The Ultimate Guide To E-Commerce Apps - GoodFirms Survey Of Shoppers And App Makers

Updated on :October 14, 2023

Organic search traffic is as yet important, social platforms are becoming a more powerful source of successful conversions with each day and mobile eCommerce tries full-on to gain steadiness.

The most successful E-business concepts include implementation of one basic E-commerce strategy: Nailing the customer’s wants from online retailers and providing them an online experience with personalized augmented reality. This makes sure that the consumers maintain the connection with the brands they love in their true colors even while using eCommerce web and mobile applications.

It won’t be least surprising to reveal that more than 50% of internet users make online purchases today. This basically makes it mandatory for all-sized businesses to cater to its visitors digitally with an eCommerce technology powered mobile app for adding more value in terms of convenience in online shopping for consumers.

DETAILED SURVEY OF SHOPPERS

This survey was conducted with approximately 250+ shoppers across the world, with a goal to learn about their psychographics during the purchase cycle. It is not an unfamiliar fact that users have become accustomed to online shopping. As a matter of fact, buying commodities online has become the new urbane way of purchase satisfaction nowadays for consumers. But, what is actually interesting to find is the authentic info behind the real vibes that users emit while shopping online.

Gathering from the shoppers’ survey conducted by the research team of GoodFirms, a few highly informative answers have surfaced with reference to consumers’ preferred way of online buying, factors influencing their purchasing decision, the correspondent likes and dislikes towards online app shopping and payment options for them including their future expectations from these ever-evolving shopping apps!

Overview of shoppers survey

The Detailed Findings:

A set of mind-picked multiple choice questions were asked, to the shoppers to understand the human behavior and top of the mind reactions towards the eCommerce trend of online buying. And surely, the insights obtained can be considered to be the essentials of creating an eCommerce application; for business owners as well as their development team.

So, here is a rundown of the major factors dug up by the research team of GoodFirms, that are an important part of the buying decisions made by the customers. Also, the affiliated statistics that will help you understand the impact of each minute parameter thereby enlightening you with the crucial facts to focus on!

1. When it comes to online buying, where do the customers prefer to shop?

Preference for shopping

As seen in the above chart, three options were given to the shoppers to know which option they favor the most for online buying. And it turns out, online shopping sites with a score of 45.5% stand second to the majority acquired by E-Commerce app with 54.5% with apparently not much difference. Although, retail stores were nowhere in the minds of users while responding! This clearly shows the crucial requirement of making personalized online stores accessible to buyers for businesses in order to increase their ROI and overall profits.

2. Why do shoppers prefer to buy products on E-Commerce apps?

Reasons for shopper for shopping

The survey of shoppers focused on some prima questions, the stellar being the reasons for shopping on eCommerce app. Shoppers were asked to select all the reasons that encourage them to shop from a shopping app. This enabled GoodFirms to receive the affiliated percentages showing positive support proportion for each one. As it can be rendered from the above chart, the top reasons why shoppers love to buy commodities on eCommerce app are stated clearly.

The top factors that depict the quality of being useful for a shopping app are flexibility in surfing the products, saving time on buying as the app is available on mobile phones and the exclusive discounts and deals offer that comes with it. Other elements like an easy comparison of products and personalization of the app also turned out to get growing likings among the shoppers.

3. Which factors boost the online purchasing decisions of the consumers?

Top factors influencing purchase decision

There are hundreds of online selling businesses across a multitude of industries trying to sell the same product to millions of customers. Now, to gain successful transactions, these businesses will have to have at least one stand out zing that makes them unique in the shopping eye of consumers. Hence, GoodFirms gave some options to understand what influences the shoppers the most to buy commodities online and the above chart shows clear results with positive support percentile affiliated to each top factor.

The high-definition images that can be viewed from various angles capture the major attention of the buyers which allows them to view the product in 360 degrees. Also, if the previous experience of shoppers has been positive overall, the consumer is more confident each time the next to buy products from the respective shopping site/app. Other than that, the interesting push notifications with exclusive deals and the loyalty rewards gifted with every purchase also play an important part in enticing the customers to buy products satisfactorily!

To explain the effects of graphically advanced images on shoppers, let’s take the example of an online jewelry shopping company called ‘Tous’. It is really interesting how these businesses have actually become successful in gaining revenue by selling jewelry online. A jewel stands for its purity and designs and sells for the best of it works! The customers are mainly emotionally attached while shopping for jewels and it is necessary for them to make a connection with the ornaments they buy.

Now, how to make that connection possible online? Well, high-definition pictures that allow the shoppers to go through minute details of the jewels’ designs from each and every angle and full-fledged zoom is the answer! Tous is one such company that entered into lifestyle products in 1920 and has been extremely successful evolving through the digital shopping trends. A single screenshot depicting the royal clarity of the ornaments sold online is shown below:

Tous

4. What are the major reasons that enforce the consumers to abandon the cart during check-out?

Cart abandonment

Filling the cart while shopping is fun, but when we see a long queue to cross and reach the billing counter, a certain throbbing of utter despise hits the brain. Similarly, if the check-out process is too long, there’s a high chance of shoppers losing interest in buying and abandon the cart and so says the statistics in the above chart with 72.7% support.

Once the consumer has confidently selected an item to buy and wants to grab it and make it his/her own; do not let anything come in between that crucial step. Let the shopper focus only on buying. Avoid navigation bars, pop-ups asking for their assessments on some dark point, no promotions that take the client's eye off the fundamental prize – the ultimate buy. The new self-contained check-out process finishes off in three simple steps and is considered as the epic representative of the short buying process.

single screen checkout

Below shown are the sample screens of an optimized short check-out process to summarize the whole concept in one single screen:

Short checkout

Apart from that, other parameters like lack of confidence in security, or the unavailability of the perfect offer on desired products and just surfing through products can be other reasons for abandoning the cart by consumers. Though in small portion, but the fact that are limited modes of payment with respect to the expectations of customers also affects the successful completion of orders!

5. Which are the most loved features by shoppers in eCommerce apps?

Most loved features by shoppers

Earning the confidence of buyers while selling the products to them online is definitely not easy. The shoppers are used to test the commodities physically before owning them and that gives online selling the biggest challenge! Apparently, this hole in the online selling loop is filled by various intriguing features offered by online selling companies. The percentage affiliated with various features in connection with the likeability of shoppers is depicted in the above chart.

When the user types in the keyword in the search bar, an array of items comes onto the screen matching to users’ search criteria. Now, sorting and filtering out the products that the buyer is looking for in terms of price range, gender means, brand wise and so on is made easy with two additional options sort & filter. Guess what? The shoppers love it that they can meddle directly with the products of their likes with a matter of clicks.

The next comes guest check-out option and product recommendations. Guest check outlets the buyers shop for products without having to make an account on the shopping site/app and users love it! It saves a lot of time and hands them their beloved product hassle-free. Also, recommendations of additional items related to the commodities bought by consumers in the past as well as the current ones in their cart impress them and encourage shopping of more value with reference to savings.

Shoppers are mostly predictable and some special attention given to their choices increases their interest in buying. Impulse buying always brings in an instant connection of the shoppers with their beloved products! Believe it or not, a customer never wants to miss a good deal and would love to rave about it later! So, as an eCommerce company, it is mandatory to offer personalized product recommendations, from the shoppers’ past and present purchase data in order to keep them interested in buying more products from your company.

To demonstrate the above case in point, let’s take the instance of ‘Goat’, an eCommerce company that lets the consumers buy as well as sell authentic sneakers. This firm uses the product recommendations feature like a true salesperson. The shoppers are not only offered with various other trending sneakers on selecting one to view but also with real images uploaded by previous consumers wearing the sneakers they bought from the company via the app! Goat has been successful in taking the product recommendations to next level and gaining profitable transactions!

Below are the snapshots of the app’s brilliant techniques:

snapshots one snapshots two

Other features like a wish list, live chat integration and social media sharing of the products also make an impact on the buying cycle. Shoppers can include the products they like in their wish list for future buying, chat with customer care officials online right from the apps to resolve queries or issues and share products on various social media forums with their loved ones to discuss it. May not the most, but these add-ons do increase the buying ratio.

6. What modes of payment are the most convenient for online shoppers?

Payment options

The digital world has opened up a plethora of ways to make monetary transactions easy-peasy, and can be made within a moment! Online product selling businesses make sure of providing a wide range of means of payment options to the consumers.

During the survey, six different options for payment were provided to the shoppers as shown in the above chart and they were asked to select the most favored one at maximum times by them. And the answer is pretty clear! The debit card that is always available in the beloved wallets of the shoppers turned out to be the winner. And the runner-up position is won by Cash on Delivery, which is quite believable as the ones who don’t feel comfortable paying for the commodity before having felt it in their own hands and yet buy products for the love of shopping should be given this privilege. And yes, the selling companies don’t back off! They make sure of keeping this last option open for payment to gain complete trust and loyalty of their consumers.

Several other modes including credit card, net banking, cryptocurrencies and the latest electronic payment mode of e-wallets offered by versatile businesses across different industrial sectors were also put into consideration during the survey of shoppers. The above chart proves to be the case that when it comes to convenience, buyers are more reliable on debit or credit cards, net banking and cash on delivery. Whereas, e-wallets and cryptocurrencies have not touched the trust radar of shoppers.

7. Do buyers compare products on different shopping apps before purchasing?

Product comparison

A huge bulk of shoppers compare the same product at different online stores before buying and making purchases that satisfy them with a fair price. That’s the human instinct of course! No one wants to let go off a good deal. This even creates a greater sense of competition among the various contenders in the online selling business enticing customers to buy from them and come back for some more buying!

The online company ‘Club Factory - Fair Price’ utilizes this competitive analysis technique efficiently and markets various products to sell comparing their prices with Wish, eBay and Amazon and reflecting the difference directly in the description itself. Below are the screenshots of the app for a clearer picture:

club-factory-1 club-factory-2

8. Which future technology are the consumers eagerly looking forward to in terms of online shopping?

Future Technologies

Reality has become boring for today’s smart youth which is pretty normal to experience, given the speed of modern progress for entertaining tech! And well, the augmented reality kicks-in the right kinda boost of fresh air, taking apps to another level up in terms of engagement from users.

Augmented Reality is tied in with superimposing computerized pictures over your perspective of reality, along these lines making a composite view that enlarges this present reality. AR applications run the range, from intuitive guide overlays and virtual showrooms to huge multiplayer clashes.

A great example of AR technology can be given of ‘MDi Touch’ company, that offers its customers the awesome privilege to visualize the walls with different colors right from their iPhones or iPads with its mobile application - Tap Painter.

All you have to do is take a snap of the room and select the wall in the picture you want to recolor. TapPainter is designed to automatically find the wall for you and respectfully avoid painting over objects on or near the wall. Then, select a color from the wide color palette available. As soon as you do that, you’ll see the wall digitally painted on your device giving you a clear idea of whether you really like the color or not! Below is a sneak-peak of the aforementioned tech:

ipad-tappainter-step-1

ipad-tappainter-step-2

There is also some anticipation for voice shopping and social shopping to come in trend. It might take time for consumers to get acclimatize to these new-coming ways but eventually, like every good tech, it is a positive hope for them to grow on the shoppers gradually.

DETAILED SURVEY FROM E-COMMERCE APP DEVELOPMENT COMPANIES

The important analysis was done by the research team of GoodFirms on a multitude of points made by various iPhone app development companies and android app development companies for E-Commerce. The research participants being from versatile demographics has definitely enriched the quality of research.  The considerate participants belong from the following countries: California, Canada, India, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.

Here are the names of the top eCommerce solutions providing companies at GoodFirms, that were benign enough to share their part of the knowledge in this constructive survey:

overview

The Detailed Findings:

Revenue generation from eCommerce sales has kept a positive dynamics for a past couple of years and is anticipated to continue its growth massively by 2021. For the time being, the monstrous chances of worldwide internet business are too enormous to disregard. Moreover, global sales produced due to online business boosts sellers to hop on the eCommerce train and increase their trade.

Interestingly, E-Commerce apps along with shopping websites have been experiencing loads of web traffic with millions of successful transactions every year. This has been made possible with two major aspects of online marketing: Going International and Localization. These are two sides of the same coin that is eCommerce and has to go simultaneously for a company to earn profits and happy customers!

Here is a list of requirements that were researched by the team of GoodFirms, from the top eCommerce development companies. It certainly gives insights on how businesses from startups to established ones gain major benefits of e-Commerce business. Also, how do retailers & customers come to a win-win situation for online shopping?

1. Planning to develop an E-Commerce app for your business? Know about the average cost of building it with basic features.

Ecommerce app cost survey

Numerically, 18 companies responded out of 24 with their exact price range charged by them for developing eCommerce solutions as per their past experiences. The rest of the companies stated that it sheerly depends upon the project requirements. Following is the summary of statistics obtained:  

  • 25% of the participant companies quote their clients between the price range of $4000 to $8000
  • 43.75% of them have allocated themselves between the price range of $10000 to $15000
  • Another 25% of the development firms are placed in the price range of $20000 to $30000
  • Lastly, 6.25% of the participants chose the price range of $150000 to $250000

2. Which factors mainly influence the cost of developing an eCommerce app?

Factors affecting eCommerce cost

The well-established eCommerce development companies in the IT market pointed out six key areas that affect the app development cost being Features required by the client, Design, Platforms on which the app is launched, Third Party Integrations, Payment Gateways, and the Technologies used to develop the eCommerce solution. Below is the summary of obtained statistics that shows which parameter was most likely chosen by the company authorities that influence the cost of creating an E-Commerce app according to them:

  • 62% of the companies favored towards Features required in the app
  • 52.3% of the participants say Payment Gateways affect the cost to a great degree
  • 38% of the firms’ specialists remarked Third-Party Integrations
  • 23.8% of these development companies highlighted UI/UX Designing
  • 9% of participant companies lay focus on the Technologies used to develop eCommerce solutions

3. What’s the average time-frame given by eCommerce companies to develop an online shopping app?

Time taken by companies

With regards to numbers, 21 companies of 24 total participants reverted with their respective range of timeframes for developing an eCommerce app and the rest said that it depends upon the complexity of features. Interestingly, the scale of the allotted time varied between one to six months for app development with basic features. The exact statistics shedding light upon the percentiles are given below:  

  • 9.5% of the firms replied with a shorter period of 1 to 1.5 months
  • 47.6% of the companies said that it would it can be done within 2 to 3 months
  • 38% of the participants agreed on the range of 3 to 5 months
  • 4.9% of these development companies gave a longer time of up to 6 months

4. Which are the main angles that should be tightly screwed before launching an eCommerce app according to experts?

Each official from the participant eCommerce development companies had their own take on the most crucial factors to re-look upon, before launching the app. As the end result, seven factors came into the picture of which; four were the most focused upon. Below given is the sum-up of those factors along with percentage affiliated to each of them as per the research:

Important factors before app launch

As per the above pie-chart, the major piece of focus is occupied by the UI designing, which clearly shows that the eCommerce companies put in a lot of attention towards the app’s user-interface before launch! And apparently, the loading speed of the eCommerce app comes next, as the consumer wants a smooth ride all along the purchase cycle. And finally, competitive analysis to decide upon the market positioning of your app along with its robustness in terms of security is highly essential.

Apart from the aforementioned factors, some other parameters like making sure the app is minimal in size not occupying much user-space and there are no crash points while the application is in continuous use at any stage should be looked upon. Some companies even stated that the demographic target areas for launching the app should be pre-decided in order to create sustainability in terms of downloads with respect to the target audience.

Conclusion

The eCommerce application showcase is experiencing a positive boost. It is a long way to go through the E-Commerce insights before you procure a development company for your eCommerce venture. Above all, the top features recommended by the developers and demanded by the users are to be kept in check!

This far-reaching research must have given you an essential thought regarding the up and coming E-Commerce drifts and an additional view on time and cost allotment for creating eCommerce applications. The time has come to make the enormous stride of simply picking a solid eCommerce developer from GoodFirms' grouped rundown of Top ECommerce Development Companies to give a praiseworthy online purchasing experience to your users.

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