Why Your Magento Store Needs a Mobile App (10 Data-Backed Reasons)

You chose Magento because you needed power, a platform that can handle complex catalogs, big inventories, and custom logic. And your site probably does that well.

But if you look at your analytics, you’ll likely see that most of your visitors are on mobile, using a browser that is great for discovery but not ideal for turning your best customers into long-term, high-LTV buyers.

Your most valuable customers want one-tap access, saved preferences, and a checkout that feels instant. A dedicated Magento app gives them a faster, more convenient, and more personal experience that keeps them coming back.

What used to be a luxury for giants like Nike and Amazon is now accessible to any serious brand. Today, launching a Magento mobile app is one of the most efficient ways to strengthen retention and future-proof your business.

In this article, we will walk through 10 data-backed reasons your Magento store is ready for its own app.

1. The Mobile Shift Has Already Happened

Globally, 78% of consumers use mobile apps for shopping. In the US, smartphone users spend hundreds of minutes per month in shopping apps, dwarfing the time spent on mobile websites.

If you rely solely on a mobile website, you are asking your customers to fight through browser friction, typing URLs, dealing with slow load times, and navigating tabs, just to buy from you.

Your customers are already mobile-first. If you don't give them a dedicated home on their device, they will find a competitor who does.

Want to see exactly what your Magento store would look like as a mobile app? Get a free preview for your brand.

2. Your Best Customers Convert 3x Better in an App

While your mobile site serves casual visitors, an app creates a high-performance environment for your VIPs. According to our latest Ecommerce Benchmark Report, mobile apps consistently outperform mobile websites on every key metric.

The data is stark:

• Conversion Rate: Apps convert 1.7–3x higher than mobile sites.
• Add-to-Cart: Users are far more likely to add items to their cart in an app environment.
• Purchase Rate: Committed app users buy more frequently.

Why the massive difference?

Take Tadashi Shoji, a luxury fashion brand on Magento. After launching their app with MobiLoud, they saw an 8.3x higher conversion rate compared to their mobile site. Even better, their app users now generate 10x more revenue per user than mobile web visitors.

That’s not a one-off. It’s what happens when your best customers download your app, see your brand on their home screen, and come back more often in a more focused environment

3. Push Notifications: The Retention Cheat Code

Email is getting harder. Open rates are dropping, and the "Promotions" tab is a graveyard for marketing messages. SMS is effective but expensive and intrusive.

Push notifications are the channel you’ve been missing.

Unlike emails that get buried, push notifications land directly on your app users' lock screens. They are impossible to ignore.

• Visibility: Push notifications have up to 90% delivery rates.
• Click-Through: They see 3–5x higher click-through rates than email.
• Cost: They are essentially free to send, unlike SMS which eats into margins with every blast.

For a Magento store, this is a game-changer. You can automate push notifications for Magento to trigger when a user abandons their cart.

Imagine a customer adds a product to their cart but gets distracted. One hour later, their phone buzzes: "You left something behind! Checkout now for free shipping." One tap, and they are back in the cart, ready to pay.

Brands using MobiLoud often generate 10–20% of their total app revenue from abandoned cart pushes alone.

4. Increase Average Order Value (AOV)

App users don't just convert more; they spend more.

Data shows that mobile apps drive 10–50% higher Average Order Value (AOV) compared to mobile websites.

This happens because apps are better browsing environments. The interface is snappier. Users can swipe through product catalogs effortlessly. When browsing is fun, customers view more products. When they view more products, they add more to the cart.

If your best customers are shopping in your app, they’re in a focused environment with fewer distractions than the mobile web. Longer session times and more products viewed per visit translate directly into the kind of “window shopping” that drives higher AOV.

Not sure what a "good" mobile conversion rate looks like? Download the 2025 Ecommerce Mobile App Benchmark Report to see real revenue numbers.

5. Build a Brand Moat on the Home Screen

Think about how your customers find you right now.

They probably have to open Google, type your name, or click a retargeting ad on Facebook. Each of those steps is an opportunity for a competitor to intercept them or for them to get distracted.

An app claims a permanent piece of real estate on their phone: The Home Screen.

Your logo is there, staring at them every time they unlock their phone. This creates a powerful psychological "moat" around your brand. You are no longer just a website they visit; you are a fixture in their digital life.

Being one tap away reduces the mental effort required to shop. Think with Google research shows that convenience is a primary driver of mobile growth. When the impulse to buy strikes, they won't search for you—they'll just tap.

6. Make Rising CAC Sustainable with Higher LTV

Acquisition costs on Meta and Google have skyrocketed, and you’ll still pay roughly the same to win a new customer whether you have an app or not.

The difference is that a mobile app increases their lifetime value without increasing your CAC, so every dollar you spend to acquire a customer goes further.

An app is a retention engine: once someone installs it, you don’t need to keep bidding on keywords or paying for clicks to bring them back.

You can reach them directly with push notifications, keep them shopping in a focused, high-conversion environment, and drive more frequent, higher-value orders.

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that even a 5% lift in retention can increase profits by 25% to 95%.

Your app becomes the home for your most loyal customers, improving your LTV:CAC ratio and softening the impact of rising acquisition costs.

7. Provide a Frictionless User Experience

In 2025, “good UX” mostly means removing tiny bits of friction that add up.

A mobile app does this by giving shoppers a direct route back to your store: one tap on your icon and they are back where they left off, often still logged in with their cart and preferences intact.

Instead of typing a URL, hunting through browser tabs, or waiting to be retargeted with an ad, your best customers build a simple habit of opening your app whenever they want to browse.

That consistency makes the path from intent to checkout feel much easier, which is a big reason app users tend to convert and spend more over time.

If you want to dig into the data behind this behavior, check out our Ecommerce Mobile App Statistics Guide, which pulls together industry research and real brand results.

8. First-Party Data Ownership

We are living in a privacy-first world. Third-party cookies are crumbling. Tracking pixels are being blocked. You need first-party data.

When a customer downloads your app, they are opting into a relationship with you. You get access to clearer data on their browsing habits, preferences, and purchase history without relying on third-party trackers.

You can use this data to personalize their experience.

• Did they look at men's shoes? Send a push notification when that category goes on sale.
• Did they buy a consumable product 30 days ago? Send a reminder to restock.

Apps give you the data ownership you need to survive the changing privacy landscape.

9. Competitive Advantage

Take a look at your direct competitors. Do they have an app?

If they do, they are likely stealing your most valuable customers by offering a better mobile experience.

If they don't, you have a massive opportunity to strike first.

Most mid-sized Magento stores are still relying solely on their responsive website, and research on how many ecommerce stores have mobile apps shows that the majority still haven’t launched one at all. By rolling out an app now, you differentiate yourself immediately and signal to your customers that you are a serious brand, comparable to the major players in your industry.

Don't wait until every competitor has an app to catch up. Be the leader.

Still weighing custom dev vs builders vs MobiLoud? Compare the best Magento mobile app builders on the market.

10. It’s Easier Than You Think (No Custom Dev Needed)

This is the reason most Magento store owners hesitate. They think: "I don't have $150,000 and 9 months to build a custom native app."

And they are right. Traditional custom app development is slow, expensive, and risky. But you don't need to build from scratch.

Your Magento site already has your products, your checkout logic, your payment gateways, and your design. You don't need to rebuild that.

Final Thoughts

The mobile shift isn't coming, it's already here.

Your customers have moved to apps because they offer a faster, smoother, and more personal shopping experience. If you rely solely on a mobile website, you are hitting a retention ceiling that no amount of optimization can break.

This is where MobiLoud comes in.

We help high-growth Magento brands launch premium iOS and Android apps in about 30 days. Unlike custom development that takes months and costs six figures, or template builders that break your functionality, MobiLoud syncs perfectly with your existing store.

• Real-Time Sync: Products, inventory, and prices update instantly.
• Zero Maintenance: We handle all updates and App Store submissions for you.
• Full Functionality: Your complex Magento plugins, checkout flow, and design work out of the box.

You don't need to rebuild your business to get an app. You just need to unlock the one you already have. Want to see what your store looks like as an app? Get a free preview of your app today!

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