Why E-Commerce Business Needs A Mobile App?

One of the industries, which is cultivating at a very fast rate is e-commerce. Due to the continuous raising awareness about its enormous benefits, the future is going to be highly dependent on online businesses. The improvement we are seeing in the innovative ideas and technology advancement, mobile or smartphones are one of the driving forces for these changes.

Mobile is now becoming one of the pivotal requirements of e-commerce business as it is a direct driver of e-commerce development. It drives almost up to one-third of the website traffic. They are continuing to become the best medium for constantly sharing information, as they help them to stay ahead of the competition.

Smartphones are becoming the best medium for viewing or receiving information these days, and they are also important for the business. Gone are those days when apps were considered a luxury by a web-based company. These days apps are becoming a necessity for engaging users. E-commerce portal like WAKI is providing its customers with mobile-based application in Saudi Arabia, for simplifying their shopping experience.

Building mobile apps for an e-commerce business will allow the companies to be at the right fingertips of customers when they are ready to make purchases. This will ensure the overall increase in sales.

There are many other reasons why e-commerce business needs to consider building a personalized apple store app or mobile app for increasing sales.

  1. Preferred over mobile browsing

Due to the lack of time in this fast-moving world, users don’t want to invest any time in browsing through their phones. They want an application which they can directly open up in mobile, from the home screen, and have all the information, in front of them instantly. Offering this facility to the user will remove the need to open a browser, find out the website, and then navigate. Through the app, they can directly open it and start shopping. Almost 78% of smartphone users stated that they prefer using a mobile app for receiving their information than using a mobile browser.

  1. Constant contact and Push notification

E-commerce businesses are very well aware of the fact that it is extremely important to maintain constant connections with the clients, for sharing information, promotions, sales or any other factor that will allure the buyer to make a purchase. Using push notifications, that are sent through the app, will also draw the user’s attention, as they are directly displayed on the mobile’s notification system. Push notifications are the perfect way to communicate a promotion or sale. A simple tap by the user can directly take them to the purchase page on the app.

  1. Optimizing  user experience

If a user has an app installed on his mobile device with all his personal information stored, like username, password, and different payment option, then he only needs to select the desired products he is looking for and then submit the purchase. With the majority of purchases going on at the same time, the natively stored payment information makes it easy for users to complete the purchase, with the increasing conversion rates.

  1. Offline availability

Once the customer has downloaded the app in a mobile device, they can view or access it easily, even if they do not have the proper internet connection, allowing the customers to view the products no matter where they are. Of course, they won’t be able to finalize their purchase or make any payments, but this will let them create a wishlist or fill their cart for easy purchase in the future.

  1. Increasing conversions

Creating a mobile application for your e-commerce business with a professional development company will help to increase the wide range of functions that are necessary to maximize usability and sales. Mobile applications have been successful in converting the potential customers to regular buyers, by providing them ease of commerce.

Submitting an app for an e-commerce business is a stepping stone towards building an important relationship with the visitors. It becomes easy and beneficiary for a business to monitor the customer habits, by observing the analytics from its own application and maximizing the purchase.

The main objective should be, to provide a seamless and customized expertise to clients, irrespective of which device they are using.

One of the most remarkable examples of e-commerce portal using mobile app is WAKI. It provides customers with ease of shopping experience through its mobile application. WAKI is basically a continuously cultivating e-commerce portal, which provides users with simple and fruitful shopping experience through its mobile application.

Top Factors That Influence Online eCommerce Behavior

You can setup the best eCommerce store in the world, but if you fail to fully understand online customer behavior or how to align your marketing practices for best results, you won’t get the results you’re looking for.

The good news is that there is lots of information on how to best market your products and services online.

It all begins with a working knowledge of your product and the niche in which you operate. It would also help to have a basic understanding of the operating systems that support your store. Then there’s the marketing side of things, and there is a good chance you will have to cover this essential aspect of retail all on your own.

But, there is one more crucial aspect of eCommerce that is sometimes underappreciated and misplaced in all the facts and figures. This is the behavior of the online customer. While the behavior seems pretty straightforward – a customer arrives on your site, sees something that interests them and if the price and shipping is acceptable, the transaction is made.

In a perfect world, yes! But, in reality things are rarely that simple. There is a lot more that goes into the buying process. The four stages of the frameworks are these:

  • Need recognition
  • Search for solution
  • Evaluation of alternatives
  • Purchase

Each of these stages of the process has specific factors that affect them. If you are thinking of investing time and effort into your store, you can’t ignore these crucial factors that affect your success.

The FFF Model Of Online Consumer Behavior

In 2012, two management professors working at the Priyadarshini Engineering College and S. B. Patil Institute of Management proposed a model for online customer behavior. Ujwala Dange’s and Vinay Kimar’s model is not the first of its kind, but is the most relevant one I have found to this day.

The FFF model includes both the external and internal factors when affecting buying behavior. It goes on to describe in detail some filtering elements that customers apply to their selection process when choosing a store to do business and the process that leads them to the final choice of product.

Let’s have a look at the factors that influence online shopping behavior,

1. Factors

From left to right, the first thing we see illustrated by Kumar and Dange are the factors that lead a customer to purchase a particular product. There are two categories the internal and external that affects a purchase. The external factors are those that can’t be controlled by the customer. These include five different sectors:

  • Demographics (including socio-economics, technology and public policy)
  • Culture
  • Subculture
  • Reference groups
  • Marketing

From these factors, the customer produces two very different buying emotions: non-functional and functional.

Functional motives for buying include those reasons that appeal to the needs of the consumer, such as the availability and convenience of a certain outlet. This could also include the environment of the shopping location and the selection of goods available.

Non-functional motives are related to reasons such as social values or cultural reasons for a purchase. These may include the specific brands available or the store brand itself.

2. Filtering Elements

Security, trust and privacy are the three hurdles that must be countered to attain successful online marketing. Customers use these three important factors to filter their stores and arrive at the one where they will be willing to do business. In other words, if you don’t pass these three tests from the customer, there is a good chance of losing customers, even if you are the cheapest option out there.

It is important to consider the risks involved with online purchases compared to conventional transactions in a brick and mortar location. Customers feel the lack of any tangible interaction as a high-risk purchase and must be reassured their cash and shopping experience is safe in every way.

They use the three factors mentioned to decide how reliable their retail outlet is.

Security

It is a hazard of the digital realm that information can be easily intercepted, lost or stolen. This includes the important figures of the payment made and the personal information of the individuals making a purchase.

The details of the transaction can be kept in the stores database and there are numerous cases of a security breach where all this sensitive information is accessed by the nefarious. Customers are becoming increasingly aware of this tendency to identity theft and are more cautious about who they hand this information to.

Privacy

Another important risk that even the most unassuming consumer is aware of is the threat that their information can finds it way to third parties with no end of misfortune. From spam to undesirable correspondence this is a serious issue. Even though the results of a privacy breach in this form will result in financial loss the inconvenience of this situation makes it serious enough to shun any non-trustworthy online retailer.

Trustworthiness

Trust is the single most important of the three and certainly the hardest to come by. There is an increasing amount of distrust online for these smaller stores. The obvious result is that bigger name corporations like Amazon are taking all the booty.

But, if you can attain a level of trust with your customer pool you will set yourself miles ahead of the competition. Trust tells the consumer they are the most important.

3. Filtered Buying Behaviour

The last topic covers a set of motives and expectations that your customers have about the filters set above and is important study material for the eCommerce entrepreneur.

How To Use Marketing Model To Develop a Better Store

Understanding these important points will allow you to build toward a better marketing model. The following takeaways should never be forgotten.

  • Understand that different demographics will have different motives for affecting their final purchasing decisions. Make sure that every aspect of your eCommerce presence is created with these details in mind.
  • Show some personality and present your human side in the store, this makes you a “real” person rather than a potentially dishonest machine. This can be done with those personal touches that show you really know your customer their needs and even what they like to see in a valued product.
  • Focus on customer service. If you are known for going the extra mile and making your customer feel it, you will reach that success you hope for. If they see you reaching out beyond the machine they will feel more inclined to do business with you.

Conclusion:

It’s very hard to read the exact behavior of users and consumers in your eCommerce business because online shopping completely depends on customers’ mindset. The above points can make your products to reach near your target users expectations. You need to do deep market and consumer behavior analysis.

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