What eCommerce can learn from brick and mortar?

The online sales account for 8-10% of the total consumer spending. This figure is expected to shoot up to a massive amount of $6.7 trillion by 2020. The incredible statistics show the potential the virtual shops have in the future. Despite the growing awareness and the technological advancement of the consumers, the market share for the eCommerce companies is currently low. This is because, there are a lot of aspects in which the physical still has a upper hand.

In addition, over the past few years the eCommerce stores has given fresh competition to brick and mortar stores. Yet there are a lot of things that the online store can learn from physical shops. Listed below are some of the things that eCommerce can learn from brick and mortal. Scan on to know.

Focus on visual merchandising

Every purchase intention starts with window shopping. The products kept at the window might motivate the visitors to go inside and explore the store. The same goes true for the online shopping stores as well. A well-designed layout and front-end might attract the customers. Even if the store is digital, a neat and uncluttered interface can influence the customers to further browse the site.

Here are some of the takeaways from the brick and mortar store in this regards.

  • The visual appeal is the first thing that grabs the attention of the visitors. So, the product images with high resolution is a must. The graphical triggers should be able to grab the attention of the visitors.
  • The product description should be informative enough to fill-in for the sales person.
  • The seasonal influence is one of the ways to standout in the crowd. The layout of the website should be in accordance to the occasion.
  • The call-to-actions and other such buttons should be clearly visible and should motivate the customer purchase in.

Instant presence is a must

It is not just the visual branding that’s important. One of the trend that has seen a change in recent past is the customer buying behavior. While earlier the shoppers would rely on the word-of-mouth, the customers these days tend to make their purchases then and there. This has compelled the physical stores to open up their outlets at every nook-and-corner. This implies to the online shopping sites as well. As per a report, 54% of the American shopper would use their mobile devices to make their purchases. The eCommerce store owners need to bring their sites in the pockets of the customers. A mobile responsive website may be handy, but a mobile store can help you tap a larger audience. The mobile app builder for Android and iOS is one of the ways to convert your store into a mobile app. Offers your services to the customers whenever they require. Moreover, the location-based services is another factor that the online companies need to learn from the physical stores. Even the location-based mobile searches are on the rise. The content of your mobile app should be optimized in order to provide the answers to the questions being asked by the customers. The search volume of the queries such as ‘Where can I find…’ are high. So, optimize your site and application accordingly.

Personalize the shopping experience

The eCommerce giants such as Amazon has reaped result by including this aspect. Personalize the shopping experience of the customers and help them relate to the services offered by you. This is what the sales pitch at any shop is all about. In fact, 85% of the consumers think that personalization play a vital role in their purchase decision. Use the personal information of the customers to enhance their shopping experience. The online shoppers get distracted soon and never actually completes the transaction. Use their transaction history to send them personalize pitches. For instance, messages like ‘Get 10% off on this product in your cart’ can trigger the purchase intention of the buyers.

Let them bargain

Hitting the bargain is the most intriguing factor for the shoppers while shopping offline. It won’t be wrong to state that the a discount coupon of 10-20% is usually taken for granted and may even be ignored. However, if the same discount will be well-appreciated if the customers get a feel of striking a deal. Offer the giveaways in an innovative way. The interactive pop-ups like spin and win or scratch coupons can help you tap this psychology of the shoppers.

Recreate the in-store feel

The biggest drawback of the online stores is that they lack the touch and feel of the products. While earlier bridging this gap was slightly difficult, with the technological advancements, this can now be done. LensCart is one of the best examples for the same. The option to try the glasses without actually trying them has provided them the competitive edge. Other than the product images, the product videos can provide a better clarity to the customers. Quick product delivery is another important aspect that eCommerce companies need to learn from brick and mortar stores. Providing options like one-day delivery and quick shipping options can enhance the user experience.

Guide the customers to the checkout page

Who would like to stand in long queues? The organized sections and multiple counters at the physical stores are aimed at driving the customers to the conversion funnel. The same funnel is to be followed by online shops as well. Make sure that your category pages are uncluttered and well-organized. Easy navigation coupled with filters should allow the customers to find their product easily. Instead of making the customers to fumble upon the lengthy sign-up process, improve the registrations with social media sign-up. The path from the product page to the payment gateway should be simple as well. One page checkout is the best way to motivate the customers to complete the transaction.

Wrap up

From personalized marketing to discount sale, traditional retailers have many options to spur their business growth. Even the e-retailers have a lot of tactics at their disposal to reduce abandoned cart and boost the conversions. Just a bit of learning from the conventional business models coupled with the advanced technology can help you take your eCommerce business to new heights.

Key Factors to Consider Before iOS App Development

The rapid rise in the mobile technology and its influence on the users has led the eCommerce businesses to take a leap from desktop to mobile sites and apps. Bringing the entire store readily available to the online shoppers whenever they need is one of the ways to flourish over the industry. This is why upgrading your business from eCommerce to m-commerce is a must. The popularity of mobile app is also at it’s peak. With an overall user base of 4 billion, it has proved to be a significant area where the online stores can develop an app and reach out to the potential buyers.

The best part of technological advancement is that this up-gradation can now be done with minimal hassle. There are mobile app builder extensions available for the various platforms such as Prestashop, Magento, OpenCart and others. Though, the popularity of android app is on peak but at the same time the iOS users also share an appreciable contribution to the online marketing. The user base of iOS contributes to 20% of the overall mobile users which is a huge number when trying to take over the market.

The app developers need to make sure that the app they develop for Apple app store must meet certain criteria before launching them. In order to be sure of launching a better iOS app that reaches to the users faster and convince them to make a purchase several key factor must be kept in mind. These small details may create a big difference.

Let’s take a look at some of the top things you should be careful about when developing your mobile app for Apple’s iOS platform.

Do some ground research

The app developers might not consider this fact but the iOS apps are meant to make a sale in the store. Unlike the play store where the android apps can be easily made available in the market and reach the users, the iOS apps are meant to be sold. Therefore, these apps are handpicked by the authorities themselves. They don’t want any app to be a part of the iOS user community that doesn’t sell itself. A well research and forward planning must be done by the developing team before launching the app. They must consider all the aspects of the app which may jeopardize the success that they could have made using the app.

The app must be original

Using the already picked concept and developing an app out of no originality will land you in a situation where the app may not be able to make it to the market. Thus, the app developers must take their time, use some hints from other successful apps and try to build an app that is based on the original concept. That kind of approach will guarantee that you do not make profit on the App Store, and that your app will never be successful. Since the club is so elitist, there are a lot less apps in general than you would find on the Play Store. This makes it easier to spot unoriginal apps and call them out. Using a previously successful concept will lead on to negative response from the customers and the chances are that the Apple store authorities may discard the app as it has not the features to make out large impact among the users.

Enable better features

It is also one of the established fact that the App introduces some of the most advance features with their phones. Therefore, it becomes equally important for the iOS app developers to keep the users preferences in mind and iOS trends in mind. They must try to match the latest features that are introduced and the app must give the users a taste of their phones better features. The users will like to test that features and will make use of your app for this purpose. The success of some of the apps is often based upon this concept.

Test your app

The app is made to find a spot where the customers pay for the service. It might not be possible at few instances that the developers are able to trigger all the mistakes that are incorporated in the app. This demands a lot of testing and checks from the developer site. The use of a 3rd party or a dummy user crowd can be mad which can use the apps and check for its feasibility in the store. It is always a good thing to delay the launch of the app than to make it available early and cause a damage to reputation due to the presence of different bugs and issues faced by the users.

Let the feedback roll in

Feedbacks are a part of better marketing. The app developers might think that their app is best and fit for the users but this may not be the real case. Thus, taking the advice from the fellow developers and putting the app to beta testing might help a lot in improving the app quality. Any feedback is a good feedback, no matter in what form. Take advice and suggestion from the concerned people who might give their valuable suggestion in improving the app and may encounter some of the issues which you might have skipped during your observation. This helps in delivering an app that is useful for the users.

Over to You

There is always the room for development and if you are planning to launch an iOS app than there are several things you must keep in mind. The mobile store can definitely improve your business chances. A good app is appreciated by users, suggested by enthusiasts and promoted by the Apple store itself.

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Current Technology Trends for iOS Mobile Apps

The current trend followed by mobile app has completely changed from what it used to be some years ago. The mobile apps are becoming more resolved and focus primarily on the real-time problem encountered by the users. The iOS mobile apps are also developed keeping the user’s concern in mind. There was a time when apps which were made available to fulfill common purposes were introduced. Now the focus has shifted from developing apps for entertainment to developing an app for better usage and focus on a targeted objective.

The mobile app builder can be used for developing an app for the iOS platform but the owner must come to make sure that the app they want to develop must attract users to come up and download it. Even the Apple store will feature your mobile app only if they find that the app is able to sell itself. Thus, the mobile apps which follow the latest technology and trend are more likely to reach out to users and get featured else they would be lost like million other mobile apps in the app store about which the users would never come to know.

We can discuss some of the current technology trends in the iOS mobile apps that could help the app developers in developing an app that gets featured and makes better sales in the app store.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

The introduction of Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) has brought a revolution in the traditional means of presenting the content in the websites. The web pages and the ads presented in the AMP will load instantly which provides the users with smooth experience and better engagement. Publishers and advertisers can now decide how to present their content and what technology vendors to use. This can be done all by maintaining and improving key performance indicators. It has proved to be a better means of responding to the users as if the website takes a long time t load than no matter how good the content is, the user won’t wait to check it out.

Internet of Thing

Internet of Things is the new generation technology that is catching attention at a very rapid rate. The mobile apps are being developed for watches, belts, and gears which take networking to a whole new level. With the Internet of Things growing in the current scenario, the virtual world and real world are merging and the time is near when the line between two states will completely be erased. This technology can be operated and used to its ultimate by the use of mobile apps. The introduction of the latest Apple smartwatch is one such example of incorporating the use of the IoT concept in mobile apps.

On demands apps

The rise in popularity for on-demand eCommerce mobile app is in the rise. Right from getting a taxi to making a purchase on the daily items. These mobile apps are going to take over the whole mobile community by the end of 2020. Thus, the app developers must make sure that they are developing apps which can fulfill the demands of the customers or are concerned with the requirements of the users. One of the major factors that encourages the app developers to introduce such app is due to the fact that all the tech giant wants to promote the mobile marketing and these mobile apps will prove to be an effective step in reaching the required results.

M-Commerce app development

Upgrading your online shopping site into m-commerce can help you stand apart. The shift to mobile and make the business bloom by leveraging the power of mobile phones. The shopping apps are an effortless way to target a larger audience. Thus, turning towards mCommerce is the new trend and eCommerce sites must consider it.

Currently, there are various automatic plugins to own native mobile apps for your eCommerce store. These readymade Mobile App Builder are pre-built in such a way that you can create a pair of featured eCommerce mobile apps in a few steps. This plugin is available for PrestaShop, Magento, Magento 2, OpenCart, WooCommerce, and Shopify eCommerce platform. Thus, mCommerce mobile app development is now way simpler than ever.

Security features

Security has been a concern for the iOS users for a long time. Therefore, the Apple store makes sure that all the mobile apps included in the store are made to pass through a security check and they may have trusted certificates before making it public for the users. As the hackers would try to breach into the little security gaps in order to gain access to the important and confidential information. According to a survey 75% of the mobile apps wouldn’t even apps the security tests in the first instance and 70% app directly violate the policy as laid by the iOS developing team. Thus, making sure that the app meets all the required ground rules laid will help in getting the app picked in the Apple store.

Beacon and location based services

Integrated location-based services like Apple’s iBeacon are quite popular. The rise in such technology gives the app developer a chance to move from the traditional Wi-Fi method and shift to the new trend. The apps must be designed to provide iOS users with the best services and offer that they can avail as per their specific location. This advanced technology gives a major scope to personalized app marketing. Making availability of such apps will help in meeting the new standards and surely the chances are to get featured in the iOS mobile app store.

Over to You

The introduction of the new technology has led the app developers to move from the traditional method of developing apps. The app developer snow needs to enhance their skills when it comes to making an app available. iOS is developing at a rapid rate so must the app. The chances are better for a mobile app to reach majority if they incorporate better concept.

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