To win customers in a highly competitive retail environment, e-commerce companies have to meet and foresee consumer preferences. This means businesses need to make sure they have reached out to potential and existing clients across all channels. Mobile devices are among the main channels that organisations have to cover for improving user engagement and maximise sales.
In the first quarter of 2021, mobile devices—excluding tablets—generated approximately 55% of the world’s web traffic. It is worth noting that this measure has been consistently hovering about 50% since the beginning of 2017.
In order to take advantage of this mobile device focus and increase revenues, online retailers create e-commerce mobile apps. However, before investing in project implementation, it is crucial to choose between native and hybrid application development. If you have already had a website, you should also consider the possibility of building a progressive web app (PWA).
In this article, our software experts describe all options to help you make the right choice. Let’s get started.
Mobile app development options for e-commerce
1. Native app development
A native mobile app is written for a specific operating system using relevant programming languages. For example, Swift is employed for iOS only while Kotlin was invented for Android. Hence, to build a smartphone solution that can be used on both platforms, software experts have to create and maintain two codebases.
Providing stable, uninterrupted performance, e-commerce native apps offer a better online shopping experience. However, since software engineers have to duplicate business logic and functionality across two implementations, native application development is more costly and time-consuming. Let’s take a brief look at the strong sides of this approach.
The key benefits of a native mobile app for e-commerce:
- A better user experience (UX). As long as all design components are adjusted to different screens sizes and platform versions of iOS and Android devices, online retailers deliver an engaging UX while presenting an attractive, user-friendly design.
- Increased performance. E-commerce native applications, being optimised for the underlying OS, offer faster like-for-like performance in comparison with other app types.
- Access to hardware functionality. Native solutions are better able to access the built-in capabilities of smartphones, getting access to features such as camera, GPS, and accelerometer.
- Offline functionality. Native applications continue operating in a reliable way even if there is no Internet connection.
- Monetisation opportunities. When creating an e-commerce mobile app, software engineers can easier monetise the product using specific ad platforms like AdMob.
Although native solutions provide plenty of important advantages, software experts have to write and maintain two separate codebases, which requires investment. If time and budget are not limited while striving to ensure the best customer experience, native e-commerce application development will be a great choice.
Now, let’s consider real-life projects. For instance, Allegro, the Polish leading e-commerce platform, used Kotlin in its native mobile app. Based in London, Lyst is a fashion technology company that decided to create a native solution, too. Available on iOS, this digital product is built with Swift.
2. Hybrid app development
Hybrid software contains elements of either web or mobile native apps. In fact, hybrid application development is an approach to building a mobile solution that combines the strengths of HTML and native programming. Software engineers write the core of a software product using HTML and then place a native device wrapper for iOS or Android around it.
Like native solutions, e-commerce hybrid apps are downloaded from Google Play and App Store, but they rely on HTML, which is rendered in a browser. In some cases, e-commerce companies make hybrid solutions as wrappers for existing web pages to reduce time-to-market and project expenses.
Top advantages of hybrid app development for e-commerce:
- Time and cost savings. E-commerce mobile app developers do not have to write and maintain three codebases for web, iOS, and Android.
- Cross-platform compatibility. Software experts can build hybrid applications with technologies like Ionic, PhoneGap, Appcelerator, and Sencha, which allows for the creation of products that are available across multiple operating systems.
- Access to smartphone features. As in the case of native application development, hybrid software provides access to various functions, involving camera and GPS.
- Offline mode. Depending on the functionality, a hybrid solution can operate when there is no Internet connectivity.
At the moment, the demand for e-commerce hybrid apps is on the rise. According to a report published by FollowAnalytics, 74% out of the leading 50 mobile retail solutions in the US App Store are developed as hybrid. The list includes Amazon, Target, Etsy, and Walmart.
Nevertheless, hybrid mobile applications generally don’t offer performance that is as fast and reliable as native software. Additionally, since programmers write a single codebase, it is impossible to adjust elements to different screen sizes and platform versions.
Therefore, a hybrid app for e-commerce is a perfect option if the aim is to launch a software project of low or medium complexity. Using this approach, developers will find it easier to achieve scalability, resilience, and performance in a cross-platform environment.
3. Progressive web app development
A PWA is a web app created with web technologies (i.e., HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), which is installed on user smartphones and accessed via a home screen. Indexed by web search engines, a PWA enables customers to interact with the software product even if there is no Internet connectivity.
As a PWA is just a type of website or web page, an online retail company does not have to build a separate e-commerce mobile app from scratch. Instead, engineers just need to ensure that a PWA complies with basic “installability requirements” and provide the possibility to add the website to a smartphone home screen. Furthermore, they can publish a PWA on the App Store and Google Play.
The main advantages of a progressive web app for e-commerce:
- Enhanced customer experience. Although a PWA is a web solution, which is accessed through smartphones, it feels like a native mobile application, including app-style navigation. In addition, shoppers do not have to search for an e-commerce website every time they want to search for goods or services.
They also don’t have to go to stores to download a mobile app that may consume a lot of memory. By saving the time of buyers, an organisation increases user engagement and brand loyalty.
- Offline access. Thanks to this feature of a PWA, consumers are able to access an e-commerce website regardless of Internet connectivity. Additionally, customers will receive push notifications—for example, about happy hours, discounts, order status—without delay. As a result, online retailers can boost user satisfaction or sales.
- Improved security. A PWA is served via Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) utilising robust encryption to provide data security and privacy.
- Reduced costs and time to market. As developers don’t have to build an e-commerce mobile app, development and release times are reduced, cutting down project expenses.
Many e-commerce companies have already gained a competitive advantage through the utilisation of the PWA development approach. For instance, Rooted Objects is a digital marketplace platform that managed to raise the conversion rate by 162% and improve page load speed by 25%.
With a progressive web app, George.com, a popular UK clothing brand, decreased the load time by 3.8x and bounce rate by 2x while experiencing a 31% increase in conversion rate.
If you don’t already have an e-commerce platform, you can launch a website while adding the possibility to install it on smartphones. As a consequence, you will ensure an engaging shopping experience across all devices.
Conclusion
All the above-mentioned ways to create an e-commerce mobile app have their strong and weak points. It is possible to find a perfect match that aligns with business goals and end-user expectations.
If building a complex solution and not tight on budget, native application development will especially suit your needs. As native software is tailored to all the nuances of iOS and Android operating systems, this will ensure the best online shopping experience.
In the case you are going to release a software product of medium or low complexity, you should consider hybrid app development which offers good cross-platform compatibility.
PWA creation, in its turn, is a great option if you already have an e-commerce website or aim to launch one while reaching out to users on mobile devices. To make the right choice, it is also advisable to consult with a trusted IT partner that will analyse your requirements and offer meaningful recommendations.
Eureka has specialised in the development of e-commerce mobile apps for more than 10 years. Our software solutions address client challenges whilst also ensuring security, high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance.
Feel free to contact our team — we’ll soon get back to you to discuss your challenges.