Your first step towards M-Commerce

Everyone knows that smartphones have become the main tool used to go online. This avalanche started on the day when Apple launched the first iPhone and constantly causes more and more confusion on the e-commerce market, so if you do not want your business to be left behind, prepare yourself for a brave step and to get carried away.

The global increase in the popularity of mobile devices has contributed to the development of a new branch of internet commerce – m-commerce. This is not only the only growing marketing medium but also one of the most profitable: if you believe the reports, in the next 4 years the number of transactions made with the use of mobile devices will increase by as much as 42 times.
What actually started the big boom for mobile devices? Marketing? The convenience of use? Certainly one of the most important factors is the growing availability of smartphones (in 2012 the number produced was almost as big as children born) and more and more options that enable: first of all, fast and easy use of the Internet. This, in turn, increased the interest in Responsive Web Design solutions and that is why your priority should be to adapt your website to trouble-free operation in a mobile environment.
Where to start? It is difficult to determine because there is no one rule regarding building a mobile strategy for e-commerce. It all depends on your target group, type, and purpose of your website and many other equally diverse and variable factors. Nevertheless, it’s worth starting with one (or more) of the three basic types of site. These are:

– native application,

– mobile website,

– responsive page.

Below you will find the most important information about them, thanks to which you will be able to choose the general direction for your strategy in the future.

NATIVE APPLICATION

The native application is an application written for a specific website. Thanks to this, it takes into account the capabilities of a given platform by entering its usage pattern. Such applications are usually downloaded via stores such as Google Play or the App Store and are referred to as the best choice for entrepreneurs who value easy and quick access to, for example, device settings.
Unfortunately, the downside of native applications is the inability to prepare one version adapted to operate on different platforms. Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone, tablets … For each of them you need to create a separate application, and later do everything to users want to download them (if you are an online store owner, this means that the above solution will not work in your business).

MOBILE WEBSITE

The mobile website is characterized by the fact that its code and content always differ in the mobile version from the desktop one. Knowing this, you can offer your customers completely different experiences that will depend only on the device that will launch your website. In this case, the downside is that the mobile version contains only one resolution, so it will be much less informative than the desktop version.

THE RESPONSIVE PAGE

The responsive website adapts itself automatically to the device and its resolution, providing users with the same content, regardless of the medium with which it is currently displayed. It adapts its elements easily to hardware requirements, which allows it to achieve high quality regardless of whether it is currently used on a smartphone, tablet, TV, desktop computer or laptop. RWD is a future solution also created for devices that are not even available on the market.
As mentioned earlier, there is no one universal way to create an effective mobile strategy. Your client does not care if he uses a responsive, mobile or another website: he just wants to get what brought him to your site and it’s your job to deliver it in the best quality, no matter what medium you are currently using. uses. That’s why you must not underestimate the mobile strategy for your e-business, and your first decision after reading this article should be to contact an agency specializing in e-commerce solutions.