Mobile Website vs Mobile App – Is it Really a Choice Battle?

Let’s keep things simple!

Amazon, eBay, Alibaba – what’s common about these largest e-commerce companies in the world? ALL these marketplaces have multiple sales channels and the top of the list includes a mobile website and a mobile app. Yes, you read that right – both! Why?

A mobile website and a mobile app have unique features which help to serve different types of customers. More customers of different kinds mean more business and eventually more profits.

The question should not be which one to choose between the two but to understand the importance of both to gain customers, build a stronger brand and get more business. Furthermore, let me give it to you right away – your business should start with a good, well-designed web store (which I’m sure you already have one – a good Shopify store) AND they should be quickly followed by a native, beautifully designed mobile app for your Shopify store. Period.

A mobile app will help to take your business to the next level with features such as personalization, interactive push notifications, native functionalities, better user experience with speed, etc. Generally, new users interact via a well designed mobile website to know your brand and offerings. Once they develop trust and like your products in the first few interactions, they are more likely to download your store’s mobile app for a better shopping experience frequently. So, it’s safe to say that a good mobile website will attract your customers and a native mobile app will help you get conversions and more business. This reiterates our initial point – a mobile website and a mobile app are complementary to each other and not a replacement.

As a new or experienced store owner, you have to understand the following:

1. People become your customer after using your several touch-points
2. Different customers will come from different channels
3. All channels need to be user-friendly to keep them hooked
4. Customer experience is THE KEY to a happy customer
5. A happy customer is far more beneficial than any marketing strategy

Let’s take a look at what are the advantages of your current Shopify store:

1. You can sell your products to anyone, anywhere – online
2. You can market your business online with different campaign tools
3. You can manage your orders, shipping and payments from a single dashboard

Now, let’s see what benefits you can have with a native mobile app for your Shopify store:

1. Enhanced user personalization – recommendations based on user shopping behavior

Based on the user’s location, interests, behavior and more, tailor-made solutions can be offered to help personalise the user’s experience. Even users can set their preferences which helps them to get filtered results matching their expectations and aspirations.

2. Push notifications for greater engagement

Reading marketing emails and SMS are passe due to the high spam rates and also annoys the user by making him spend time opening each of them every time. Push notifications are quick, are highly intent-driven and also user-friendly.

3. Easy checkout process with stored user data for shipping information

A user profile can be created with the utmost details including shipping and payment information to help users check out faster. This helps the users to avoid filling in repetitive information and makes the shopping experience enjoyable.

4. Native functionalities such as using the camera, GPS

Hardware and other device exclusive features can be tapped into using a mobile app making it a versatile option to better engage users. This is almost not possible with any other option like a mobile website.

5. Almost zero loading times

The mobile application is downloaded and installed on a user’s phone – making it a repository in itself, even without an internet connection. This helps in loading the information quicker and helps to avoid annoyance to a user.

6. Abandoned cart notifications for conversions

Statistics show that the maximum revenue is lost due to users unable to complete a checkout with a loaded cart due to several issues including slower load times, payment gateway problems, etc. This high prospective conversions can be easily achieved using cart notifications on a mobile app.

7. Brand Awareness with app icons on a user phone

A mobile app once downloaded, installed and first transaction is a valuable asset to brand building – it remains on the phone with an app icon everytime the user browses his smartphone. This gives a small hammering effect reminding the user of the existence of the brand and thereby increasing the chances of conversions.

8. Increased loyalty and better customer retention

Users do not install and keeps apps they are going to use once in six months or a year. They install apps which they love and gives them better value over other competitors. This helps the brand to build loyalty, customer retention and more repeat purchases leading to more revenues.

Let’s do some number crunching to see how a mobile app will increase your revenues:

1. Global Time Spent in Shopping Apps Grew 45% From 2016 to 2018
2. Mobile app conversion rates are 3x than mobile websites
3. 53 percent of mobile users buy from company-specific mobile apps

Now that you know how a mobile app could multiply your revenues, I am sure you are wondering to get one soon. However, it’s absolutely critical to get a mobile app that is built by experts who believe in being your growth partners and not just a mobile app development company. Partner with the highest rated mobile app platform on the Shopify App Store and build your path to a profitable journey.