From startups to big brands and small businesses to leading entrepreneurs, everybody wants to hitch their ventures to the ecommerce bandwagon through their unique mobile app features. The reasons for this phenomenon are not difficult to decipher. Consider these statistics!
- Of the estimated global population of 7.7 billion, there will be 1.92 billion global digital buyers by end 2019. That’s a staggering 25% of the world’s population that is shopping online.
- Numbers for online shoppers are expected to reach 2.14 billion people in 2021.
- In 2019, worldwide ecommerce sales are expected to account for 13.7 percent of retail sales.
This shows that ecommerce is slowly moving away from being a fad to a serious contender for a chunk of the retail sales pie. Ecommerce sales are expected to reach a whopping 17.5 percent of retail sales by 2021.
Before diving into the
To help businesses and enterprises come up with powerful ecommerce apps, we have created this list of ecommerce app features. These should be compulsorily included when designing and developing your online shopping site. Read on the feature list below:
Easy registration process
This factor is just the start to visitors getting easy access to your application and getting down to business- shopping! A long and difficult registration process will irk your customers. Asking for too much information will make first-time traffic lose interest. The mobile app should take customers directly to the shopping screen (homepage) and there should not be any need of registration until checkout. The registration system should be completed only with an email ID, mobile number, or social login. Further, an option should be included to save user information for future use or reference.
Push notifications
Major ecommerce portals have a push notification feature. This greatly helps to increase sales and engagement with existing and potential customers by quickly informing them about special offers, new product launches, and exclusive promotions that are time-sensitive in nature. The urgency of push notifications prompts customers to take immediate action, thereby pushing up sales. In short, a crucial ecommerce store feature to have!
Encourage customization
A very critical feature of any ecommerce app is customization. One of the major challenges in front of app creators is to incorporate a great shopping experience. When a user downloads an ecommerce application, the first thing that they look for is seamless navigation, personalization and trouble-free experience. One of the ways to build a strong relationship is to include key customizable features that are in sync with customer needs and preferences, so as to promote an engaging and interactive experience.
Organized navigation
The screen size and the content has a vital role to play in the overall performance of the site and should be at the top of any ecommerce app features list. Since screen size and readable space for any mobile app is limited, it is essential to ensure that the app does not look cramped and cluttered. Designing such an ecommerce app will ensure seamless navigation and help display all products in an impressive manner with clarity. Navigational transitions should be smooth too.
Messaging based on User Location
The best of mobile apps have the option to deliver messages to customers based on geographical locations. You should be able to select specific zip codes and estimate the customers’ base and country on a map and send alerts accordingly. Many merchants have products that are sold in specific countries only and it is just a waste of time to send messages about those products to people who cannot get access to them. Another way to further optimize this procedure is to send delayed messages that will be delivered once a customer enters a relevant geographical location.
Comprehensive feedback
One of the most vital ecommerce mobile app features is a sturdy reviews management feature since it will help buyers post detailed reviews of products, gather product insights, and speed up decision making. You must ensure that the star ratings of the products are prominently displayed, and the process of posting as well as sharing reviews is simple. In the absence of a physical feel of a product, customers depend heavily on reviews and ratings to decide whether to click on the “Buy” button or find another product.
Live Chat
Studies have shown that including a live chat feature in your ecommerce mobile app can increase monthly sales by over 20 percent. Further, customers can quickly clear their doubts before or after purchasing a product. This reduces the number of products returned by customers by about 30 percent. Shoppers should be able to chat live with your representatives and in case they are not available, they should be able to leave a message or request a callback. Don’t want to put a big support team in place? Deploy a customer questions section!
Credible and authoritative content
Put credible and authoritative content on your ecommerce site. It should be short, crisp and reliable. Do not overdo the product information with content that is long-winded, appears pushy and a marketing gimmick. Show that you can be trusted without cluttering up the app with an overdose of information. Customers prefer precise and concise information that appears convincing and dependable with the focus on the USP of the product.
Get to know how much an
Analytics
The main objective of any ecommerce app is to earn revenue and hence it is important to judge what’s working and what’s not. This is where ecommerce app feature like analytics comes in. The feature for store owners will help you understand user behavior, buying patterns, geographical locations, device usage and hundreds of other data matrices & filters. All this data will help you make strategic changes, run special offers, and create rich customer support that will ultimately lead to higher sales and interactions.
Social media integration
By integrating social media into your app, you will enable users to login with their social media accounts, making the app that much easier to use. By syncing the app to social media websites, major social media mileage can be generated by simplifying social sharing. You can substantially boost sales and interactions with customers as well as potential customers by planning social contests and discounts. Social media integration can also help in creating user generated content!
Payment methods
If you draw up a must-have ecommerce app features list, the range of payment gateway options will be right up there. The more options that you offer, the smoother is the checkout experience and the higher will be the sales. Deploy multiple payment options including credit and debit cards, net banking, and those that are managed by PayFast, PayPal, CCAvenue, First Data and the like. Cash on delivery option should also be there if launching your ecommerce app in developing countries.
Quick product search
Product search has to be super easy. If it won’t be, shoppers will have a hard time finding their product from your huge
Discounts planning dashboard
Promotions, discounts, and special offers are the lifeblood of ecommerce platforms. Hence, your ecommerce mobile app should also bring the functionality to create coupon codes, run promotions, and feature discounts. The app should be able to activate specialized codes once the customers have attained a specific total purchase value. You can also offer gift cards that are transferable to the person of choice of the buyer.
Have a wish list button
This is an extremely critical aspect in the ecommerce app features list. Customers often select a product that they like but would like to buy it later for one or more reasons. With a wish list, they can keep the items there to be bought later. A constant reminder that there is something in the wish list leads to increased conversions and sales. It is a sort of bookmarking the items while helping you to offer discounts or special offers or discounts on them to encourage quick conversions.
Easy checkout
Your ecommerce store app should have an easy checkout process through which a customer can breeze through. Minimum information must be required and the app must be able to access previous updates of the profile, shipping address and payment methods to make later checking out very easy. If customers won’t have to wait long for placing final orders, they will want to buy more through your app.
Simple returns process
For ecommerce marketplaces that host thousands of sellers, the number of product returns is also huge. Therefore, your product returns process should be thoroughly planned and flawlessly executed. Deploy a comprehensive form to gather all the details about the return and lend support to make it as easy as possible.
Great user experience
The sole objective of an ecommerce app is to offer a great user-experience and streamline the shopping process. This will directly influence product sales and conversions. Hence, make sure that all the features that make for a high user-experience are featured in the app. Keep your application neat since modern uncluttered design is quickly becoming the industry norm.
Synchronized website
You must have a site that is synchronized in all aspects with the mobile app. Any changes made or products added should automatically be done on your website and mobile app. Otherwise, the process gets very tedious and time-consuming if you have to make changes individually.
To create a flawless mobile application, follow these responsive mobile app considerations!
Last ecommerce app development tip
Since a lot rides on how well your mobile app is designed and developed and what features are included in it to offer the best results, it’s best to hire seasoned professionals to handle the work. Thoroughly plan your mobile app before starting the development process so that there are no conflicts later on.
Partner with a top-level mobile app development agency so that the final product – your app – gives the results you require and deserve. Planning a new mobile app for your business? DM us and our app experts will guide you in the right direction! For more details, email at hello@doynt.com.
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