How to create an amazing e-Commerce sales app (mobile application) like Zappos, Amazon or Ikea, when you already have existing stores
For a long time, the belief was build the store and people will come to buy.
Especially in Denmark, customers pay a lot of attention to what they need, versus what manufacturers make them buy.
This is a big change, where the customer has a large say in what they need, with zero compromise.
The pandemic has taught us more and more, that businesses need to understand what the customer needs and give it to them, where they live.
So a lot more research is needed to know what people want and then create an experience where the customer gets what they want.
So why a mobile application?
Creating a mobile application, especially an online business (e-Commerce) application, is a lot like creating a new shop, when you already have many shops already in existence. The difference here, is that one mobile application can provide access to all the inventory in all your stores across Denmark.
The first thing, is to understand the customer experience, since this application will be in the hands of the customer, so you need to think about how customers visit your brick and mortar store and then think about how customers will visit your mobile application.
<A graphic showing the brick and mortar supply chain(manufacturer, distributor, retailer) versus the e-Commerce supply chain(supplier and customer)>
What's the way in which you can replace that face to face contact of a store person is, to have more and more content for the consumer to find the product they need, rather than the product they want.
At the same time, the application will give you a lot of information about the customer’s buying patterns, which can be used to ensure that you always ahead of the trends and ordering down the supply chain in advance.
So the first step is to change the entire sales process to make it easier to fulfil the supply chain, about reducing dead stock, by ensuring that you are using all the information online, especially social media, to define the products which will sell and then use online analytics to verify this demand.
Once you create a filter in this regard, you are then able to ensure that the small screen of the mobile phone, is used to maximum effect.
This means that once the consumer selects a product, the system needs to use market intelligence, to ensure that all the other products which the consumer might want to buy, are also visible on the same page.
That is where Amazon as an application, scores over other mobile e-commerce applications, by ensuring that the consumer is engaged and is constantly looking for more of what they want.
These are the key steps in E-Commerce app development, where you first work on building the user experience, by identifying the key elements, especially the feedback, as the mobile application, by virtue of being on the consumer's phone, will constantly feed relevant information which can be used in finetuning the sales experience and improving sales.
Logistics plays a very important part in ensuring on-time delivery, so if you have many stores spread out, it is imperative that you use the location of the user, to ensure that the supply of inventory, optimises on cost and reduces overall time to deliver.
A document on the entire process, is important before we move to the actual application development.
Once we get to the application development, we need to look at which cross platform application technology platform we are going to use to develop the application.
Cross-platform
mobile development is becoming widespread as it has certain advantages over
native development.
The steps to developing
a mobile application are :
1. Define the scope of work, what it is that the mobile application is going to do.
2. Create user stories, where you create typical cases of how the user will use your application. This should be written in plain English, documenting what a typical user will do.
3. Create user screens, where you create demo screens of the application, which will finally show on the mobile application.
If you are looking for complete solution for all three and across the web, iOS and Android then Xamarin is the solution for you.
Xamarin, was based on the Mono project, then got acquired by Microsoft in 2016 and then integrated into the .NET platform.
It is a highly popular open-source framework for cross-platform mobile development. A single technology stack of Xamarin, C# language and .NET framework, enables the quick and easy creation of mobile apps for Android, iOS and Windows operating systems, to create code once and use it across various platforms, with no compromise the app’s performance, maintainability, or user experience.
Xamarin consists of:
- Xamarin.Forms : Creating the look and feel, the device independent user interface for a consistent brand experience irrespective of the device and operating system
- Xamarin.Essentials library: Connecting with device relevant modules via APIs
- Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS: Connecting to Android and iOS modules for additional device specific features
Xamarin gives you the following advantages:
1. Native User Experience
Getting the true Android or iOS experience is possible due to the usage of platform-specific elements and technologies available in C# and Visual Studio.
2. Single Technological Stack
A single language C# used to create all kinds of solutions within the Visual Studio. This saves time, as developers just focus on one language.
3. Shareable Code
Xamarin creates a 60-95% reusable code, depending on the complexity of the user application.
4. Time and Costs Saving
A sharable codebase and a single technological stack save time spent on the development cycle.
4. Simplified Maintenance
It is remarkably easy to maintain apps developed with Xamarin.Forms as they share code.
5. Testing
The platform offers comprehensive solutions to test and monitor application performance and UI – Xamarin Test Cloud and Xamarin Test Recorder.
6. Technical Support by Microsoft
With Microsoft, you get great documentation and support.
The main disadvantages of Xamarin are:
- Application overhead
- Insufficient access to open-source libraries
- Limited number of engineers available to work on the technology, so it would be better to go to a specialised agency who has all the experienced resources, to bring your e-Commerce application to your customers.
The best alternatives to Xamarin, with their own pros and cons are:
1. React Native
2. Flutter
3. Cordova
4. Ionic Framework
5. PhoneGap
6. Native Script
7. Swift (iOS only)
8. Android Studio (Android only)
9. Apache Flex
10. Unity (More for gaming)
You have a vision, you know what you want, now to get it as a mobile application, you need an app agency, a company who will handhold you through the process, provide the screens as per your process, show you what users today look for, and create the best experience possible.