How Mobile Apps Are Helping Retail Businesses 10x Their Sales

The concept of shopping has drastically changed over the last decade. From heavy shopping bags to full e-carts, trial rooms to virtual try-ons, upgrading your fashion and travel, and bringing your favorite cuisines from a small screen to the table, mobile apps have transformed the concept of purchasing, creating a unique, habit-forming experience for users. Today, through mobile apps, products and services reach their customers’ doorstep in a jiffy; the customers need not go and fetch them, be it food, transport, health, or banking services.

According to the latest Statista Report, $2.2 trillion worth of purchases were made in 2023 solely using mobile apps , and that is expected to grow higher in the coming years. With mobile commerce developing rapidly and opening unlimited possibilities to drive customer engagement and increase retail sales, it is also one of the strongest strategies to drive consistent customer engagement. 

From a simple online shopping tool, mobile apps have transformed into revenue-generation platforms, revamping the age-old business concepts. Partnering with a trusted mobile app development company in India can help businesses design innovative, user-friendly apps that not only attract customers but also drive long-term growth. Hence, if you’re also in search of the best engaging practices to expand your business through mobile apps, this article covers all that you need to know.
 

How Do Mobile Apps Boost Retail Sales?

Mobile apps can help you boost retail sales in many different ways, such as:

Improving Customer Experience

Mobile apps help users get a virtual, visual user experience by assisting them in searching for their requisite products through voice assistance and search features. They also come with personalized features by suggesting users occasion- or need-based products and services. In addition, most retail app development strategies make sure to include payment gateways in their layout that allow customers to purchase the products using their mobile devices and secure payments within a matter of minutes.

Boosting Customer Loyalty

Customers tend to stick to mobile commerce, or m-commerce, for the personalized shopping experience that they get. Have you ever noticed how online shopping platforms hook their buyers by gifting them with discounts, coupons, and referral codes, making them return for more every time they check out? These are the quickest ways to develop a rapport with customers, making them feel at home with the brand.

Sharpening Brand Visibility

Brands are always more evident, visible, and demanded on mobile devices than on websites. Since it is a compact platform, it allows them to announce offers, new arrivals, discounts, and sales to a wider audience quickly. Also, these apps, once deployed, are launched onto the Store or App Store, enhancing their visibility and downloads in a measurable time. This improved visibility adds to their recognition and broadens their target audience.

Increasing Brand Awareness

A customized mobile app is the best form of raising brand awareness. This way, you can easily launch new products, announce new products and services, and understand the customer mindset quickly. Similarly, customers often show more eagerness towards new mobile apps by installing and trying them for a while, gradually becoming their loyal customers. Ultimately, having an app in your brand name is the biggest social proof and the quickest way to get noticed among customers.
 

Why Is M-Commerce Outpacing Stores?

Mobile commerce, otherwise known as m-commerce, refers to accessing stores and enjoying a digital shopping experience, saving time and money. M-commerce began gaining traction in 2013 after Apple Pay was introduced. With the increasing use of smartphones for window shopping, customized shopping, and digital payments, this business model has helped improve market revenue, transactions, and transaction history tracking.

M-commerce has been gaining popularity over the past decade, increasing sales and revenue on par with physical transactions. Within 10 years of prominence, transactions worth $2.2 trillion were carried out, leading to a digital transformation in businesses. Predictions by financial experts say that in the next 5 years, the growth of the m-commerce market will be worth $6.8 trillion, digitizing financial deals.

In India, almost 51% of transactions are digitized, which makes us the leader in terms of m-commerce utilization. Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, PayTM, and Snapdeal are some of the major contributors to m-commerce, which keeps growing every day. 
 

Importance of M-Commerce in Sales

Here are some reasons why m-commerce is an important catalyst in sales:

Accessible:

With the world wired by technology, mobile commerce makes shopping easier and accessible from anywhere around the world at any time. This reduces the efforts spent in walking to a physical store and spending time selecting your product amongst hundreds of options. Moreover, you also get access to plenty of deals and discounts that you might not get at a physical store. 

User-friendly:

Mobile apps are the best user-friendly channel, as they use the most captivating UI/UX design that is minimalist in appearance and appealing too. The UI/UX design for retail apps are  always petite and simple so that the customers find them elegant and user-friendly.  Furthermore, it also provides present and precise recommendations, which the users find worthy.

Responsive:

The most frustrating part of physical stores is that they remain open for fixed hours in a day. As a result, the customers experience an incomplete shopping experience and begin looking for better deals and choices. Their enhanced visibility increases the brand engagement and drives more sales into the brand than what is experienced in physical stores.

Easy Payment Solutions:

While many customers think that physical transactions are easy to manage and control expenses. However, this isn’t true at all. Mobile apps increase retail sales by helping customers make transactions in fewer steps, thus delivering a unique, unforgettable shopping experience. Today, every e-wallet is super efficient and quick in response, helping in making transactions quicker and also ensuring that they’re speedy and secure.

Social Commerce:

Social commerce is a strategy that online buyers use by reviewing and rating the products according to social media reviews and ratings. Since social media displays open and immediate feedback from real-time users, customers also take it as a credible source of information before making a purchase.

Personalized Campaigns:

M-Commerce is the best way to run personalized campaigns with clear goals, budget, and timeline. These campaigns also deliver interactive experiences, content, and clear strategies with user information gathered through in-app activity and location-based usage. Accordingly, marketing strategies are created that include curated messages, product recommendations, in-app messages, and promotions. As a result, it increases customer engagement and user retention and improves customer satisfaction.
 

Enhancing Customer Engagement for Retail Businesses with Mobile Apps

Here are some ways to increase customer engagement for retail businesses with mobile apps:

AI and ML

AI and ML are the unpaid sources of second opinions that help retailers understand the taste and preferences of users with regard to the changes in market scenarios. It helps in listing their products and services amongst the best ones, creating a soaring demand for them among customers. These suggestions are also made according to the purchase history and after close evaluation of the budget, location, and market trends. Integrating AI in app development further enhances this process, enabling businesses to deliver personalized experiences, predictive recommendations, and smarter decision-making within their mobile applications.

AR and VR

AR and VR create an immersive experience for users, especially on retail business apps, in several different ways. This not only saves time but is also one of the best ways to understand the likes and preferences of the user to provide them with the best choice. For example, jewelry comes with a virtual try-and-buy feature through which a customer can choose the ornaments of their own and check for their suitability through VR without having to visit the store.

Voice Searches

Though we’re all addicted to our mobile phones and spend at least a quarter of our day browsing and buying our shopping lists off, typing out our needs is one of the unpleasant parts of the search. Mobile apps these days have solved this inconvenience by incorporating voice search features in their interfaces. This helps buyers search the requirements on the go, hands-free, and yet, find accurate results. For instance, apps like Zomato come with voice search features, helping customers find specific cuisines and restaurants.

Chatbots

Chatbots help customers enjoy a communicative shopping experience by assisting them with end-to-end support by answering questions regarding their purchases . From product tracking to estimating the delivery date and providing multilingual support, chatbots act like an expert opinion during your purchases.

Context Marketing

If you own a retail business and are planning to approach the best app developers in India, try going for context marketing. It is the best practice that follow marketing practices like sharing verbal and visual content that are apt for the current social scenario. This not only creates awareness about the importance of the brand but also generates more demand for it. For example, if a customer searches for the best yoga mats, then the brand can consider creating an ad on the benefits of practicing yoga and post it on their social media handles, to bring in more awareness and demand.

User-Generated Content

As the name suggests, user-generated content (UGC) is the content including realistic opinions of customers as videos, testimonials, texts, and images. Since they are genuine feedback about the businesses, they drive more demand for the products. One of the familiar examples of UGC is the product reviews posted on Instagram by social media influencers, which include their reviews and recommendations.
 

Steps to Choose the Right Mobile App Developers for Your Business

Mobile app development for business is not only a responsibility but also something that involves creativity and innovation. Therefore, make sure that you don’t compromise for anything less than the best. Here are some tips to go for the best mobile app development for businesses: 

Clarify your requirements

Before approaching a provider for your requirements regarding app development for business, be clear about what you need. Pen down your needs and clearly communicate them with your developers. This would help them get a clear picture of what you expect and provide you with the exact needs. 

Evaluate Professional Expertise

Your mobile app might be big or small based on your requirements and your competitors. However, make sure that it survives and succeeds on the competitive front, both aesthetically and informatively. The best way to get what you’re expecting is to find an app developer with commendable years of experience, expertise in your niche, and a strong portfolio and testimonials that can be shared. Essentially, see to it that they have familiarity with your tech stack.

Examine Tech Stack

This requisite is to be bookmarked- make sure that your mobile app development has familiarity with the tech stack you need (e.g., React, Kotlin, Java, etc.). Secondly, make sure that they’re well-read about the recent happenings in the mobile app industry, especially in relation to the retail businesses. In addition to all this, confirm their knowledge of working on both Android and iOS platforms.

Compare their pricing strategies

Your apps should be affordable and budget-friendly, but also don’t compromise on the standards. Keep your budget in mind and compare the prices offered by the top developers. Finally, review the agreement, payment terms, and payment duration, and finalize the deal only if it abides by your needs.

Look for Post-Launch Assistance

Your mobile app developers must be reliable and approachable. This means that they must be able to readily provide any minor changes or post-launch assistance when requested like bug fixing and annual maintenance. Before signing the deal, ask your developers or development team how frequently they can provide post-launch assistance.

The Future of Mobile Apps in Retail

The future retail mobile apps are targeted more towards developing personal experiences for customers that they find unforgettable and addictive. As the technology continues to evolve, here’s what the future may look like:

Transparent Supply Chains

Including blockchain in retail apps helps customers by understanding the authenticity and originality of products within the app. Furthermore, it also helps them confirm that the app has been marketing the product through ethical practices.

Contextual Commerce

Future businesses would enhance the shopping experience and make it possible for anyone from anywhere in the world to shop through apps. Let’s say there would be live streams about product availability at your nearby stores, social media posts that would assist in the purchase of products, and even an interlinked app that would help with increased sales of the products through apps.

Emotional Recognition Service

A text or an input from a user can always be analyzed, but never be interpreted with the right emotions. App developers in India seldom know what emotional state a user is in when typing in a query. The future will see apps search their queries in real-time using the front cam for emotional responses. There will also be voice recognition features through which the voice of the user would be interpreted, and an emotionally supportive response would be provided. This would be applicable mainly in testimonials, where the emotions and expressions of customers will be evaluated.

Holographic Representations

This is one of the most-awaited updates with regard to mobile apps. It would include 3D representation of products where the users can touch and interact with the product and examine it well before purchasing it. These would be beneficial for medical examination, online learning, and interactive learning
 

Conclusion

As mobile technologies advance, mobile apps are also required to include them in their making for increasing engagement, sales, and profits. Ignoring mobile app development may cut down on your profits and reach, diminishing your sales gradually. Creating a compelling mobile app isn’t a task if you start researching well in advance and choose the best mobile app development company in India to build your app. Remember, a great mobile app is the key to gaining customers and doubling profits futuristically.

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