Modern-day consumers are habituated to their smartphones. More than 1/3 of the Internet users are using mobile devices to browse products and services. They want uninterrupted shopping experience, right from ordering food to browsing industrial tools manufacturer for heavy-duty equipment.
This is where eCommerce app comes into the picture and facilitate the consumers to order their desired product and services anytime anywhere they want. If you an entrepreneur and counting on technology to get a competitive edge, building an eCommerce app can make a difference.
eCommerce app development is a one-time investment. A dedicated eCommerce app could open up an enormous world of benefits including increased sales, improved customer engagement and boosted brand loyalty. But before we talk about the “how,” let’s explore the fascinating “why” behind eCommerce app development.
-
Advantages of having an E-commerce Mobile App
Right from convenience to real-time tracking, you can find diverse range of advantages if you are investing in eCommerce app development. Here are a few benefits of having an eCommerce mobile app for your business.
1. Enhanced User Experience (UX)
Mobile apps have better user experience than traditional websites accessed through mobile browsers. Here is why:
- Speed and Convenience: Apps load faster and provide a more streamlined shopping experience. For example, one-click purchases, saved addresses, Wishlist all make checkout process simple.
- Offline Functionality: Even without internet access users can still browse product catalogs, add items to cart or create Wishlist on many applications. Thus you can cater for customers on the go or in areas with poor signal reception.
- Push Notifications: Applications send personalized notifications about discount sales promotions for new products as well as recommendations tailored towards each user keeping them engaged not in darkness hence informed always.
2. Increased Sales and Conversion Rates
A cleverly designed application may hugely influence your bottom line thus,
- Easy Accessibility: Availability within reach at any time allows customers to purchase items from any location at any given time which makes impulse buying easier thus increasing chances of unplanned purchases.
- Reduced Cart Abandonment: High rates of abandoned carts during checkout processes remain one major challenge in eCommerce business. This could be resolved by frictionless payments and saved credentials within the app.
- Personalized Recommendations: Based on previous purchases and browsing activities, apps can recommend products using customers’ data thus enhancing relevance. They will definitely find something they like this way.
3. Stronger Brand Presence and Customer Engagement:
A well-designed app extends information about your brand, thus fostering a more intimate relationship with clients.
- Brand Recognition: A dedicated app icon on a customer’s phone serves as a constant reminder of your brand, keeping you top-of-mind.
- Personalized Communication: Push notifications and in-app messages allow for targeted communication, promoting special offers, loyalty programs, and exclusive content.
- Building a community: With social media features or loyalty programs integrated into the app, there is creation of community feeling hence customer interaction is encouraged.
4. Valuable Customer Insights and Data Analytics:
Apps offer businesses invaluable customer data to mine.
- User Behavior Tracking: You can refine your product offerings by knowing how customers navigate through the app what products they like or their purchase history. You can customize marketing campaigns to improve customer experience.
- Real-time Feedback: Customers can use In-app feedback systems to give their thoughts about products, attributes and how the shopping experience is as a whole. It’s such kind of feedback that can be used for making data-based decisions and continuously improving your app.
5. Increased Customer Loyalty and Repeat Business:
A well-designed engaging application can turn casual buyers into loyal customers who come back again:
- Loyalty Programs: Loyalty programs integrated within an application help in rewarding regular consumers as well as attracting them back.
- Personalized Offers: Using clients’ data base on personal discounts or promotions including early access to new items develop customers’ feelings of worth leading to retention
- Simplified Customer Service: This should offer easy access to customer support within the app, thus allowing fast answers to queries and smoothing out problem-solving.
-
Features of eCommerce app development
Now that we have discussed about some of the compelling advantages of developing an e-commerce app, let’s take a closer look at what it takes to build a winning one. These are the most important features to consider:
1. User-Friendly Interface and Navigation:
Simple and Intuitive Design: The layout of the application should be simple without any unnecessary graphics, thus enabling easy navigation.
Search and Filter Options: To enable users to find products quickly and easily, there must be a powerful search engine coupled with filters by categories, price ranges, brands, colors among other significant aspects.
High-Quality Product Images and Descriptions: Captivate users with sharp images of your products taken from different angles. Detailed explanations should also be given that emphasize on important qualities/benefits/features.
2. Seamless Shopping Experience:
Easy Registration and Login: Allow social media integration during registration process hence allowing multiple login options.
Guest Checkout: Allow users who want faster checkout experience make purchases without needing to create accounts if they don’t want to.
Multiple Payment Gateways: Secure payment gateways such as credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), buy-now-pay-later options among others are available for customers to choose from.
Shopping Cart Management: With this feature, you can add or remove items from your cart while it updates them in real time. To explain the item in a more detailed way, its price, quantity and tax/ shipping fee have been included here.
Real-time Order Tracking: With this functionality embedded in your app customers will always know where their product is at any given time creating trust between you two.
3. Advanced Features for Enhanced Engagement:
Wishlists and Saved Items: Let people keep the things they might want in future so that they can buy them later or share with friends.
Personalized Recommendations: Use personal data plus purchase history details in order to suggest things someone may wish to buy. This can substantially improve conversion rates.
Customer Reviews and Ratings: Include a system for feedbacks from customers to increase the confidence level as well as social proof. Leaving rewards or credits can be employed to motivate users to make reviews.
Social Media Integration: Allowance for sharing of products on various social media platforms is an ideal way of increasing brand awareness as well as driving app traffic.
4. Additional Features to Consider:
Barcode Scanner: Integrate an application that will enable the scanning of barcodes found in physical stores and also retrieve them within your app when quick shopping needs arise, or more information about the product is required by the customer.
Geolocation Services: Use location services to give targeted offers or show nearby branches for a more localised shopping experience.
In-App Chat Support: Give real-time customer support through in-app chat so that customers may get answers quickly and solve their issues easily.
Loyalty Programs and Gamification: Have a loyalty program which gives repeat clients incentives to make further purchases. User engagement can be increased considerably through features such as points, badges, leaderboards among others.
Push Notifications: Send push notifications that are personalized based on demographics like promotions, new arrivals, personal recommendations among other aspects including notification reminders. You can avoid overuse of notifications leading to software fatigue especially for users who have installed many applications on their devices.
To make a feature-packed and user-intuitive eCommerce app for mobiles can be a big investment for future. You should remember that the success of this app is based on its continuous innovative nature combined with study of users’ habits. Thus, you should incorporate these ideas into the design of your application to keep pace with the ever-changing demands of customers.
-
eCommerce app development cost
Now that you know the must-have features of an eCommerce app, let’s tackle one crucial topic: development costs. Depending on certain parameters, app creation can be a low-cost affair or an expensive venture. You can also discuss factor with your partnered mobile app development company to determine estimated cost of your project.
1. App Complexity and Features
A simple app with main functionalities like product browsing, shopping carts and checkout will naturally be cheaper than a feature-loaded one complete with social media integration, loyalty programs and real-time chat support. For example, mobile apps for power tools suppliers may have complex features that need more time for development as well as expertise and thus higher costs.
2. Platform Selection:
- Native Apps (iOS and Android): These applications guarantee the greatest effectiveness, user experience, and access to certain options unique to the device. However, making different native apps for iOS and Android may be more costly.
- Hybrid Apps: Such apps take web technologies and combine them with the attributes of native apps so that they can be used for simple applications at a lower cost. However, they may lack some of the performance capabilities or have limited functions compared to native apps.
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): PWAs are web-based applications that look like apps but are accessed through browsers. For businesses operating on tight budgets PWA’s might be appropriate albeit they may not match up in terms of functionality as regards native apps.
3. Development Team Location and Rates:
Developers’ charges depend on their location and background. On average, developers from North America and Western Europe usually demand higher hourly rates than their counterparts from Asia or Eastern Europe.
Hiring an internal team comes with fixed salaries, benefits packages, infrastructure costs among others whereas outsourcing the work to freelancers or agencies could be cheaper especially for small businesses.
4. Additional Costs:
- App Store and Maintenance Fees: The Apple App Store imposes annual charges upon publishing your app there just like the Google Play Store. Also incurred will be overall cost of maintaining/updating the app.
- UI/UX Design: A professional user interface (UI)/user experience (UX) design is vital in enhancing your app’s usability as well as attraction. What about hiring a UI/UX designer?
- Backend Development: This includes other infrastructure components supporting your application such as databases, servers, security measures among other things which also contribute to determining total cost.
Cost Estimates for eCommerce App Development
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer but these figures should give you a rough idea about how much developing an e-commerce app cost:
- Basic App (Limited Features): $10,000 – $25,000
- Mid-Range App (Core Functionalities + Some Advanced Features): $50,000 – $150,000
- Complex App (Extensive Features, Customization): $150,000+
Just remember that these are only estimated cost. There are so many variables that can affect your app’s actual cost. Like the eCommerce app development cost of B2B bulk power tools niche can be higher when compared to an apparel niche.
Saving on Development Costs
Begin with MVPs or minimum viable products; make basic versions of applications having core functions first before incorporating advanced features upon obtaining feedback from users.
In case you have a limited budget PWAs could be used as substitutes for native apps being less costly on average in comparison to them. You might want to consider looking at regions where development rates are low.
-
Conclusion
The mobile-commerce market is surging, with a bespoke e-commerce app now being a necessity for businesses of all sizes rather than it being an afterthought. An app that is user-friendly and feature-rich brings innumerable benefits like better customer experience, increased sales, stronger brand loyalty and access to important customer information.
Let’s keep in mind that the most important thing is to know your target group and focus only on their priorities by choosing a development approach that suits your budget and business goals. While the pricing may differ due to the extent of complexity and functionalities involved, ecommerce app development becomes a strategic move for companies aspiring success within the mobile-first era.
Are you ready to improve your eCommerce business today? Leverage mobility, begin your journey in creating an app starting from here. This guide shows how customers are empowered and brands are made strong through developing a successful application according to this strategy map.
