Potential customers regularly ask us whether native mobile applications are the right choice or if they should opt for developing mobile web sites. Often the amount they would need to invest in one vs the other is their prime consideration but we suggest that you look at the usage and demographic of your client base instead.
Mobile web sites are a rapidly growing way to take advantage of internet access which is fueled by improved speeds of wireless access and the the higher capabilities of modern smart phones. The purpose of a mobile web site is to provide fast information to customers on the go. If your user base will need to access data while on the go but not necessarily on a regular basis a mobile web site is a great choice. A perfect example of this would be for a automotive repair shop that customers may need to look up when their car breaks down out on the road.
IAB has found that a full 61% of customers who visit a website that isn’t mobile-friendly from their smart phone will leave the site to visit a competitor. When considering this single fact the cost of a mobile web site can seem trivial. Often its best to build a mobile web site for purposes like this and native mobile applications for purposes more in tune with the advantages they offer.
It’s important to see the big picture when it comes to smart phones and the mobile web. By 2013, trends suggest there will be more internet-connected mobile devices than people and mobile devices will provide access to over half of the world‘s internet users by 2015.
These trends clearly illustrate that investing in a mobile friendly web site now will pay off for years regardless of whether you have native mobile applications built or not. The best course of action is to develop parallel strategies for the mobile web and mobile applications that take advantage of each mediums strengths are unique characteristics.
Today Juniper Research issued an important new white paper stating that the number of consumers purchasing physical goods remotely via their mobile handsets is expected to increase by nearly 50% over the next two years.
The report goes on to state that numbers will go up to to 580 million purchasers by the end of 2014, up from 393 million this year, further stating that this is due to greater consumer confidence in the mobile device as both a browsing and payment tool. It also shows the increasing importance of mobile as an eCommerce channel, with a large up-shift in mobile as a proportion of online transactions.
The report also states that the average size of mobile purchases would continue to rise, driven by larger volumes of regular, high-value transactions.
Are businesses ready to capitalize on these trends?
According to Juniper Research in the same report, the growth in this area will be constrained by the fact that a majority of retailer sites are not properly optimized for mobile browsing or purchasing. According to Dr. Windsor Holden, “Consumers increasingly expect to be able to buy their products and services via their smartphones and tablets. Companies which do not offer this option face falling behind their competitors.”
There is clearly enormous opportunities for businesses that are willing to maximize there exposure to the market place with properly built mobile applications for both the iPhone and Android platforms as well as mobile web friendly web sites.
Other key numbers
Some of the other numbers that are mentioned in the report are simply staggering. The total annual transaction values from remotely purchased digital and physical goods will hit $730 billion within five years. And we are seeing a fast moving trend of eCommerce moving to smartphones and tablets where the average tablet transaction size already exceed those of desktop and laptop computers. Clearly the purchasing isn’t just a migration, but rather consumers are increasing in their level of confidence for purchasing remotely overall.
If you don’t have mobile applications or at a minimum a mobile friendly web site for your business, now it clearly the time to do so.
If you would like to read all the details in Juniper Research’s fascinating new report, you can download it here.
Based on the most recent numbers from Nielson, half of US mobile service subscribers own a smartphone and each of those, on average, has 41 mobile apps on their device. This is a 28% increase over the previous year according to Nielson, so its pretty easy to see that there is some fantastic growth with regards to mobile application sales. Especially when you take into account the incredible growth in terms of the number of smartphones sold.
Another factor of this survey that stands out is by how much users prefer native mobile applications to html5 applications. Users will spend a great amount more time on a native app than they will on an html5 application. Clearly in most situations, building a native application is still the best choice for now. Nielson’s report also highlighted the incredible growth of this industry in terms of handsets. Right now there are a total of 84 million Android and iOS users in the US and that is more than double the number from just a year ago.
Studies like these tend to punctuate the need for businesses to address how they can leverage mobile apps or they will soon find themselves on the outside looking in. Well conceived and built mobile applications are regularly used by savvy consumers and provide a great way to access an audience that is often turned off by traditional media.