The future of electronic commerce: building a fruitful M-commerce site

As digital marketer, Swiss Tomato cannot ignore the growth of M-commerce. If you are in the electronic commerce business, we would like to share a couple of useful tips how to make a successful mobile commerce platform.

As the use of smartphones is getting more and more widespread, they become a larger part of customers’ daily life. People spend more time on their phones, they use them more often for ordering or to buy things, for example to order a pizza, laptops, other smartphones, clothes and almost everything through their phones. This means that mobile commerce is turning increasingly profitable.
In 2015, M commerce accounted for 40% of the global electronic commerce. The two main reasons of the growing importance is that customers can make transactions more easily and their virtual engagement has also been growing. Although companies expand their digital marketing budget, they often ignore mobile platforms. If you have or want an M-commerce store, here are a few tricks how to own a successful and profitable one.

#1 Mobile optimized sites work too

Mobile commerce can work several ways. One option is creating a smartphone application and the other is making a responsive website. The advantanges of responsive sites are that they can attract more visitors through traditional search engines, therefore digital marketing strategies work for them as well (like SEO), customers can share the URL of the website more easily and responsive sites can adapt to all kinds of smartphones. However, mobile applications can establish a WOW factor for users, providing tools they couldn’t reach via browsers.

#2 Offers visually engaging shopping experience

In mobile commerce design has as much relevance as in traditional e-commerce. First of all, carousels are old-fashioned, they might be annoying when a customer wants to click one advertisement and clicks on another one because the carousel changed too fast. Instead of carousels static images can be more useful, not only they are more elegant, but they also minimize data usage.

#3 Be touch & browser friendly

No matter whether you choose to create a smartphone app or make a website, your M-commerce platform should be user-friendly. You need to pay attention to leave sufficient space between the elements of your M-store and build as many clickable units as possible, since they make navigation easier. Customers like if there is a separate menu for new and discounted items, it can increase your store’s conversion rate and attract fresh customers.
Another important user-friendly idea is allowing several payment methods and make the process as effortless as possible. Shoppers love when they can order products with just a few clicks, as on eBAY or Amazon. Neither of these sites ask the payment or shipping information of the customers from time to time, it is enough if they save them once.
Finally, do not send your customers to non-mobile sites during the checkout process, because you will probably lose them. When users purchase via smartphones, they neither have time nor the patience to wait until non-responsive  sites load.
If you have comments, questions or have app development or web design needs in Switzerland, please contact us.