There is no denying the fact that shopping is undergoing a shift and is moving onto the digital space and giving a hard time to brick and mortar establishments.
People are spending more and more of their free time on online shopping itself. It (shopping through an app) has seen the highest y-o-y growth in consumer time contribute.
If you are still thinking of getting an e-commerce app for your business, now is the time.
But before you get an app for it- building it yourself, or thinking about hiring an app development company, there are some crucial things you should know and do.
1. Know your Market- Do research:
Who are you making the app for? What geographical area will your app cater at? What are the ages, gender, and interests of your prospective customers?
If you can have detailed answers to these questions and even more, only then can you guarantee a useful app for your users?
2. What is Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal (app in this case, or a website) and the payment system. The payment gateway may be provided by a bank to its customers, or by a specialized financial service provider as a separate service. It helps to keep the details secure through encryption.
3. What is Payment Processor?
The third party companies which are hired to execute the payment are called payment processors. They send a request to the bank; then after the details verification, the transaction is completed.
These processors perform many functions such as evaluating whether transactions are valid and approved. They use anti-fraud measures to assure that a genuine source initiates a purchase transaction.
PayPal, Stripe, BitPay are some examples of payment processors popular in the US, and various apps developers rely on them for their services.
4. Choosing the App Details:
Once your idea is concrete and you have your market research sorted, think of how would you want your app to be.
Your app maybe native, web-based or a hybrid one. For better user experience, it is suggested to go for native apps. They might take time to build but win an edge over the others in the long run. But if you primarily want a short time to market, the hybrid may be the option.
You can write to Applify for a free consultation.
Is your app only going to be for iOS users or Android ones too? What should you use?
If you are dealing with a diverse target audience, you might want multiple languages and currencies. You can enable Push Notifications and in-app messaging for a more personalized touch. For ease of use, there can be a more straightforward registration process and a social media integration too.
With apps, there’s a lot you can do. Just ask your app developers for what is currently trending.
5. Inventory synchronization:
You can’t have manual and ineffective methods of inventory management when you also have sales through mobile apps as well as a website. It is too tedious a task and will end up into chaos. So you need perfect synchronization of your inventory. For an advanced market like the US or UK, you need an app development company which can ensure complete inventory management.
6. Analytics:
To have insights into how your sales funnel works, you need analytics. Google Analytics show your website statistics, similarly, Google Mobile Analytics is for your app. These will help you identify what is going wrong and where and point out opportunities for improvement. What products are doing well, what needs better packaging or placement, all of this is easy with Google?
Conclusion:
Getting your app made for e-commerce in the UK is not a difficult task anymore. But making sure the app helps you scale up your business depends a lot on how your app building process goes. To have the best possible flow, it is essential to know these small, but crucial things. Followed up well, these little points will ensure an excellent app for you!
