Is It Worth to Invest In Mobile E-commerce Application: Benefits and Challenges
By: Sophia Martin
Tags: Development, Mobile App Development, Mobile Apps, Ecommerce, Startup

There is no denying this fact that mobile app development technologies have revolutionized the way we live and handle our business. With the evolving trends of mobile apps and their increasing popularity, developing an Ecommerce mobile app for your business has become an urgent need of an hour.

With 90% of mobile time spending on mobile apps and using approx 30 mobile apps each month, it is safe to say that consumer behaviour has been drastically changed over the last few years. In addition, mobile apps have not just brought everything at your fingertips but also made it far easier with the integration of the Voice search commands. To buy anything right from shopping groceries to clothes, booking movies to flight tickets, all you need is the mobile app. In fact, with the rapidly increasing usage of such technologies to perform various tasks, it is predicted that mobile commerce will be accounting for 73% of the global eCommerce market share by 2021.

However, if you are one of those who still believe in the fact that investing in an eCommerce mobile application is just a financial burden on your business, then you need to first understand the concept of eCommerce mobile application and its reasons why businesses need a commerce mobile app?

Let’s get into the deep of this post:

What is an Ecommerce Mobile Application?

Ecommerce mobile application is a potential platform for all size businesses which enables them to promote, sell and buy products and allow them to get connected with the new customers. Since it adds a great convenience of shopping, therefore, more and more people are making online purchases via mobile apps.

However before you make a decision to build an eCommerce mobile app, it is worth to understand the commonly used convincing models of eCommerce apps, as mentioned below:

Business To Business (B2B) mobile eCommerce apps are aiming to sell products and services to enterprises. The interactions are carried out between two companies with the help of mobile apps and generating a great opportunity for you to earn potential income through B2B applications.

For example: if you manufacture and want to promote your product or service range, then B2B apps can provide you with a platform to pitch the enterprises who are interested in your service.

Moreover, the increasing demand for B2B apps is expected to drive the market to $140 billion by 2023 and 70% of all B2B queries are expected to be smartphones in 2020.

Business To Customer (B2C) is one of the most popular types of app models as it helps in conducting interaction between certain companies (online stores like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart) and the end-customers who are willing to make final purchases. Moreover, most enterprises choose to go with this type of app model as it enables you to sell products and services directly to the end-customers, add a variety of products, and integrate limitless online stores on this portal.

Stats and Facts to Understand the Importance of Having Ecommerce Mobile Application

Before you decide which eCommerce mobile app model you need to proceed with, it is important to analyse the market to get the best ROI. In addition, being up-to-date with the current state of the e-commerce market is not just important for the online business owners, but also for the businesses which are still in-store based.

Let’s have a look over the current state of eCommerce statistics to understand how the world’s commerce continues to move online at a steady rate.

According to the report of Statista, the number of global digital buyers will jump from 1.32 billion to 2.14 Billion in 2021.

According to the latest market report, the revenue of the eCommerce market is projected to reach $2,411,638m in 2020. And the number of users is expected to amount t0 4,658 million in the eCommerce market by 2024.

With the impact of a number of factors including cheaper smartphones, internet subscription plans, increasing spending power and more in between 2020 to 2024, Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia and India are expected to be top countries for highest retail eCommerce sales with the CAGR forecast of 20.2%, 16.3%, 15.4% and 13.1% respectively.

According to the survey report, 95% of retail sales will take place online by 2040 and generate great value to the retail economy.

In The Nutshell: Hopefully, with these stats and facts you have understood the increasing demand for eCommerce mobile app development solutions in 2021. In addition, the above figures and survey reports are clearly portraying the declining popularity of bricks and mortar stores in contrast to online stores.

So, now let’s assume that you are ready to hire a mobile app developer but still you might be scratching your head with the question of what you will get from the eCommerce Mobile application?

Let’s find the answer below…

What does Your Business Will get From the E-commerce Mobile App?

If you look at the market trends of the last few years, you will find an undeniable fact that mobile applications have brought a great change in the market. Gone are those days when people went to the local shops with the list of items in hand as mobile eCommerce apps have taken over those local stores by simply adding the comfort of ordering the products with one tap.

Apart from that, here are the reasons why you need to invest in eCommerce mobile app development?

1. Mobile Apps Are The Preferred Choice of Shopping

There is no denying the fact that using mobile apps are far easier than browsing websites. Since everyone uses mobile phones these days which makes it very easy for the customers to access online shopping stores by simply downloading the eCommerce mobile app.

In fact, 75% of the apps are used once after being downloaded. The reason being users don’t have to remember complicated URLs and log in every time they visit your site. Moreover, the speed of browsing applications is far faster than browsing eCommerce websites. The faster loading time of the apps always deliver a better user experience and leave your customer with a satisfying shopping experience.

2. 24*7 Accessibility Can Improve Customer Engagement

With the increasing competition in every business domain, mobile applications can help you stay connected with your customers 24*7. And according to the studies, it is revealed that most consumers across the world spend 90% of their time on mobile phones and applications. So having your eCommerce mobile app will not just help you expand your business but also ensures your 24/7 availability to the customers which ultimately improves the engagement with your customers.

3. Increase the Transparency of the Services

Gone are those days when websites were considered as the face of your brand. Nowadays, with the increasing usage of mobile applications, these apps have started to act as the presenting face of your business on the internet. The transparency provided by the eCommerce mobile application offers a great point of relief to the customers in many ways.

4. Great Source Of Income

No matter what kind of mobile app model you choose to develop in 2021, mobile eCommerce apps can be a sole and additional source of income. Since eCommerce mobile applications provide a broad choice of products and services on a single tap, therefore customers find it far easier to make a purchase in your e-shop.

5. Boost Customer Loyalty

When a customer visits a website, they usually check the business details of the company. However, when a customer downloads your app, it means that a customer is already interested in your products and services. So all you need is to adopt the right loyalty program to turn your visitor into a potential customer. 64% of retailers say that their loyalty/rewards program is the best way to connect with consumers.

6. Offering New Marketing Opportunities

You may provide world-class services and product lines, but what if it has no buyers? That’s where a reputed mobile app development company can help you build a perfect estore that not only enables you to get connected with the new customers but also promotes your brand. In addition, careful monitoring and analyzing the traffic of your app, you can easily optimize the consumer’s behaviour and be able to determine when they are less likely to buy your products.

7. Building a Strong Relationship With Customers

This is something that is quite challenging to achieve with the website. Sure, you can keep your customers updated with the via email about your new products or seasonal sales, but that this channel lacks to build a strong connection with the users as a mobile app can build with the push notifications.

Push notifications are both instant to access and keep reminding your brand to the users. In addition, such alerts work as a personal communicator between your brand and customers that automatically seeks the attention of the shoppers when they receive an app alert at the right time.

In the Nutshell: Undoubtedly, eCommerce mobile apps can help you expand your business to the next level and enable you to reach a wide range of customers. And there are various mobile app development companies that can help you build a highly functional and efficient app for your business. However, now the question is, what makes these apps highly useful, engaging and impactful?

What are the Common Features Making Ecommerce Highly Demanding in 2021?

The eCommerce apps like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay and more has become a big shark of the industry. It is not just because they provide great comfort of shopping the desired product through a smartphone, but also these apps integrated with the huge list of features that makes it a wonderful choice for the shopping in 2021.

Let’s look over the must-have features in an eCommerce app:

Shopping Cart , allows buyers to instantly purchase multiple items at the same time with just a single click without leaving the shopping page. All you need to ensure that your app is built beautifully and allow customers to access the features without facing any complexity.

, allows buyers to instantly purchase multiple items at the same time with just a single click without leaving the shopping page. All you need to ensure that your app is built beautifully and allow customers to access the features without facing any complexity. Push Notifications are playing a crucial role in engaging your customers with app and encouraging them to shop at the right moment. By leveraging this feature, you can notify your users about the sale, new products, and offers to help them stay tuned with your app.

are playing a crucial role in engaging your customers with app and encouraging them to shop at the right moment. By leveraging this feature, you can notify your users about the sale, new products, and offers to help them stay tuned with your app. Social integration of the eCommerce app will help customers to easily share the reviews and products between their social media accounts and increase your brand visibility on other platforms as well.

of the eCommerce app will help customers to easily share the reviews and products between their social media accounts and increase your brand visibility on other platforms as well. Product Catalog can make a great difference in the app traffic. The high quality products and a huge choice of items can keep your users engaged with your app longer and may provide the best shopping experience.

can make a great difference in the app traffic. The high quality products and a huge choice of items can keep your users engaged with your app longer and may provide the best shopping experience. Search Filters enable users to sort desired items in a quick time frame and allow users to buy what exactly they are looking for.

enable users to sort desired items in a quick time frame and allow users to buy what exactly they are looking for. Order History can help users track what they have ordered in the past and allow them to reorder the products from history without browning the huge catalogue once again.

can help users track what they have ordered in the past and allow them to reorder the products from history without browning the huge catalogue once again. Multiple Payment Options enable customers to make payment through credit card, debit card, PayPal, and many more.

Some Additional Features of Ecommerce Mobile App

- Artificial Intelligence Based Chatbots and Voice Assistants

The emergence of AI chatbots and voice assistants can take your user experience to the next level by providing 24*7 customer support and privilege of using voice commands to search anything on the app. You can hire mobile app developers to build this feature to offer a highly interactive guide to the users while they are purchasing any product online.

- Emergence of Augmented Reality (AR)

What exactly the product will look on you after purchase is the biggest concern of the online buyers. But with the integration of the AR technology, you can virtually try products like jewellery, wallpapers, eyewear, beauty products and more. This technology actually creates 3D rendered images of the different products to give you real-life shopping experience. In case you are finding it complicated to understand, then it is better to leave the task with the software development company.

- 24 Hour Delivery and Return Policy

This is where you can win the trust of the buyers by ensuring them to get full return of the money if they didn’t like the product. With easy order replacing, instant payment making, hassle-free order returns can give surety to the users to buy any product from your app fearlessly.

How Much It Cost to Develop an Ecommerce Mobile Application in 2021?

Now the last point, how much does it cost to develop an eCommerce mobile app? I’m sure, after determining all the market stats, features and benefits of using an eCommerce mobile app, you are curious to know the cost of app development.

Well, there is no straightforward answer to this question but on an average, the starting price of developing a feature-rich mobile commerce app can be between $15,000 to $25,000 and it can go to any expensive price depending upon your app development needs, features, the complexity of the app, choice of a mobile app development team, their location and choice of the operating platform.

Conclusion

If you are a retailer and still working with the physical retail shop and are thinking of migrating to a digital platform, then an eCommerce mobile app can be your ultimate solution to overcome the market challenges. Your presence on mobile apps will not only help you get connected with the users instantly but also allow you to identify new business opportunities and assist in expanding your business to the next level.

I have concluded everything in this blog that helps you understand why you need an eCommerce mobile app and what features can make it successful and how much does it cost you to develop. Still, if you are in a doubt, then it is worth hiring a mobile app development company to discuss your business needs in person.