Today, every business needs to be mobile-centric; therefore, it will only adapt by being more approachable to the emerging mobile commerce trends. Since most of the total share in the e-commerce market is now garnered from mobile, if the businesses miss mobile audiences, they are just losing considerable potential customers. Let’s find out how you turn your Shopify store into a mobile app, while the Shopify website design company is always present to help in every single step.
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Why You Should Turn the Shopify Store Into A Mobile App
Mobile commerce is increasingly becoming the way to go since more than 57% of all internet traffic originates from mobile devices. These statistics point out that e-commerce’s future is mobile-first and, often, even mobile-only customers.
You shall make your Shopify store a proper mobile application that will give a better user experience to your customers and gain higher conversion rates, average order value, and products viewed per session. Shopify website experts will provide you with complete assistance for the development as well.
eCommerce mobile app users are proven to be 2x more likely to return to the shop in a month compared to mobile browser users.
Benefits of Having Your Own Mobile App for Shopify
As mentioned, there are lots of benefits you can get once you convert your Shopify store into a mobile app. Here are some of them:
Better Mobile Shopping Experience
Customers will have an easier shopping experience on your mobile application than they will have on a mobile website. The app is designed to provide an interface for mobile devices, so there are relatively fewer irritants and distractions around a user.
Higher Loyalty and Retention
Greater loyalty and retention rates are associated with a better user experience. A good experience while shopping through your mobile application increases customers’ probability of returning and repeating purchases. Another factor contributing to greater customer lifetime value is one-tap access directly from the home screen and constant brand visibility.
An Owned Sales Channel
You get to have your own sales channel, and the mobile app is owned. This means that you do not rely on other external platforms such as Google or Facebook for sales. You can tap directly on the customers through push notifications and ensure that your brand is often seen for frequent engagement and purchases.
Presence on the App Store
Publishing your app in the iOS App Store and Google Play Store will give your brand social proof and legitimacy. Meanwhile, it is also a new acquisition channel when potential customers search for your app in the app stores. Moreover, your app store listings bring in high-authority backlinks, which boost your website’s presence along with driving more traffic from the search engines.
Ease of Mobile Payments
Now, you can include secure payment gateways and offer features such as mobile wallets or one-click payments like Apple Pay or Google Pay to smooth the checkout process and reduce friction, which will boost your conversion rates. Customers can safely store their payment information so that the next purchase becomes easier.
Is it Possible to Create Mobile Apps in Shopify?
Shopify does not have a direct method in which you can convert your Shopify stores into mobile apps; however, Shopify does allow the building of mobile apps using its platform, although this requires that you hire some developers to build the front end of your mobile app and then create an API to take the app to the Shopify backend. Shopify website design company is always available for every kind of assistance in the development of a Shopify store as well.
This can be expensive and complicated, with estimates ranging from $20,000 to $150,000 to build a native app for each platform (iOS and Android) and then an extra 15-20% of the initial price yearly for refreshes and maintenance.
This is impossible for most store owners who try this because the cost is exorbitant, and the system adds even more complexity to the management of separate platforms. Happily, there is an easier and more affordable way to convert your Shopify store into a mobile app.
How To Convert Your Shopify Store into a Mobile App Step by Step
Now that you know the benefits and have chosen a Shopify mobile app builder, let’s follow through on what’s needed when trying to turn your Shopify store into a mobile app:
Step 1: Optimize your Site for Mobile
Make sure your existing Shopify store is fully optimized for mobile before you convert it into a mobile app. This means ensuring your website is responsive, fast, and responsive across smartphones and tablets. Do some homework and test your store across different mobile devices to ensure that it works seamlessly and appears user-friendly.
Here are some broad parameters to consider:
Customer Service: Try to find a hosting provider that will give you proper support in case something goes wrong in the process of developing the application. You can factor in response time, live chat, or 24/7 phone support, and how efficiently a hosting company attends to the needs of its customers.
Features: Look at the features that an app builder offers. Ideally, it should meet your specific needs. What is included in its package deals? It entails the synchronization of a product catalog, push notifications, real-time analytics, and many more functionalities that will be helpful for your business.
Ease of use: An app builder always provides a drag-and-drop feature while building an app according to its interface and functionality to save a lot of time while working. A user-friendly builder provides you with app changes without any kind of coding skills or deep technical knowledge.
Integrations: It will be steady and smooth to use the tools on different platforms in business, like inventory management systems, customer relationship management, payment gateways, and email marketing tools with 3rd party applications. A good integration system always ensures the smooth operation and synchronization of data across different platforms.
UX and Aesthetics: The app should be displayed with as much style and flair as possible because it should feel open and fluid, responding to every call made to it, mobile-friendly. Customize it with options that make it possible to build a fully designed app reflecting your brand value to your users.
Native iOS and Android Apps: Native applications perform better, offer access to features depending on the device, and provide an identical user experience. The maker needs to be able to support different builds for iOS and Android OS.
Language Support: If you target an international audience or plan to go global from other countries, you need to make sure your mobile app is multilingual-friendly. Look for a strong app builder that lets you translate and localize the content of your app easily across different regions.
Step 2: Customize the UI Elements of Your Mobile App
Once you have selected an app builder, start testing different aspects of the UI of your mobile application. This would include designing your application layout, choosing colors and fonts that reflect your brand identity, and adding a logo and other visual assets. Many app builders allow for drag-and-drop interfaces, so it’s simple to begin experimenting with your app without knowing how to code.
Step 3: Finish Configuring your Shopping Mobile App and Test
Configure it by connecting your app to a Shopify store: Create an integration link with your product catalog and integrate payment gateways, push notifications, and user authentication. After the configuration of an app, test it vigorously on various types of devices. Products should display as described, the checkout should work smoothly, navigation should be very intuitive, and everything else added should be seamless.
Step 4: Finalize, Publish, and Market your Apps
When you feel that the mobile app is good enough in terms of functionality and performance, finalize and publish it. Submit your app to the respective stores; for iOS, to the Apple App Store, and for Android, to the Google Play Store, following the given instructions from the app builder. See that all the guidelines and requirements are met to submit your app. When you have launched your app, promote its launch through your website, social media networks, email marketing, and all your other communication channels that reach out to your audience. Then, let customers know what benefits they will derive from the download and actual usage of the app and the unique features it may offer.
Conclusion
These methods are vital to convert your Shopify store into a mobile application because there are several benefits to the mobile application of the Shopify store; you can operate the store from anywhere and at any time according to your preference. The best app developers in India are always present to provide you with complete help in your mobile app development as well.
