AppCommerce: 7 Reasons Brands Prefer Mobile Shopping

We have the world in our hands as smartphones play a pivotal role in people's daily lives, especially for GenZs and millennials. It is the ultimate source for our daily news, connections, communications, entertainment, research, and digital shopping assistant.

With over 6.3 billion smartphone users worldwide, it's no wonder that the mobile app industry is growing and thriving rapidly. If you are in trend with the pace of today's digital world, you will know that just having a website for your business is not enough. The pandemic has changed the retail business landscape, and to keep up with trends in E-commerce, more and more brands are adopting an app-based strategy.

Transactions have now taken a whole new shape, transforming from traditional to digital and, most importantly, mobile app commerce. With about 91% making online purchases using their smartphone, mobile apps are playing a crucial role in building relationships between brands and customers. With an Ecommerce mobile app, brands can target consumers anywhere, anytime, as they're just a tap away.

Businesses are now going beyond just ensuring they have mobile websites or mobile-friendly responsive websites to cater to changing consumer behavior. They are building mobile e-commerce apps! E-commerce sales are projected to exceed $510 billion in 2023 and $710 billion in 2025.

In this article, we will learn why mobile commerce has become so critical for brands and why retailers should use mobile app commerce to optimize their business. Before diving into the details of optimizing your app commerce, let's cover the nitty-gritty.

What is mobile commerce and AppCommerce?

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is a branch of E-commerce that covers purchasing or selling products and services or completing a transaction via mobile phones or tablets.

The growing importance of search engines, social integration, and changing lifestyle and work patterns have led to the progress of mobile commerce. Mobile shopping is the preferred way to browse and buy products as it offers speed, convenience, and a seamless shopping experience and AppCommerce is an extension of the same. 

Mobile apps allow shoppers to browse products or services, purchase items, and chat with customer support of brands without the back and forth of loading different web pages. The mobile app offers users seamless browsing and customized recommendations, sends push notifications, and makes tracking orders easier.

Why are brands embracing AppCommerce now?

Is it possible to increase your sales, reinforce your client base, and boost your brand by building a mobile app for your brand? What if we say a big YES?

The AppCommerce market has seen a substantial rise and is expected to continue growing. Today, mobile commerce apps are taking over the market, gaining many users and making substantial profits. The mCommerce industry is flourishing, and there are several reasons why brands should add mobile to their repertoire of digital channels. 

Social media sites, such as Meta, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, have all included "buy buttons" on their mobile platforms allowing users to easily purchase products from other brands directly from these social media sites. 

Let's check out why brands are embracing Mobile Commerce App to add value to their business:

Access to large customer base

"Meet your customers where they are." Sounds simple, right? But consumers are scattered across a wide range of touchpoints, your mobile site, app, social media, or desktop site. But where should businesses focus most? The focus should definitely be on mobile app commerce. 

Mobile apps convert up to 157% higher rate than the mobile web, and the modern consumer expects a seamless and frictionless shopping experience with an app.

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An app-based shopping experience is more personal and driven by the convenience of format. Most modern customers can do it while snuggling up on their couch and browsing their favorite brands and products that interest them.

Shopping on a mobile app with push notifications assures more engagement and repeat purchases as apps save the consumers' preferences and buying history. App commerce also provides an enhanced shopping experience by enabling consumers to take advantage of features such as GPS-based personalization, AR, VR, and live streaming.

Increases brand recognition

One of the key reasons to develop your brand's mobile app is increased brand visibility, which is the best advantage of mobile commerce.

It is easier for brands to connect with their customers using an app commerce platform, as most consumers spend many hours using their mobile devices. Bringing your products or services to your consumers through a mobile app will benefit your brand when any new competitor enters your market. Having a mobile app for your business raises the bar and protects your position in the market.

Think about H&M or Zara here for a minute. Despite the endless competition in the market, the two brands have found a permanent home in their audience’s day-to-day shopping by introducing mobile apps that find a place on smartphones and indirectly serve the purpose of brand recall everytime the icon is viewed. 

Provides an enhanced customer experience

Modern customers want a customized and reliable experience throughout their shopping journey with brands. And simply using websites as a medium to deal with your consumers will not suffice. If you want your consumers to keep returning for more, opt for mobile apps to make this possible easily.

Due to its convenience, there has been a significant increase in mobile shopping, and in recent times, it has been preferred over traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Hence, focusing on building an excellent customer experience would be best.

In addition to the same, with the help of emerging technologies, such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, AR, and VR, in a mobile app, you will be able to gather valuable information about your consumers, like:

• What do your consumers like?
• At what time do they prefer buying online?
• How long do they take to make a purchase decision?

With this data, you can provide your consumers with a personalized shopping experience and increase your sales.

For example, Nike has launched a shoe size measuring app. Using AR technology to create an omnichannel experience, Nike has proven to be an app pioneer.

Improves Marketing Communication

Consumers stay connected with their favorite brands 24/7, and mobile shopping has improved how users interact with brands, get information, and shop. Hence, it is critical for businesses to include such devices in their marketing approaches as this will help improve the communication between the brand and consumers.

And to keep your consumers connected with you, your brand needs to offer a constant and steady involvement through app commerce. Apart from this, app commerce can also offer customers discounts, deals, and coupons more efficiently.

And what better way to communicate with your customers than push notifications? A message appears directly on the user's home screen with push notifications, just like a text. 

The opening rate of push notifications is 50% higher than email marketing opening rates. When the consumer clicks on the notification, they are directed straight to the app, making it much easier to make the purchase.

Achieves higher average order value (AOV) 

The mobile app enhances the user experience and also increases conversion rates. When customers shop from a mobile app, it is easier to browse, giving them more insight into what your brand is offering.

Mobile apps have a higher AOV than both mobile browsers and desktop screens. A mobile app will also improve your average order value (AOV) by:

• Providing product recommendations
• Upselling or cross-selling complementary products
• Setting order minimums for a discount
• Setting up a customer loyalty program
• Bundling products or creating packages

Reduces cart abandonment‍

The mobile app also reduces cart abandonment issues, and they have the lowest cart abandonment rate compared to mobile and desktop websites. They reduce the hassle in the checkout process because once customers buy something, their preferences are saved in the app settings.

So, when they want to repurchase something, they don't have to type in their name, shipping address, and billing information all over again. The complete buying process can be completed in just a couple of clicks.

Mobile apps also make it easier by accepting alternative mobile payment options, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Paypal. If you incorporate this into your checkout page, a customer can make a purchase just by scanning their fingerprint. Hence, reducing the number of steps to complete the purchasing process with a mobile app decreases the cart abandonment rate.

Offers enhanced customer service

People don't hesitate to spend more money in response to enhanced customer service. 73% Of shoppers say they are happy to shop longer and spend more money on an excellent customer service experience.

So, when designing your mcommerce mobile app, make it easy for customers to find your contact information. Instead of having them navigate to your website or search for you on Google, you can provide a "call us" button directly in the app.

You can even implement live chat support directly through the app if your customers want to contact you instantly. Allow them to track their orders from when something is purchased until it's delivered to their doorstep.

Why should you hop on the mobile app commerce bandwagon?

• Customer Retention – Mobile shopping apps can boost customer retention by promoting repeat purchases, better engagement, and customer loyalty.
• User Experience - Native apps can offer your consumers an enhanced and hassle-free experience compared to a mobile website.
• New Channel to Reach Customers - Apart from email and web, you can offer customers an easy and seamless mobile experience.
• Customer Data - You can gather valuable insights solely based on customer data within your mobile app.
• Fewer chances for customers to bounce - Mobile app encourages and capitalizes on the customer's desire to buy as soon as possible, which results in a quicker buying journey and more efficient funnel.

Wrapping it up

Mobile app commerce is here to stay. With the increasing mobile adoption, more and more shoppers are choosing mobiles as a medium to shop, rather than desktops or laptops.

M-commerce is showing great promise for the future, along with AR and VR. The latest technological innovations will continue to boost the growth of m-commerce steadily and effectively.

If you are an eCommerce business, you must closely watch the app commerce trends to keep yourself updated and plan accordingly. The sooner you get on board and optimize your storefront, the more beneficial it will be for your business.

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This article was written by the team of Shopney, a no-code mobile app builder for Shopify stores that helps brands launch their apps on Android and mobile in no time! You can reach out to them for more information around AppCommerce and the future of mobile shopping.

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