By Adi Mizrahi, senior mobile developer, Cloudinary
Whether in the park, a coffee shop or on the train, most people can be found staring at their mobile screens. According to the State of Mobile in 2022 report, people spent a staggering 3.8 trillion hours on their mobile phones in 2021. And one of the activities people use their phones for most is shopping.
An independent eCommerce trends survey sponsored by Cloudinary revealed that 57% of those surveyed now prefer to research and buy products online. And younger generations – Generation Z (73%) and Millennials (74%) are increasingly doing this mostly on their mobiles. Gen Z is also the most likely to buy items directly through a brand’s app (26%). These findings underscore the need for retailers to adopt a mobile-first approach to target these shoppers and also future-proof their online revenue stream.
Your mobile strategy checklist
Defining and implementing a successful mobile strategy can seem overwhelming for retailers just starting their digital journeys. Where to begin? Here are five considerations to help retailers launch or evolve their mobile strategies.
Measure all
The numbers from the State of Mobile and the Cloudinary eCommerce reports show that many retail site visitors already arrive via mobile. These provide a good benchmark against which to compare exact numbers from your own analytics. Measure all to assess the current mobile experience, and locate gaps, bottlenecks, and growth opportunities. KPIs to look at include bounce rate, time on site, conversion rate, retention rate. It’s also important to analyse loading times, crashes and the operating systems shoppers are using. If you already have an app, measure its performance and the reviews people are leaving in the app stores. Looking at all this information will give you a solid basis for improvement.
Define your goals
Retailers may prefer to take things in stages rather than going for a big bang approach. Some may have no idea what their mobile strategy might look like. For those, a good place to start is by looking at the top-performing apps in their category in the various app stores. It helps to try them out and see what reviewers like or dislike about them. It may also be worth looking outside the UK to the top performers in the US. It’s also important to define goals based on a granular analysis of target audiences and their needs. For example, the eCommerce Report found that videos of actual customers showing how they use products are important to 52% of Gen Z shoppers. This emphasises the value of user-generated content for this demographic.
Web app or native app? iOS or Android?
A key decision retailers need to make is whether to build native or web apps – or both. Native apps built for a specific platform (iOS or Android). Web apps are delivered via internet browsers and can be accessed via mobile or desktop. A key difference between the two is the ability to access mobile device features. While web apps only allow users to access interactions supported by web browsers, native apps allow users to access device features such as location tracking, contact lists, touch gestures or device security features such as fingerprint scans or facial recognition. Native Apps also allow personalised push notifications. If done correctly, these offer a great way to engage with users and keep them informed about new content, offers, and other updates. These features allow retailers to personalise in more sophisticated ways. However, they are also more complex and costly to develop than web applications.
Retailers that choose to go native must decide whether to focus on iOS or Android, or take a cross-platform approach. The latter is the most future-proof option. However, it’s best to be guided by the insights from web analytics to help choose the best option. If going cross-platform, we recommend using cross-platform frameworks such as Google’s Flutter or React Native to make development easier and faster.
Prioritise performance
Images are critical to a retailer’s success. Our eCommerce survey found that users across all demographics consider detailed product galleries (57%) and user reviews with images (54%) as critical success factors for the best online experience. Younger consumers in particular rely on visuals to ‘seal the deal’. However, one of the biggest pain points for developers is dealing with the performance issues caused by handling large amounts of visual assets such as images and videos, which need to load quickly and display well on multiple devices. Adding to the complexity, different platforms support different image formats. Manually addressing the image needs of different platforms means hours of coding for developers. A better approach is to use AI-based image and video optimisation tools instead. These tools offer ways to automate the delivery of images and videos to users in the optimal formats (balancing high quality and fast load times) depending on device and platform specifications. If taking a cross-platform or native approach and working with Flutter or React Native, select AI-based image and video optimisation tools with software development kits (SDKs) for these frameworks.
Application store optimisation
Retailers naturally want their native apps to rank highly in the app stores. There are several ways to help achieve this. For example, using and optimising the right keywords, including keywords with common typos. For best results, step into the users’ shoes and live the experience. Descriptions should be clear and easy-to-read. Compelling visuals like an eye-catching app icon, app preview videos and screenshots will all help attract potential users. A/B testing can help retailers to find out what works best. And when operating in different markets, the more localised the content is, the better.
None of these activities were designed to happen once. To stay competitive, retailers must continuously measure the activities of their mobile users to improve their apps. A/B testing and optimisation should happen on a regular schedule. You only have to consider the recent launch of foldable and expandable phones to see how mobile technology and usage are constantly in flux.
But there’s one thing we know won’t change: retailers can’t do without mobile. And given demographic trends, the future is likely to be mobile only, not mobile first.
