With all of the intelligent phones (iPhones, Androids, BlackBerry's) being used by customers today it appears you can download an app for just about any conceivable purpose. Lots of internet functions such as stocks, banking, climate, and even ordering flowers, that have been traditionally assigned to computers are now being performed perfect from an people telephone. There is no doubt that intelligent phone usage is escalating at an amazing pace, in 2009 alone, worldwide smartphone sales reached 174 million units!
So as a retailer, is the time appropriate to make the investment and launch an app for your home business?
Initially, maintain in thoughts that if you have a site it will be viewable from a intelligent phone already, so some of your clients might already be browsing your web page from their telephone and possibly even placing orders. However, most web-sites are not optimized for a four" screen so what may well be user friendly on a 21" personal computer monitor is not quite so painless to navigate on a intelligent telephone. Yes, you can optimize your web page for viewing on a smartphone, but even performing that is not the perfect resolution. The real strength and advantage of a custom written smart phone app it is developed from the ground up particularly for ease of use on a certain device.
Yet, before jumping into the pool and rushing out to launch your own app, there are a lot of pros and cons to be regarded as, here are a few based on our own experience.....
Pros - √
Client Loyalty - In theory if you can convince a consumer to pick your app more than others offered, essentially download it, and most significant preserve it on their telephone the probabilities are incredibly very good that you will be their retailer of option for future purchases. Let's face it, once they have it on their telephone it can be a quite handy way to order or access item information and facts when they don't have access to a computer.√
Leader of the Pack - A intelligent telephone app tends to be a major investment for a typical retail shop (or at least till a person designs a mass industry affordable version) so it's likely a safe bet that getting one will set you apart from your competition in the eyes of some of your buyers. In easy terms it really is trendy, especially for the younger "Smart Telephone Generation". √
Instant Communication - Smart telephone apps allow you to send instant "Push" messages correct to users of your app. In straight forward terms a push message is like a text message and frequently pops up perfect on their screen, potentially a good way to notify them of promotions, reminders, and so on. As well, an app will let additional subtle communication in the form of "pull" messages, ones that only pop up when the user basically opens the app. √
Cons - X
Initial and Ongoing Price- This is the significant one as it can be fairly substantial, typically operating into thousands of dollars with no guarantee of generating "extra" organization or seeing a return on investment in a reasonable length of time. X
Promoting -Be ready to invest time and money!
When your webpage can be found by any individual making use of a search engine the identical can not be said of a phone app. It will fall entirely upon you to get the word out and generate interest. You can't rely on everyone stumbling across your app on say the iTunes app store. Here's an eye opener...last count pegged the out there apps for the iPhone at close to 300,000! Speak about a needle in a haystack. X
Distribution- Receiving your app on to a consumer's telephone is a challenge, trust me on this 1. Initial you have to let them know about it, secondly they should see some value in it, and lastly they have to invest the time to obtain and download it. The approach demands a little effort initially on the part of the user. X
OS Incompatibility - An app written for the operating method (OS) of an iPhone will not perform on an Android or Blackberry smart phone, and vice versa. Each intelligent telephone OS requires its own app. X
Ongoing Commitment - Keeping an apps' offers and products existing takes time. Launching a intelligent phone app is likely not a excellent concept if you at present have a web site and obtain you just can't invest the time needed into sustaining and advertising and marketing it effectively. X
Score so far, Pro's 3, Con's five. So what's the verdict?
Let's appear at a case in point, one close to dwelling. In October of 2010 we launched our own iPhone app with high hopes and our fingers crossed. It is now 5 months later and exactly where are we at?
In a nutshell, it has not grown our call center enterprise as much as initially hoped and the lion's share of our growth continues to be seen from our website. If I had been to evaluate our iPhone app's performance to date strictly from the point of revenue generated I would honestly have to say it really is a quite poor investment in the short term. But, I suspect that in the longer term it could possibly prove to be quite similar to doing on the internet home business in the sense that in the infancy of the internet countless retailers jumped in early and invested a lot with small return initially. But in today's globe having a web site is as crucial to a large number of companies as having a phone number. It merely took the consumer a bit of time to turn into comfortable with purchasing on-line. So on this one my fingers are nevertheless crossed.
If, just after reading the above, you decide that you want to take the plunge, here are two ideas that will help you develop or acquire a smartphone app that the consumer will see value in and select over completing apps.
1) Give it away!
If you check out the iTunes app shop there are now dozens of applications available to acquire merchandise. Some of them are zero cost, but a large number of cost $.99 - $2.99 to download. Trying to recoup the development expense of a retail app by means of selling it is a mistake the aim ought to be to get your app widely distributed. As a retailer you are in the business enterprise of promoting your product, not selling smartphone apps. As the number of users of your app grow so will your sales income.
2) Content material, Content material, Content!
Remember, regardless of the retail field you are in the competition for consumers is nearly surely fierce, so you need an edge, a reason for a smart telephone user to pick your app more than you competitors.
The answer is very simple, Content material!
Basing your app about content and supplying details about the item you sell will give users of your item one much more reason on to download your app. A further case in point, our own iPhone app characteristics over 300 pages of flower information and trivia with content updates on a regular basis. Once more, the initial goal is to get your app onto a user's telephone. In the longer term they must have a reason to use your app on a frequent basis, or they will delete it or basically forget they have it. So in this case, just like a web site Content material is King!
0 comments:
Post a Comment