The mobile app usage is growing, and trends show mobile usage in almost every segment. The rise in enterprise mobile app development along with a rise in the app usage for shopping seems to be data enough to consider how mobile apps are evolving and being consumed by the user.
eCommerce app development is on a rage, as mobile offers convenience and mobility to the users, along with enhanced user experience and security. The idea is to collaborate with your users via different mediums to create the pull. The need is for a pull based marketing instead of the push based marketing, which was the need of the past. The present businesses understand the need to have a two-way communication, instead of the highly sought after one-way communication. It is important to offer more accessible shopping environments combined with social collaboration to create the right pull.
Despite everything, you will see the consumer not really pulling off too many stunts on mobile. Even now, most of the shopping apps don’t feature on the top 15 list. Want to know why? Simple, we still feel the mobile devices are a means to communicate, and have not entirely accepted the idea of having an app to complete all the chores.
Social collaboration is definitely the future of almost all segments of our lives, including e-Commerce solutions.
What are Amazon & Ebay Doing Different?
While most e-Commerce apps are not present in the top 15 list, Ebay and Amazon seem to be at the 21st and 19th positions respectively. Pinterest in its early stages of e-Commerce is at the 20th position. So, what are these brands doing different that make them occupy such positions on the chart list, which the other apps are just dreaming of having? Ebay and Amazon are incorporating the device functionality to their mobile experience to enhance the shopping experience.
What is social collaboration? Here’s where most brands make the mistake; the mistake of identifying or understanding what social collaboration means. It means more than importing your contact list and Facebook list to share the data on the app. Collaboration as the word states means connecting and communicating to build stable and sustainable relationships.
Recently, Flipkart had introduced social collaboration as part of the eCommerce Development, which is what collaboration for e-Commerce means. To understand this concept, we will need to move offline a bit. When you used to go shopping in the traditional times, you would ask your family, friends or your husband to tell you what you should buy. More than one people would work their brains towards completing a buying decision. Even a simple thing like a pair of socks would become a group shopping for most people.
You need to bring this to the mobile devices, using features and functionality that will help the different shoppers connect with each other, and complete the shopping. Group shopping, the concept that Flipkart drove home, is what social collaboration means! When you are shopping, you can chat over the app, and make the buying decision.
A messenger app offers the same convenience, doesn’t it? Well, you may not complete the shopping all at the same time, would you? You all lead busy lives, and need an app that would allow you to keep loading and unloading your cart, till you have reached a definite decision. With the social collaboration, shopping can be completed at any time, from anywhere. You don’t even need to forget the product that you wanted to purchase, as it is already added to your cart, and you just need someone to look into it.
Future is Collaborative Shopping
Amazon and eBay have already included this functionality, which is what makes them different from their competitors. It is important to bring together the digital, mobile and social capabilities to enhance the shopping experience for the consumer. Mobile app is not just a tool for shopping; it is a strategic method to complete collaboration and communication.
You need to devise a strong mobile app strategy, which will help your consumers get the desired experience through social integration. More e-Commerce sites seem to be adopting this method, and gaining an edge over the competition.
The future is definitely collaborative shopping, which will need to use the functionality within the device to outsmart the competition. When considering eCommerce website development or app development, you will need to consider social features too.