4 Reasons for Retailers to Have a Mobile Application
Mobile Commerce is said to be as “the delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s hand, anywhere, via wireless technology”. Mobile Commerce is one of the fastest growing retail segments and is becoming a must-have for online retailers. It is easy to implement, has a wide range of abilities, and also safe to use.
According to BI Intelligence in January 2013, 29% of all mobile users have made purchases through their phones. Walmart has estimated 40% of all visits to their internet shopping site in December 2012 were from a mobile device. Bank of America has predicted $67.1 billion in purchases will be made from mobile devices by European and U.S. shoppers in 2015.
- Consumers Loves Retail Mobile Apps
As we all know, the number of mobile smartphone users are continuously growing every year. Retail mobile apps have made shopping a much easier experience. Consumers do not have to go through all the hassle just to be physically present at retail outlets, especially when they need just a few items.
Data from application analytics firm Flurry, as reported in Tech Crunch, Android and iOS users spent 525% more time on retail mobile apps in December 2012 as those users had in December 2011. Consider that overall app usage grew about 132% in that same period, meaning that retail shopping apps grew at about four times the average.
- Easy to Develop
There are many tools that can easily help create a mobile commerce app. For example, the Apache Cordova project and Adobe’s PhoneGap framework can create a mobile retail app using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. The application is then released as a platform-specific native application on Apple iOS, Android, Blackberry OS, WebOS, Windows Phone 7, Symbian, and Bada.
Many retailers still think that building a mobile app is as difficult and expensive to build a retail website. With tools like these, mobile apps will be easier to build for all retailers.
- Limitless App Ideas
A mobile commerce app should only be as simple as a product catalog and a shopping cart. It does not need anything else. Some may think that they need to build something more complete, which will usually become less user-friendly. However, there are no limits to what a mobile app can do. Here are a few examples:
- Fashion and Apparel – a monthly fashion magazine or seasonal catalog
- Hardware – catalog of tools with pictures and dimensions
- Sports – latest news, limited edition merchandise catalog, rulebook
- Your Competitor has a Mobile App
Almost all top retailers have had themselves a mobile app to capture a piece of the online market. This means that retailers who do not have a mobile app will be left behind.