Android vs. iOS

Admit it. We are in the middle of their war. Apple and Google spread their wings in smartphone battlefield since the first iPhone and the first Android device have filled any market store across the world. But not just them. E-Commerce also keeps its pace in this war. E-commerce players have seen that they can expand their business in a mobile app. And that's why Magento e-commerce agency manages to analyze and use this opportunity as well.

Instead of seeing it as a chaos, this war between two huge companies could be a chance to escalate your business. Especially to give it a try in mobile commerce industry. As long as I know, we can see that mobile commerce is on top of the game. It's not just an ordinary business. It's a new business model that affects every aspect. Just like Steve Jobs that present the first iPhone in a black outfit years ago. Mobile commerce gives a different standpoint and experiences. The customer leans on this easy approach because they can spend more time to shop whatever they need, wherever they are.

LimeCommerce understands this opportunity and will guide you to give a special touch for your recent e-commerce store. Our e-commerce agency will give you a brief explanation about mobile commerce, recent condition, the future of it, and the projection of your e-commerce business.

Why Mobile App?

There are two ways to expand your business in mobile commerce industry. The first is using responsive web design so that everyone can use your website on any device. Whether they're using a 4.0-inch screen or use a tablet that has a 10-inch screen. They are free to explore your e-commerce store anytime, anywhere.

The second option is building your own mobile app. With this option, you can explore more features. There are reasons mobile app is way more enticing than a website. it's simple, easy to use, always by your side. If you use the mobile website, you still need to open it from a mobile browser. But all you need is to install a mobile app on your mobile phone and poof! You can access it anytime you want.

Data Said…

Customers love their phone. According to Matteo Sutto (CMO at iPrice Group and 2x Founder), data have shown that people tend to use a mobile phone in any e-commerce experience. In the past 12 months, mobile has grown on average 19%, now accounting for 72% of the overall eCommerce web traffic. Leading the pack is Indonesia, which now has a staggering 87% share of mobile traffic. In none of SEA's country desktop traffic accounts for more than 30% of web traffic.

Also, according to Invespcro, US Retail M-Commerce Sales By Device (in billions) in 2016 they had $68.98 from tablets, $27.47 from a smartphone, and $1.67 from other mobile devices. In 2017 there is a significant increase, which is $81.87 sales, from tablets, $30.91 from the smartphone, and $1.72 from other mobile devices. In this year, there is a high chance they will get more sales from tablets ($96.31), from the smartphone (34.63), and from other mobile devices as well (%1.75). Those are important data to convince yourself to expand your e-commerce store in mobile commerce field.

How to Build Mobile App?

There are two options that you can choose when you want to build your own mobile app. Build it by yourself, hire an e-commerce agency to build it for you. And you can split it up and arrange a partnership to build together (50:50). Let's jump into the first one!

Do It Yourself

I think we all know that website and mobile app are completely different. As well as their development process. And we don't mention the other extensions and features yet. Also the integration system between the two. Since every mobile app has specific features that make them different one another, if you want to do it yourself, you should seek a specific platform to help you build your own mobile app.

Most of the time, people will use a ready-to-use framework from a particular platform to build their own. Still, they will have a lot of things to learn about. Learning is the first step to build your own mobile app. It will take plenty of time. But if you are passionate about it, go help yourself.

The next homework is integration. Not just build a mobile app, you have to make an integrated system between your website and mobile app as well. If this doesn't work, you have to work twice since you need to control both of them and maintain it every single day. One accounting mistake and it could ruin your whole business. Especially if you are already a medium business and has more than 100 orders each day. It would be painful.

So this is the first choice. If you feel this is too hard and too long to tackle, you can try the second one. Use a hand from e-commerce agency and you will get your mobile app faster and easier than ever.

Hire Digital Agency

As I said before, the easiest way to get your mobile app is hiring an e-commerce agency that has skill and competences in building a mobile app. Since not every agency has this program in their portfolio. But not just that. You need to find a good agency and it has experienced in building a mobile app. It would be a waste if you choose one agency and turns out bad in the end.

We, LimeCommerce, an Indonesian e-commerce agency with global experiences want to help you in your business expansion. Thanks to our years of experience, we can build our handmade mobile app extension for any kind of e-commerce. But still, we specify it in Magento store. Because we believe that Magento is one of the best platforms in the e-commerce industry. That's why we use it as our core value.

If you don't have a Magento store, it's okay. We recommend you to change your platform right away. Our e-commerce agency also provides a fast and professional data migration from any kind of e-commerce platform to Magento. I will explain more in my next article. But let's get back to the main topic.
Workflow

You don't need to sign any contract. There is an agreement, but we use hourly workflow instead. You just need to spend money based on how much time you will need to get things done. Mostly, a contract will spend a lot of money and time to get your mobile app. But if you sign a 1-month contract and all you need is two weeks to get it, I think it's better to use our method instead of leaving you to spend your whole money to an unnecessary contract.

We also use GitHub workflow. So you don't have to sacrifice your main website and spend a lot of downtime in the maintenance process. The mobile app also uses a staging mobile app. Feel free to try your features. So if you don't like it, we can fix it as fast as we can.

Our e-commerce agency will give a report on all details just in case you want to know how we work and which checkpoint we already acquired. I think it's important since time flies so fast and we don't know how mobile commerce will expand a lot faster than before. So it's our quick method to guarantee that you will keep your pace in the e-commerce competitive environment.

If you want to know more, you can try to drop us a line right away. No need to rush, we can share our thoughts and get to know each other. If you feel we can complete your hole, we can arrange a meeting in the future. Our e-commerce agency will patiently wait for your call. Let's make a tremendous mobile app for your e-commerce store.