Could you visualize an individual living without even a Mobile Phone in this tech world? It seems like this is unthinkable. We have established a tremendous dependence on these devices and, without them, it would be tough to survive. In reality, these devices are already quite used to us that we will need them for anything from a simple task to a big managerial operation. Cell phones are no longer just for calling or messages; people make online transactions using such devices today. Without spending on mobile apps, either small or large online retailers literally cannot run their businesses effectively.
Today, it is impossible for an online company to operate and grow cost-effectively without a web presence. In reality, cell phones have now become the backbone of e-commerce. Without any mobile applications, no businesses can thrive in the e-commerce industry. Over the past ten years, e-commerce has been rising rapidly, but the 2020 pandemic seems to have become a pivotal moment. Businesses without an online presence have recognized their digital world positions and have begun to develop mobile apps.
An ideal mobile app can attract and transform a larger number of consumers into potential customers. As per the reports, there are approximately a 250million mobile users in the US alone and over 3 billion users worldwide, and now individuals use applications more than browsers. However, the e-commerce ecosystem is continuously changing.
Innovations are being added to the world of e-commerce. There are also other innovations with applications that are getting their way into e-commerce. Let this blog benefit you, so you will embrace these innovations and draft more sales by knowing about them.
Market Overview:
- By the year 2021, the global e-commerce market will reach over 5 trillion dollars, which is a huge number in itself. And according to www.statista.com, retail e-commerce sales will reach 480 billion dollars by 2021 in the US.
- As we all know, the most prominent e-commerce market on the planet is China. In 2019 their e-commerce sales reached over 1.9 trillion dollars. Which means it’s hard to tackle Chinese markets.
- As per the 99firms report, by the year 2021, mobile shopping will acquire 71% of the market share of e-commerce as current generations of shoppers are increasingly inclined to buy goods from their smartphone or any other electronic device.
The trends mentioned in this article are mostly appropriate for both mobile and web e-commerce. Let’s focus on these trends and figure out where to look for in the next several years.
Top e-commerce mobile apps trends you must pay attention to:
1. Chatbots
Artificial Intelligence drives chatbots. With no need to hire some human customer service representatives. Chatbots are now helping businesses to connect and engage with their customers. In a couple of seconds, chatbots will answer the prospect’s queries and direct the user through the entire browsing and buying process, all for 24*7 and 365 days. In contrast, as per the reports, the worldwide chatbot market’s projected growth will be about 1250 million dollars. Chatbots can also set up the first line of customer support and almost immediately answer any customer queries. For example, you must’ve had some shoppers who would like their questions will be answered immediately. If you fulfill their desires in the directions they are looking for; then they are much more willing to become loyal to your brand. The chatbot’s primary concern is to delight customers, and therefore, this trend seems to be something that you can’t miss. That’s why chatbots saved their sport in top trends.
2. AR and VR Integration
Enhanced Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are growing trends and therefore are two trends that you cannot neglect in app development. Due to various better interaction opportunities, both disruptive technologies deliver numerous advantages to e-commerce firms, with the mobile camera’s assistance. The elements come alive virtually through augmented reality. It addresses the most significant disparity in persuading customers to purchase from your shop, enabling customers to see or experience the item before considering buying it. Via Augmented reality storefronts, customers can learn about the characteristics and benefits and even can check if it’s appropriate for them or not. For companies and businesses that deal with furniture, accessories, and clothes, these showrooms are suitable. These applications will undoubtedly eliminate obstacles of shopper hesitation. Now traditional stores also started offering virtual fitting options that allow shoppers to test out the clothes’ look and style without even wearing them.
3. Internet of Things
By linking the planet, the Internet of Things has already made an enormous impact and will continue to retain fame by turning sectors into active edges. By providing customized data of each shopper, it can support your mobile e-commerce application. The connected Internet of Things device gathers and shares the intel. It enables machine learning to evaluate the pattern of action of customers reliably. You not only get the information about their online activities but also about their offline activities. This technology will make your marketing campaign more effective by delivering specific advertising and deals to customers and consumers based on their tastes and preferences. As per the reports, the total number of IoT devices is predicted to reach 70 billion by 2025. Internet of Things devices have vast potential in online shopping. To mention, Amazon is among the IoT-incorporating firms. They use it for safer deliveries that do not disclose their shipment to the thieves.
4. Voice search
Due to NLP’s latest advances (Natural Language Processing), customers now can do several things just by their voice commands. In past years, voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, or any other have become popular and have had a significant effect on a mobile e-commerce application. Incorporating voice search into your mobile e-commerce apps will make it much more comfortable for your clients to place their orders. This is particularly true if your customers are more likely to shop when out and about or on the go. Or maybe they’re just too busy to type and scroll the need they are searching for. Experts say that over 50% of the web searches are done with the help of voice search, and by the year 2023, over 8 billion devices will have inbuilt voice assistants. For the multitasking people, voice assistants are the perfect option for them since they are hands-free and don’t require a mouse or keyboards to function. The mobile e-commerce app has a promising and great future ahead as voice searches will raise their sales revenue.
5. Cloud Integration
The way online stores manage cloud integrations have streamlined their data and applications in the cloud. The strategy offers not only numerous benefits for mobile e-commerce but also for other applications. Minimizing the expenses involved with hosting is among the most significant benefits of cloud integration. Although the cloud is one of the fastest hosting solutions, the hosted applications offer better customer satisfaction. Properly integrated cloud hosting helps e-commerce applications to adapt to changing consumer needs, actions, and demands with streamlined resource scaling based on activity and periodic peaks. With built-in resilience and cloud-based architectures save companies and organizations from the data loss. Another significant advantage is confidential, as such integrations keep the data secured and easily accessible. Shortly, cloud-based platforms will continue to promote the provision of the personalized user interface to e-commerce companies.
6. Payment options
A variety of new industries entrants have arisen in recent years to deliver niche solutions for e-commerce. Few wallets like Google Pay and Samsung Pay are transforming e-commerce. Another unique approach that is used to facilitate an increasing portion of e-commerce transactions is crypto-currency. New payment systems and methods are more comfortable integrating into several e-commerce channels, and the conventional mode of payment is no longer limited to digital companies. Several of the customers and consumers, nevertheless, try to retain back due to various security issues. The rising numbers of non-cash transactions worldwide are indeed opening new opportunities in mobile e-commerce apps.
7. AI and Blockchain
It should be safe to do online shopping as most consumers and customers consider this to be one of the most pivotal aspects of a successful e-commerce mobile app. There are many practical tips on achieving excellent protection for applications, but e-commerce applications should also envisage in-app purchases’ simplicity and security. This is where it is possible to use blockchain technology effectively. Moreover, for big data and IoT sensors data processing, data management, predicting performance problems, and forecasting revenue, businesses, and companies can use the ideal mix of Artificial intelligence and blockchain.
8. Machine Learning
Machine learning the most popular trend. If you adopt this trend, you will find out how good every consumer’s experience is and what behavioral trends this individual follows. Using machine learning algorithms in email marketing campaigns is one of the best use cases because Machine learning algorithms will automatically view the patterns. It will evaluate the customer’s buying history and decide that the same product is purchased every month by an individual. After this, it will regularly send an email notification to the user about the product, thus increasing the chances of loyalty to even more customers of yours.
9. Enhanced customer experience
This is everlasting. Many of the trends have always been towards enhancing the knowledge of the experience of customers. It is the primary brand, differentiator and also surpasses the price. If you operate a smaller business and cannot justify paying flashy trends such as AR and VR, concentrate on improving customers’ experience in any possible manner. A significant change could be made by easy stuff like speeding up your mobile application. Besides, multichannel customer support should also be incorporated to make it simpler and provide consumers with quicker and better answers.
10. SaaS
Also called Software as a Service. This software distribution model will assist you during the development of e-commerce. If you buy a particular solution on a SaaS basis, you pay a subscription fee to use it daily. Things get interesting when it comes to SaaS in the context of e-commerce mobile app development. By using this solution, many ready-for-integration technologies are distributed. For example, if you would like to incorporate predictive analysis or any other like dynamic pricing to your e-commerce application, a SaaS solution would probably be your best choice.
Conclusion
As you have seen, the developments of mobile e-commerce applications are strongly influenced by the digitization process. Inactive conversations and drawing traffic, mobile applications continue to play an important role and serve as the key catalyst for digital retail. Of course, you need all essentials, including smooth navigation, advanced features, and other functionalities, to succeed in the e-commerce industry. As mentioned above, the trends will make you stand out in the market and take your customer and consumer experience to a whole new level. But also these trends help to boost sales and enhance customer/consumer loyalty. Overall it will become even more engaging and easy for online shopping.
