Why Your Business Needs an E-Commerce Mobile App Now More Than Ever

Mobile commerce is trending up. Sales from mobile devices have taken over the e-commerce industry. 

Here is an outlook of mobile as a share of total e-commerce. Below is the total mobile e-commerce sales in trillion US dollars.

• In 2016 – 0.97 (52.4%)
• In 2017 – 1.36 (58.9%)
• In 2018 – 1.80 (63.5%)
• In 2019 – 2.32 (67.2%)
• In 2020 – 2.91 (70.4%)
• In 2021 – 3.56 (72.9%)

(Source: eMarketer)

Mobile commerce is expected to control 73% of all e-commerce sales in the next two to three years. People are already using mobile phones for shopping as it seems very convenient compared to using a computer. Your phone is just an arm’s reach away, which is not the same with laptop and desktop computers. 

Consumers are buying products from anywhere they are, be it the train, bus, or car. They’ll shop when they are having lunch or while having a cup of coffee. As mobile sales are growing, the best way to keep up is to introduce more mobile apps for the user’s convenience. 

Shopping mobile apps are growing at a rate of 54% year-over-year, which is the highest when compared to any other app category.  The average year-over-year growth rate of mobile app usage across all other industries is 6%, which is a 48% difference with shopping.

It is clear that mobile sales dominate the e-commerce world as shopping apps are growing faster than ever.

Consumers favor mobile apps

Consumers prefer mobile apps. Even when it comes to websites, users favor mobile-friendly or mobile-optimized websites. 84% of users say that a website’s mobile version should look better than its desktop version. Moreover, 88% of consumers are less likely to return to a mobile website following a bad experience. 47% of users favor if the site loads in 2 seconds or less, and this impacts the decision to return to the site.

Be it a mobile-friendly website or mobile app, user-friendliness is key to attracting customers and driving sales. 78% of consumers would rather use an app to buy from an eCommerce shop than a mobile website.

The reasons consumers prefer mobile apps to mobile-friendly website are as follows:

• It’s faster
• It’s more convenient
• You can find better shopping deals
• Your settings are saved in the app and aids in future shopping
• Your get benefits/ rewards for using it
• There is more personalized content
• It’ more entertaining

Gains a competitive advantage

At this point, without a mobile app, your e-commerce website is at a disadvantage. In the years to come, consumers are going to stop buying from mobile-friendly websites and completely move to using mobile apps. The transition is evident right now. 

You have an edge with an  e-commerce mobile app. If a consumer is to choose between your mobile app and another mobile-friendly website, it will lean towards you simply because of this reason. Therefore, you shouldn’t be focusing on improving your website. Instead, put your money into an e-commerce mobile app development agency and focus on developing a user-friendly app for your consumers. 

Today, you can buy literally everything under the sun via mobile apps. In the US alone, 95 million people have an Amazon Prime Membership. Therefore, consumers that use your app have the ‘shopping at Amazon’ feeling and it’s important that you live up to the standards. If you are unable to meet those standards, consumers may back away from buying through your app. The only way to replicate this kind of shopping experience is via an e-commerce mobile app.

A mobile app may give a competitive advantage to you today, but it may not last forever. Therefore, it’s best to get started with e-commerce mobile app development right away, so that you’ll have a head start.

Improves marketing communication

Mobile apps are a dream for marketers. They are excellent at marketing and work in improving marketing campaigns. It helps you generate more profits from your current and prospective customers. 

When you have a website, it’s not always that your customers will be visiting your website to buy products. However, with apps you have a better way of communicating with your customers through push notifications. That way, your customers will get to know about the latest products that are available and the latest discounts.

60% of users open a push notification, compared to 20% of emails. Once it’s opened, 40% of users have an interaction, like clicking a notification, compared to 5.4% of emails. It is clear that push notifications are an excellent way to connect with customers and keep them engaged. 

Higher conversion rates

Finally, everything sums up to boosting your KPIs, and benefiting your bottom line. Tracking conversions is an excellent place to start. Here’s a look at the difference between e-commerce mobile app conversions and e-commerce mobile website conversions.

When looking at the above table, you can identify that e-commerce mobile apps are the clear winners. Consumers view 286% more products and add items to their shopping carts at an 85% higher rate when shopping from a mobile app when compared to a mobile browser. 

This means better exposure for your brands and products. Products viewed per session and add-to-cart rates are excellent, but the only thing that actually matters is conversions. According to the above table, mobile apps convert at a 130% higher rate than mobile websites. 

Therefore, more conversions translate to more money, and it is clear that e-commerce mobile apps drive higher conversion rates. 

Increases average order value

E-commerce mobile apps improve the user experience and increase conversion rates too. However, these are not the only monetary benefits of focusing on e-commerce mobile app development for your website.

A mobile app will boost your average order value (AOV). Here’s a look at Global Retail Average Order Value Index, by Channel (vs Desktop):

Mobile browser: $92

Desktop: $100

App: $102

More products are viewed per session on mobile apps. It’s easier for people to browse for products via an e-commerce mobile app. It gives them more of a chance to see what is on offer in your store.

Mobile apps have a higher average order value than both mobile browsers and desktop screens. Increasing your AOV even by $10 is a huge deal. A store that currently has 1000 transactions per month will get an additional $1000 per month and $120,000 per year.

Offers a personalized shopping experience

Personalization is one of the key reasons for the success of e-commerce mobile apps. Many businesses use personalized tactics to drive e-commerce sales. For example, when a customer signs up to your brand and receives emails from your business, you would categorize them based on gender, age, or location. Then you can send targeted emails to improve their shopping experience. 

Personalization can also be done based on the location. For example, the app identifies where you are searching from and gives search results closer to your location. This type of personalization can help simplify your shopping and make it a positive experience. 

Apps also enable customers to search their purchase history, making it easier to do repeat purchases. 

Increases customer loyalty

Customer loyalty programs are an excellent way of getting customers to spend more money. An e-commerce mobile app increases the chances of customers participating in such loyalty and reward programs. 

82% of consumers prefer to shop from sites that have loyalty programs. It gives them a feel that it’s worthwhile spending on something as they get a return from it. Customers are constantly working on ways to reach the next level of the loyalty program, which means that they spend more money purchasing products. 

Psychologically, loyalty programs encourage consumers to increase their AOV and purchase frequency to reach the next spending tier.

Reduces cart abandonment rates

Cart abandonment is one of the major issues in e-commerce websites. It is one of the most vital KPIs that you should be tracking in your e-commerce business. Most of the time, customers are one or two clicks away from making the final call before they abandon the cart. Below are the common reasons for cart abandonment.

• Extra costs including taxes and shipping: 60%
• Being forced to sign up: 37%
• Complicated checkout procedures: 28%
• Unable to calculate the final cost: 23%
• Website crash or errors: 20%
• Lack of trust in website to provide credit card details: 19%

Most of the issues related to car abandonment involve user experience, which an e-commerce mobile app eliminates to a great extent. Here is a comparison of it.

• 20% shopping cart abandonment in mobile apps
• 68%shopping cart abandonment on desktop websites
• 97% shopping cart abandonment on mobile sites

Mobile apps have the lowest cart abandonment rate. Further, once a customer makes a purchase, the settings are saved in the mobile app, which makes the next purchase or transaction one step shorter. The reduction in the number of steps greatly reduces cart abandonment rates.

Offers enhanced customer service

Customer service is of utmost importance in any business. 73% of consumers say they prefer to return to an e-commerce site and make purchases following a good customer service experience. 

It’s important to focus on this aspect during e-commerce mobile app development. There should be a simple call button or any other way that people can get in touch with customer service. The easier it is, the better the experience that people have, which may impact their buying decision.

Live chat and tracking of items from purchase to receiving at the end point, are great ways to provide excellent customer service.