Tricks to Set the Right KPIs for eCommerce Marketplace Fulfillment Operations

Just because you are not running a physical store doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep a measure of your sales and orders. An online business needs to be monitored as well, and for that, you need to have the right KPIs established in the right way.

There are too many things to be managed and measured in an eCommerce business, and one among them is order fulfillment. It is something that doesn’t affect the sales directly but can create a significant impact on the business if ignored. If you are getting regular orders, it does not mean you can fulfill them as and when you like. You have to maintain discipline, professionalism, and dedication towards every single order, no matter what size.

Now, since it is impossible to keep an eye on every order and track and measure its aspects accurately and continually, you need to establish meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) that can do the job for you.

Also Read: eCommerce Personalization: A Trend That Will Get Past Traditional Commerce in 2021

KPIs? What Are They?

KPIs are the navigational instrument for an organization that gives a clear picture of the current status of the business whether it is where it needs to be. KPI that stands for Key Performance Indicator is a set of quantifiable measurements that demonstrates the effectiveness of an organization and its progress towards achieving its goals. It is a way to measure how well companies, business units, projects, or individuals are performing in relation to their intended result.

KPIs are used at multiple levels of an organization depending on the complexity of each, for example, high-level KPIs are established to focus on the overall performance of the business, while low-level KPIs help in focusing on processes in departments such as sales, marketing, HR, support and others. In short, they are incredible navigation and decision-making tools that help determine a company’s strategic, financial, and operational achievements, especially compared to those of other businesses within the same sector.

Why Do You Need Them?

Needless to say, the benefits of having the right set of KPIs in your business are many.

First of all, they help you measure everything from performance, issues to results. KPIs allow you to forecast trends and growth plans for the future based on your current outcomes and business status.

KPIs allow you to monitor the operations of your warehouse and eCommerce fulfillment process to keep your sales healthy.

KPIs assist in setting up your business goals by giving a complete overview of all aspects of your business and thereby help you determine – where you are losing money? Where you are lacking resources? Which areas need improvement? How can you save money? etc.

KPIs can also empower employees to take action, improve their performance along with that of the organization, and receive incentives for excellent KPI reporting.

KPIs in Order Fulfillment: What to Measure?

An order fulfillment operation usually includes receiving, put away, storage, order picking, packing, and shipping, and hence to streamline them, you need to have KPIs in the following areas:

Receiving – The entire process of your order depends upon how you receive it. If you get it on time, you can deliver it as fast as possible. Here, KPIs can help you determine whether you are receiving orders promptly by calculating the percentage of late receipts over the number of closed ones.

Put away – After receiving the order, KPIs can be used to figure out how quickly the ordered items can be made available for sale? You can achieve this by measuring the percentage of items that are put away on shelves or pick faces on time.

Inventory Management – Next, KPIs can contribute to keeping track of your inventory. It can be measured in two ways: the first is cycle count that involves counting a small subset of your inventory in a specific location on a specific day, and the second is a physical inventory count that is tedious and time consuming where you actually go through your entire inventory and count every product and SKU. In both of these, the numbers that you get from the count you performed are compared with the records you have of what the inventory numbers should be.

Order processing – KPIs play a great role in calculating the order turnaround time i.e, how fast a particular order can be accurately picked, packed, and prepared to ship out in the most efficient manner? Its metrics will tell you if there is an issue with your supply chain or not?

Shipping – By identifying the target percentage of orders meeting customer expectations with the help of the right set of KPIs and dividing that by the total costs that are incurred in operating the fulfillment center; you can get to know how much you are spending, per order and where you are making mistakes. By going through every single cost i.e labor, damaged products, returns, operational costs (such as utilities, taxes, rent, etc.), equipment costs, and other variable costs, you can improve your order management system as well as the amount of time it takes for order processing.

Order accuracy – KPIs can also be established to track the quality of your complete order process to confirm whether you achieved order accuracy or not. It can be measured by tracking quality issues via returns data, customer complaints, and anecdotal feedback, and using the metrics necessary improvements can be made to avoid any footfalls in the order processing.

Also Read: Tips to Turn Your Product Returns into a Competitive Advantage

Setting the Right KPIs

Order fulfillment is a broad area, and there are too many things to be managed and done right and the most common mistake businesses are committing is either picking up wrong KPIs and ending up measuring unnecessary information or simply follow the trend and establish unrelated KPIs in their business and wonder what went wrong? Therefore, to avoid such KPI pitfalls, you need to pick the right KPIs and implement them in the right sectors to get desired results.

You can either understand them better and pick the right ones by yourself or seek the help of a third-party fulfillment partner (3PL) like Mobicommerce, an eCommerce solution provider in the Middle East and other countries, to choose and establish the apt KPIs that can help you achieve optimal performance for your eCommerce fulfillment operations and deliver results beyond measure.

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/tricks-to-set-the-right-kpis-for-ecommerce-marketplace-fulfillment-operations/

Multichannel Marketing is The Road to Success for Brands in 2021

Do you know focusing all your marketing on one channel is risky? Because while you are doing that, your competitors are out there taking multiple routes to reach out to customers. So, what should you do? Well, you too should follow the trend.

Marketing Then & Now

Gone are the days when one marketing strategy was enough to please and lure customers because today, you don’t know behind which screen your customers are hiding. So, you have to be there where your customers are. What we mean to say is you need to take multiple routes to market your brand if you want to get noticed by a large customer base. But, how should you market? On your own or your exposure in a marketplace is enough for your brand? Let’s get into the details.

The exposure a brand gets in a marketplace is not as same as the marketing a brand does for itself as both have opposite goals. Where multi vendor marketplace owners want their customers to choose from the brands that are available at their marketplace, brands want customers to go to any retailer to find their product. Therefore, depending solely upon the marketplace for marketing your brand is not advisable for brand owners if they want to stand out from the crowd.

Keep in mind that marketplaces give prime importance to customer behaviour and display and rank products as per their demand, ratings, reviews, and choice. Therefore, for your brand to get noticed either it must meet all the above eligibility or you as a brand owner need to deliver a unique experience that beats the competition. Also, as per the research, 70% of users never go past the first page of the search results so to be there and maintain the first-page position; brands need to have a sound channel strategy spanning which includes other channels i.e., Multichannel Marketing.

What is Multichannel Marketing and Why Branded Manufacturers Need to Focus on It?

Multichannel marketing is the utilisation of multiple platforms to reach out to customers at every touch point. By diversifying your marketing strategy, you not only get to connect with more leads but also can stay top of mind with your customers. There are various ways to achieve that like:

Direct to Consumer :

You can reach out to your customers directly, cutting out the need for any intermediaries. It allows brand owners to provide an end-to-end brand experience because they have control over the entire process. Unlike marketplaces, a brand is fully responsible for driving traffic, customer experience, acquisition, and relation.

Social Platforms:

Today social networking platforms have turned into shopping mediums more than connecting with people. With the rise in smartphone usage, people are always hanging in one or the other social platforms, and hence it becomes easy for brands to reach out to customers on such platforms as the chances of getting noticed are more via them than the website or app. Social platforms act as the best medium to lure customers to your website or mobile app and push them to make a purchase.

A lot of commercialising happens nowadays on social platforms because the majority of customers are on it, and hence; it takes fewer efforts to reach out to them than the traditional techniques.

Traditional Methods :

Although the world is becoming digitalized and people more tech-savvy, it is important to stick to your roots and hence, traditional ways of marketing still play an important role in a brands’ success. Therefore, print, television, radio, emails, all these are necessary and one must incorporate in their marketing strategy along with the latest methods to achieve the attention of a wide customer base as well as for growth and sales.

Now, to travel multiple roads of the market, you must have an eCommerce solution that supports all of the marketing strategies as well as the below-mentioned points.

It must support multiple touch points i.e., website, mobile, any other connected device, social media etc. as you never know where your customers are using what kind of device. Thus, while developing your eCommerce solution, ask your eCommerce mobile app builder implement headless API-first architecture to onboard new sales channels. Know from your developers whether the APIs are Restful, well-documented, and easy to use as the nature of it significantly impacts the speed to market for new sales channels.

It must be scalable. As your business grows, you will have to make changes in your eCommerce solution as well because you cannot build a new one every time. Therefore, ensure that your multi-vendor marketplace solution is extendable to accommodate new experiences with changing trends in order to deliver a unique experience to your customers.

It must provide a unified shopping experience across all sales channels. A customer not necessarily browses and shops at a time. It happens that they leave a shopping cart halfway in a website and then later open up in a mobile app but, if at that time the customer is displayed that the shopping cart is empty, it can annoy the customer so bad that he/she may never come back. Thus, your marketplace solution must give a unified experience no matter what sales channel the customer uses and when.

In a nutshell

The competition is getting fierce and for your brand to get noticed, you need to not only make your marketing strategies effective but also your marketplace solution well developed to stand out in the competition.

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/multichannel-marketing-is-the-road-to-success-for-brands-in-2021/

Best Magento 2 Extensions to increase eCommerce sales

Introduction

Magento 2 can be considered as one of the most reliable and widely used eCommerce platforms currently available in the market as it has helped a lot of businesses in increasing sales and becoming successful.

Talking about increasing sales, a BONUS TIP here would be, to also learn Magento mobile app development to boost the growth of your business and make it stand out in the market. But for today, I am only going to be talking about the best Magento 2 extensions to increase eCommerce sales.

Even though there are a lot of other platforms available online but Magento development services should be your best choice as it has a more quality and comprehensive feel about it.

Therefore, here I have listed some of the best Magento 2 extensions which will help you boost your business!

Why You Need The Best Magento Extensions

With the extreme competition in the market, it becomes essential for a store that other than giving good sales, it also provides the best return on your investment.

There are multiple things that Magento merchants can do to increase their sales like building an e-commerce app for android and IOS or using the best Magento Extensions for their website.

These Extensions help you to improve the efficiency of your Magento 2 store, and give your customers the seamless experience they want and increase your sales.

Best Magento 2 Extensions for Business in 2021

• B2BeCONNECT for Magento

This is a B2B extension for Magento that provides B2B functionality within a Magento store.

When it comes to changing any eCommerce store, B2B is the next big thing. This Magento plugin turns any basic Magento store into a store that is full of features. Through its amazing service offerings, a B2B Magento business serves a wide range of consumers.

• Magento 2 Shop By Brand

Customers can use this extension to explore the dedicated brand pages of their preferred brands before making a purchase.

This extension assists merchants in creating numerous brands with logos and names, as well as promotes some of the most popular brands.

• TaxJar Sales Tax Automation for Magento 2

TaxJar Sales Tax Automation is the finest Magento 2 extension out there since it deals with account calculations and financial-based business activities.

It aids in the automation of a variety of corporate activities such as sales tax collecting, reporting, and filing, and many others.

It can also help you connect with channels like Amazon.com

• Layered Navigation

This extension is one of the most downloaded Magneto 2 extensions. This is mainly for businesses that have a lot of different kinds of products.

With this extension, buyers can click on a category, and it will display the products that match the criteria they applied.

While clients are visiting your store, this helps to reduce clutter and confusion increasing the chances of the buyer staying for a longer period and buying your products.

• InstantSearch+

It analyses a visitor’s activities by showing them the most closely matched products first, which helps in the conversion of as many visitors as possible. Along with this function, it also includes other features like AutoComplete, Individual Results, and more.

• Authentication

This extension prevents your website from spyware and maintains a list of trusted IPs.

By enabling additional authentication protocols for visitors, this plugin helps speed up the purchase and checkout process. This prevents hackers from interfering with payment procedures.

• Auto Select Shipping Payment

The checkout screens are never-ending, therefore to avoid scrolling and go straight to the money confirmation page, you should use this extension.

It allows customers to skip to the final stage of the process after selecting their preferred shipping option, making it quicker for them to buy and exit.

• Multi-Channel Marketplace Selling Integration

It enables online businesses to use a single platform to list and sell products on numerous prominent marketplaces.

This is also a useful tool for cross-border selling, as it allows you to sell Magento products on Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.

• Magezon Page Builder

Magezon Page Builder is a set of tools that allows you to build and maintain your Magento website. You can easily configure product descriptions, site structure CMS Page in seconds using this extension.

• Magento One-step Checkout

Abandoned client carts are the last thing a Magento business wants to deal with. This plugin improves the checkout process, lowering cart abandonment by 66 percent, cutting checkout time by over 80%, and leading to an increased conversion rate (more than 30%). The One-Step Checkout addon allows you to check out in only one step.

• Bingo ElasticSearch

If you use this plugin, the search results appear instantly.

Furthermore, this plugin has a thorough search box that is capable of understanding both singular and plural words. It also has catalogs, products, characteristics, and admin features.

• Nosto Personalization

Nosto is another great Magento eCommerce development extension for allowing the display of personalized product recommendations for buyers online. Nosto provides AI-powered shop personalization. It analyses data points in real-time across a whole store and allows users to create, deploy, and optimize marketing campaigns.

• Magento 2 Marketplace Extension

This extension allows you to sell products just like popular markets like Amazon, eBay, etc.

The admin, in particular, has complete control over the store, including advanced reports such as bestsellers, most seen products, a line chart for sales statistics by day, month, and year, most recent orders, and a list of the top countries that consume the products.

You can also design an attractive theme to display your products.

• Magento 2 Contact Form Extension

This allows online store owners to quickly and easily add an easy contact or feedback form for customers to fill. The information is communicated with the business owner in a few minutes after the form is submitted using Flexible Magento 2 Contact form Extension.

Conclusion

So, these were the 14 extensions that you can use for improving your online eCommerce store, for more sales, and for increasing your profits. Do check them out and make your eCommerce store stand out!

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/magento-2-extensions-to-increase-ecommerce-sales/

7 Must-Apply Supply Chain Strategies Tips to Improve Your Multivendor Ecommerce Business

For any business to survive the competition, strategies are required to be applied timely, especially, when the time is turbulent like at present due to the COVID-19 situation. Strategies are a must and the sector of a multi-vendor eCommerce business that needs such strategies the most is – the supply chain management (SCM).

What is Supply Chain Management (SCM)? 

One of the most challenging divisions of a multi-vendor marketplace solution is its supply chain which is the handling of the entire production flow of a good or service — starting from the raw components, product development, sourcing, production, packaging and all the way to delivering the final product to the consumer and even collecting returns, including the information systems needed to coordinate these activities. It is a network of suppliers (“links” in the chain) created by the company to move the product along from the suppliers of raw materials to those organisations that deal directly with users in order to maximize customer value and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

Why is it important? 

Supply chain management is an effective way to minimise cost, waste and time in the production cycle. It helps you keep your inventory in check and meet the needs of the demand-driven customers. With supply chain management; you can identify potential problems like shortage of products before the buyer gets disappointed, adjust prices according to the season and demand, and improve your delivery promise.

Now let’s understand the eight supply-chain strategies that will help your eCommerce business thrive in the current environment.

1. Plan your business based on demand-driven customers

Online business has scaled up during the lockdown period due to COVID-19, and hence there is no pause in the demands of customers in online stores. In fact, during the lockdown i.e. from March to May, many online retailers experienced disruption in the supply chain due to sudden surge in demands. Therefore, you got to structure your supply chain accordingly. Make use of powerful digital tools like Artificial intelligence technologies and internet of things (IoT) networks to act quickly and get real-time insights to meet the demand as soon as possible.

2. A resilient and agile supply chain is the key

How faster and better can you deliver is the only point of focus in today’s competitive world. Adaptability, speed, risk reduction, and sustainability, these are the key points companies today are paying attention to more than anything as customers have various options, and they don’t have to wait for you. Your supply chain got to have greater operational speed and flexibility in order to thrive in this new reality.

Adopt emerging technologies like cloud-based platforms to link your financial and materials-planning tasks to business-execution activities such as procurement, manufacturing, and inventory management, or methods like adopting more flexible sourcing and distribution strategies, including shifting to suppliers that are closer to home, engaging with customers in new – often virtual – ways, omnichannel ordering and fulfilment, etc. will help you sail through amid an ever-changing market landscape.

3. Innovate to grow

Customers look for variety in everything be it products or services, and if they are getting the same monotonous experience from your end, they will move on to others, therefore it is important to keep experimenting and innovating new practices also as per the current market. For example, Swiggy started delivering groceries and other essentials other than food delivering. Therefore, you can consult ecommerce solution provider who can help you in simplifying supply chain activities right from product procurement to product delivery.

4. Expand your fulfilment centre to lower shipping costs & delivery time

Faster delivery and lower shipping costs are what you and your customers desire; therefore, in order to achieve this common goal, a multi-FC strategy is the best approach. Expanding your facilities, inventory, staffing, and management will help you deliver to more customers nearby that area; quickly as well as at low shipping rates.

5. Scale up the number of picked orders per day

One of the most laborious tasks is order picking and delivering it accurately, and timely are keys to a successful eCommerce and customer experience. Improve your order cycle time, reduce replenishment trips and reduce put-away and picking time by slotting your order effectively. A fully automated order slotting method can provide high ROI, but not everyone can afford that. Try improving your storage capacity, opting for locations that are easier to pick from, separating similar products or SKUs that could be mis-picked etc., to increase your number of picked orders.

6. Optimize product design and management for supply, manufacturing, and sustainability

Considering product development and supply-chain planning as separate functions can be one of the major roadblocks in your order fulfilment. Merge design teams with supply-chain planners on a single (usually cloud-based) platform to speed up the process. Moreover, this kind of collaboration, as well as smart procurement practices such as supplier prequalification will help product developers source the right components upfront, based on factors such as parts availability, quality, and cost and will help you gain faster time to market, greater product revenue, and reduced scrap and rework expenses.

7. Embed sustainability 

There are environmental and social consequences behind every supply chain management process like carbon emissions of transportation networks, industrial waste from factories, ethics practised by suppliers, etc. Therefore, a sustainable supply chain practice is important in today’s time from guiding decisions ranging from product design and factory floor configuration to sourcing and logistics.

Some of the strategies to optimize supply chains for sustainability are:

• Developing long-term targets to bring down the company’s carbon footprint, energy usage, and improving recycling efforts.
• Deploying new technologies to ensure responsible environmental practices such as altering truck routes to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
• Applying a shared data model to provide end-to-end visibility and real-time insights.

In a nutshell

The competition is getting fiercer every day, and with people switching to online shopping more after the lockdown and due to the scare of the COVID-19, strategies are a must if you want to survive and keep going. Apply the above-mentioned strategies, and you can see a significant difference in your b2b ecommerce software solutionsfor sure.

Original source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/7-must-apply-supply-chain-strategies-tips-to-improve-your-multivendor-ecommerce-business/

Progressive Web Apps V/s Responsive Websites: Decoding Differences & Deciding A Winner

Progressive? Responsive? Aren’t all one and the same? Well, making a web presence today needs you to decide between too many things and one among which we are going to discuss below.

You decided to get an online presence developed and approached a decent web development company but are asked to choose whether you need a responsive website or a progressive web app, and out; comes your reply, “whatever is the cheapest or as you seem fit.” Well, PWA or responsive website is no rocket science that you cannot understand. Once you know both, you can easily pick what you want rather than leaving it to the developers. So, are you ready to learn about them? Let’s begin!

Progressive and Responsive; indeed both sound, look, and function similar but, there are a few detailed differences that one needs to understand if one doesn’t want to be left behind in the cutthroat competition.

So, beginning with the introduction:

A Responsive Web Design is an intellectual approach to provide a seamless user experience on devices of any size, type, platform, etc. due to the sharp rise of mobile shoppers. Smartphones have become a part of our life, and there’s nothing that cannot be done via them therefore, people today expect to get a remarkable mobile experience no matter what device they are using, which has become possible with responsive web design.

While Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are next-level web apps. They run in the browser mimicking the behavior of an app without the need to download the app from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store. Although they feel, look, and perform similar to native apps, the innovation of PWA was made to overcome all that native apps lacked like offline support, push messages, faster response time, less storage space, and other advanced features that customers expect in a UX.

Overview of current PWA market trend

The way PWA offers the most up-to-date web capabilities into app-like capabilities to users its fanbase is spreading wide. Users are getting attracted like a magnet which is making many business owners opt for PWA app development in order to stay put. Need proof? Big and esteemed brands like Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Trivago, etc. are some of the finest examples who after getting their PWA developed experienced an impressive rise of on-page per session and a reduction in the bounce rate which would have taken years to achieve with responsive websites. In fact, Google itself transformed its Chrome Apps to PWAs in 2018 and as per 87% of digital marketers, PWAs as an upgraded and improved version of web apps; is the future.

Similar experiences yet different, how?

PWA and RWD both give almost similar user experiences and share almost all the same benefits from the Web which include – one URL, one codebase for all platforms, enhanced security with HTTPS, better discoverability, and always up-to-date, etc. but differ a lot in their real-world impacts. So, let’s dig into what makes them apart.

Feature-wise

• Push Notification

One of the most important features that make PWA stand out is Push Notification. It gives you a pop-up where the user will be asked to subscribe for notifications. Once subscribed, the user will get a subscription ID after which every user will start receiving unique notifications.

• Offline Capability

Poor or no connection at all, PWAs function just fine under all circumstances unlike in responsive websites where you get stuck with a shaky Internet. Users can browse, shop, stream, easily because PWAs smart cache feature allows websites to store a large amount of data offline, giving PWAs much of the functionality of native apps.

• No Download Required

PWAs are great space savers. A Progressive Web App is like a soul without a body means it can live on your home screen as a tappable icon and does not need to be installed taking up space on your phone like native apps. You simply have to “Add to Home Screen” and use it just like native apps.

Performance-wise

• Lightning Loading Speed

Speed matters the most today as people today do not even have a split second to wait and hence if something takes more than a few seconds to load, that’s it, people leave the very moment. A responsive website is impressive but a PWA is a level-up and the reason behind it is its “App Shell” architecture that consists of the code that caches to the mobile device after loading it for the first time. Hence, the speed. Moreover, due to cached content, PWAs can load fast even with poor connectivity or function in offline mode as well in mobile devices. Also, since faster loading translates to better indexing by search engines, PWAs have considerable SEO advantages.

• One For All

We never know what kind of device do users use and hence making a solution that works for all is what we can do with PWAs. They are extremely adaptive and hence require no separate coding for the platform (Android, iOS, web).

Usability-wise

• Budget-friendly

Many don’t even bother to find the truth about the PWA app development fearing it will be expensive as it’s something new. Well, guess what? PWAs comparatively are expensive to make than websites but are cost-effective than native apps. PWAs don’t cost as much as developing a native app from scratch neither do you have to upgrade it frequently which would cost you in any way.

• Better App-like Experience

Compared to responsive websites, PWAs give better user experience, engagement, and conversions due to their impressive features that a user cannot find anywhere else. With PWAs one can not only attract users but can also channel them down the sales funnel due to its simplicity, usability, and smart features that native app lack behind.

So, do we have a winner?

Well, clearly PWA appears to be a winner as we are praising it since the beginning but, although it might appear to be tempting to jump on board the PWA bandwagon, not necessarily it is the only thing your business needs. Nor does it make responsive websites or native apps useless. Each come with their pros and cons and hence it is up to you to decide which technologies are right for your requirements.

Jump the PWA train if you want to provide a seamless mobile experience with app-like features like (easy home screen app access, offline use, and high-quality, full-screen functionality), and if site speed and accessibility is your target then responsive web design is all you need. No matter what you pick, MobiCommerce, a

Progressive web app development company, known for its effective digital solutions is within your reach anytime, anywhere.

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/progressive-web-apps-v-s-responsive-websites-decoding-differences-deciding-a-winner/

Mobi PWA: A True PWA Frontend

The mobile platform has not only changed the way humans communicate today but also redefined their buying patterns. Research shows that 96% of Americans own a smartphone, and considering 69% have shopped on mobile at least once in their lives shows that this technology is here to stay. Businesses must leverage that.

Interestingly, the monopoly of mobile apps was challenged several years ago with the advent of Progressive Web Apps. Short for PWAs, they are a powerful combination of the web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS and the feel and functionality similar to an actual native app. PWAs do not require any downloads and can be delivered through the web.

How PWAs Outperform Native Apps in eCommerce

Although the amount of revenue that mobile apps drove globally exceeded $580 billion in 2020, there are several ways in which PWAs outperform them:

1. Loading speed

Since PWAs use service workers to manage requests, caching, and storing shell data, they load quicker than a native app — even without the internet. However, the data would not refresh until the app is reconnected to the internet.

But that is a small price to pay when it comes to delivering excellent user experience. Since loading speeds have a tremendous impact on user retention and engagement, this is a critical benefit of a PWA.

2. Development cost

Building a PWA that runs on multiple operating costs and platforms is cheaper than developing a native app from scratch for both Android and iOS. In fact, it would dramatically reduce your workload as you would not have to invest time updating it and adding new features to it now and then. Managing PWAs is hassle-free.

3. Storage space

Native apps take up space on the mobile phone. The heavier the app, the more space it will take — which is not favorable in the long run. With PWAs, that is never a problem. The end users can access the PWA’s full functionality without having to worry about the storage space.

4. App visibility

Unlike native apps that can be downloaded from the app store, PWAs can be accessed on the browser. A PWA is basically an app-imitating website that needs to be search optimized, increasing the opportunities for organic growth and engagement.

Key Features Of Mobi PWA Solution

Our Progressive Web App Builder is everything you need to achieve success and consistent growth in your eCommerce business. It is compatible with Magento 2.3 version and enables you to create blazing fast and reliable customer experiences on mobile.

Mobi PWA delivers the convenience and utility of the mobile app combined with the reach and engagement of a website in a way that benefits both end customers and eCommerce business owners. Here are ten features of Mobi PWA to know about:

1. Lightning fast speed

Speed is everything online, and if you want to capture your audience’s attention for the long haul, you must deliver a storefront where it loads the pages fast. Mobi PWAs use service workers to do local caching and fetch data. This means the page content within milliseconds — even without the internet connection. Who does not want that?

2. More customer engagement

You want your customers to be receptive to your offerings. Your business success depends on it! Mobi PWA is engineered to bridge the gap between demand delivery with smooth checkout, simple UI, and fast speed. You can enjoy 50% higher customer engagement rates with our PWAs. That is a guarantee!

3. Native functionalities

Our mobile-first UX emphasizes making shopping easy for your customers. Besides, our PWA app builders are highly secure, multi-browser-responsive, and SEO-friendly. You can send push notifications and give access from the device’s home screen — without installing it!

4. Multi-platform solution

Your customers are everywhere, which is why developing an app for just one platform is a huge mistake. Mobi PWA is designed to deliver a unified experience across devices. Whether it is mobile or desktop, they will browse through and shop the same way.

5. Marketing compatibility

Knowing how your storefront is performing across platforms is imperative for business growth. Our Mobi PWA helps you analyze your marketing efforts by easily integrating with Facebook Pixel, SEMrush, and Google Analytics. Numbers speak volumes; listen.

6. Flawless user experience

Eliminate the distracting navigation menu on the top and the address bar at the bottom to enable your customers to see the big picture. Allow them to “add your app to home screen” without downloading the app from the app store.

7. Page builder functionality

MobiCommerce wants you to envision the PWA of your dreams, where our proprietary page builder comes in handy. Allow yourself to design the app interface however you like. Create the homepage and category pages using our advanced widgets. You do not need any technical expertise to do this.

8. Multiple integrations and add-ons possible

Our developers will ensure your PWA has all the necessary integrations in place. For instance, if you want smooth web browsing functionality, we would suggest PrestaShop. If security is a huge factor for you, we will go with WooCommerce. Similarly, we would integrate your app with other tools like SEMrush and GA.

9. Responsive and engaging UI

PWAs allow you to offer your end-users a unified experience on the browser and the app installed on their devices. As the interface would be the same on both platforms, the user would not have to learn browsing through more than one interface.

10. Most powerful tech stack

Build a high-performance PWA on Magento that has proven its mettle in the market for boosting user engagement, conversions, and the bottom line. Mobi PWA is exactly the eCommerce PWA solution you want — robust and timeless.

Combine the strength of Magento with the richness of React Native, which comes with a best-in-class JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

In a nutshell, if you aim to fetch maximum traffic to the app without compromising the user interface, Mobi PWA delivers that smoothly and cost-effectively.

Four PWA examples in eCommerce

There is no doubt that PWAs are reliable, incredibly fast, and highly engaging. They have found their worth in eCommerce and how. Here are a few examples:

1. India’s eCommerce poster boy, Flipkart, adopted the PWA technology and fetched 3X more user engagement and lower data usage and 40% higher re-engagement.

2. Alibaba’s PWA achieved around 76% higher conversions across browsers, 4X higher interaction due to the “Add To Homescreen” prompt, and 30% and 14% more monthly active users on Android and iOS.

3. The world’s leading hotel search engine, Trivago, increased its user engagement by 150% after launching a PWA.

4. Top African eCommerce site Jumia reduced its bounce rate by 50% and gained 12X more users after introducing a PWA for their online business. They also witnessed a 33% higher conversion rate.

Over to you

PWAs certainly offer a ton of benefits to the eCommerce landscape, enabling online shops to engage users for the long haul and enjoy higher conversions. If you have not given PWAs a thought until now, Mobi PWA is the right choice for you, and you know why!

We are the best Progressive Web App builder. So, do not waste time. Just book your demo here to get started with MobiCommerce.

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/mobi-pwa-a-true-pwa-frontend/

Emerging Trends in Grocery Retail in the UAE

The UAE is undergoing a once in a generation shift that is affecting how retailers operate. A country that is always hustling and bustling found it hindering when lockdowns were imposed which led to digital adoption and transformation. Retailers are quickly adapting to it to survive and thrive in a market highly driven by consumers undergoing a lifestyle evolution.

Before the pandemic, essential stores had underdeveloped e-commerce, and that is the reason why traditional grocery retailers registered a decline in the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, grocers were quick to turn to digitalisation.

During the lockdown, retailers began approaching grocery delivery app development company in the Middle East; and a lot of newcomers like Noon daily, Sharaf DG and Areem emerged and benefited greatly. At the same time, existing retailers like Nana, Mrsool, Spinneys, with the help of grocery mobile app builders in the Middle East, expanded their digital scope by launching their delivery app.

The online grocery which accounted for only 5% of sales before the pandemic witnessed a jump of 24% during the lockdown. In short, with online shopping becoming the new normal in UAE and around the world, adoption of digitalisation accelerated; however, surviving and sustaining in it is becoming the tricky part due to the cut-throat competition. Let’s look at some of the challenges that grocery retailers faced in the UAE due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Health and safety of employees and in-store hygiene:

Digital transformation is not a substitute for labour-free store operations. As essential services were still available during the lockdown, hence stores had to operate with staff. They gave their health and safety a priority. Thermal screenings, washing hands, wearing face masks and face coverings, minimising interactions with customers by placing glass barriers, and regular disinfection became the new normal as well as challenging.

Supply chain optimisation:

Lockdowns and travel bans led to a significant supply chain issue as it became increasingly difficult to meet the growing demand. Panic buying and confusion disrupted demand estimations for food products, causing a shortage of inventory and other challenges like meeting the increased demand for online orders and home delivery, constant food supply, and sanitation measures.

UAE currently imports 80-85% of food products; henceforth this challenge was the greatest of them all. To avoid contamination and to continue the proper supply of products, many grocery retailers implemented a supply chain management system like batch and lot tracking and warehouse management system.

Also Read: 7 Must-Apply Supply Chain Strategies Tips to Improve Your Multivendor Ecommerce Business

Customer engagement and satisfaction:

With the rising need for essentials and online stores being the only option, a lot of online grocery retailers faced the burn of cart abandonment during the pandemic. Since people had no patience to wait, they switched to another store if one failed to deliver as per their expectation. Some of the other reasons were the long checkout process, lack of payment options and lengthy account creation process that resulted in customers not returning to the site even when things settled down.

Last-mile deliveries and returns:

The two major bottlenecks for UAE grocers during the pandemic were last-mile deliveries and returns. People during the pandemic stocked groceries fearing lockdown which led to a sharp rise in online orders and fulfilling them all became almost an impossible task. Where delivery was a headache during the pandemic, needless to say, how big a challenge the returns were.

Trends that will continue

With the second wave of Covid-19, fearing possible lockdowns and travel bans, many retailers have already switched to online while there are a few yet to invest in digitalization. However, looking at the current trend of digital transformation and solving various challenges, researchers have noted the following trends that will stay in the grocery retail of UAE:

Online shopping:

A survey conducted by PwC reveals that the increase in the number of people shopping for groceries online rose from 29% to 51% during the lockdown. More than 90% said they are likely to continue shopping on smartphones even after the lift of social distancing measures.

Contactless payments:

Access to smartphones in the UAE is more than 100%, and social media penetration is more than 70%. Hence with an extensive demographic for all retailers, grocery retail is now fiercely adopting digital transformation. New players are harnessing this change by adopting new marketing strategies. Consumers are preferring contactless payment and would continue to do so even after the pandemic. This has led to collaborations with payment app companies, which profits the grocer and the payment channel equally.

Some players have launched their payment apps – for example, Carrefour now has CarrefourPay, enabling customers for a quick checkout process. A new Dubai Government-backed payment app-Empay- allows UAE users to pay for government, public and consumer services.

Omnichannel presence:

Choosing the right marketing channel is key to having an omnichannel presence. By collecting customer data through account creations and registrations-

> like signing in through Facebook/Gmail/apple account,

> products purchased,

> place of delivery and delivery times;

one can analyse the ways to put forward the brand in front of the customer and increase brand loyalty. By ensuring a seamless and consistent customer experience on every possible platform, grocery retailers can not only gain customers but earn their loyalty as well.

Safety and hygiene:

With Covid-19 still showing no signs of withdrawing, the practice of maintaining high levels of safety and hygiene to curb the spread of the virus is going to stay unknown for how long. Although it is a good thing to maintain safety and hygiene despite pandemic or not, grocery retailers must stay alert and carry out their responsibilities very well to keep everyone safe. Many are now encouraging residents to stay indoors by offering:

• 24/7 grocery delivery,
• a 48 hours TAT (turnaround times) from placing an order to delivery,
• options to view the supplies in-store,
• contactless payment and expanding its scope.

E.g., Talabat has expanded its free-delivery grocery service to 24-hours a day across Dubai.

In-store experiences:

Despite the accessibility of online shopping, some consumers are returning to shops after restrictions were eased. Lulu has recorded a pre-covid influx of customers after the ease of restrictions which indicates that in-store or offline shopping will continue but won’t be able to outsmart online anymore.

In a nutshell

There was a need for digital transformation in shopping in UAE even before Covid-19 and to some extent, it had already begun but, with the pandemic, it just gained momentum, challenging the basics of marketing for all retailers.

If you are someone up for this challenge and are looking out for a grocery delivery app development company in the Middle East, we at Mobicommerce are there for your assistance. Our app builders will take care of everything.

Source: https://www.mobicommerce.net/blog/emerging-trends-in-grocery-retail-in-the-uae/