Category: eCommerce

As a marketing director or Shopify store owner, you always need to keep your finger on the pulse.

That’s because the landscape of the ecommerce industry is constantly evolving. Consumer buying habits have changed. So your sales strategy from back in 2015 won’t necessarily work on your ecommerce website today.

But once you’re able to recognize the latest trends, it will be much easier for you to adapt your sales and marketing strategies accordingly. That’s what inspired me to write this guide.

I’ve taken the time to research and analyze the latest ecommerce tendencies of 2024.

Based on the data that I’ve found, I’m expecting these trends to continue throughout the second half of the year as well.

1. Increased conversion rates

Conversion rates will always vary based on a wide range of factors.

• Industry
• Country
• Product
• Traffic source
• Device

These are just a few categories of how conversions are measured in terms of averages and benchmarks.

For example, according to research from Growcode, the average ecommerce conversion rate for the arts and crafts industry is 3.83%. Whereas the baby and child industry has 0.84% conversion rate. Germany’s ecommerce conversion rate is 2.22% and Italy’s is 0.99%.

But with that said, the overall ecommerce conversion rates across the globe are rising. Increased conversion rates translate to higher sales. Ecommerce sales in April of this year were 20% higher than April of last year.

What does this mean for your ecommerce shop or Shopify store?

First of all, it’s encouraging news. Ecommerce has become widely accepted by consumers worldwide.

But with that said, it’s still up to you to design a website and checkout process in a way that drives conversions. Websites and mobile apps with complex checkouts won’t benefit from high conversion rates.

This is something that you need to constantly be working to improve. Run A/B tests on every element of your website.

• Features
• Shopping cart functionality
• Design
• Color scheme
• Images
• CTA size
• CTA wording
• CTA placement

The list goes on and on. That’s what industry leaders do, and that’s why some companies have higher conversion rates than others.

For example, the top 25% of companies selling health and beauty products have a 5.24% conversion rate. But the median conversion rate for the health and beauty market as a whole is 3.08%.

This graph clearly shows how the top players in each product category outperform their competitors. You can use this as a benchmark to see where you stack up compared to other ecommerce sites in terms of your conversions.

2. Artificial intelligence

AI is on the rise in seemingly every industry. This technology is being used for such a wide range of purposes and applications.

But in the ecommerce world, AI chatbots are starting to become the new norm. Here’s an example of what a chatbot looks like on the Levi’s Jeans ecommerce site.

Unlike other chatbots, this one comes right out in the first message saying that it’s using AI. So there is never any doubt or deception that the customer isn’t speaking to an actual person.

Even if you don’t currently have a chatbot on your Shopify store, I’m sure you’ve seen these before when you’re browsing the web.

Adding it to your ecommerce shop will be extremely beneficial for both you and your customers.

For starters, 79% of consumers say they prefer live chat because they get their questions answered immediately. This makes sense, considering that live chat offers the fastest customer service response times compared to other methods.

Furthermore, live chat has a 73% customer satisfaction rate. This compares to 61%, 48%, and 44% for email, social media, and phone support, respectively.

Think about it. With chatbots, you don’t need to pay as many employees to answer the phone. Shorter wait times lead to higher customer satisfaction. Plus, chatbots can work 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. You don’t have to worry about giving AI vacation time or health benefits either.

That’s not all. 79% of businesses say that live chat has had a positive impact on their sales, revenue, and customer loyalty.

38% of consumers are more likely to buy from ecommerce sites that offer live chat. Customers who take advantage of live chat before buying have a 10% higher average order value.

Virgin Airlines saw a 24% boost in conversions after adding live chat to their website. Intuit benefited from a 43% increase in AOV once live chat was added to their checkout page.

So for those of you who aren’t currently using live chat, I strongly recommend that you implement this form of AI on your ecommerce site.

85% of all customer support interactions are handled without human contact. So if you don’t adjust to this trend now, your brand will be in the minority moving forward.

3. Mobile commerce

With ecommerce growing year-over-year, mobile commerce is following suit. These numbers are even more astonishing on a global scale.

According to Statista, mobile commerce holds 73 of ecommerce sales worldwide.

Consumers no longer need to be on their computers to buy something from your ecommerce shop.

Look around. People seemingly have smartphones glued to their hands for every waking minute of the day. Take advantage of this.

A successful mobile commerce strategy goes far beyond an optimized mobile website.

Building a mobile app is the secret weapon for driving mobile commerce sales.

Look at the data from the graph above.

When browsing from a mobile app, consumers viewed 286% more products and added items to their cart at an 85% higher rate, compared to mobile web browsers.

Mobile apps yield 130% higher conversion rates than mobile browsers.

Why?

Well, 90% of all mobile time is spent on apps. That’s just what customers have grown accustomed to.

Plus, apps are much more user-friendly. It’s easier for people to browse and make purchases from a UI standpoint.

When it’s time to check out, all of their information is saved.

• Name
• Shipping address
• Credit card number
• Phone number
• Billing address

This is a pain to type out manually every time you want to buy something, especially from a smaller device without a full keyboard. Mobile apps have less friction, which yields higher conversions.

For those of you who aren’t prioritizing mobile sales yet, you will likely need to build a mobile app to truly make this strategy work. Mobile sites are still necessary, but alone, they just don’t get the job done.

4. Flexible payment options

The days of businesses only accepting Visa and Mastercard are over.

In addition to all major credit cards and debit cards, ecommerce shops are starting to accept alternative payment methods as well.

• PayPal
• Venmo
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• Cryptocurrencies

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like these methods have taken over and made credit cards obsolete. But alternative payment options are becoming more readily available for consumers who shop online.

Credit and debit cards are still leading the way. But with that said, alternative payment methods made up 38% of all online transactions last year. Here’s something else to consider. 45% of online payments came from stored credit cards, compared to just 17% that were entered manually.

This piggybacks off of our previous point about mobile commerce. If your ecommerce brand has a mobile app, it’s easy for you to securely store payment information for your customers. Then at checkout, they won’t have to manually enter anything. They’ll be able to complete the purchase with just a few clicks.

What does this mean for your ecommerce shop?

You need to make it a priority to accept as many payment methods as possible. I know that some cards, companies, or services, charge you more money; but it’s worth it in the long run.

The last thing you want to happen is for people to buy from one of your competitors because you don’t take their preferred payment method.

5. Voice search

The way that customers are browsing online is changing in 2024 as well. Voice search is at an all-time high, and continuing to rise.

According to The Verge, roughly 25% of American households own a smart speaker. 40% of those homes have multiple smart speakers.

Furthermore, 62% of people who own a smart speaker made their purchase in the last six months, meaning this trend is very new.

Here’s something else to consider. According to Google, 41% of adults and 55% of teenagers use voice search more than once per day.

Take a look at what people are using their smart speakers for.

37% of people use their smart speakers for shopping, and 27% of smart speaker owners use their devices to actually buy something.

As smart speakers continue to grow in popularity, it’s only natural that shopping via voice search will follow the trend as well.

So if you have a Shopify store, you need to make sure that your site has been optimized for voice search.

As you can see above from this study by MOZ, voice searches are longer than traditional text search. This makes sense since it’s easier for people to talk than type.

Voice search also needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to mobile app accessibility, which has become the new must in mobile development.

6. Video

Videos absolutely need to be incorporated into your ecommerce site.

Pictures alone are no longer acceptable. A video can show more about your products than a picture ever could. Here’s why.

Roughly 50% of consumers say their biggest concern with online shopping is that their products don’t look the same when they are delivered, compared to their online perception. This creates unsatisfied customers and will lead to higher return rates instead of repeat orders.

It’s your job to alleviate any of those concerns and make the customer feel as comfortable as possible when they’re shopping.

69% of consumers say that product demonstrations help them make a buying decision. 80% of consumers have a higher buying confidence when they purchase a product after watching a video about it.

54% of people say they want to see more videos from brands.

Businesses have recognized this and adapted accordingly. 87% of brands now use videos for marketing purposes. With video marketing, 66% of businesses get more qualified leads.

So how can you use video to improve your ecommerce shop? Here’s a great example from Thule.

Every product on their website has a video demonstration that’s included along with the photos on the product page. The example above is for a hiking backpack.

Pictures alone just can’t show all of the features. Customers wouldn’t know how to adjust straps, access hidden pockets, or attach the weather protector.

But the video makes all of this very clear.

Making these videos might be a bit more time consuming, but the benefits will definitely be worth it. The great part about video content is that you can repurpose it on all of your distribution channels. So start adding more product videos to your ecommerce site and mobile app.

7. Augmented reality

On the surface, the term augmented reality sounds so intimidating. But at the core, it’s really not that complex.

Essentially, AR helps your customers experience products better when they’re shopping online.

It gives shoppers a better sense of the details of your product with a 3D view, while simultaneously showing size and scale.

If you have a Shopify store, you can take advantage of the AR features offered by 3D Warehouse.

You can leverage this technology for your mobile app as well.

This is a great option for those of you who are in the home goods space. If you recall, earlier I shared a graph of ecommerce conversion rates by product type. Furniture ranked last on the list.

That’s because shopping online for something like a couch can be very challenging. But AR makes that process much easier.

AR technology allows customers to see what that couch would look like in their home. All they’d need to do is point the camera in the space where the furniture would be positioned. They’d have a greater sense of how the product would fit in the room, without having to take any actual measurements.

Ecommerce shops that offer this type of technology also let customers customize options based on things like color. So you could see what a black couch looks like in your living room compared to a white leather couch.

This type of technology isn’t really necessary for those of you who are selling something simple, such as a t-shirt. But there are definitely industries that can benefit from AR.

It’s also worth noting that 66% of consumers say they’re interested in using AR for online shopping purposes. So give those people the option that they’re looking for.

8. Customer personalization

Personalizing the customer experience drives sales.

Today, more than ever before, businesses are leveraging tools and technology to make this happen. They’re monitoring browsing behavior with cookies, and then using remarketing campaigns with Google PPC ads.

Websites give customers the option to create a profile so they can recommend products, and send targeted emails based on their purchase history.

Ecommerce shops personalize content based on location. If you sell clothing, a customer who lives in Hawaii shouldn’t have the same homepage as a customer who lives in New York during the winter.

74% of ecommerce marketers say that personalization tactics have a strong impact on conversion rates. 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from brands that offer a personalized shopping experience.

Take a look at these other benefits of personalization.

Personalizing the user experience is going to be crucial for those of you who have plans to build a mobile app for your ecommerce shop.

With the app, you can store information about your customers. Then you can use that information to personalize everything they do.

Offer product recommendations. Create a customer loyalty program. Make it easy for your customers to track rewards, view their purchase history, or make repeat orders.

This is much better than just offering a cookie-cutter experience for every single person who visits your ecommerce shop.

9. Influencer marketing

Your ecommerce site doesn’t exist in a vacuum. So you can’t always rely on people navigating directly to your site or mobile app to make a purchase.

You need to have a presence on other channels, like social media, to market your brand.

This is nothing new. However, the way that ecommerce brands have been advertising through social media has evolved. Sponsored content in 2024 doesn’t look the same as it did in the years prior.

Influencer marketing has completely changed the game.

Essentially, businesses partner with people who have a high social media following. Then those people advertise products through their own channels and profiles.

Brands are putting more emphasis on working with micro-influencers. These are people who have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers, as opposed to celebrities with millions of followers.

First of all, working with micro influencers is much more cost-effective than partnering with a celebrity. Furthermore, micro influencers also have higher engagement rates.

Your customers are more likely to trust micro influencers because they are perceived as normal people.

The average Joe can’t relate to people like Kanye West or Beyonce. But they can definitely relate to a regular guy who has a real job and just happens to have lots of followers on social media.

That’s why 30% of consumers are more likely to buy products that have been recommended by a non-celebrity influencer.

Influencer marketing is continuing to trend upward. In fact, this search term has grown by more than 1,500% over the past three years. 63% of businesses are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets this year.

10. Shoppable posts

Let’s continue our discussion about social media and its impact on ecommerce.

You can use your social platforms to directly drive sales to your ecommerce shop. All you need to do is integrate your Shopify store with your Instagram profile to set up shoppable posts.

Here’s what you need to realize. You can’t expect your customers to visit your website or mobile app every day. That’s just unrealistic.

However, you can definitely expect them to be on social media daily.

With shoppable posts, you can tag products in your images, just like you would tag a person or another account. It’s that easy. You can set up shoppable stories as well.

60% of people use Instagram to discover new products. 75% of Instagram users take an action after viewing posts from brands.

Shoppable posts make this much easier for your current and prospective customers.

If they see something they like on your page, they won’t need to open a web browser, visit your website, and then search for it directly on there. That’s just too many steps.

It’s much easier for them to buy directly through shoppable posts. Plus, the Shopify integration makes it so easy for you to implement this as well.

11. D2C

Direct to consumer, better known as D2C, has also been on the rise in 2024.

Simply put, this ecommerce strategy cuts out the middleman. Here’s a visual representation of the differences between D2C and a traditional sales model.

With D2C, the product goes straight from the manufacturer to the consumer, with your ecommerce site acting as the only medium between the two.

This process is simple and has become a great way for businesses to make more money since the overhead costs are significantly lower.

Ecommerce businesses don’t need to touch the products that they’re selling. This also reduces the risk in terms of buying too much inventory that can’t be sold.

Businesses are pivoting away from the traditional sales model to D2C. Shopify dropshipping has become one of the biggest trends of 2024.

In fact, the search term for dropshipping reached an all-time high in August 2020, according to Google trends.

More businesses are starting to enter the ecommerce space because this method has made it easier than ever before. This means you can expect more competition. So you need to be sharp and follow the trends if you want to remain relevant.

Conclusion

These are the top 11 ecommerce trends that have taken over 2024.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, all of these trends have been backed up by research, facts, and statistics. Based on the data, it looks like everything on this list will continue trending upward as we close out the year and continue to remain relevant in 2024.

There are certain trends on this list that simply cannot be ignored. For those of you who haven’t been prioritizing mobile users, it’s time for you to leverage mobile apps increase your sales.

If you’ve never built an app before and need some assistance, we’d be happy to help. Here at BuildFire, we can help you design a high-converting mobile commerce app that compliments your ecommerce shop.

Make sure you keep an eye on these trends for the remainder of the year.

The Internet has changed the way that we consume.

Today, more than ever, buyers have the power to purchase items from virtually any retailer in the world. That’s why the ecommerce industry has been booming.

Advancements in technology are also changing how consumers behave and how they purchase products and services.

Look around you. It seems like everyone has a smartphone glued to their hands at all times.

So it’s no surprise that more than half of all Internet traffic comes from mobile devices.

But mobile users are doing much more than just using these devices to browse online. They are also using phones and tablets to buy.

In fact, 62% of people who own a smartphone have made a purchase using their device in the past six months.

Simply put, people are using mobile devices to buy.

From a business perspective, you need to recognize the latest mobile trends and adapt accordingly.

There are two main ways for consumers to make purchases from mobile devices. They can buy from mobile websites or directly from mobile applications.

Some of you may already have a mobile friendly website. But that’s just not enough.

You need to develop a mobile app to maximize your revenue opportunity.

Use the data and statistics that I’ve researched in this post to help you make an informed decision about going mobile or launching a mobile app for your ecommerce business. Continue reading “Mobile Ecommerce: Revenue, Usage, and Statistics (2024)”

Building a mobile commerce app is one of the best ways to drive sales for ecommerce businesses. That’s because mobile apps convert higher than the mobile web.

But simply launching an app isn’t enough to make it successful.

The best ecommerce apps on the market have certain features in common. These specific elements are all focused on improving the customer experience, driving sales, and increasing conversions.

Whether your app is live or still in the early development stages, adding the right features will lead to prosperity, success, and profitability.

After researching the latest mobile commerce trends, mobile commerce tips, and best practices, I’ve identified the top 15 features your m-commerce app must have.

1. Push Notifications

A significant benefit of your mobile commerce app is the ability to communicate with app users. You don’t have this advantage with your mobile site or desktop site for that matter, either.

When leveraged correctly, sending the right push notification at the perfect time can lead to sales.

Push notifications can be treated like your email marketing campaigns. You can send product updates, discounts, promotions, and other offers as well. Except push notifications should be reserved for your best offers.

If the offer is so good that you’d send a text message to your customers about it (since you basically are), then send it as a push.

70% of app users find push notifications useful. 40% of people engage with push notifications within an hour, compared to just 8% who ignore them altogether.

Here’s a breakdown of the most desired that content app users want from a push notification:

• Promotions — 34%
• New developments — 26%
• Geotargeted information — 26%
• Other — 14%

Running a flash sale? Send a push notification. Are you releasing a product with limited availability? Tell users with a push.

Consider using push notifications to update customers about their orders. For example, you can send a “package delivered” message when the order arrives at the front door.

2. Location Tracking

As I briefly mentioned, 26% of app users want push notifications relevant to their locations. Furthermore, 53% of people agree to share their location with mobile apps.

Use this crucial data to your advantage to improve your mobile commerce marketing strategy. There are so many different ways to leverage location tracking for mobile apps.

Here are a few basic examples to showcase how versatile location tracking can be.

For those of you with physical retail locations, you can have a “store locator” feature within your app. Users can use this to find the closest store to their current position.

According to a recent consumer survey, the ability to locate physical stores from an app is one of the most valuable features of a mobile commerce app.

In addition to your store location feature, you can use geofencing technology to send relevant push notifications.

If an app user walks by one of your stores, you can immediately send them a push notification enticing them to buy. Even if you don’t have any physical stores, geofencing can still be extremely useful.

Here’s an obvious example to illustrate my point.

Let’s say your business sells sports equipment. If an app user goes to the beach, you can send them an offer related to surfboards and kayaks. If a user goes to a ski resort, you can send offers related to snowboarding and skiing.

A person’s physical location can also be used to personalize their app home screen.

Customers living in New York City shouldn’t be seeing the same offers as customers living in Los Angeles.

3. User Profiles

Allowing users to log in and make purchases from a customer profile is the ultimate advantage of having a mobile commerce app.

This feature has countless benefits for you as well as your customers.

For starters, a user profile gives you so much insight into the mind of each customer. You’ll be able to recommend relevant products based on their purchase history and browsing history.

Customers are happy because they are getting personalized offers, and you’re pleased because those recommendations will lead to sales.

90% of people find personalization appealing.

As you can see, 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with brands that offer a personalized experience.

Personalization aside, customer profiles make the lives of app users much easier.

Since all of their information is saved to the profile, they can shop and checkout in seconds. Think about how much information is required to complete a transaction. At the bare minimum, you’re asking for things like:

• Customer name
• Credit card number
• Billing address
• Shipping address
• Email address

Each additional step a customer has to take reduces their chances of converting. From a mobile device, entering all of this information is tedious.

However, app users only have to do this once. Then the information can be stored and used for future purchases.

4. Social Media Integration

74% of shoppers are influenced by social media when it comes to purchasing decisions.

I’m assuming (and hoping) that your company already has an active presence on social media. So integrate those channels with your mobile commerce app to get the most out of them.

Here’s why. It’s possible that customers who installed your mobile app do not follow you on social media. Even your top customers won’t be opening your app every day, but it’s likely that they’re using social media daily.

Adding your Facebook wall or Instagram feed to your app can encourage users to follow you.

On days when they aren’t shopping on the app, you can still engage with those people via social media.

Social media integration also saves you time when it comes to adding content to your app. For example, if you install a YouTube plugin, any video uploaded to your YouTube channel will automatically appear in the app. So you won’t have to upload it twice.

5. Discounts and Promotions

Everyone loves to feel like they got a great deal when they’re shopping. So give your customers an incentive to use the app by offering exclusive discounts and promotions.

According to a recent study, 65% of people use ecommerce apps to receive exclusive deals and offers.

As you can see from the chart, this ranked first on the list of reasons.

This feature will obviously have a lot to do with your brand’s overall image and pricing strategy. I know that some luxury brands never offer discounts or anything like that.

But for the majority of you, this feature will be essential for success.

I like the idea of using a discount or promotional offer as a way to drive app downloads from the beginning. For example, you could offer $20 off or 20% discount off the first purchase using the app.

But beyond the initial offer, discounts are still a great way to drive mobile commerce sales. This is especially true for time-sensitive offers.

Send push notifications for flash sales or deals expiring soon. If you can create FOMO (fear or missing out), it will entice app users to act quickly. People want to get a discount before it’s too late.

6. Customer Loyalty Program

An app is the perfect platform to facilitate your customer loyalty program.

This is a great opportunity for those of you who already have an existing loyalty program, as well as brands starting one from scratch. A mobile commerce app makes it easier for customers to track their loyalty status through their user profile.

There are lots of different ways to promote customer loyalty. All of which entice consumer spending.

You can reward customers based on purchase frequency, total spending, or a combination of the two.

What makes a loyalty program better on an app? Take a look at the results of this recent study by CodeBroker.

The vast majority of consumers are more likely to participate in loyalty programs if they can easily access information from their smartphones. Nothing makes this easier than a mobile app.

Mobile ecommerce loyalty programs address other customer wants and needs that we previously discussed as well. Earlier, we learned that the number one reason why consumers use ecommerce apps is to receive exclusive deals and promotions.

A customer loyalty program delivers exactly what those individuals want.

7. Lots of Payment Options

Let me take a moment to paint a picture for you.

Imagine that a customer just got acquainted with your brand. Maybe they stumbled upon a social media advertisement or heard a friend’s recommendation. The customer visits your website, learns about your app’s first purchase promotion, and decides to download it.

With the app installed on their device, the user browses for products and adds a few items to their shopping cart. Time to checkout, right?

As the user continues through the purchase process, they quickly discover that you don’t accept their preferred payment method. The user abandons the cart, and you probably lost them forever.

Don’t let this happen to you. Think about how much work that user just went through and how disappointed they were when they couldn’t complete the order.

You can’t assume that everyone wants to pay with a Visa or Mastercard. Even if the customer owns one of those cards, they might get better rewards or benefits by using an alternative method.

Every ecommerce mobile app should accept:

• All major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)
• Debit cards
• PayPal
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• Venmo

We haven’t quite reached the point where you need to accept cryptocurrencies, but that might change within the next five or ten years.

8. Speedy Checkout Process

Let’s continue talking about your app’s checkout process. In addition to accepting multiple payment methods, the checkout must be as fast as possible.

The perfect mobile commerce checkout can be completed in seconds. Users should be able to complete the purchase process in one or two clicks at most.

According to Forbes, fewer form fields yield higher conversion rates.

Think about the information you’re asking from your customers. You don’t need to know their favorite color or mother’s maiden name to complete the purchase.

Earlier, we talked about the significance of user profiles on a mobile app. This gives you a major advantage over your desktop site or mobile site.

After a customer buys something once, you can store their information for future purchases (with their permission, of course). This can drastically reduce checkout times and yield sky-high conversions.

App users will have the ability to checkout in seconds with just one click.

9. Product Search

How do users find what they’re looking for on your app?

Some of you might be selling a handful of products, while others are selling hundreds or thousands. No matter how many products you’re offering, the customer needs to find what they’re looking with as little friction as possible.

Just make sure that your app has an advanced search and filter system. These are the biggest pain points associated with retail site search.

While this particular study is focused on websites, the same concepts can be applied to mobile commerce apps. If your search isn’t displaying relevant results, it can do more harm than good.

With that said, adding search functionality to your mobile app can yield exceptional results.

Conversion rates from users using the search feature are typically two to four times higher compared to those who don’t. Up to 60% of all transactions come from sessions that used the search function.

Here’s something else to consider. Take a look at the most popular shopping apps in the United States.

Global giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Target lead the way. What do these apps all have in common? They all have an advanced search and filter function.

Even though thousands of products are sold through these apps, customers can still find what they need with a quick search.

10. Customer Support

No matter how simple your app is, people will always need assistance. Whether it’s questions about particular products, returns, payments, or navigation, you must be available to assist your customers.

Don’t look at this as a negative thing.

86% of users are willing to pay more for great customer service. Excellent service creates customer loyalty and retention as well.

According to HubSpot, 77% of happy customers share positive brand experiences with other people. Your customer service can ultimately lead to free referrals.

With all of this in mind, your app must have features for customer support.

Whether it be live chat, email, ticket support, or phone calls, customer support should be easy to find for all app users.

According to VentureBeat, 77% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 use their smartphones to contact customer support. So it’s only natural that your ecommerce mobile app should have support functions built-in.

11. Retail Integration

This is another feature that’s a must-have for anyone with a physical retail presence.

Your app and stores should not be treated as separate entities. Allow each one to compliment the other. This is something that you can’t really accomplish with a desktop site or mobile site.

Studies show that consumers are already using their mobile devices when browsing in physical stores. Take a look at how those devices are being used.

Your mobile app can make all of these uses much easier for your customers. Whether this leads to sales through the app itself or at your physical registers, it still benefits your business.

Some shoppers might research products ahead of time on the app, and wait until they see the item in person before making the purchase. Allow app users to create a wish list for this purpose.

Other users might do the opposite. They could see an item while browsing in-store, and ultimately decide to purchase it at a later date.

Remember earlier when we talked about using location tracking to improve your app? Retail store integration is another opportunity to leverage this feature.

Set up beacons throughout your store to track an app user’s movements. If you see that they spend significant time browsing in a particular aisle, you’ll have a better understanding of their needs.

For example, let’s say a user is standing in an aisle for makeup. You can send them a push notification in real-time for a discount on cosmetics.

12. Mobile Optimized Product Descriptions

Every product on your app must have a description. But these descriptions must be optimized for mobile devices.

Desktop users have the benefit of viewing product descriptions on a 13 or 15-inch screen. But that screen is just four or five inches from the app. So if your product description includes lengthy paragraphs, it will be challenging for users to read.

In a perfect world, your app and ecommerce site will have identical descriptions for products. But consider using an alternate description to shorten things on your mobile app. This mobile commerce tip will yield higher conversions.

I recommend short bullet points that render two lines at most from a mobile device.

Analyze your existing product descriptions and determine what can be eliminated to shorten the length.

13. Mobile Optimized Product Images

Let’s continue discussing the way your products are presented in an app. You must include mobile-optimized images as well.

The inability to touch and feel a product is one of the most difficult aspects of making an online purchase. Consumers rely on detailed and accurate photographs to eliminate this barrier.

Research shows that an inaccurate depiction of products is a leading cause of returns.

Your app should include as many product images as possible. These must be high-quality and show the product from every angle.

If possible, find a way to show the items to scale. Show action shots and people modeling or using the product.

For example, let’s say you’re selling a shirt. A person wearing the shirt would provide more value to a customer than a shirt sitting on a table or plain background.

According to a case study from CXL Institute, product images with a 360-degree spin feature can boost conversions by up to 27%.

14. Simple Returns

In a perfect world, all of your customers will be happy with your products. But we both know that’s not the case.

Returns are part of running an online retail business. Don’t make this a hassle for your customers.

92% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand again if they experience a simple returns process. 67% of people check a company’s return policy before finalizing a purchase.

Furthermore, poor return policies are a leading cause of shopping cart abandonment.

Always offer free returns.

Allow users to facilitate the return process directly through the app. You can take a page from Amazon’s playbook and generate a QR code in the app. That code can be scanned and processed at UPS or FedEx store.

You know that returns are bound to happen. Making them easy for app users will keep those customers coming back to make more purchases in the future.

15. App Analytics

Use app analytics to make continuous improvements in your mobile commerce app. You can track things like:

• Product page conversion rates
• Most popular payment methods
• Section of the screen that’s clicked the most
• Geographic location of app users
• Types of mobile device being used
• Daily app usage per user
• Duration of app usage per visit
• App crashes
• Bugs and error reports

The list goes on and on. This type of information is extremely valuable. You might learn something about the behavior of app users that could trigger a change in your app.

Don’t assume that your app is perfect the way it is. There’s a good chance that it’s not. App analytics will help you make significant improvements.

Conclusion

If you have an ecommerce mobile app, you need to add these must-have features if you want it to be successful.

All of the information above is based on actual research from high-performing apps.

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If you’ve got a business that offers the sale of goods through a mobile app, that’s great. You’re already on the right path to success.

You’ve recognized the latest technology trends and you understand that your current and prospective customers have gone mobile.

But just because you have a mobile app, you can’t automatically assume that it’s efficient.

There are certain features and elements that you need to include if you want to be successful.

For those of you that just built a mobile commerce app or you’re in the process of building one, you’ve come to the right place if you need some guidance. Even if you’ve had a mobile commerce app for a while, you can still use this guide as a reference to make improvements.

Sometimes just a few new or updated features can make a massive difference. As an industry expert, I’ve identified which features are the most important.

Here are the top 13 most common features that all successful mobile commerce apps have.  Learn from these examples and apply them to your own app if you want to have the same success.

Continue reading “13 M-Commerce App Features for Success”

Your ecommerce business finally launched a mobile application.

It’s a big day.

All your time, effort, and money has finally paid off – or has it?

If you can’t get people to download your app, then it’s not going to make you any money.

But maybe downloads aren’t your problem.

You may see your download numbers rise while your revenue stream stays stagnant.

Frustrated. Disheartened. Worried.

If you’re feeling these emotions because your app isn’t performing the way you thought it would, don’t get discouraged just yet.

As an industry expert, I can teach you super effective hacks that will give your mobile platform sky-high results on your bottom line.

Even if you’re a complete newbie, my strategies and techniques are easy to understand and follow.

Here’s what you need to do.

Continue reading “Simple and Crazy Effective Ecommerce Mobile Revenue Hack”