Mobile commerce is really booming with more and more transactions and orders made on tablets and smartphones every single day. The increase in shifting to mobile shopping requires every store-owner to catch the trend as soon as possible. Clearly business needs a mobile presence, but how to best offer that experience to customers without breaking the bank is a big problem that tons of companies are struggling with.
There are some ways to mobilize an e-commerce website, but most of store-owners are under the considerations for choosing mobile websites or mobile native apps. What’s better for your business? A Mobile App or a Mobile Website? Like anything else there are pros and cons, so it depends.
What are mobile apps and mobile websites?
Firstly, it’s important to understand the differences between the mobile apps (native apps) and mobile websites. Both of them are accessed on handheld devices like smartphones and tablets and can look very similar at first-glance.
Different from desktop-friendly web pages which are designed for large screens and precise mouse clicking, mobile websites are designed for smaller screens and imprecise finger tapping. A mobile website also consists of browser-based HTML pages that are linked together and accessed over the Internet. Users open their mobile browsers and enter webpage’s address to go to your website, and they can experience the website with mobile interface. Recently, we have a buzz word “responsive design” which is a kind of mobile-friendly website.
Mobile apps are actual applications that are downloaded and installed on customers’ mobile device. Apps don’t run on mobile browsers. Users visit mobile app store such as Apple App Store, Android Market… to find and download apps. Once the app is installed on customers’ mobile devices, it places a logo in the application list screen. Users just need to click on the logo to go to your website. The interface of the app is well-optimized for mobile devices.
Pros and Cons of Mobile App vs. Mobile Website
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
| Mobile Apps | – Very fast access speed – Best for optimizing to mobile devices – Unlimited access to the phone’s features such as the address book, camera… – Better user experience – More interactive user interface – Longer and more frequent user interaction time – Greater retention and loyalty, increase customer return rate – More convenient and easier for customers to browse – Users can be assured of complete safety and security of the app since it’s approved by App store |
– Cannot reach people from search – Device-specific: require developing an app for each platform. – Take time go through an approval process with Google and Apple – Downloading required |
| Mobile websites | – Fast access speed – Well-optimized to mobile devices – Reach people from search – Work across all platforms – Not take time to wait for approval process with Google and Apple – No downloading required |
– Limited access to the phone’s capabilities – Limited user experience – Limited user interaction time – Less convenience to browse |
Which should ecommerce businesses choose?
Mobile websites and mobile apps can look very similar at first-glance, and selecting which is most suited to your needs depends upon many factors, including target customers, available budget, your purposes and required features.
A survey by Compuware in 2013 stated that 85% of respondents preferred a mobile app that a mobile website. But did all these figures and numbers make sense?
You should decide based on your main goal.
If you have a marketing purpose, or aim at delivering content and establishing a mobile presence that can be found on search engines, then a mobile website is a good choice. On the other hand, if your goal is interactive engagement with users, strengthens ties with your customers, encourages customer loyalty and returns rate, or to provides an application that works more like a computer program than a website, then building an app is probably your choice.
Of course, there is no reason why can’t have both. And many companies do. In fact, if the budget is not your problem, having both is the best.
The easiest mobile solution for Magento stores
SimiCart Magento Mobile App by Magestore is currently the easiest mobile commerce solution specially designed for Magento stores.
You are not required to have any technical knowledge and don’t need to implement any steps yourself. Magestore developers will build a mobile app for your store from A to Z. Besides, you can enjoy the most dedicated support by certified Magento developers. The SimiCart solution for Magento mobile website is also coming very soon.
If you need more ideas, listen to some of SimiCart users saying:
For real experience with this mobile app, you can visit the product page: http://www.simicart.com
Does this post help decide which is right for your business? Just tell me your choice in the comment!
1 Comment
Great topic! To give you guys an idea Shopgate has 1200 merchants and has built over 5000 + iOS and Android Custom Apps for Shoppers. As Matt mentioned this use to be COSTLY and I’d like to repeat USE to be. With our system you get custom iPhone and Android Apps as well as your site gets transformed from any desktop eCart system to m.yourdomain.com
Having a custom app now puts you in the drivers seat to really control your loyal clients and send them offers that before wouldn’t be possible in the most convenient way, “Push Notifications”. Don’t be fooled, Enterprise companies have been doing this already for years because yes they pay 100k to 1 million for their solutions from companies like Branding Brands & Mad Mobile who don’t have prices on their sites for their solution. WE DO!!!!!