Have you ever bought your favourite items Online? If the answer is yes then you already have an idea of what e-commerce is. Basically, E-commerce involves trading in your favourite products or services that are available Online. A few day-to-day examples are purchase and sale of a variety of products and services, utility bill payment, online banking transactions, information delivery such as stock quotes, news, sports scores, and so on.
A look at the current e-commerce trends:
1. Responsive design: is a must for a delightful User Experience, so as to keep users coming back for more. The focus is ease of use and visually appealing features. Users prefer using their Mobile, Tablets, to access mobile apps. Using responsive design one can make sure that the design responds to user’s access to accommodate for change in resolution, orientation and other capabilities. Responsive website design rearranges the content to fit onto any screen size making the end user experience a positive one.
2. Social Media/Videos on the rise: These are being most popular when discovering products. Social media and mobile are used for more spontaneous purchases which are definitely on the rise.
3. Better Customer Service: Technology has already played its role and is in place for handling the rising online demands, now it is time for the online stores to focus on Customer Services and prevent consumers from going to competitors solely due to poor customer service.
4. Faster Delivery Options: Online stores should make use of logistics platforms that cut down on delivery times and be a preferred seller in the market
5. Secure and dependable mobile payment platforms: Now giants like PayPal, Google, and ApplePay offer their own mobile payment solutions.
What is M-commerce? What about M-commerce, does it sound domestic? Yes Mobile commerce is growing dramatically as we make use of our smart phones to book tickets; do mobile money transfers, research, mobile banking, browsing, purchasing, etc on a regular basis. What does it offer?
1. Convenience: Consumers prefer to shop on the mobile apps of various giants like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Jabong, Snapdeal etc. instead of accessing their sites via computers or laptops, as it’s more convenient. They can use the mobile app anywhere and at anytime of the day or night. Mobile apps use the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) allowing them to use internet without plugging in.
2. Faster Shipping: Shipping the product or delivery option is open on Sundays by most of the online sellers. This flexibility adds to the convenience of the users. They do not really have to wait for spare time and physically visit shopping Malls or Stores.
3. Personalization: Consumers expect a personalized experience from their mobile service provider which is offered while using mobile devices.
4. Easy return policy: If you do not like the product or if it is delivered as defective or broken then online sellers provide easy return policies that are free of cost.
Sales are fast moving to mobile
Today sales are moving at a rapid pace from traditional ways to mobile. The reason being various advantages of smart phones, mobiles, and devices working on the internet namely:
Mobile apps are now major contributors for ecommerce sites
There is definitely a 360 degree shift in the way consumers buy today and how they used to buy earlier. It has changed completely from the old traditional methods of buying from stores to the trendier and time saving online purchase via mobile apps. Owing to this shift the mobile apps and iphone apps are now major contributors for ecommerce sites.
Are you an owner of ecommerce website?
If yes the good news for you is that you can use your existing website for mobile commerce rather than developing it from scratch. But do check if your website technology offers Smartphone support. Your website should also help users to navigate easily, and find and buy products without hassles the chances are they keep coming back to your site.
Making your existing site into a mobile-ready site is not very difficult. It is the same as any other web project. There are a few important questions that need to be addressed:
1. Who is your end user? – The Mobile Users
2. Where and how are they accessing your website? – Mostly through the mobile
3. What does the user do after reaching your site? – Browse; shop online, payment transactions etc.
First step is to analyse this data for creating the best mobile experience. This data about the end user, how they access your site, and all such related statistics can be gained using Google Analytics. Most mobile web browsers have the ability to use Google Analytics and track mobile usage.
How a small business should act?
The mobile users are growing day by day. Through m-commerce small businesses will get a large and growing market place for a wider range of products and services. To capitalize on m-commerce opportunity, businesses must deliver exceptionally fast with reliability. The points to be kept in mind are well designed, robust, and scalable, feature rich Mobile apps, sufficient inventory, offering better consumer deals compared to competitors, Quality of goods and secure payment methods.
How can Promatics help?
Today technology is advancing at such a rapid pace so in pursuit of adapting to the new technology and serving the mobile users at large, Promatics has developed a variety of Mobile apps. We cater to iphone app development and mobile apps development for android, blackberry and Windows too.
Our mobile application development strategies focus on increasing your business efficiency, expanding customer reach, increasing global presence, reducing operating costs, and ensuring maximum return-on-investment (ROI).
Promatics Mobile Application Benefits – everything exciting is already in :
Conclusion
Online shopping using mobiles is just as addictive as the consumption of Tea or coffee. The exponentially growing mobile usage definitely offers challenges as well as great opportunities to both retailers as well as the mobile service providers in the race of offering reliable, 24 / 7 availability, and secure access to an innovative trading experience.
Your concerns are legit, and we know how to deal with them. Hook us up for a discussion, no strings attached, and we will show how we can add value to your operations!