Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices

Businesses have increasingly been relying on apps to guide their customers towards making a purchase. 

In this article, we’ll cover the current trends and practices for mobile commerce in 2021. 

Let’s dig in!

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 31
source: pexels.com

Most Users Are Omnichannel Shoppers

Consumers today use multiple mobile channels to satisfy their shopping needs. 

Today, the buyer’s journey is far more complex and relies heavily on mobile commerce. Buyers use social media, shopping apps, and product websites to browse and research products before eventually buying them. 

This approach to buying is called omnichannel retail. 

In 2019, the eCommerce share of omnichannel sales was on a major rise. 

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 32

source: Statista.com

According to Statista, eCommerce accounted for a staggering 63% of omnichannel growth. 

That trend has skyrocketed since 2020. 

Omnichannel retail is here to stay. 

It’s important to note that users expect all platforms to be equally consistent.

Another study by Salesforce has found that 75% of users want a connected customer journey across all platforms. 

Let’s say you’re running an eCommerce website, a shopping app, and an Instagram profile for your business. 

The user experience between them has to be connected so that when users hop from different platforms to explore and buy products, nothing disrupts their buyer’s journey. 

The most important takeaway from this is that you should look at all your eCommerce channels as a unified experience. 

Stop separating your channels and look at them as integral parts of the same buyer’s journey. 

Tailor your eCommerce experience so that the user can browse products, research them and buy them without leaving your platforms. 

Here’s one fine example of a connected Instagram and mobile eCommerce buying experience. 

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 33

After clicking on the button, you’re directed to the mobile show where you can browse the product and make a purchase.

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 34

Your buying journey stays uninterrupted. 

Let’s keep talking about mobile commerce trends. 

One-Click Order Button

The one-click order button is a gamechanger. 

It allows buyers to enter their billing, shipping, and payment details just once. The shopping platform then uses the same data for their future purchases. 

By doing so, the billing process is so much easier and quicker. 

The huge abandonment rates of shopping carts used to pose a significant problem for mobile apps.

According to research, 94% of shoppers on mobile devices in the US abandon their shopping cart. 

If users have to enter all their information manually every time they want to make a purchase, buying something will feel like a laborious process. 

One-click order buttons help retailers combat this issue. They make the purchasing process much more convenient for customers. 

If you’re running an eCommerce business, add the one-click order button to your store. 

Here’s one example:

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 35

The one-click order button is available and highlighted in yellow so that buyers can bypass the traditional purchase process.

Once your clients enter their data, you can use it many times. 

You’ll spare them from a lengthy, frustrating checkout process.

Know which customer data is the most important to finish the transaction.

Those are usually:

  • Credit card data: expiration date, card number, card verification number
  • Shipping and Billing address
  • Customer name
  • Email address

Let’s discuss voice shopping next.

Voice Shopping 

Gone are the days when voice commands were full of bugs and barely functional.

Voice shopping has become an integral part of the mobile shopping experience.

According to data by Invespcro, 30% of US mobile internet users have used a voice assistant to get product information or make a purchase. 

With mobile devices, every customer has access to voice search. 

You can see this button on every smartphone:

Mobile Commerce: Trends and Best Practices 36

Smartphone users can use voice commands to research and buy products online with ease. 

Any voice assistant software can pick up on user commands and direct them to the websites they’re looking for. 

In addition to the growing use of voice search, voice shopping in the US is expected to reach $40 billion in sales by 2022. This stat is impressive, given that the market penetration in 2017 was only around $2 billion in the US. 

The data clearly shows that voice shopping is a growing trend that will make a big part of the mobile commerce market. 

If you’re running an eCommerce business, you’ll need to optimize your website for voice search. 

Instead of stuffing your content with keywords, use long-tail keywords. 

It’s vital that you maintain a conversational tone. Keep in mind that users will ask with longer, intent-focused sentences when voice searching. 

For example, nobody will voice search Buy new iPhone. Instead, users will say: Where can I buy the new iPhone? Your content has to reflect that.

As voice search progresses, long-tail SEO will become more important. 

Mobile Commerce Drives Sales 

M-commerce has taken over online retail.

As a shopping trend, m-commerce has been growing for years. 

However, in 2021, mobile became the go-to choice for online shoppers because of its convenience and the smooth buying experience it provides. 

You don’t have to sit on your computer and browse through all the products. You can do it on the go. 

Let’s look at statistics one more time.

According to Statista’s data on mobile retail commerce in 2017-2021, m-commerce accounts for 53.9% of all online purchases. 

Mobile sales have now become the leading driver of revenue. 

Shopping apps hold great potential to deliver their customers the best mobile shopping experience. 

For example, customers don’t have to go through emails to find past orders or google for discount coupons. They can access all of those things on a customer-centered hub. 

Mobile apps are a great asset in this sense, and retailers need to reap the benefits they provide.

Here are a few pro tips on how you can use mobile apps to increase your sales. 

You can implement customer loyalty programs. Since the app can track purchase history, you can give customers discounts and points based on their activity as buyers. 

You can also provide them with personalized product recommendations and reviews.

Get a competitive edge. You’ll be able to provide your customers with a better shopping experience than your competitors. 

Engage with your customers. You can constantly add new in-app elements to keep customers involved with your app and re-engage them with new ways. 

For example, you can send your clients personalized pop-up messages to re-engage them when they log out.

If you want your online sales to grow, you’ll start thinking about an app solution. 

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about key trends and practices in mobile commerce: the omnichannel buyer journey, the one-click order button and voice Shopping

We’ve also covered the role of mobile apps in boosting sales

If you run an eCommerce business, implement these practices in your business. You’ll be on the winning side of online retail.