Drive Customer Rates Up with Apps for Retail

By providing customers a better and more intuitive shopping experience, mobile apps are taking over desktops and even mobile web browsers to become the preferred method of E-commerce, or ‘’M-commerce.” According to Criteo’s Q4 2015 State of Mobile Commerce report, mobile apps are driving sales conversion rates across all stages of the buying cycle. The study found that it is worth prioritising mobile apps for retailers, as mobile share of retail E-commerce transactions is growing rapidly. App purchases made up 54% of all mobile transactions in Q4 of 2015, while app shoppers spent more per order on average, than both mobile web browser and desktop shoppers.

Forrester Research’s Cross-Channel Retail Forecast 2015 To 2020 predicts that mobile commerce sales will grow from $10 billion in 2012 to $32 billion in 2016, accounting for more than 7% of total E-commerce sales. With the adoption of smartphones and tablets accelerating worldwide, this figure could end up being even higher.

Why sell on mobile?

It’s all about simplicity and speed of purchase. The user experience should never get in the way of a sale but needs to instead drive conversions. Mobile-responsive or mobile-optimised websites are better than nothing but still not ideal in terms of product browsing or shopping. Mobile apps take this pain away and are built to optimise the shopping experience for the end user. As a retailer, you end up with satisfied customers who are more likely to buy more, spend more and return often.

More benefits of mobile vs. web-based selling

• Push notifications: apps enable you to push promotions and special offers to your app users real-time, thus driving up the number of items sold and your bottom line 
• The native app experience is always better: product images and links are more visible and easier to enlarge, browsing and checkout are faster, the user interface is more recognisable and intuitive, all leading to a more robust shopping experience 
• Integration with payment services has never been easier and you can offer customers payment via the Paypal app, Apple Pay, and many bank apps, for example
• Security: native apps are much more secure in terms of virus susceptibility, identity theft and other threats associated with online shopping  

Get started with M-commerce

EasyOrder is an example of a mobile app enabling easy E-commerce, developed by PegusApps. This is a solution geared towards small business owners in the food industry, where the customer receives their own app, which can be customised with the visual identity of the brand (logo, custom colours). There is also an optional webshop included with the app, which can be easily managed through the backend system. This gives businesses the ability to reach new customers and delight current ones via a new platform. By opting for a solution like EasyOrder, small shops have the ability to easily compete against large online retailers by adopting an affordable and simple-to-use solution, which doesn’t add overhead.

Need a custom mobile e-shop without breaking the bank?

In addition to their inexpensive solution EasyOrder, PegusApps has expertise in building custom apps for retailers with extensive inventory, a more complex ordering process or user login needs, making them a suitable choice for various sized businesses, up to the enterprise level. Apps can be built for any platform or device, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, tablets and mobile phones.

Cross-promotion key to driving app usage

Before your existing or prospective customers can be convinced to download your app, they need to have a good reason for doing so. Content and products within your app can be promoted via several means, including your main website, social media, digital magazines, e-newsletters, programmatic ads and more. Encourage your customers to interact with the app and drive its adoption by also offering special discounts and mobile app-only products.

Integration with your existing systems 

Your custom mobile retail app can also be linked to your ERP, CRM, inventory and logistics systems through API or a custom integration developed by PegusApps. Optimising your entire sales cycle in this way can generate advanced business intelligence and unique customer insights to help you drive M-commerce sales up even further.

Let us know if you are ready to look into selling your products or services through a mobile commerce app.