How Combining M-Commerce with E-Commerce is Beneficial for Business

According to a January 2017 survey, around 66% of the total global population owns smartphones today. Not only this, around 90% of phone users use mobile apps and just 10% of them use the internet when spending time on the smartphone. These statistics present a goldmine opportunity to online retailers, whether small or large, to use mobile phones as tools to promote their brand strategy and acquire new customers. Therefore, investing in eCommerce mobile app development seems a viable strategy for brands today.

Why has M-Commerce turned into a Necessity Today?

Both smartphones and the process of app development were expensive, a couple of years back. However, today, the cost of app making has dropped down. The digital world is becoming more dynamic and several smartphones, offering a multitude of features is available in the market. These new-generation features have enabled the marketing teams to get more creative and competitive when designing their audio, video and text campaigns.

Also, smartphones have come forth as handy tools for not just connecting with people, but also broadcasting one’s ideas, breaking down all geographical and language barriers. One cannot carry laptops and tablets everywhere, at all times, but carrying a mobile phone is quite easy and inexpensive. For this reason, brands can directly reach out to their potential customers and advertise their products or services anywhere and at any time.

Keeping these reasons in the mind, combine M-commerce or mobile commerce with e-commerce has become crucial for the existence of a brand in the market. And, that is precisely why we are going to talk about eCommerce app development solutions and their benefits in the next couple of paragraphs.

5 Key Benefits of M-Commerce

• Greater Productivity at Lower Costs

Directly communicating with the audience, without involving a middleman or agency cuts down the marketing costs. Additionally, the cost of developing eCommerce mobile app , its maintenance and offering customer support is cheaper, as compared to maintaining a brick-and-mortar or web-based retail outlet.

Let’s say, if you have spent $30,000 on developing an app, you just have to spend $10,000/year on support and maintenance. But, the user data you’ve collected using the app can boost your business by up to 40%

• Quick Purchases

Mobile apps are 1.5 times faster than web pages that take a few minutes to download. Why? Because there is no need for customers to draw data from a server. Also, mobile apps are more functional than some website features. Thus, shoppers spend less time and efforts in placing their orders, when using a mobile phone.

Since 2014, the m-commerce revenue has experienced an average annual rise of about 30%-40%.  Therefore, big players like Amazon and Facebook are constantly investing more in eCommerce mobile app builders to make their applications better and user-friendlier.

• Specialty App-Based Services Perform Better

Brands like Ovuline and Glow have engaged and retained a loyal female clientele with their products and services focused on their ‘specialty’ that is pregnancy support and personalized fertility tracking. Moreover, finance apps, such as MileIQ and ActiveHours, dealing in mileage tax deductions and payday loans, have accomplished higher ratings, regardless of targeting narrow use cases initially.

These examples support the fact that specialty app-based services perform better in the market, just like specialty retail stores.

• Better Visibility: Better Prospects of Advertising

A Pew Research Centre survey conducted in 2013 revealed that 9% of mobile phone users used Snapchat and 18% used Instagram, since their launch. This compelled Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other social networks to introduce ‘stories’ and ‘display ads’.

It’s no secret that users rely more on a visual experience. Therefore, bigger brands are capitalizing on this trend and launching content-rich, photos and videos to promote themselves, in a better manner. This is why it is the perfect time to hire an eCommerce app development company for promoting your brand through a personalized app.

• Generating more Revenues with On-Demand Services

2014 was the year of ‘Uberification’, when Uber reported a yearly turnaround of $41 billion (which was 17 billion in June 2014), after they launched their on-demand delivery apps. Thereafter, many brands in different verticals—food, health, pharmaceutical, beauty, travel, ticketing, etc. attempted to replicate Uber’s success by launching their on-demand delivery apps, as their customers wanted everything to be delivered at their doorstep.

Before you go with the flow, check out the four steps that are crucial to eCommerce mobile app development—•

Exploring the market before you market yourself

• Analyzing user customer data
• Leveraging tools for maximizing your reach
• Finding a reliable eCommerce app development company for launching your app.

Conclusion

The m-commerce industry continues to expand every year. Mobile shopping is trending more, the number of smartphone users has crossed over 1 billion and apps are driving sales conversions as never before. For customers, tapping a button does the trick, and they seem to love it! So, whether you own a shop, company or an online business, do invest in eCommerce mobile app development before it is too late!