This article is going to highlight how mobile app development is impacting the retail industry. Read on and know why today’s retail industry needs mobile apps. Also, you will get to know what type of features can be included such retail apps.

A recent market analysis report by Retail Dive stated the fact “57% of shoppers use retailer mobile apps in-store”. So, this study clearly indicated how shopper behaviours are changing these days and the mobile retail space will witness more sales and revenue in the coming years.

For all their shopping needs, mobile consumers expect end-to-end mobile support. Thus, a retailer must allow its retail app to sell products, fulfill orders, tackle transactions, promote products and business, resolve and respond to customer queries, and so much more.   

Hence, an iOS or Android mobile app developer has to build an app keeping customer expectations in mind. Also, they need to ensure the app is usable, aesthetically appealing, and trustworthy when compared to other prevailing apps.

Here you will find some major benefits for having apps for the retail industry as a business owner. Also, you will find some must-have retail app features.

Business benefits of retail apps

• As a business owner, you will get more opportunities for loyalty programs. Give your customers incentives in the form of discount coupons. First access to sales is another way for both your customers and business to feel the loyalty bond.

• The more your customers are satisfied with your services the better for your business to grow and prosper. How? Well, people like to hear from other people. So, naturally, your satisfied customers will be one of the key factors to promote your brand and services. And retails apps can assure better customer satisfaction.

• Customisable search engines allow the users to find exactly what they are looking for any time, anywhere. A dedicated retail app comes with this convenient feature to offer the customers a smooth and hassle-free shopping experience.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the features that can make your retail app popular among the customers.

Quick registration process

Customers want convenience and ease. Having a lengthy and time-consuming registration process will put customers off your mobile app. Hence, ensure you cut down on the trivial details of a consumer for the registration process to retain customers’ interest in your app.

One-step checkout

Provide your customers with an easy and quick checkout process. The app must enable users to complete orders with the fewest steps possible and a minimum amount of information. For example, avoid making your customers enter shipping addresses every time they place an order. Better, save their addresses and other related details to save their time enabling more sales.

Multiple payment options

An app with multi-payment and currency support is one of the foremost requirements of localising your retail business. With many popular online payment methods available in the market, it is important to understand what the customer prefers and how effective the solution is.

Wishlist facility

Be it fashion, be it gift ideas, or be it any household product, consumers love the wishlist feature. The wishlist feature let them shop, save, and share an item on the go. More interestingly, this feature helps the customers to bookmark products they desire and will most likely buy later.

Other than these features, you can include other features like:

• Product ratings and reviews
• Offline capabilities
• Push notifications etc. for wider acceptance of your retail application in the market.

Contact any trusted app development company and share your app idea. Consult with the best retail app developers to build an impressive app.

Johan Smith is an experienced Android mobile app developer, who is working in this mobile app development industry for years and has successfully guided plenty of app development projects for industry-specific businesses. Presently, he is associated with GetAProgrammer, one of the best Android and iOS app development companies in Australia and leading a team of expert app developers in Sydney.

This article is going to highlight why your business needs a mobile app. You will also get to know getting an app for the business is not the same thing as making your business website mobile-friendly.

Is your business mobile yet?

Do you have an app for your business?

If your answer is no, these are the benefits you are missing out.

• A potent market

Noticeably, mobile apps are trending these days in the market. People are spending more time using their smartphones, tablets etc. rather than any laptop or desktop.

According to various market-based research, almost 80% of the time people use different mobile apps whenever they use mobile phones.

So, investing in mobile app development seems to be an attractive idea to most of the business owners these days.

• Increased business visibility and accessibility

Well, a business that is mobile, i.e. a business that has a dedicated app for the customer base, can easily reach a broader audience. Also, businesses can stay at customers' fingertips all the time.

Even if it is not within the business hours, with a mobile app, you can stay connected to the potential customers and can convert them into buyers.

• Brand establishment 

To sustain gracefully in today's competitive market, branding is crucial for businesses. Be it a small company or startup, or a large enterprise, brand establishment helps businesses to reach a wider customer base.

Now, developing an app for your business is definitely one of the trickiest ways to reinforce your brand. How?

Well, the better your business app is, more people will like it, will talk about it, will be curious about to use it, and will get it on their phone.

Also, mobility will let customers stay connected to your business at a convenient time.

So, you can understand that mobile apps are the gateway to

• Get connected with "on-the-go" customers
• Build a database of potential and prospective customers
• Establish a direct marketing channel
• Boost online business sales and so on.

When all your competitors are working on this mobile market, why not give your business a competitive edge!

So, these were some points from your business perspective.

Now, let's think a bit from the customers' perspective.

With a mobile app, your customers can

• have easy access to the inventory
• get instant notifications on offers, events etc.
• easily contact you for any assistance and any help
• enjoy the seamless and fast shopping experience, appointment scheduling etc.

Well, most importantly, mobile apps will help to build customer loyalty.

Now, you may think that you already have a mobile website for your business, so, what is the point of building an app again?

Well, obviously, mobile websites have their own benefits and definitely, your business can get success through it. However, the main point is to focus on how an app can offer greater value to your business.

Here is a list of reasons why mobile apps are a better choice than mobile websites.

• For a better personalised experience, mobile apps are a better solution
• To enhance the user experience, mobile apps can utilise the native features available in the mobile device
• Mobile apps let people work even in the offline mode with the basic functionalities

Thus, making a business app has a lot to offer you.

Do you already have an app idea? Or struggling to decide what features should be a part of your app?

Reach any trusted app development company and talk directly to the app developers and experts for consultation. They will guide you on everything starting from app planning to development, app launch to support and maintenance.

Alex Forsyth is an expert app developer, who is presently working with Envertis, one of the best app development companies in Australia and leading a team of the most skilled mobile app developers in Sydney. Be it app conceptualisation, strategy planning, development, launching, maintenance, or support - Envertis can be your one-stop solution.

This article presents a gist of how app development can help in the branding of a business and let it acquire more number of customers and grow its presence.

The world’s increasing familiarity with smartphones and smart applications have made businesses thought of considering the mobile app a part of business strategy too. People are getting handy with smartphones and hence getting an app rightly targeted to the mobile platform can help businesses expand their services to customers in a personalised way. The goal behind pushing mobile app development as a strategy for branding nowadays is to capture the attention of the customers directly and develop a loyal customer base who would keep on visiting the app time and again. So, how does an app benefit branding of a business? Find it out in the below explanations.

User-centric design captivates customers’ attention

The apps for business are developed considering the expectations of the end users or customers, after studying well the market responses. Everything from functionalities to usability and goal settings in the app is set as per their behaviour. So, it’s obvious that they will stick to the app more than visiting the website or storefront when they could have everything right at their fingertips and the way they wished for.

Omnipresence of the brand

When you get an app developed for your business, you know it will be available on the Google Play Store, and other app stores around the world. This makes your app counterpart to be available to anyone anywhere. The app flashing up the brand name thus get infamous among customers and alike groups of people searching for the same service or product.

Provides personalised offerings

An app is designed not to provide the services or products that are generally provided in store. They will be provided in the most custom manner on perceiving the interests of the buyers individually. Every buyer needs to sign into the app with personal details, including age, gender, location, buying preferences. The app by taking cues from those information assort the services in the app for different customer groups.

Help to acquire a loyal customer base

Besides attracting new customers, an app helps businesses get a line of loyal, consistent or repeat customers who keep on visiting the app for one need or another. Of course, these are the customers that should be treated specially and incorporating good reward scheme, points earnings or coupon codes, etc. are the ways. They help in boosting their loyalty to the brand more and may induce them to refer the app to peers.

Branding has been an inherent part of a business’s marketing strategy, regardless of what products or services it deals with. When apps have become the part and parcel of everyone’s lives, these points have well explained how they can benefit brands remarkably by making their business more reachable to them.

Alex Forsyth is one of the expert Android app developers in Australia, who has handled a great number of precise and challenging apps for businesses at Envertis, a renowned company for Android app development in Sydney. Envertis’ immense feat has helped a lot of businesses to achieve great heights in the digital sphere.