As of late, people tend to buy a lot of things online. The global pandemic situation added to the popularity of e-commerce to a big extent. Many countries had lockdowns, and people were left at home, and the only scope of getting things was online. All these contributed to a boom in e-com, which was one sector that enjoyed a multi-fold growth during this period. Those who were previously hesitant or felt insecure about buying online too found online purchases more comfortable and reassuring. The statistics based on the studies conducted during this period forecasts that by the year 2022, sales from mobile commerce may go beyond $432 billion, whereas it was $148 billion back in the year 2018. With these numbers’ suggestions, every business may be thinking of getting into the e-com and m-com market. If you are not already in, it is the right time to consider an e-com app.
What is mobile commerce?
We can trace back the history of electronic commerce to about 40 years. Even though this idea had not been backed up much at that time, it has slowly become an inevitable part of people’s lives over time. With the introduction of eCommerce, things have largely changed in the retail sector. Even though initially, it was limited to a few products like electronic goods, now consumers are enthusiastic about buying anything and everything online. They just need to do a few clicks or touches through their computer or smartphones to buy anything like that.
The latest development in technology and the impact of globalization are presenting more and more opportunities in front of the customers. The customer experience is also largely improved through the buying cycle. All these contributed to rapid growth in e-commerce. Even the brick-and-mortar stores now need their e-com portal in order to optimize their acceptance and sales. This is the reason e-com mobile apps are important. From offering a personalized experience to ensuring an enjoyable user experience, mobile e-commerce apps are contributing largely to business growth.
Some real-time examples of e-com apps
Goat app
For sneaker fans who love to browse through endless collections of shoes, the Goat app is the place to be. It has custom search and filter options. Usually, the filters seem to be fishy on the e-com apps, which used to confuse the buyers, but the Goat app is a classic example of how this needs to be handled. The UI of the Goat app is so intuitive, simple, and easy to navigate.
IHerb app
IHerb is a wonderful eCommerce app on mobile phones, which is a great place to display consumer goods in various catalogs in a Product Detail Page layout. A pharma e-commerce app is very challenging, but IHerb had done it in a very intuitive way. All information is kept exclusive in each category, such as baby care, sports goods, supplements, etc. For the effective functioning of an e-com app, it is also important to have a solid database backend. You can consult RemoteDBA.com to get support on planning and deploying the best mobile app database for your store.
There are many good e-com apps if you explore the same, but when it comes to the personal experience of using the same, you may have lost in many and know how to move further in some other apps. This is because many e-com applications tend to suffer from improper prioritization and lack of testing. Let us further discuss some of the top trends in mobile commerce in 2021 and beyond.
Mobile commerce latest trends
- Big data algorithms at work
Big data is becoming the new buzzword, and this is relevant in e-commerce too. As the number of online buyers is growing big, a huge volume of e-com data is also being generated. We can see the real-time example of Amazon’s big data algorithms working on the basis of huge volumes of customer data gathered by Amazon on every action on the mobile app. With this huge data store, the provider can almost predict what you are planning to buy in the future and present personalized recommendations and ads in front of you.
- Augmented reality
Another big thing that acts big is augmented reality. One thing which held back consumers from buying things online for long was the inability to see and touch the real products to experience them. However, AR is solving this problem to a big extent by offering realistic experiences to the buyers about the products. For example, the buyers of home furnishings can have a virtual experience of the product being at your interiors to see if it goes well out there.
- Easy checkout
The convenience of e-com applications is mostly in single-click payments. Quick payment transactions are both trendy and also a mandatory thing for e-com mobile apps. As the users need not have to key their data repeatedly at each purchase, the one-click checkout options can boost impulse purchases largely on mobile. It is also highly advantageous to the sellers that the customers do not take much time through their buying journey to change their minds. This is also a great example of a user-centric approach that leads to a more enjoyable buying experience and more results.
Building an e-com app
Let us further discuss the most important steps involved in building a successful e-commerce application.
Step #1: Research. Analyze the target audience’s customer needs and behavior patterns and identify the right feature set to be deployed.
Step #2: Set your goals. The foundation of any good mobile application is to set the proper goal to be achieved through it. Define what problems you try to solve and what types of products you offer for the same.
Step #3: Choosing the platform – there are many technologies and mobile e-carts available for you to build on. Consider your needs, inventory, cost, database, scalability, etc., to choose an apt platform.
Step #4: Set up appropriate UI / UX
Step #5: Gather feedback from a real customer and test how the users interact with your apps.
Step #6: Iterate. Make sure that your design is not constant. Evolve consistently by adapting to the market changes and user needs.
In order to make the big story short, you need to know that one can surely leverage the eCommerce boom, but only with a diligent approach to making a functional and user-friendly mobile app.
