Why Mobile Matters in E-commerce 2020
Is anyone still asking why mobile E-Commerce matters? More than 55% of online retailers sales comes from mobile — it’s no trend, it’s a priority!
Smartphones have become so ubiquitous that we cannot imagine our lives without them. From the simplest communication with family to advanced business applications, everyone has got a hold on a phone.
The average user actively uses at least 30 apps.
When mobile app development has taken first place among companies’ requirements for essential business improvements, why is an important aspect such as m-commerce meandering on its way to user-friendly, seamless mobile shopping?
With the rise of technologies that drive e-commerce, businesses shouldn’t allow customers to have to deal with poor shopping experiences on mobile. And yet it happens. Mobile stores work slowly, customers have difficulties with browsing and comparing products, images don’t load as they should, the road to checkout is complicated, and the whole shopping journey becomes more of a nightmare than a pleasure. If you want your online retail business to thrive in the next year and beyond, mobile app development with a strong focus on superb mobile shopping is a must.
Must-haves of Mobile E-commerce
The critical problem of smartphone shopping is the screen size, which makes purchasing a lot of work, especially when compared to desktop. Therefore, mobile optimization is vital to meet the great expectations of customers who are getting used to unhindered, unified multichannel shopping.
M-commerce stores must include clear, focused content. Simplicity in the mobile app development is key as far menus and navigation tools are concerned. Stores should be built with mobile-centric features, for example, ‘tap to open’ or ‘slide to see next’ options. Fluid layouts make for a more pleasant customer journey, while facilitated purchases keep those cart abandonment rates low. Since mobile phones are used mostly to find stuff, search functionality must be impeccable. Finally, the purchase itself must be stress-free and facilitated.
All these factors are important for m-commerce now and will continue to be as we proceed into 2020.
How to Make M-Commerce Easy in 2020?
There is no simple answer to this question. More likely, you should consider implementing several improvements to your e-store that will drive the shift forward. However, you must have an overall plan and strategy. Your plan shouldn’t underestimate the fact that most users spend at least three hours on their phones. You cannot risk losing this focus of interest because a competitor’s product or service will more likely grab their attention.
Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay
Are there tools that can help you achieve the fluidity required to retain your customers? There are many, starting by differentiating between the smartphone and the tablet shopping journey. Additionally, think about the changes you can make in these areas:
A mobile site or mobile app, or both? Mobile websites are better for reaching to a wider audience, optimized SEO across devices, and cot-effectiveness. Mobile apps provide brand personalization, offline engagement, and the possibility to use device features such as push notifications, alerts, automatic updates, and camera.
Accelerated mobile pages (AMP). AMP enable quick loading of mobile sites, enhanced SEO, optimized data consumption, and lower bounce rates. They are 85% faster than non-accelerated mobile pages. Update your pages to AMP format.
Location-based marketing. Location-based marketing makes customer segmentation easier. It can be SEO-optimized for local businesses. Data picked up from mobile users can raise the bar for rich content notifications even further to create highly personalized shopping experiences.
Mobile payments. Paying with a smartphone is more secure and omnipresent. The number of companies and banks that have adopted mobile app payment methods or mobile wallets in on the rise. Mobile payments remove many of the payment obstacles out of the way and reduce cart abandonment rates.
Conversational marketing/chatbots. This trend in mobile app development is picking up as we speak. Online retailers are increasingly implementing chatbots in apps or live chat messaging to help customers solve simple requests and complaints, whenever they want from wherever they want.
Visual and voice search. Text-based search on a mobile can be cumbersome and slow. Visual search simplifies the shopping experience on a smartphone, specifically in visually-driven industries such as fashion, beauty, home decor, furniture, and consumer electronics. It is easy, and therefore, preferred.
Conclusion
Emerging technologies play a key role in why mobile matters in 2020. Artificial intelligence, VR and AR, and IoT are mobile app development trends that are just starting to get momentum. Implementing them alongside with the rest of the changes, you are increasing the chances of creating a business that is prepared to dive into the future without hesitation.
