As the market grows, mobile app development is becoming tougher day by day. And in this tough competition, developers have to come up with influential…
Does a mobile app is really necessary or a luxury for your business? Is the mobile-friendly website not enough for your business? With the world becoming more mobile-friendly and eCommerce turning into MCommerce, do businesses really lose some opportunities by not having a mobile app?
Among others, these are some questions that business owners have in their minds. While revenue generation from mobile apps is increasing day after day, users have restrained themselves to install unnecessary apps. If we talk a bit about the future of mobile apps, then we can surely say that it is going to be brighter than it is today.
With new emerging techs like Beacon, AR/VR, IoT, and many more, it becomes important for business owners to be on a platform that is going to hold precedence in the future. And this blog perfectly arcs on do your business really needs a mobile app in 2021?
History of Business Apps
First, let’s start with the history of business apps. Any business aims to make profits out of all its ventures either through selling services or goods. And to fulfill that aim businesses need buyers – no matter they are B2B or B2C. The idea is to reach out to as many people as possible through marketing and promotions. The traditional ways of marketing don’t really work now and the Internet has taken it by a storm.
Through the use of the Internet, people can find your business and website to purchase products. But in 2021 and years to come will see an uprise of apps to do almost everything. Still, many business owners think why invest in mobile app development when you can have a mobile-friendly website?
To be more precise, let’s say you have a mobile-friendly website that too the most responsive one. Now, when was the last time you were able to let your customers know the promotional offers and new product launches or interacted with them in real-time? To perform such tasks, you require tools for email campaigns, chats, and other such channels. All these require too much effort from your side.
Business apps, on the other hand, incorporate the latest technology like biometrics, geo-location, and other sensors. This is something websites based on HTML can never do and probably never do in the future too.
Back in the days, websites were primitive and unattractive and allowed you to communicate with the market about your products, which ensured your brand recognition. But that was mostly it and things have changed today. The rapid development of modern technologies has empowered mobile apps to do all sorts of things. And who knows what they will be able to do in the future.
The big fat enterprises and midsize businesses have already invested in mobile apps. But it is not that usual for small businesses and start-ups. And if you are considering building your own business app, then you are one step ahead of your competitors.
Potential of Apps
The next question that makes small business owners wonder is how business apps can give a boost to their business? So, let’s list out how mobile apps can catapult your business towards success.
- Practically, mobile apps give you instant access to an unlimited amount of customers. Today, we have become so much used to mobile phones that we hardly put them away from ourselves. Being away from it makes us feel stressed and fear of missing out. Apps grab the attention of users with a simple push notification or banner that informs them about the promotional offers. Websites aren’t capable of doing this.
- Mobile apps are a great way to engage customers with your brand. Today, people have become so busy with their lifestyle and work, they don’t even have time to search for offers to buy anything. But with mobile apps, you can grab their attention almost instantly during break time, lunchtime, or during the commute.
- Businesses can provide extra services such as payments, delivery, quality control, feedback, loyalty program, discounts, etc. to customers at hand.
- Mobile apps can save significant time by automating the processes like self-storage management, smart-house system, QR-scanner app for retail or warehouse need, and a pool of other tasks. As the potential of apps is still expanding, we are expected to see more capabilities to get unfold in the future.
Among other benefits, mobile apps are the need of the hour to make sure that mobile marketing strategy for your business is efficient enough. It helps you to raise your brand awareness, give a better way to interact with customers, and uniquely position your brand ahead of the competitors.
Seeing the potential mobile apps hold for businesses, you must have decided to go for mobile app development. Still, many wonder what platform to target iOS, or Android, or both.
Android, or iOS, or Both
Our team of researchers has gathered some facts to help you decide whether you should invest in building a native Android app, native iOS app, or both. You must decide what you need based on the market and future plans of your business.
- Android and iOS collectively have over 99% of the market share as of Dec 2020 in the mobile operating system with Android leading by around 72.5%.
- As per forecasts, the Android market share will reach 87% in 2022.
- However, iOS dominates the market in consumer spending.
- IOS dominates the market share in the USA and the UK with over 61% and 50% respectively.
So, both the platform are essential to hold a grip on. With Android leading the OS market share worldwide and iOS dominating in consumer spending, businesses can’t afford to ignore either of the two OS platforms.
Ready to Roll?
The starting phase of any new work is more confusing and unappealing. No one wants to go through that phase. However, it’s the most essential phase to step ahead in this fierce competition. You’ll have more questions than answers but gradually, you’ll know everything there is to know about mobile app development and operation.
What’s the first step? Any place to buy a mobile app and get over with it? Well, such questions generally don’t have straightforward answers. However, there are few options to build your dream mobile app for your business.
- The first is to hire an outsourcing mobile app development team to build your business app. This is the most viable option as the dedicated team will take care of everything from designing to developing and deploying it on live servers.
- Hire an in-house team of mobile developers to carry out the development task. This option is however costly as you would have to build the whole infrastructure and take care of your in-house team’s needs.
- Your last resort is to use an application builder.
There are so many differences in hiring an in-house or outsourcing the whole development project. Don’t rush into decisions too quickly think it through and analyze thoroughly to decide what’s better for your business.
Also Read: What entities must know before Outsourcing Mobile App Development?
The in-house team may lack the expertise required to build a robust app with magnificent features. Whereas an outsourcing team will have the proficiency to handle your project at ease and provide you on-time project delivery. They have the precision to build business apps that perfectly match your bespoke needs.
So, you have to be wise while choosing the best option for your business app development. No matter your decision, each option will take up resources, time, and effort from you. But looking on the bright side, you get a well-developed and designed mobile app.
Wrapping Up
Mobile apps for business have become a necessity than a luxury today. They help you reach a wider audience to target in a more streamlined way and give you the best possible Return-on-Investment. While designing your dream mobile app for business, you must focus on providing an exceptional user experience to your customers. Keep it simple yet attractive for the eyes of customers. Give attention to building great customer support experience to enhance the trust and loyalty of customers towards your brand.
Want to cut the clutter and hire experts on mobile app development? M-Connect Solutions is the one-stop solution for all your mobile app development needs. We have a team of apt Android & iOS app developers that can take care of all your customers need and provide you with robust solutions. So, what are you waiting for, contact us today to kickstart your app development project.
About Hemant Parmar
Hemant Parmar is an eCommerce expert and a keen Magento consultant who specializes in meeting the needs of businesses in the e-commerce space. Years in the eCommerce market make him a perfect choice for sharing his expertise on eCommerce and Magento 2 development. He believes that customers need to be met no matter how challenging it might be.
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