How to Create an App for Ecommerce?

Thanks to online shopping, almost everyone has become a shopaholic. People love to shop more than ever, irrespective of place and time. With the advent of digitalization, the brick and mortar system of shopping has revamped itself into e-commerce.

People have started shopping online from the safety of their homes. Thus, we see that convenience and ease of shopping has played a significant role in ecommerce success.

In this blog, we will explore the different sides of the e-commerce industry. It will include how one can benefit from an ecommerce application, the scope, and the future of this industry. Not to mention, after the COVID-19 outbreak, launching an e-commerce application is has become essential for many businesses.

People are practicing social distancing, but that does not mean they would refrain from shopping. Let us start with the general ecommerce trends, facts, and figures that make the industry exquisite and attractive in Magento 2 extensions

ECOMMERCE INDUSTRY – FACTS AND FIGURES

Based on the latest statistics (Research Source: Statista.com), we can notice that 2020 has been a colossal year for e-commerce. Let us dive in to gain more insights into the eCommerce industry and how it is flourishing:

1. The total revenue generated by the e-commerce industry accounted for more than 2200 billion USD in 2019 fourth quarter.
2. The forecasts for 2020-21 show figures will continue to grow at almost 19.11 percent (annual rate) in 2020 and even more in 2021.
3. The expected global revenue for the coming years is more than 4000 billion USD.

These numbers are quite capable of justifying themselves.

MOST OF THESE FIGURES WERE LED BY TRENDS

When we look back at the eCommerce behaviors in 2018-19, we see many trends and fads in the eCommerce industry. The industry leaders essentially ignored fads as they start, get noticeable, and end spontaneously. Nevertheless, industry leaders have never missed out on any of these trends. It is because a trend has the power to influence buyers’ behavior. The primarily influenced behaviors include:

1. How customers shop
2. How they review the marketing tactics
3. What they buy

Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, and all the other e-commerce giants have a habit of actively following e-commerce trends. This is why they are at the forefront of benefitting from these short-term and long-term trends.

Let us move on to the critical eCommerce trends that are likely to leverage the foreseeable future. If you plan to create an eCommerce application, you need to stay updated about the eCommerce tools.

ECOMMERCE TOOLS

Following are the leading eCommerce industry tools that are likely to influence the future of this industry. In the eCommerce world, it is crucial to plan to satisfy the customers’ current and forecasted needs.

Let us see what these trends are:

1-     CONTEXTUAL MARKETING

Contextual marketing is all about luring the right audience towards the right advertisements at the right time. People often confuse contextual marketing with essential targeted marketing. In contextual mobile marketing, the audience of niche data sets is focused and retargeted over the period.

Ever noticed that once you search for a product on Alibaba, they keep giving you the same popups? They tend to remind you again and again that you once searched for this product. Over a significant period, they gather the amount of interest required by you to buy that product.

2-     AUTOMATED MARKETING

It is one of the potential eCommerce tools. It focuses on showcasing your new products, new packages, discounts, deals, retargeting the customers, and so on. Automated marketing and digital marketing tactics is spreading awareness and making your viewers aware of your shop. You can customize it by sending personalized offerings to your premium members as well.

3-     ENHANCED SEARCH OPTIONS

Consider the snap search and voice search as the main ingredients of this tool. According to the recent guidelines by Google, if an online shop wants to appear in extended knowledgeable graphs and rich snippets, they would need to include more textual content for their voice search. Also, the launch of applications like Camfinder and many others essentially increased the need for snap and shop.

4-     REVIVAL OF BRICK & MORTAR

The Brick and Mortar system faced a backlash in 2007. It will come back with a fire in 2021; however, it would re-enter the market in a slightly different manner. Consider Virtual Reality in this scenario. The automobile industry and real estate industry are already making fair use of this approach. Consider Toyota, who used a virtual reality app for a product demo at an expo. Audi, Mercedes, and Cadillac followed a similar path. Hence Brick & Mortar will come back, but this time, there wouldn’t be any extensive product warehousing.

5-     CHAT-BOTS AS A PERSONAL GUIDE

Take the example of Starbucks and Foodpanda here; they make perfect use of chat-bots. They do so to guide the customer by letting them know the timeline and the total price handy. The chat-bots are getting smarter, cheaper, and widespread. Hence, there is a probability that their growth will reach 1.25 Billion USD by 2025.

6-     SUBSCRIPTION-BASED MODELING

The demand for subscription-based modeling will grow by 2021-22. The new e-commerce players are entering the industry by merely replicating the subscription models. By adding just fewer customized offerings, they are quickly enjoying recurring B2B sales on a monthly and yearly basis.

7-     PERSONALIZED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

In the simplest of terms, personalized customer experience means that all personalization should aim for a better customer experience. A good quality platform, easy navigation, guidance, customer service, lower pricing, fast shipping account for a better overall customer experience. The ingredients for customer experience might not matter alone. However, bit by bit mounted together, they generate exceptional revenues for your online shop.

8-     RESEARCH ONLINE, PURCHASE OFFLINE

This trend follows customer psychology. People often tend to research the product they wish to buy. Additionally, a customer also does all the necessary research before he/she places an order. They review customer testimonials which could be effortlessly managed using top testimonial software, visualize product substitutes, hunt for better deals, assess better offerings, and consider many other factors. Video testimonials, in particular, are a potent tool in assuring potential customers about their purchasing decision. Therefore, if you are dealing in the eCommerce industry, you might need to extensively profile the customers who like to research before making a purchase. Researching before making a purchase boosted already by the third quarter of 2020.

CREATING AN ECOMMERCE APPLICATION 

Once you know the most recent trends, you know how to plan your application. In this section, we will discuss how to create an eCommerce application. We will also provide cost and time estimations for eCommerce application development.

With an eCommerce application, you always need to stay heads up on your applications’ performance. Your application’s performance will solely depend on the trends you follow and how those trends affect customers’ activity. Mass reach and customer activity will drive your results.

Let us see how an eCommerce application is developed step-by-step:

KNOWING THE RIGHT GOALS 

The e-commerce industry is enormous. It is vital to figure out what you want before creating your application. Your key performance indicators, goals, and e-commerce business model you have chosen will directly impact the features and development process of the application. What determines the goals? The answer to this question depends on the following questions:

1. Where do you stand now?
2. How much traffic do you want to acquire in your store?
3. What levels of mobility do you support?
4. What is the rate of your mobile conversion?

If you are a B2C eCommerce store, losing some business to friction is predictable. An eCommerce application can help you by maximizing conversions and optimizing the checkout process.

Nevertheless, if you are a B2B eCommerce, customer retention and mobile loyalty will be your priority. At this stage, you will need to prioritize feature requirements that influence customer loyalty. These features include:

1. Segmented push notifications
2. Easy check out process
3. Product showcasing
4. Easy reordering process
5. Customer testimonials

After carefully identifying your goals, you need to assess your success measurement plans. You must know how to get data about your key performance indicators. If you do not know how to do this, proceeding with an eCommerce application will not be easy for you.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AUDIENCE 

Once you know your goals and KPIs, you need to assess the audience you wish to target. You might already know that B2B customers are different from B2C customers, but that’s not all. Knowing your potential audience will help you in streamlining the development process.

You can ask yourself questions such as:

1. What are the demographics of my audience?
2. What are their interests and hobbies?
3. How did your customers find you?
4. What products do they like and purchase often?
5. What kind of deals attract them?

The answers to the above questions, together, will shape your potential niche. Take an example of a fashion B2C retailer. He might need fashion blogs and guidebooks to attract a specific audience. On the other hand, a B2B retailer is likely to focus on repeated purchases and fast check out.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

Once you are clear on your goals and audience, it’s time to choose the right technology. For eCommerce applications, there are two options available. These options are:

1. IOS or Android applications (native apps)
2. Progressive web applications (PWAs)

WHAT ARE PROGRESSIVE WEB APPLICATIONS?

PWAs are next-generation websites. They offer the same speed, performance, and interactivity as a native application. The USP for progressive web applications is that the users do not have to download them. Hence, you would not have to launch these apps on the app store. They are a fantastic option if you have a limited budget but have a lot of traffic on your eCommerce website. PWAs work efficiently on all platforms.

WHAT ARE NATIVE APPLICATIONS?

Native applications are of two types: Android and IOS. They have to be developed separately for each operating system. You can download these applications on your mobile phone. The USP of native applications is that they use all the features of one’s smartphone. They offer the most optimal user experience.

Following are the characteristic benefits of native applications:

1. They can access the user’s contacts, database, gallery, and likewise
2. They’re intuitive and efficient
3. They can use the mobile phone’s features such as gestures and taps

Since these applications require an app store launch, it may seem like a problem to many. However, it is also an opportunity. To utilize this opportunity, you would need to optimize your application. In this way, people will quickly discover your application, and you can get new visitors every day.

LISTING THE RIGHT REQUIREMENTS 

After choosing the right technology, it’s time to make a list of features that you require. You can brainstorm the requirements with your team. However, since we are here to help, let us give you a few pointers:

1. Push messages and push notifications are essential for modern eCommerce applications.
2. Easy checkout is critical. It ensures one of the two things. It streamlines the initial purchases and makes repeated purchases easy.
3. Guidebooks and pamphlets are popular features that can be used in multiple contexts.
4. Adding to wish lists can make repeated purchases easy.
5. Supporting multiple payment options is exceptionally critical if you want to target an audience from more than one country.
6. To improve brand image and overall application feel, you can use design elements and custom branding.
7. Customer testimonials are essential. Therefore, having an in-app review or rating system is always a good thing.
8. You should always look for ways to synchronize your existing backed servers with your eCommerce applications.
9. Social media integration is valuable if you are targeting millennials and similar younger generations.
10. Features like touches, taps, swipes, optimal screen space usage, and similar native experience will always benefit your application.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROCESS

This step partially depends on your requirements and partly on how much you intend to invest. You can choose one of the two processes given below:

1. Make a bespoke application
2. SAAS solution

WHAT IS A BESPOKE APPLICATION?

A bespoke application development process is the one in which you hire a development team. This development team is subjected to make a new application from scratch. Big brands like Amazon and Alibaba mostly follow this process for two main reasons:

1. A bespoke app is particular about the application requirements
2. It can easily incorporate complex integrations.

If you have budget relief, you can choose a bespoke application development process. With this process, you can create anything you want and integrate it with your web store. Nevertheless, it is costly to maintain and add new features to a bespoke application.

WHAT IS A SAAS SOLUTION?

SAAS is an option that small to medium size organizations choose. However, with some customized adjustments, multinationals can also use it. SAAS ensures that developed applications are easy to use and launch.

This process takes lesser time. With SAAS, you can turn your application into a web store with just one click. However, you can only pick the features that are available with SAAS solutions. SAAS solutions mostly offer all the features that are crucial for application success.

It has the following advantages:

1. Complete store integration
2. Low set up costs
3. Low maintenance costs
4. Launches the app in weeks
5. Comes with all essential features

Therefore, if you are low on budget and need to launch your application urgently, SAAS solutions are the best choice. It offers all updates for free and rarely requires new codes. You can get all the complex features like push notifications, easy navigation, one-click checkout with SAAS solutions. Nevertheless, if you have a highly customized set of requirements, you should consider a bespoke app.

ASSIGNING THE RIGHT BUDGET

Once you have the right requirements list, it’s time to assign a budget to your application. Keep in mind that the budget for an ecommerce application is directly dependent on the developer’s hourly rates.

It is passively related to the features and requirements that you want and the developer’s country. The criteria that determine the cost of an ecommerce application include the following:

1. We know that the choice of platform depends on the type of application. However, it mainly impacts the cost of development.
2. Programming, coding, and similar technical specifications, which contribute to functionality, affect the cost. it primarily ranges from $10,000 to $100,000.
3. App design or the visual appearance of the application range from $3000 to $30,000.
4. Live support, social media integration, PPC dashboard, software license, app store charges, and likewise features also matter. Each of these can cost from $500 to $3000.
5. One should always assign 30% of the total budget to application updates and maintenance.

FINAL WORDS

Now you know all about ecommerce applications. If it still interests you, and you want to create an ecommerce application, contact us today! Now is the best time to step into the commerce market. Our service is highly affordable and suits new start-ups. Contact us today to get free consultation!