Several trends in the marketplace have made it evident that businesses of all types need to adjust their strategies to accommodate the growing popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices. But let’s take a closer look at this phenomenon to see how retail outlets can be successful in the world of web-enabled devices.

The Statista report on the number of smartphone users in the U.S. from 2018 to 2025 shows an increase from 294.15 million in 2020 to 311.53 million in 2025. The app industry has overgrown in the past three years.

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What’s in it for Retail Business?

The advent of the mobile revolution has facilitated several new methods for retailers to interact with their customers. They no longer need to rely on printed materials or billboards to advertise discounts and special offers, as these can be communicated more efficiently via apps.
In addition, mobile growth has had a significant impact on the buying habits of purchasers. They research prices, products, sellers, and other buyers’ reviews via their smartphones. Today mobile commerce is growing like a weed, surpassing all other forms of e-commerce.
But some industry stakeholders have been hesitant to invest in retail mobile apps. This hesitation is similar to the initial reaction to e-commerce websites in the early 2000s: At first, there was resistance to this idea, but eventually, they were embraced.
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How to Improve Retail Business Services with an App?

It is possible to implement in-app features in two ways. Some companies use third-party solutions; other companies build custom solutions. Using a third-party solution keeps costs down, but it limits the flexibility of your application. Custom software development for retail business makes it possible to tweak an app to meet business goals unlimitedly but can be surprisingly expensive and time-consuming. 

Discerning business owners commonly create a prototype to determine whether a specific feature will improve their business before investing in development. Using retail logistics software is one of them. Using a third-party solution, you can experiment with different solutions to see what works and what doesn’t to see if they are suitable for your business.

1. Integrating with Geolocation Technologies

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Geolocation, the art of using global positioning system (GPS) technology to determine a device’s location, is an effective tool that businesses use to reach customers and find potential and existing clients, especially those near your brick-and-mortar business. Retail leaders like Walmart, Target, and Tesco use geolocation to help patrons find the nearest store and see its hours and amenities.

Geolocation (GPS) identifies the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a mobile device or Wi-Fi-enabled computer. Geolocation is achieved by first identifying the longitude and latitude coordinates. Once the coordinates are determined, they can be presented on a map. The Android operating system and iOS have different APIs for implementing geolocation features in mobile applications.
Android Location Services allows developers to develop apps that need to show maps. Google Maps provide means to overlay data on maps. An application is sent to Google Maps some parameters that should be displayed. Google Maps interpret these parameters and performs the required operations. Therefore, the app does not implement or even see creating a map, drawing objects, or finding locations. It just uses a 3rd party service.
iOS applications on the iOS platform use the iOS Location service to integrate geolocation features. The iOS Maps features are leveraged to facilitate map viewing, including standard, street, 3D views, programmatic panning, zooming, and pitch option. Thus the application interacts with the maps services to implement the above options. By doing so, development time is reduced, and reliable solutions are provided for business owners.

2. Beacon Technology

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Dynamic Beacon technology is another way to increase spending for your business. Active Beacons identify consumers near retail locations and deliver ads based on the consumer’s area. For example, you might offer special coupons when customers visit your store or offer printable coupons to customers near your store as they leave.
Beacon technology based on Bluetooth allows apps on iOS and Android devices to send push notifications to users’ devices when they are within range of a beacon, whether or not they have the app installed.

Beacon technology is widely used by retail giants like McDonald’s, Tesco, Macy’s, and others. Retailers can use this technology to send hyper-local, meaningful ads directly to a smartphone via the Core Location APIs. To implement Beacon in your app, you will get a notification by using the Core Location APIs when the device has moved into or out of a beacon region. 

3. Customer Loyalty Reward Programs

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The popularity of mobile apps has exploded in recent years, making it the perfect way for retail businesses to implement customer loyalty rewards programs. Retail execution software allows customers to access exclusive deals and discounts at their fingertips. Customers also enjoy checking rewards points balances, getting reminders of upcoming promotions, and earning points towards free goods or customer service by completing a store questionnaire.

Retailers offer loyalty programs to entice repeat customers and increase sales of their products. To learn about the types of rewards their customers prefer, retailers use surveys. By tracking their buying habits, retailers can discount individual customers’ items. They can also offer birthday coupons to create and maintain a lasting relationship with their customers.

4. Mobile Payments

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Mobile payments provide customers convenience in shopping more than ever. With the integration of credit card information directly into the app and the ability to pay with built-in technology, mobile payments make purchases more convenient than ever.
Your mobile application can integrate payment options in two ways:
  1. You can use the Stripe platform, which offers native iOS and Android libraries for integrating payments on both platforms. The Stripe platform allows you to create customized payment forms and amount flows without writing additional code. This option is suitable if your application requires flexibility in payment processing, but you want to minimize cost.
  2. Invest in a customized payment system to avoid additional fees and create a more flexible solution. However, this method requires too many back-end modules, which will need to be built

5. Push Notifications & Push-Based Apps

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The app can provide the user with relevant information based on their interests. For example, if the user is interested in a specific product, the app can send alerts about price changes, discount deals, and other information without the customer’s request. In this way, you will keep in touch with your customers easily. Moreover, you can offer them special deals through push notifications that remind them of your events and news: new arrivals, sales beginning, presentations, etc.

6. The Advent of Analytics

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In today’s consumer-driven market, insights have become the new currency. Understanding your customers’ non-obvious needs and delivering a personalized experience to them requires data analysis and analytical skills. Mobile apps collect the data that drive sales, both in-store and out-of-store.
Advanced analytics techniques and mobile technologies help brands understand their customers better. The analytical platform helps retailers make real-time, personalized adjustments to the shopping experience by providing them with new types of data that allow them to predict customer behavior, drive sales in-store and out of the store and analyze the effectiveness of their media campaigns.
To get the most out of analytics in your app, it is highly recommended that you consider integrating analytics tools at the development stage. It’s also important to monitor things before publishing your app on mobile stores. If you need to improve your app or add additional features, make sure you implement them promptly so as not to delay the release of a new version of your app. Moreover, you have the option of using standard dashboards or creating custom ones. The standard panel provides key metrics: number of users, active devices, session duration, etc.
To get a more sophisticated view of your app, use custom metrics. Custom parameters are available in event-based analytics tools and allow you to track user behavior more precisely, including bounce rate (how likely users are to bounce after visiting one page), retention rate (the ratio of retained clients to lost customers), sharing, and purchases. Developers define events and their properties for your app. Event-based analytics tools allow developers to track these events separately or create a series of events (funnels).

Our development team is adept at creating solutions using any analytics software you request: Google Analytics, Flurry, Apsalar, Localytics, etc.

7. Direct Sales Support

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Do you know what type of communication your customers prefer? The rise of social media has led to a strong preference for text-based messaging.
If you genuinely want to meet your customers’ diverse needs, the best way to do so is to keep them in the know via your app. Your customers will be able to reach you whenever and wherever using their smartphones. People need to have easy access to your company’s goods. Remember that customers need a quick way of contacting you at all times. With a rapidly-changing marketplace, it’s best to respond quickly to customer demands.

Final Note

A mobile app has to provide users with more than just a way to buy things to be successful. It also has to give users the option to have a personalized customer experience and respond to their interests by providing them with the app features they want most.
But developing an app is not as simple as it would seem. It takes skill and a team of talented developers actually to do it. Squash Apps has both. Our expertise in mobile commerce is hard to match. Reach out to us to get your customized app solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of a retail business?

Retail businesses sell services or items to consumers; these businesses sell in-person, over the phone, online, and sometimes by mail order. Companies usually allow customers to purchase various entities under one roof. Examples of retail businesses include clothing, drug, online grocery retailer, the food retail industry, and convenience stores.

Is Amazon retail or wholesale?

Amazon is an online retail company, and it does not function as a wholesaler. It works with various business strategies to manipulate the market and offer customers a wide range of discounts. Amazon is the largest Internet retailer, delivering products to retailers and wholesalers through its web application and mobile apps according to their needs. Amazon’s purpose is to earn profit for its shareholders.