Expanding your reach, increasing conversions, and maximizing revenue are critical goals for any ecommerce business. To achieve these objectives, it is important to transform your Oracle Commerce store into a mobile app.
The rise of mobile ecommerce has led to a surge in smartphone shoppers, and overlooking this trend means missing out on a significant customer base. While creating a custom native app can be expensive, there is a cost-effective option: utilizing a mobile app builder. By leveraging an app builder tool, you can create a fully functional and top-quality mobile app for your Oracle Commerce store at a minimal cost.
Read on to learn more about the process of converting your Oracle Commerce store into a mobile app.
Over the course of five years, mobile has experienced remarkable growth. In 2022 alone it comprised more than 72% of the total ecommerce market share, up from just over 52%.
This aligns with the general trend of mobile internet usage, which increases every year. Presently, mobile holds a market share exceeding 50% when compared to desktop and tablet. And further exacerbating that, 15% of Americans today exclusively use smartphones to access the internet. This represents the future of ecommerce, with customers not only being mobile-first but mobile-only.
While optimizing your site for mobile serves as an initial step, it isn't enough to keep up with this mobile trend. Apps provide a superior user experience on mobile devices, leading to improvements in several key metrics, including:
When compared to shoppers on mobile browsers, those using ecommerce mobile apps are twice as likely to revisit the store within 30 days.
A lot of that is thanks to the advantage that comes with utilizing mobile push notifications, which have a huge impact on opt-in rates, open rates, and click-through rates.
Simply put, apps provide an excellent tool for nurturing loyal, repeat customers. And an Oracle Commerce mobile app is capable of empowering your business with several significant benefits within the ecommerce space.
If you're interested in launching a mobile app for your Oracle Commerce store, keep in mind that it cannot be done directly on the platform. Oracle Commerce is primarily designed for webstores. However, there are alternative methods you can explore:
You can transform a Oracle Commerce store into an app using one of the methods mentioned above.
But be aware it is recommended that most store owners disregard the third option of hiring developers to build native apps. The main reason for this is the cost involved in mobile app development. Creating a native app can range from $30,000 to $150,000. And that's just for one operating system - you'll need to double this cost to launch apps for both Android and iOS devices.
App development is a time-consuming and expensive process to begin with. It becomes even more challenging when your developers need to build an API and connect the back end of your apps to your Oracle Commerce store.
You might not have the budget for this - and that's before considering the annual costs of maintaining your app.
It's easy and understandable to overlook the long-term expenses that come with an app. The maintenance and upkeep, including OS updates, Oracle Commerce updates, bug fixes, launching new features, and making improvements, typically amount to approximately 15-20% of the initial cost each year.
In some cases, the costs can be even higher. When Rainbow Apparel was launching their apps, VP of Marketing David Cost extensively researched the topic and discovered that the annual expenses could reach up to one million dollars. He concluded:
"If we had unlimited time and financial resources, we would likely opt for a custom native app. However, the maintenance cost alone would range between half a million to a million dollars per year."
Let's take a conservative approach and assume that building apps for both mobile platforms costs $150,000. Based on this estimate, the yearly cost for updates and maintenance would amount to $30,000.
For most store owners, this expenditure is too substantial. Moreover, managing multiple platforms instead of just a website can be a major hassle. It triples the workload whenever site modifications are required.
The ideal solution is to transform your Oracle Commerce store into an app using a mobile app builder.
A Oracle Commerce mobile app builder will convert your existing Oracle Commerce website into a mobile app that closely resembles a native app, making it easy for users to download and use the app freely on their mobile devices.
The top app builders can provide you with a mobile app that offers about 90-95% of the features you would find in a native app, but at a much resonable price and with less work on your end. However, it's important to note that not all options available in the market are suitable for creating the mobile app you deserve.
If you happen to be a renowned brand with a plethora of resources at your disposal—think Nike, Target, Zara—you might be able to invest in the development of your shopping app from scratch.
But on the good chance that's not the case, MobiLoud is the ultimate solution for building an app. MobiLoud provides a simple, affordable, and rapid approach. Moreover, the ongoing maintenance of your apps becomes much more cost-effective and manageable.
Let's break down the process step by step.
There are two ways you can begin:
Whichever option you choose, you'll notice that 90% of the app creation work is already completed if your site is currently set up for mobile.
If you need assistance in optimizing your site, we can handle that stage of the process too! Optimizing your site is a crucial step to ensure a smooth process from start to finish.
If you're ready to kickstart the building process, simply sign up to MobiLoud. All our plans come with a refund policy within the first 60 days and don't require signing up for a long-term engagement.
From there, our team will work closely with you to configure and design your app. Keep in mind that most of the groundwork has already been done, so you won't need to start from scratch. Just a few tweaks are needed to make your app look and feel like a native application!
After your app design is approved, we'll get to work and make your vision a reality. Leave all the technical aspects to us - no coding knowledge is necessary on your end at all.
If you prefer our team to handle the entire process from start to finish, we're here for that too. Our full-service package includes everything you need to configure, design, and publish your app, allowing you to have a completely carefree experience.
After your app has been developed, you'll be ready to launch it to the public. We'll work with you to create a strategy for encouraging app downloads.
We offer various resources to do so, such as materials for app store descriptions, launch announcements for your website and email subscribers, press releases, and more. Plus, you can activate additional features at no extra charge, including intelligent app banners and app-exclusive promotions, to incentivize your existing customers to make purchases through the app.
At last, we'll launch your apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
The submission process for these app stores is challenging, especially if you're new to it. However, we have extensive experience and expertise in this area so you don't have anything to worry about!
We offer a 100% app approval guarantee and take care of multiple submissions if necessary. We also provide recommendations and implement any required changes. We have it all covered.
Once your app listings are live, you can officially begin watching the downloads add up and experience the competitive edge that comes with having your own Oracle Commerce mobile app!
Mobile is dominating the ecommerce industry. Most of your current earnings likely originate from mobile devices. If not, you should expect this to be the reality soon.
Your Oracle Commerce store needs more than just a mobile-friendly website. To fully capitalize on your mobile user base, having your own branded app is crucial.
Today, converting your Oracle Commerce store into a mobile app is easy and affordable when you partner with MobiLoud. Instead of spending exorbitant amounts on mobile developers, MobiLoud offers a highly accessible and effortless solution.
Here are some final reasons you should consider MobiLoud's Oracle Commerce app builder:
Our simple, no-code app builder allows you to launch your own shopping apps and join the ranks of the world's top brands in the app stores.
Contact us now to learn more about how our team can assist you in launching an app for your Oracle Commerce store. Book a free, personalized demo, and one of our app professionals will guide you through the entire process.