Entrepreneurs willing to “take their marketing to the next level” have in recent years got quite a real chance of doing so. Wondering what is meant here? It is the growth of mobile app development that presents such an opportunity. Apart from running a website and reaching their audience in social networks, having their own mobile app developed means adding one more direct marketing channel, with huge possibilities to turn into a significant revenue source.
Starting out from big brands, mobile apps development has now shifted to SMBs as well, and the spheres of its use are virtually any you can think of. Having their mobile app created means being close to the customers “on-the-go”, and consequently - deeper engagement, better visibility, and brand recognition, and more sales opportunities. Moreover, it is a big chance to stand out of the crowd of competitors, who still believe that having their website mobile-optimized is a huge step ahead in mobile marketing.
Types of Mobile Applications
In view of this trend, developing mobile apps looks like a prospective business. It has now become much more accessible for starters, due to an evolution of mobile app types, which has blurred the boundaries between the notions of Android/iOS/MacOS app developer. Moreover, today it is possible to create a mobile app using web development technologies, without the need to refer to a certain programming language. To be more specific, there are now three major types of mobile apps:
- native apps
- web apps
- hybrid apps
Native apps development is limited to one specific platform only, and requires special experience and skills. They win, however, in terms of performance and the ability to maximally use the device’s own resources like camera, GPS, accelerometer, etc.
Web apps are built using HTML5, they are actually mobile websites rendered in a browser. It means the ability to use the same version for various platforms, which seriously reduces development time, and consequently, costs. However, web apps don’t have the look and feel of native apps and aren’t downloadable from app markets.
Hybrid apps combine the best features of the abovementioned types - good cross-platform opportunities along with the native-like appearance. There are two key approaches to creating hybrid apps:
- WebView app - the code base of these apps is built using HTML, CSS and Javascript, and rendered in an embedded WebView browser. The app runs using a native app wrapper.
- Compiled apps - written using one language, the code is then compiled into each platform’s native code.
In terms of freedom of development, the WebView approach looks more promising. It lets use its HTML code components for various mobile operating systems, which means less efforts and time for a developer to deploy the app.
Other benefits of hybrid apps include:
- their development requires virtually no special skills apart from those needed to create a website
- similarly to native apps, they run on the device and can access its some of its resources
- they are available for download at webstores, which means improved visibility
Nevertheless, hybrid apps have some drawbacks:
- their performance loses compared to that of native apps
- it takes huge effort to make the app look native-like
- they don’t support all of the features of the device or its OS
In view of these trends, building mobile apps looks like a business with great perspectives. It has become much less demanding in terms of the level of expertise needed. At the same time, the reduces the cost of the services has significantly increased the demand for mobile apps and enlarged the circle of potential clients to include those with tight budgets. So, now even for a small web development startup without specific knowledge of either of the popular mobile OSs it is possible to create a multiplatform mobile app for a client in the course of a few weeks.>
Who Needs Mobile Apps?
If you think that it is mostly retail industry that benefits most from the mobile apps, you’re in the wrong. In fact, they are already extensively used in food and drink, fashion, beauty, services, entertainment, information, health, finance, sports and other industries. Actually, it could be easier to name those spheres that can do without such apps, and those might be certain B2B segments, but it would strongly depend on their work specifics. In the B2C sphere, implementing a mobile app definitely means a good investment. There are a number of ways it can be used to refine the relationships with customers and “be there for them” at all times.
Still, eCommerce so far is one of the spheres where mobile apps are in strong demand. Apart from providing one more sales opportunity for merchants, it also means caring for the customers. They get an unparalleled opportunity to learn instantly about any new offers, sales, promos and shop with utmost convenience from any place on Earth. Naturally, this market is full of opportunities for companies developing mobile apps and providing mobile app builder services.
How to Make Your Mobile App Builder More Competitive via Multiple Integrations?
However, along with the strong demand comes severe competition. If your mobile app development business is in search for ways to attract more clients thanks to providing more value to them rather than sacrificing the revenue, consider adding multiple eCommerce integrations to your apps feature list.
Don’t worry about the time and complexities connected to developing each integration. API2Cart has already cared about it. It offers a unified API to connect your mobile solution to 40+ most popular shopping carts. Among them are “celebrities” like Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, OpenCart, PrestaShop, etc.
Here’s what possibilities it presents to your mobile app:
- products, categories, orders, customers and their related info retrieval from the online store for fast and easy app development;
- products details, prices, orders real-time synchronization between e-store and its mobile app
- instant inventory updates in the mobile store thanks to getting products count function
- immediate alerts about new orders and order statuses change for e-merchants
Apart from the abovementioned possibilities, imagine how much time you’ll save with API2Cart to seriously improve the functionality of your app builder. It means the opportunity to stand apart and become a viable choice for an increased number of potential clients.
A lot of industry-specific questions must be popping up in your head now. We would be happy to answer them for you as soon as possible. So, go ahead to schedule a free consultation with one of our experts to work out the best integration roadmap for your business.
