The Five Key Essentials for a Successful Retail Mobile App

Owning a retail mobile app for your business is a hygiene factor these days, while not so long ago it was good to have.

Following are a couple of questions under speculation amongst the retailers:

• What is my differentiation component that can attract potential customers?
• What can I do to retain my customers and build more?

Did you know?

• According to a survey by Hitwise reports, the share of online searches performed on mobile constitutes to 56%
• The comScore report says that people across the globe spend almost 85% to 90% of their mobile time in impactful apps when compared to 10% to 15% in the browser.

There lies your answer for the above speculation. There is a misconception that mobile apps are meant for multi-dollar businesses alone. But in fact businesses irrespective of its size can benefit from an empowering mobile app with regard to an improved ROI and an elevated percentage of sales.

The “big thing” about retail mobile apps:

Focusing on mobile apps for the retail sector, let us drill down on how it stands out from the rest of the mobile apps in the market. Retail is all about interacting with customers, capturing their interests and retaining them as a loyal base. Mobile apps prove to be critical touch points in this process as they play a pivotal role in marking the first impression amongst the customer base.

The impact of a website vs. mobile app:

Based on a statistical report by PR Newswire,

• Shoppers browse 286% more products on their mobile apps than website browsers.
• Shoppers on mobile apps “add-to-basket rate” is 90% higher.
• The potential conversion rate is 120% more in effective retail mobile apps than on websites.

With the upsurge smartphone usage, people have begun to largely spend their leisure time on mobile apps.  Retailers have taken advantage of this shifting trend to attract customers by showcasing their products online. A mobile app development company provides an enriched retail mobile apps giving an in-store experience to your customers. This helps better interaction and keeps communication open which motivates repeated orders.

The “un-missable” in a retail mobile app:

1. The Omni-channel support:

We have information everywhere. We speak about products on the website, mobile apps, blogs, across social media channels through customer support representatives and what not. But does all this information reach the right people at the right context? Adopting an Omni-channel marketing strategy is hence cardinal. Providing uniform information across resources is as important as personalizing relevant data based on customer needs. This aspect needs to be taken charge of while developing a retail mobile app as every right interaction pushes your customer way forward in the sales funnel.

2. Inventory control and in-store integration:

These two components of online retail stores are highly complementary. Imagine you browsing for a while, adding a product to your cart only to find it has gone out of stock. This is an annoying scenario which needs to be taken charge of. It is extremely important for retailers to have a synergy between the orders placed and the physical inventory stocks.

Intuitive mobile apps can contribute by providing contextual purchase recommendations to customers backed by deep linked search options. This way the customers can also benefit from up selling and cross selling via product suggestions, best services and high-end packaging options.

3. Loyalty benefits:

Customers always enjoy being recognized and rewarded. Mobile apps when utilized effectively can help you recognize loyal customers based on shopping trends and preferences. When such customers are rewarded through gift coupons, special discounts and incentives you leave behind a positive vibe within your customer base. Few ideas include have an inventive program, referral program in place which could offer redeemable points as your customers do they shopping. This triggers their interest in your products. Such incentives can be further personalized on occasions of birthdays and anniversaries.

4. Providing checkout and payment options:

Customers should enjoy their shopping experience which includes an extensive range of payment options during checkout. This will reduce your cart abandon rate and help complete the purchase process successfully. You should consider users on a desktop and mobile as the navigation differs from one device to the other. Provide options for payment like cash on delivery, credit/debit card, Net banking, coupons and vouchers and so on.  Mobile apps should also be providing customized payment solutions like PayPal, Amazon Pay to cater across various requirements.

5. Geographical information:

Offering services to customers based on their geographical location could help businesses to excel greatly. Mobile apps can contribute towards this otherwise tedious task. By acquiring information about location retailers can better pitch, perform and deliver their products/services. Retailers can better understand interests and preferences along with information about devices. All this together will help retailers to stay on top of the information base and perform better.

 Conclusion:

The primary value addition to every retail mobile app is its quality, features and performance. By dovetailing these components to your mobile apps, you could derive maximum benefits off it and stay ahead in cut throat competition.