The introduction of the mobile phones to eCommerce is not new. The rising popularity and the easy access to mobile phones have compelled the eCommerce store owners to take their businesses to the mobile platform. After all, mobiles do serve the purpose of making shopping fun and convenient for the internet users. The mobile store helps the customers to browse eCommerce store with much more convenience.
As, the number of mobile users is growing day by day, it has become an effective way for the eCommerce store owners to connect to their customers in a more defining way. One of the advantage of using mobile apps is the large access to mobile phones. Thus, it helps the sellers to reach out to maximum people and at the same time it helps in boosting the sales and make better conversions.
While this has opened up an ocean of opportunities for the merchants, the introduction of eCommerce players and the ease of upgrading the business into m-commerce has increased the competition. One of the biggest hacks to stay of the competition is to keep yourself in line with the market trends and technological advancements. For the eCommerce business runners, here are some of the latest market trends in m-commerce that you need to consider in order to stay abreast with the customer expectation.
The time spend on mobile apps is expected to increase
There have been a steady rise in the number of smartphone users in the recent past. This has made it inevitable that mobile commerce is not just a fad, but an unavoidable trend. In addition to this, 85% of the mobile time are spend on the applications. This indicated that having a mobile app for your eCommerce business is a must.
Location-based content curation
With the introduction of 2016, there have been an increase in popularity of the voice search. Along with this, the location-based services are on a rise and will continue to lead the market in the years to comes. Hence, the content of the mobile application for any eCommerce company needs to be curated with these two aspects in mind. The content of the mobile app should have location reference. Along with this, instead of targeting keywords, the content should provide the solution of the queries being searched by the target audience. The voice searches include questions such as ‘Chinese restaurant near me’ and other such queries. The contents should be updated accordingly.
Easier navigation a must-have
Not just in the eCommerce ecosystem, even in mobile commerce, 1 out of 4 customers are expected to abandon the cart if they find the store navigation complex. Thus, this adds to the need of focusing on the mobile apps. While the mobile responsive websites will continue to outpace the application as they do not require any installation, they are more likely to annoy the visitors with complicated navigation. The mobile apps, in this case, will prove handy in curbing the cart abandonment.
The need to bring the store in the customer’s pocket
As per a recent report of Google, the ‘Right here’ and ‘Right now’ requirement of the online shoppers are on a rise. Moreover, 50% of the smartphone users are likely to place their order immediately. They not just want the load time of the web store to be less, but they even wants the stores to be at their arm distance. Thus, the online retailers need to bring in the entire website in the pocket of their target audience. What can be better option that having an app for your business. Moreover, the application should sought at making the shopping experience easier and fun for the consumer. Easier check-in and checkout process with social login options will ensure greater customer retention.
Social engagement is a must
Even in the m-commerce ecosystem, the social media platforms are more likely to steal the show. Overall, 60% of the consumer times spent on social media is on mobile. Hence, the mobile application for the eCommerce businesses should be optimized to tap this audience. Promoting the app on these platforms and incorporating deep links and other features in order to increase the number of downloads is a must.
Having discussed the above-mentioned trends that are expected to follow in the m-commerce industry, it is now time to elaborate how can a mobile application help your business model. If you are a Prestashop site owner than you can easily switch your web site to mobile app by using Prestashop Mobile App builder module. Knowband offers an easy and effortless module for that can help you take your eCommerce business to the next level. Similar extensions are available for Magento, OpenCart and other platforms as well.
Let us take a look on some of the evolution in mobile eCommerce which can help the stores to grow more and better.
1. Better traffic
The accessibility of mobile phones has grown up to more than 3 billion peoples. Thus, it ensures that more users can help the seller in re directing a better crowd to their stores. The introduction of m-commerce can help the web stores to get a better traffic on their stores which will be a good sign for better sales. It also helps in making more conversions.
2. Reachability
Mobile phones are reachable at almost every place. Customers don’t have to reach out to desktop sites in order to make a purchase. They can easily reach out to their mobile phones and make purchase. It has helped the seller to reach out to maximum potential buyers who would have otherwise given a second thought of making a purchase. A better option to make purchase will surely help the seller to reach out more.
3. Convenience
Mobile apps are more convenient when compared to desktop sites. One of the immediate advantages of mobile apps is the convenience. Most of the time a customer will hesitate to go through desktop sites and make a purchase. With the introduction of mobile aps marketing has become way too easy. The customers can now reach out to their mobile app any time and make a purchase on any of the product they like. It has helped the customers to make immediate purchase.
4. Direct sales
Mobile apps helps in making direct sales. The visitor can use the mobile app to browse the web store and see the product and make a purchase. Unlike, desktop sites where they have to go through all the products and then settle down for their likes after searching many options. Mobile apps provide direct approach to get the products. The customers just has to select category and make a purchase. It just gets better with using the mobile apps for customers in order to make a purchase.
5. Better approach
Seller always keep the customers experience as priority. If the customers have a better experience with a web store than they are more likely to visit the store again. Thus, keeping this factor in mind the seller need to make a better approach to reach out to customers. The customers can visit the store using mobile apps making a purchase and getting better deals. Thus, mobile app ensures a better marketing opportunity for both sellers and the customers.
6. Social Sharing
One of the best feature provided by the mobile apps is social sharing. Most of the time when a customer likes the product they want to share it with their friends, thus mobile apps prove a great way to do that. They enable the customers to share the products with others. It helps in promoting the product even without the seller promoting it directly. The mobile apps are quite handy and can always be used to grow market. The social feature of mobile apps makes the store more prone to growing and get better sales.
Conclusion
Most of the time a customer would like to make purchase through mobile apps due to better convenience. Hence, the seller must be oriented towards providing customers with better services. The m-commerce is taking over the market rapidly and if a store owners doesn’t change with trend than they are most likely to lose a large portion of potential buyer. It will reduce the sales made.
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