Nowadays, people use mobile phones for virtually everything—and shopping is one of those things. However, websites alone are no longer enough because consumers demand a more straightforward way to purchase products.
Such demand has made a direct impact on the rise of mobile commerce. Mobile commerce refers to commercial transactions made online via mobile phones, tablets, and similar devices. This includes various actions, from paying bills to shopping on Amazon.
Thanks to m-commerce, brands can connect with their consumers easily and beat their competition. Therefore, many retailers have started developing their mobile apps. This helps them attract more visits from mobile devices and increase sales.
If you want to expand your reach to potential buyers but haven’t considered mobile commerce, these six benefits will help you rethink your strategy.
1. Improved Customer Experience
If you want to provide a better customer experience, your app has to be fast, secure, convenient, interactive, and simple to use. Your customers know how valuable they are to your business, and they’re setting the bar high. It’s up to you to make them feel welcomed.
- Fast Mobile Apps Improve CX
Your customers are already online, meaning they don’t want to wait in line. If they don’t want to queue in a store, they certainly won’t have the patience for a slow app. Slow app loading kills conversions. That’s why it’s essential to optimize the m-commerce app properly to improve customer experience and retain buyers.
- Secure Payments Build Trust
A secure m-commerce mobile app provides peace of mind when it comes to payments. Customers love to see their data protected while making payments, which in turn builds trust and improves user experience. Preventing data breaches without forcing users to sign in for every purchase is the goal you should strive for.
- Users Love Convenient Yet Simple Apps
The mobile app for your store must be convenient and simple to use. Have your developers explore the latest trends when it comes to menus, product descriptions, and button positions. Online shoppers love simplicity while they explore products. If your app meets customer’s needs, it will improve customer retention and ROI.
2. Better Analytics
By creating a mobile app for your business, you’ll access various levels of user analytics and better understand your customers. This allows you to offer the right products at the right time and maximize earnings while maintaining high customer retention.
- The Importance of App User Acquisition
This type of data will show you whether people found and installed the app organically or via some of the marketing channels. App user acquisition helps you learn more about the performance of your campaigns, meaning you won’t have to spend money on useless campaigns. This information also helps you focus on the right marketing channel and reach a particular audience.
- User Engagement Metrics
Some of the useful metrics you can follow with your m-commerce app are page visits, purchases, items in the cart, and similar data. User engagement metrics help you see how your app is used and what you should change. Such analysis will provide insight into specifics, such as session length and frequency, retention rate, screen flow, acquisitions, etc.
- App Performance Analytics
When dealing with mobile apps, it’s essential to know whether the app crashes and be aware of any network errors. Keeping track of user feedback will allow you to remove errors quickly and improve the user experience.
3. New Marketing Channel
There are currently over three billion smartphone users worldwide and that number is projected to grow by several hundred million in the next few years. Every smartphone user is your potential customer. Besides ads on Google, Bing, and many social media platforms, a mobile app lets you utilize another marketing channel.
- Users Receive Information Immediately
One of the biggest advantages of mobile apps is the ability to make the information immediately available to your customers. Using a mobile app, you can instantly send information about product prices, goods, services, giveaways, and more. The changes you publish in your product description will be visible immediately.
- Push Notifications Increase Sales
With push notifications, you can improve the interaction with your buyers. What’s great about push notifications is that they have an extremely high opening rate—90%. This opening rate is 50% higher than email. Since 55% to 60% of users agree on push notifications, you’ll have another marketing channel to utilize and boost sales.
- M-Commerce Allows for Easier Retargeting
Since many m-commerce apps are available on the market, chances are you’ll lose some customers to your competition. However, with retargeting, you’ll be able to reach previous customers and guide them back to your app. With the right mobile commerce partners, retargeting is easier and increases customer retention.
4. Upgraded Traditional Retailers
If you think that your brick-and-mortar store is enough, think again. In today’s world, if you’re not online, it’s like you don’t exist. Having an online store and optimizing it for m-commerce will bring additional benefits in terms of the better product presentation and putting you on the map.
- Better Product Presentation
Having an attractive mobile app with detailed descriptions and photographs of your products is better than letting the item sit on the shelf. With a mobile app, you’ll have more space to talk about your offer and increase the chances of making your products stand out.
- M-Commerce Lures Customers into Stores
People can easily use your app while shopping in your physical store, and it’s great for business. Those who shop with their phones also tend to spend more in your shop. With a well-optimized app that helps users find information while in the store, you’ll boost your sales.
- Expanding into New Markets
The retail industry is constantly evolving. Traditional retailers depend on the latest technology, and it’s up to you to create an environment that will help your brand expand into new markets and reach new users daily. With mobile apps, this is entirely possible.
5. Utilization of Location-Based Technology
Mobile phones are handy devices for tracking the location of your buyers. Combined with m-commerce, you’ll have enough data to draw old and new buyers to your business. You can also use indoor navigation to send customers to the product they want.
- Geolocation Puts You on the Map
Mobile devices come with a positioning system that shows the location of your store. You can utilize this feature and place yourself on Google maps. This makes you visible even to those who aren’t already aware of your business.
- Location-Based Commerce Targets Consumers
Location-based commerce is the evolution of mobile commerce. It centers around leveraging a consumer’s location and driving contextual engagement via mobile apps. It combines GPS, push notifications, and application multitasking to provide information.
- Indoor Navigation as the Latest Trend
Geolocation works great inside the store as well. Indoor navigation is the latest e-commerce trend, and many companies are utilizing maps and lists to point customers in the right direction and provide the best shopping experience.
6. Better Payment Systems
Mobile payments are fast and secure. Users love that they don’t have to spend more time in the bank. It’s enough to scan the code or type in a few numbers and complete the transaction in seconds. Luckily, with the latest mobile wallets and payment options, setting up fast payments for m-commerce is a breeze.
- Closed-Loop Mobile Payments
Closed-loop mobile payments act as wallets that are linked to a specific store. This payment solution allows customers to load their funds into an account, check their balance, and use the mobile app for payments. Some businesses that use closed-loop mobile payments are Amazon, Walmart, and Taco Bell.
- Mobile Wallets
Many businesses utilize mobile wallets and connect them to their m-commerce apps. Mobile wallets allow users to make purchases with their mobile devices without using their cards. The mobile wallet safely stores any data and verifies the purchases via PIN code or touch ID.
- Faster Payments
These types of mobile payment gateways operate 24/7, meaning your virtual cash register will work at all times. What’s better is that customers can shop from any location and carry out financial transactions within seconds.
Final Notes
Over two-thirds of the global population owns a mobile device. If your app is out there, as an extension of your e-commerce website, you’ll allow people to visit your store without having to browse for it online.
Mobile apps are also a perfect place to showcase your product in full. It allows the use of extended product descriptions and striking photos or videos. With the latest development in mobile payment systems, m-commerce lets your customers shop quickly and safely.
A well-optimized, fast, and attractive mobile app can also prove to be the right extension of your physical retail store. It can help you beat the competition and expand into new markets. With m-commerce, reaching new customers is easier than ever before.