The eCommerce industry is booming and the current atmosphere seems to have a bright future. People are quickly embracing online shopping as it is easier and more convenient. With a pandemic looming around online shopping has become the most effective way to keep businesses running.

To offer a satisfying and convenient shopping experience to the customer’s businesses need to have a good shopping app. Without a good shopping app, it is not possible to stay in pace with the competition. An attractive website is no longer enough to get the attention of the customers. A user-friendly shopping app should be able to provide a memorable buyer journey so they are encouraged to choose your app over the countless others.

Here are a few tips for building an engaging and user-friendly shopping app.

Consider App development approaches:

The first step to developing an app is to consider the different ways you can approach the development process.  It is important to take a look at all the details of the approaches so that you can select the one that is most feasible for your project.

• The first approach to consider is using app builders. There are so many platforms that claim that you can build a shopping app without having even a little bit of coding knowledge. All you need to do is drag and drop a few items here and there and you will have a basic functioning app. It is a cheap and fast way of getting things started but they do not promise quality performance. It can quickly collapse under the pressure of high conversion rates.
• A native or classic approach to developing an app is hiring experienced and skilled app developers. If there is no in-house team then you can always outsource the project.  It is a smart approach because it will allow you to have an efficient functioning app development. The approach offers quality end products but it can be costly.
• The third and final approach is react-native. The react native is a framework that allows you to create a mobile app that allows online shopping on Android and iOS. There is no harm to the UX because the app is developed using JavaScript. The approach saves you the trouble of hiring a team.

Choosing key features:

Once you choose an approach it is time to choose the features for your shopping app. The features are important as they determine what shopping experience customers are going to get. There is no need to add unnecessary features just to make the app look fancier. People prefer shopping apps that are simple and easy to navigate instead of the ones that are just there for aesthetic purposes.

Here are some basic features that every shopping app should have:

• Product screen: Users mostly visit a shopping application just to interact with goods and business so make sure that it shows everything you have to offer.  The product should have a clear structure. The items need to easily categorize to find what they are looking for. The structure of the product screen should suggest your best products. Use standard navigation patterns and refrain from using multiple patterns as it can make the screen confusing.
• Filtering options: The shopping app should be easy for customers to navigate. Most customers have a particular product in mind when they open the app and filtering options make it easier to find what they are looking for. The searching and sorting features are essential to ensure a quick and efficient shopping experience. You can create filtering options that satisfy your business needs.
• Easy checkout: When customers have the products they want in the shopping cart they do not want to go through countless useless and confusing steps to finally order the product. Many people abandon the shopping cart if the method of finalizing the purchase has too many steps.
• Payment gateway: A shopping need must have a user-friendly payment gateway. Make sure that the checkout is simple and offers convenient paying methods. More payment methods mean that customers do not have to abandon the cart just because they do not have PayPal or credit card. If you have a website then the payment methods of the app should be consistent with it.
• Registration: Registration offers a great opportunity for businesses to establish a durable relationship with the customers. It makes it easier for the company to provide a customized shopping experience by keeping a record of previous purchases.
• Analytics: Integrating analytical tools is a great addition to a shopping app. It is helpful in letting you know whether the app is moving in the right direction or not.

Once you narrow down the features you want you can use the chosen development approach to start developing the app.

Conclusion:

Make sure that all the pros and cons of the features and structure of the shopping are thoroughly explored before you commit to a design. A good app will allow your business to keep up with the competition and maintain good sales.

For more information about building a user-friendly shopping app, feel free to contact Aalpha and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn.

Also read: How To Turn or Convert A Website Into An App | How to create a meditation app