Here’s Why Your Business Needs an e-commerce App

Today, building an app for your business is no longer a choice. It’s a must.

Business app development is a part of enterprise mobility – a growing trend in a corporate world that aims at creating more remote working options and thus, increase the need for an eCommerce app for business purposes.

However, enterprise mobility and custom mobile application development are not just about optimizing the processes within the company.

Many businesses develop apps to increase their competitiveness. This tendency has been around for a while, and, judging by the statistics from a couple of years ago, has been consistently showing successful results:

companies that invested in enterprise app development saw their ROI increase by 35%
27% of businesses reported an improvement in internal communications after they met their need for an eCommerce app
23% of companies also saw a considerable increase in employee satisfaction and loyalty after building an enterprise app

We understand that you might be skeptical about these numbers. After all, these stats were collected two years ago, so maybe the situation around eCommerce business apps has changed. And, maybe, these stats won’t apply to your eCommerce business. Some businesses have already gone from WooCommerce to android app for better reach and engagement.

Well, quite on the contrary.

Today, the trend of building a business app in the eCommerce industry is bigger than ever. And, if you don’t consider this trend a priority for your online business right now, we’ve got five convincing reasons why your business needs an eCommerce mobile app.

1. Enhance shopping experience with e-commerce app

In this blog, we talk a lot about the potential of e-commerce and how fast its influence has grown over the years.

However, we also have to admit the fact that people still prefer to shop offline, and the study by Ripen proves it. Reportedly, a whopping 92% of customers keep shopping offline, and there are quite a few convincing reasons for that:

30.8% of customers say they want to see or feel the products in person
29.9% of shoppers prefer to receive their items right away
16.9% of consumers are also concerned about their privacy, so they keep shopping offline

On top of these reasons, there’s always an issue of finding the right fit, especially if a customer is looking for clothes. So, if you own an e-Commerce brand that sells outfits, you have to turn to innovation to help your business survive.

Shein, an eCommerce clothing brand, solved this problem in a very creative way.

The company aimed at bringing a brick-and-mortar shop experience online and help customers find the right product for them by introducing interactive customer reviews through their mobile app:

Shein’s app is not just about enhancing the e-commerce shopping experience, it’s also about improved user interactivity. Their customers can not only check out the reviews but also interact with the creators, which also makes buying clothes through Shein’s app, like going shopping with your besties.

Read, How to create an eCommerce app without coding.

2. Take into Account Customer’s Needs

Let’s say the target audience of your e-commerce shop is women, and you’re selling makeup. What would you want your audience’s shopping experience to be?

Of course, you would like them to buy the best product that would suit their skin type and will be a good fit for a certain occasion.

However, even if you have the best intention to sell top-notch products to your audience, you can still fail if you don’t use technology to achieve that.

Women often don’t buy beauty products online for the same reason why they don’t buy clothes – you can’t try it on, and the product won’t be a good fit.

L’Oreal decided to change that and introduced its own app called Makeup Genius. The app uses AR filters to help their customers find the perfect makeup look:

Video credit: L’Oreal

Besides, in the app under L’Oreal’s brand logo, customers can also get product recommendations if they like a certain makeup look. This way, the company makes sure that its customers get the product that will fit them, changing the experience of shopping for beauty products online altogether.

Also read about, the success story of MuMakeup an eCommerce cosmetics company based in Naples, Italy formed by a community of thousands of independent retailers.

3. Expand the Influence of Your E-Commerce Brand

People want more personalization when shopping online.

According to Google, customers are 40% more likely to spend more with a brand if their experience with it is highly personalized.

Apart from that, consumers want brands not to be just about their products. They want to identify their favorite brands with other experiences that would improve their daily life. Having an e-commerce app can help you deliver such experiences by expanding the influence of your brand.

To illustrate better what we mean here, let’s consider Under Armour’s example.

You know Under Armour as a brand that sells sportswear. However, the company decided to go beyond retail and decided to support its audience’s fitness goals by launching its Map My Fitness app.

In this app, Under Armour’s customers can track their fitness journey, work on their nutrition, and try workout routines developed for specific purposes.

If you own an e-commerce business that sells clothes, you can also incorporate a similar feature in your app.

For instance, you can introduce short entries on how to put together different pieces using the help of professional stylists. But make sure these entries are properly edited and meet the expectations of your customers. To proofread them, you can use tools from the best writing services or try out online platforms like Grammarly.

Apart from delivering great fitness experiences, Under Armour also successfully incorporates its products in this app as well to increase e-commerce sales and encourage app users to buy their apparel.

For example, the app has a tracking feature, to which a customer can connect their Under Armour connected gear, including their sneakers for running.

With this feature, Under Armour’s customers can take the use of the products to the next level and make their workout routines more optimized and productive. This is a great example of how a brand can go beyond selling products and deliver seamless, personalized experiences.

4. Improve Communication within a Company using eCommerce app

At the beginning of the article, we briefly mentioned that your e-commerce business can not only use a mobile app to diversify the shopping experience, but also improve workflow within your company.

As we said in the introduction, 27% of companies reported an improvement in internal communication after launching their own enterprise app. You can do the same if you have a large staff and customer service.

If you’re sure whether it will work for your e-commerce business, take H&M as an example.

Back in 2018, the company launched the Retail Social Collaboration Platform, which allowed real-time communication among the employees from all H&M offices around the world.

This app ultimately helped the company:

connect over 15,000 H&M employees globally
make task management more effortless
eliminate corporate email for non-desk employees, who are the majority of H&M’s workforce
provide visual feedback and employee polling
effortlessly run the company’s reward and recognition program
launch and track campaigns easier

Besides the above-mentioned benefits, since launching this app, H&M was able to cut unnecessary expenditures on other platforms to track communication.

As a result, 80% of H&M’s global staff is now mobile, and the enterprise app helps them connect and exchange feedback easier, with no third parties involved.

5. Optimize Employee Onboarding

Another way you can use an e-commerce app for your business is to improve the employee onboarding process.

When a new employee joins your staff, you want them to feel as appreciated as possible. That’s why, during this period, you need to make efforts to personalize communication with them, learn more about their potential, and help them apply this potential for the benefit of their career growth.

Interactive app experiences can help you achieve that. If you’re not sure how, take a look at how McDonald’s is doing it. Sure, McDonald’s is not an e-commerce brand, but the way they do employee onboarding and management is worth your attention.

Apart from running its usual in-store employee onboarding, McDonald’s has invested in the Archways to Careers mobile app. After downloading it, the company’s employees can find:

explore their skills and learn how to apply them
find education opportunities
consider future career opportunities beyond McDonald’s, where they can apply their skills

Every employee, who has just joined the company’s workforce, can download the app and take advantage of the benefits that McDonald’s is giving them in terms of career and personal growth. This is a great way to personalize the onboarding process and make employees feel more appreciated.

Over to You

As you can see, there are quite a few good reasons why your eCommerce business should be for a mobile app builder team. From improving customer experience to optimizing processes within a company, having a native mobile app is already a great perk for your business. Alternatively, a WooCommerce mobile app plugin or Shopify mobile pp plugin can also help you meet your need for an eCommerce mobile app.

If you’re ready to introduce this improvement, you can find all the help for standard app development or custom mobile application development for eCommerce on our website. We can help you build great eCommerce apps that will fit the identity and values of your online business. Click here to convert your WoocCmmerce store to a mobile app now!

Read more on benefits of mobile apps for customers here.

Author bio: Dorian Martin is a professional writer and an editor for a thesis service. He also has his personal blog, where he writes about how businesses can benefit from technological innovations.