Today’s mobile devices are hubs for entertainment, creative expression, financial management, memory preservation and social interaction. You can even use them to make calls. All of this is made possible by the explosion of mobile apps that put just about any undertaking into the palms of our hands.
An increase in mobile app engagement has also fostered a considerable shift in how customers interact with businesses, particularly e-commerce enterprises. These experiences must be able to meet—and exceed—the capabilities of PC-based sites and programs in order to satisfy increasingly tech-centric consumers.
Convenience-Driven Sales
Research has found that mobile interactions can drive online sales. This is likely related to the combined convenience factors of both e-commerce and mobile apps. Taking a customer’s interaction from digital window shopping to actually making a purchase means making the journey as streamlined as possible with:
- An easy to navigate interface
- Omni-channel carts that allow customers to start shopping on a browser and complete the transaction on an app (or vice versa)
- Recommending complementary or upsell items throughout the process
Making a purchase as easy as possible for customers also means that they have much less time to reconsider or look for other options.
Taking this idea one step further are apps such as the Amazon Dash button that connects to the Amazon mobile app and allows users to quickly reorder items.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality has enjoyed increased interest in the gaming world, as evidenced by the Pokémon Go craze of 2016, but this tech has valuable business uses for e-commerce companies, too.
Having a branded app that turns a buyer’s phone into a virtual showroom can allow customers to explore items in depth without having to see them in person. So customers buying an outfit can hold their phone up to a mirror and see an AR reflection of themselves wearing it, as with online clothing store Banana Flame. People can also turn things around, over and look inside.
Customers can even bring purchases such as furniture or home decor accessories right into their spaces to see how they’d look or fit. In short, online purchases become more immersive, improving the likelihood of a sale. This technology can also close the gap between expectations and the reality of a buy, ultimately leaving customers more satisfied with their purchases.
Conversational Commerce
Mobile apps also present a great opportunity for companies to communicate via conversations rather than sales pitches and marketing techniques. Instant messaging, voice assistant and/or chatbot capabilities can all help give e-commerce businesses the human touch that brick-and-mortar retailers provide. By opening up multiple lines of real-time communication, online businesses can guide their customers seamlessly through a purchase completely within the app rather than risk the chance that customers will lose interest if they have to move to a different platform for info or answers.
Social Media
The future of retail is actually already here, with social media already accounting for nearly five percent of online retail traffic. What’s more, consumers look at 286% more products on apps than on mobile browsers. Merging these two statistics allows companies to meet customers where they already are (social media) on platforms that outperform when it comes to commerce (mobile apps such as Instagram and Facebook).
This idea is already gaining traction, with Instagram partnering a number of popular brands to integrate shopping abilities into their Instagram posts, complete with “add to cart” buttons and payment inputs. With over 800 million users per month, Instagram can generate a ton of virtual foot traffic for online retailers and create a seamless online experience for increasingly tech-savvy customers.
Mobile apps are the wave of the future. Brands will be unlikely to survive the coming retail environment without a mobile app or, at the very least, a strategy to integrate with other apps. This will require a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to app technology and future-focused initiatives that don’t look at what’s now, but what’s next.
References:
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/how-digital-connects-shoppers-to-local-stores/
https://www.amazon.com/Dash-Buttons/b?ie=UTF8&node=10667898011
https://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/stories/2018/5/050218-a/
