another interesting fact is that mobile sales lead the way, exceeding 17 percent of the total online sales. It’s been some time now that we are witnessing a consumer drift away from the brick-and-mortar retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores amongst others. This drift is in clear relation to the increasing use of smartphones and other mobile devices for shopping.
Although the consumer still prefers desktop experience over mobile buying, the share of mobile commerce is growing rapidly and that is why everyone cares about having a good m-commerce app.
M-commerce has taken over the world by surprise by providing solutions that traditional offline channels could never even think of. A clear understanding of the current shopping trend and consumer behavior on mobile is the key to the new marketing strategies of retailers. To ensure a fulfilling experience for the consumer, the mobile app developer must identify the dynamics between consumers and their connected devices. This way one can create a more compelling mobile shopping experience that will attract new customers and build loyalty with the existing ones. Here are some tips to create a better mobile application for commerce:
What works for you?
Before you even start with the process of designing a mobile app, find out what already works well for your consumers. If you have an e-commerce website it is well worth studying which product category get the maximum traction and which receive the least. This will provide you an idea about which features should make it your mobile app and which are not worth it so as to provide the customers with meaningful mobile experience. For example, if you are a multi-brand retailer with multiple product categories and consumers prefer your books section more than anything else, then it makes sense to make the books category easily visible and accessible in your mobile application as well.
A careful execution
Just including different features isn’t going to win the war for you in this tightly competed world of commerce. To make a real mark, and that refers to winning the customer loyalty, your features must execute in a seamless and smooth manner. A poorly executed mobile offering is surely going to upset consumers, many of them spilling bad blood about your app in the market causing a greater harm. If your mobile app faces consistent problems regarding the different functions, then it is better to take it off the market, right the wrong and then put the improved version back for the consumer’s perusal. Thinking anything is better than nothing and putting up a buggy and half-baked version is surely going to lose you the trust of even your loyal customers.
The homepage is most important
Consumers expect nothing less than best, whether they visit a desktop site or a mobile version. The home page of your mobile application is the gateway to the entire feature set and therefore should be designed most carefully. The interface should be intuitive and design eye-catching. Features such as searching for available products and using filters to select a particular product category should be easy to find and use. Your app should be a balance of mobile optimized design and non-optimized mobile design.
Pay heed to customer feedback
Every marketplace has a feature of app review, whether it is the Google Play or iTunes or Windows store. These reviews are the most important places a mobile app developer should never dare ignore. Even just a few honest reviews will make you aware of the strong points and the weaknesses of your app. Paying heed to what customer is saying is the easiest way to self improvement. For, without a doubt, customer is king and the more you seek their input out front the better.
Plan for future
Mobile is an ever evolving space. What is relevant today might be intrusive tomorrow. To catch the nerve of customer, you must be aware with the latest trends and try to incorporate improvements in the app accordingly.
Author Bio:-
Saurabh Tyagi is a budding online blogger and social media enthusiast. He keeps an eye on the latest employment trends and offers expert advice on various issues and topics pertaining to choosing the right career path. Search graphics design jobs.
That growth figure was recorded between the number of downloaded applications on Christmas day 2013 when compared to the same day in 2012. As much as the numbers are still increasing and continue to break records, they are also starting to slow in their growth. The reason is believed to be that fewer consumers are receiving their devices for the first time. Though some have just obtained their first devices, many have obtained their second, third, or even fourth ones.