Insights on eCommerce App Development For Retail Businesses!.pdf

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Comprehensive guidance on eCommerce App Development For
the Retail Sector
eCommerce apps have become an integral part of our lives these days. And, in this era of
smartphones, the most recent trend is mCommerce – online purchases via mobile apps.
Take a look at the statistics provided below to understand the importance of eCommerce
applications.
The online portal wpforms says that: “93.5% of the internet users across the globe have
made online purchases.”
The renowned online research portal “BusinessofApps” stated that: “In the US, mobile
eCommerce sales accounted for 7.3% of the total sales in the retail sector, the total
eCommerce sales being 53%.”
As per research conducted by “Similarweb” based on the e-commerce data collected from
the top hundred websites of the US, in the year 2022 there were 14.6 billion visits including
131.9 unique visitors on ecommerce sites.
As the concept of online marketplaces gains traction, eCommerce mobile app development
is in full swing. Even small businesses are considering building eCommerce apps for
expanding their customer base.
This post throws light on all the crucial aspects that you need to know for eCommerce app
development.

Let’s have a look at the eCommerce App Architecture sketch:
eCommerce App Development: Key Steps
Business Strategy
Conduct extensive research to know the requirements of your target audience. Analyze
competitors to get an idea about the most popular eCommerce app features and the
commonest mistakes to avoid. Identify some unique setting points that will make your app
stand out. Also, consider the project expenses and your budget.
Platform Selection
Pick a scalable app development framework, CMS, and database. Decide whether you will
build a native app for Android or iOS or would like to build an app that caters to both of these
platforms. It is important to select suitable technology stacks for back-end; front-end;
platform, libraries, & interfaces for development; and supportive technologies for
performance and security practices.
Feature Set
Select the feature set as per your budget and the requirements of your target audience. The
popular features for eCommerce apps include user profiles, authorization, home screen,
smart search with filtering/sorting, product lists, product screens with images & description,
shopping cart, wish list, instant checkout, barcode scanner, payment gateways, order
tracking, push notifications, consumers support, and consumer ratings and reviews.

UI/UX Designing
Create a captivating UI/UX design with attractive visuals, apt color schemes, and smooth
transitions.
App Development
Now it’s time to convert your app idea and wireframes into an actual app by doing the
development and consider the necessary integrations like payment gateways, app builders,
etc.
API Integration
API integrations are necessary for promoting data exchange between different frameworks
and implementing certain necessary app features. For example, eCommerce apps need
APIs for integrating payment gateways, shipping prerequisites, marketing automation, and
consumer data analysis.
Maintenance
Maintenance and support services post-deployment is necessary to resolve bugs and roll
out periodic updates to stay relevant and accommodate customer needs.
Important Tip for successful app development: It’s a good idea to partner with an
experienced eCommerce app development company in USA that offers end-to-end
services right from app ideation to deployment and maintenance post-deployment.
eCommerce App Development: Crucial Aspects to Consider

User-friendliness
Ease of usage and user-friendliness are important aspects to consider while eCommerce
app development. Create a user interface that is intuitive and easily understandable. Users
must be able to effortlessly navigate to product categories and your home screen should
display popular products and lucrative deals. A considerable amount of text and animations
should be avoided as this can add to the app’s complexity.
Simple registration and checkout process are key factors that minimize the chances of cart
abandonment. This is because, time-consuming and complex login or checkout processes
will repel customers away from your app. Also, offer facilities like logging in via social media,
shopping as a guest, etc. Enable users to save some of their details for future purchases so
that they do not have to re-enter the same information next time. Also, your “add to cart”
button should be prominent enough to be easily noticed by online shoppers.
Clarity of images
Several consumers may be reluctant to make expensive online purchases without testing
the product properly. To mitigate this challenge, retailers these days provide visual clarity of
product images. It’s a good practice to post several pictures of the same product clicked
from various angles so that consumers get a clear idea about the product before making a
purchase decision. The image resolution must be high and users should be able to zoom the
images for better clarity. Some retail brands offer videos displaying their product.
Speed, Responsiveness, and Stability
New-age consumers are impatient and easily frustrated if an app is slow. Hence, your app
must load speedily and allow users quick navigation while browsing through product
categories. Moreover, the app must be responsive across all kinds of device screens. For
this reason, it is necessary to conduct usability testing on all kinds of device screens while
eCommerce app development.
You need to make sure that your app is stable, consistent, well balanced, and has minimal
incidents of app crashes and other related issues. Or else, your eCommerce app will poorly
perform and may be abandoned by users. To ensure stability with regard to app
performance, it’s important to develop your app in iterations and conduct extensive QA
testing. Do not forget to collect user feedback, resolve issues at the earliest, and roll out
periodic updates to stay relevant.
Pay Attention to Scalability
Scalability is an important consideration for an eCommerce application as the app needs to
adapt to greater load when the user base grows. Therefore, one must plan the app’s
architecture in such a manner that the app is equipped to process increased user requests
per second during high load times. Scalability aspects need to be planned at the
eCommerce app development stage itself. Several eCommerce apps have pre-set

scalability limits for certain proportions of user load to avoid a frozen application at the later
stages.
Secure your App’s Data
Users need to furnish personally identifiable information like names, addresses, contact
numbers, credit card numbers, CVV codes, etc. for registering into your app and using
online payment modes. Why would users trust your app with their confidential information if
you don’t ensure data security? So, you must necessarily adopt security measures during
eCommerce app development to protect the privacy of users’ personal and financial data.
It’s advisable to restrict user access to all app data by pre-defining access rules, encrypting
data in transit as well as storage, and using a private cloud network for storing user data.
Also, have an alarm system in place so that you are notified as soon as there are any data
threats and can take timely actions to prevent unauthorized access.
Trending Technologies for eCommerce App Development
Some may argue that online purchasing lacks visibility, clarity, and transparency as
compared to offline purchases. However, emerging technologies have helped to bridge this
gap as well. Modern-day eCommerce apps are utilizing technologies to offer online
shoppers in-store experiences. Check out how technologies are elevating consumer
experiences to the next level.
Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR)
Certain eCommerce marketplaces are utilizing Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality
(VR) to showcase their products to online buyers. AR superimposes digital elements while
VR creates an artificial simulated environment for offering an immersive experience to
consumers. This way, online shoppers can enjoy a virtual in-store experience. Customers
gain clearer visual insights into the product and can make better purchase decisions.
This novel concept has been successfully implemented by some retail brands. Take a quick
look at the use cases.
The IKEA catalog app offers virtual rooms displaying furniture. Users can also virtually place
the desired pieces of furniture in their rooms and get an idea about what the product will look
like there. The Taobao App by Alibaba offers 3D product displays. The cosmetic brand
Sephora has included the “virtual artist” feature within their app so that their consumers can
test the products through the app by using photos or even in live mode. Sephora’s makeup
items and hairstyles are applied over a digital overlay of the app users’ faces. The Patron
app offers customers a friendly bartender and a virtual tour to explore the distillery to the
fullest.
Chatbots
Integrating chatbots into eCommerce apps is a great idea to stay connected with your
customers and provide them round-the-clock assistance. Chatbots automate customer
services and are equipped to interact with customers via online messaging, calling, etc. just

like a sales assistant. This way, customers’ queries, and concerns can be addressed at
once, at any hour, without having to hire additional customer assistance staff.
Chatbots can also gather data on eCommerce app visitors and process this data to offer
them personalized purchase suggestions. This strategy works wonders in promoting
customer satisfaction and loyalty. The other offerings of chatbots include notifying
consumers when a specific item is out of stock, suggesting an alternative product, providing
information on the expected delivery dates of products, reminding users about their
abandoned shopping carts, obtaining consumer feedback, and so on.
Spotify, PizzaHut, Lyft, and eBay have leveraged the potential of chatbots to their
advantage. For example, eBay’s ShopBot guides consumers to find the desired product,
asks them questions to identify their exact requirements, and recommends products based
on their preferences. The chatbot of the H&M app questions consumers on their choices and
suggests products accordingly.
Voice Assistants
Today, consumers prefer quick, intuitive, and convenient browsing, and what can be a better
tool than a voice assistant. Voice assistants make things easy for customers as they search
for the desired products. Customers have a satisfying experience as they receive real-time
responses and personalized attention, and most importantly can save on their precious time.
Big Data Algorithms
Big data has become a valuable component for retail brands to offer personalized purchase
suggestions to their consumers. This is how it works! Retailers track users’ actions and their
interactions with the eCommerce application. Thereafter, Big data algorithms are used to
analyze consumers’ details like demographics, age, etc., and their behavior to predict the
products they are most likely to purchase in the future. That’s how Amazon can recommend
relevant products to consumers. Data-driven insights help businesses to devise profitable
marketing strategies and implement the necessary modifications to fit into consumer needs.
Geofencing
The geofencing approach is used in eCommerce mobile apps to promote products based on
the users’ current location. Here’s how this strategy works. Technologies like GPS, RFID,
Wi-Fi, and Beacons are used to track the customers’ location every minute. If a user
searches for a product and is within close vicinity of your store, an automatic notification is
sent to the user stating the availability of the item in your store. In this manner, eCommerce
businesses can utilize the perfect timing and the consumer’s location to convert a user’s
buying intent into an instant purchase decision.
Concluding Thoughts:
Today, retail businesses that intend to expand customer outreach, serve customers 24X7,
provide an unparalleled experience to consumers, and boost sales, must possess an
eCommerce mobile application to support their website. The aforesaid tips and best
practices will help you to develop a best-selling eCommerce application for your business.

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