So you (your web development team) have done your optimization work right and now your ecommerce website looks great and works smoothly on all mobile devices, as well! Great for you! And yet: now it's time to move on to the next level if you want to remain competitive in this fierce “arena” which is ecommerce. And “upgrading to the next level” means: opting for an ecommerce mobile app.
“But do I really need a mobile app?” you might still ask yourself.
You sure do IF (and only “IF”):
- you do see the true potential of social sharing in ecommerce
- you aim at seeding and nourishing a sense of loyalty for your brand
- you do see the true power of tailor-made, highly personalized shopping experiences
- you do realize that convenience is a key driver in ecommerce
And now, let us support our statement that your ecommerce business does need a mobile app with 7 unbeatable (so we think) arguments:
1. Can't Fight Statistics: Mobile Shoppers Prefer Apps over Mobile Browsers
So, you either adapt to this “trend” or you witness your customers “flock” straight to your competition. Who does see a real potential in ecommerce mobile apps.
And it's no wonder why apps have rapidly gain so much popularity among mobile users: it's all about ease and convenience during shopping! This is the main reason why users prefer to access their favorite brand's online store via their corresponding apps rather than via their mobile browsers. No “shocking discovery” here!
Your users won't need to remember your website's URL or to log themselves in each and every time they want to check out what's now on your online store.
CONVENIENCE! This is a term you should adapt your whole ecommerce strategy to. It has the same “power” as the notion of “customization”!
2. Ecommerce Mobile Apps Encourage Social Sharing
You can't afford underestimating the “power” of social sharing! The need to set up the right context for your customers to turn into your own brand's advocates.
Apps make it even easier and faster for your users to “spread” the news to their friends on social media channels about your own promotions and special offers!
These days users could not even perceive mobile apps for ecommerce other way than as some “bundles” of social sharing features. Which, moreover, are easier to integrated into an app!
Free advertising for you and a bundle of convenience right in their own pockets on the mobile users' end!
3. Easy Payment, Easy Checkout
We couldn't be talking about a streamlined shopping experience without a simplified payment and checkout process, right? This is this aspect where your ecommerce mobile app “beats” your company's mobile website!
It will turn the whole payment process into a faster and more secure process.
A win-win situation after all: the fewer risks you take of turning this process into a true “ordeal”, with dozens of boxes to check or to uncheck, of personal data to enter and lots and lots of options to go through, the lower your cart abandonment rate will be.
Simplified payment process and fast checkout: the perfect formula for a great shopping experience!
Moreover: you get to easily turn your app into a whole bundle of functionalities, as well.
Your team of Toronto developers can easily incorporate secure payment options and (this is gold!) also to program it to remember the specific payment options that different users prefer. This way you'll get to customize and to streamline these users' future shopping experiences on your app!
4. Ecommerce Mobile Apps Load Faster
… and page loading time still is the name of the game in the digital landscape!
And app will always be lighter and therefore, will always “score” better page loading times than a website. No matter how much hard work you'd put in optimizing it for speed!
5. You Get to Integrate Push Notifications into Your Mobile App
And these are, no doubt, some really powerful marketing tools and sales boosters!
Basically, you get to send quick “alerts” to all your mobile users, informing them of new special sales, updates about their recent orders, tempting time-limited promotions and all kinds of key store events.
And there's more!
Since “personalization” is everything in modern ecommerce, you get to play your “customization card” via the push notification options that you'll include in your mobile app. You can make them location-based and, this way, send users quick “alerts” whenever they're close to one of your physical stores.
And, we're getting back to the CONVENIENCE factor: your mobile customers don't even need to be logged into your app or to access their mobile browsers for getting your offer/news notifications!
So, we have convenience, we have tailor-made shopping experience and we definitely can't ignore the advantage of brand consistency. By keeping your customers constantly connected to your brand's whole ecosystem of store events, sales, special offers, freshly added content, your app will help you build brand consistency.
6. You Get to Tailor The User Experience by Device
And this is another great advantage of ecommerce mobile apps over mobile website. Admit it: responsive design follows the “one size fits all types of devices, as long as they're mobile” rule.
Now when it comes to mobile apps, you gain much more control over their interfaces' design, over the whole user experience after all!
Since each platform comes with its own particularities and with its own users' expectations, your mobile app will enable you to adapt your app's interface to them. To tailor your customers' shopping experiences to their preferred platforms.
7. Mobile Ecommerce Apps Build and Increase Brand Loyalty
Take it this way: your mobile users will be virtually connected to your brand almost 24/7 via your app. It will be in their pockets, purses, on their desks at work, practically part of their lives.
Therefore, it will inevitably nurture a sense of familiarity (in the first place) towards your brand. Which will evolve into brand loyalty, if you're willing to put some effort, as well:
- to keep them informed, through your push notifications, about your special offers or coupons designed exclusively for your brand's mobile shoppers... for them
- to leverage the data analytics that your app will provide you with for tailoring some shopping experiences personalized to your users' different backgrounds, different preferences, in the slightest details
- to make sure you deliver seamless shopping experiences to your mobile users, irrespective of the type of devices that they access your app from
And though the list of unbeatable arguments on why you need an ecommerce mobile app is almost endless (we could go on pointing out the advantage of using a mobile app in offline mode, as well, for instance), we shall end it here.
So: have we managed to help you find a straight answer to your “dilemma”: mobile app vs mobile ecommerce website?
