May, 2015

Key Mistakes When Creating Mobile Version of Online Store

Published: 13.05.2015 | 16491

If earlier the credibility to the mobile stores was just a little far from nothing, now situation is changing dramatically. Remote shopping from the device becomes much more convenient and secure; people are willing to buy clothes, jewelry and gadgets from their phone screens. Maybe now it’s the right time to make your own application for online purchases and payments!

And to make sure your venture will go far, let’s learn from the mistakes of others:

Clone Wars

Duplication of the store’s web version is unlikely a good idea, especially from the buyers’ point of view. Firstly, the original site displays more goods on the desktop. Secondly, responsive design eliminates the need to clone the site also in the application; moreover, it will be a cheaper solution.

App’s Overload

Tetrising of your app means to stuff all the possible features right in the first release. Forget about it! It is difficult to make a user-friendly application, when filling the app with countless catalogs, promotions, offers and enormous descriptions.

To avoid app’s overloading, analyze the mobile activity on the website, and find what your customers are looking for and buying from smartphones and tablets. Trendy goods and features will show you the way to the client-oriented and useful app!

Upkeep Amnesia

Often after the application is released on App Store or Google Play, project owners just completely forget about it! They suppose that the new mobile shop will just somehow become viral, autonomous and moneymaking.

Shop app, as well as almost any website, is in need of care, support, timely updating and adaptation to the current needs of users. Your application must be friendly and native, and the perfection is never reached at the very first try. Therefore, the post-release testing and further cooperation with the developers is a must. In WebmartSoft we always provide technical support for the application after submitting, so the UX doesn’t ever bring any troublesome surprises.

Online Store Analysis

Analysis Gaps

As said above, it is essential to constantly adapt to the current desires of your clients. Mobile application provides project owners with a plenty of instruments to determine these needs – info about the customers’ habits, activity, average check and market basket. Ignoring this information, you will not be able to respond appropriately to changes in demand, adjust the structure and terms of the promotions, and thus will not be in progress.

Budget Cuts

People are naturally pretty passive; they unlikely will independently turn to the mobile app from the web version of your store. Therefore, they need to be lead to this conversion. And the more tools will be engaged at the same time, the more success you will achieve.

Be sure to provide the budget for the promotion in social media, on search engine optimization, contextual and banner advertising, contests and triggers to shift your customers directly from the site to the app.

And Invisible Release

Try to place some useful and not too promotional articles in trendy beauty, shopping and mobile-oriented blogs, depending on what you have for sale.

Quiet start won’t let you become the new Amazon or eBay.

For this reason, people need to know what you have to offer and how cool your shop is. Positive feedbacks, especially from reliable sources, always positively affect the number of app’s downloads.

With all that said, just dive in and create your new shop app. We beleive you'll succeed!