Tag: ecommerce mobile app

Covid-19 is without a doubt a game-changer. It has revolutionized everything from inside us to the outside world such that it is becoming necessary to walk with trends if one needs to keep up with the changing market and the Millennials.

Apart from the world populace getting affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; there has been a sea-change in other sectors too and one of the major domains among them is manufacturing. Although each of us felt the push towards online due to the pandemic, the manufacturing industry that was already on its way to converging the physical and digital before the widespread disruptions of 2020, experienced some major systemic changes.

The struggles of maintaining cost-effectiveness while adopting or planning to adopt Industry 4.0 digitization initiatives will end in 2021 and the manufacturing industry will evolve despite the impact of coronavirus. So, let’s take a look at the top five trends that will reshape the manufacturing industry by providing operational visibility, enabling cost reduction, expediting production times, and delivering exceptional customer support.

1. Adoption of Latest Technologies 

Before the pandemic, even though e-commerce was riding on a high note, a majority of selling and buying that happened between the customer and the end client was in-person. Then came the deadly pandemic and jolted the entire way of conducting a business to shopping by customers. The preferred mode of business and shopping became online since that and manufacturers are especially taking a lot of interest in it.

Thanks to the pandemic, the transition to online from offline started taking place more quickly than before and; the manufacturing industry is now on the road to embrace the latest technologies and tricks to stay put in the unprecedented times today and for the uncertain future ahead.

Although there has been economic uncertainty looming large at present, most of the companies, or nearly all, are making the transition or have initiated steps in this direction. AI and machine learning incorporation to automate the process and get intelligible insights into the market trends are picking up pace. While other new technologies like PIM system Eliminate, CPQ, voice commerce, and headless e-commerce have already made headway into the online e-commerce landscape. It is just a matter of time, in the immediate future, before these new technologies would be a day-to-day affair.

Also Read: Why Manufacturers must think of eCommerce Investment and How One Can Scale its Sales Up

2. Supply Chain Technology

The supply chain sector felt the burn during the pandemic the most due to the terrible rise in online shopping. Fearing lockdown and restrictions, the panic buying by people put tremendous pressure on the supply chain management of online businesses. So, in 2021, we can see more of a flexible supply chain system as manufacturing companies have started implementing the latest technologies and strategies in every step of the manufacturing process i.e., procurement, inventory, assembly, logistics, transportation, and sales to scale through the ebb and flow of the current situation.

With effective supply chain management and the latest technologies like AI, machine learning, robotics and automation, Blockchain, IoT, etc. manufacturers can save on costs, deliver products to customers on time, track and improve anything during the process, can reduce operational downtime by finding backup suppliers for the most vital materials, services, or components, stay connected with both suppliers and customers with communication and collaboration tools etc.

3. Real-time Data Integration

Real-time data collection and monitoring can enhance smart manufacturing. It helps the manufacturing process in many ways like you can say goodbye to order errors as the integration of data across platforms bypasses the possibility of a human error in entering data, an increase in equipment efficiency can be achieved, logistics management becomes easy, pursuing greater speed, scale and simplicity across every area of the operations becomes possible etc.

4. Predictive Maintenance

One of the key trends in the manufacturing industry, predictive maintenance helps save a ton of cost and time. A breakdown can happen anytime in equipment, and the time and money one invests behind its repair causes enormous downtime and loss of productivity. Therefore, predicting breakdown, faults or errors in equipment and taking necessary maintenance measures is what predictive maintenance is and; the benefits that follow are – reduced costs, fewer failures, minimized scheduled downtime, optimized parts delivery etc.

With the latest intelligent solutions like IoT, AI, and machine learning, predictive maintenance can help manufacturers dodge downtime by detecting issues even before they arise. It helps them ensure that they are in a healthy working condition to avoid heavy or unplanned expenses in the future. Moreover, monitoring tests can be conducted while equipment is in operation, which means there will be no loss of production due to equipment shutdown.

5. Shifting Focus from B2B to B2C

A manufacturing business does not necessarily have to be B2B; in fact, it is slowly shifting from B2B to B2C and even D2C (Direct to Customer).

Selling to customers is bringing in more appealing benefits for the manufacturing industry than the other way around which is why this trend is going to accelerate further in 2021. Shifting to B2C or D2C for a manufacturing industry means:

Increased Profits: Rather than wholesale prices for their products, companies can get the full manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP).

Faster Time to Market: The lengthy traditional retail sales cycle that requires a company to lock in product development far ahead of order and delivery can be skipped and manufacturers can rapidly prototype, test, and push products to market while achieving a distinct competitive advantage.

Brand Control: The risk of a manufacturer’s brand being diluted or misrepresented by third parties gets eliminated.

Price Control: The MSRP can be reinforced.

Better Customer Data: Manufacturers can collect customer data resulting in better products, stronger relationships, and increased sales.

Final Thoughts

There is uncertainty in the world going back to normal as the pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down. Hence, preparing for the worst and the future is what one must do right now. As per study and statistics, the above-mentioned trends are going to rise and will bring revolution in the manufacturing industry and to survive, as a manufacturer, approaching a prominent ecommerce mobile app development company is the step to be taken at the moment to avoid repenting later.

Magento is known to empower multiple businesses from different domains with the best eCommerce and mCommerce solutions for them to quickly innovate and grow. In February 2019, the flagship Magento Commerce solution got a facelift which simplified the upgradation process and improved scalability for B2B and B2C retailers across the globe.

The platform was improved after witnessing an increase in consumer demand for faster and superior end-to-end shopping experiences. The reason the step was taken was that it is vital for brands to maintain control of their business and be responsive to the changing market needs.

The now refined Magento Commerce solution now stimulates innovation and enables enterprises to offer the same conveniently. Without further ado, let us take a look at the enhancements that will now fasten the global growth of B2B & B2C retailers:

1) Functionality extension and rapid innovation

Magento has added new modular features to ensure the retailers can upscale faster and leverage growth innovatively through Page Builder, Multi-Source Inventory (MSI) and PWA Studio.

You may also like to read: Boost Conversions By 3x With Next-Gen Magento Mobile Commerce Solution

The Magento Commerce platform initially offers MSI out of the three features, and that is used for improving performance for bulk management and selecting the source of the distance-based inventory seamlessly.

The ability to conveniently manage orders and inventory is a boon for retailers who deal with high-volume production daily.

2) Performance and scalability optimization

Performance and scalability improvements in the Magento Commerce platform are a boon for those enterprises that manage copious amounts of company accounts – each associated with 30 times the number of associated addresses.

Such optimization also helps in reducing the average time spent on processing orders from the backend admin panel and allows the product management team to upload higher quality images on the online store without compressing them – thus enabling a far more efficient user experience.

The improved version of Magento Commerce has also made some security updates to ensure secure payment gateways and shipping APIs.

3) Curation of new content for better shopping experiences

There is no doubt the role of the marketing team across eCommerce businesses has become more significant with time. And that includes constantly churning out online content and using the best of the best tools to design, test and launch that content.

Fortunately, Magento’s Page Builder, a drag-and-drop editing tool for website content, enables retailers to create end-to-end desirable shopping experiences without the help of developers or creative teams. The onus of using Page Builder falls on marketers who can very well leverage it to ensure a smooth flow of the purchase cycle.

According to the early adopters of the module, marketers can easily create and edit content pages ten times faster than before. Launching new products or sales on the online store is not a problem anymore!

4) Global shipping options available

The improved Magento Commerce solution now makes shipping a more significant part of the consumer’s purchase cycle. Logistics giants such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL, along with multiple regional carriers, will now help retailers and brands to execute cross-border delivery strategies.

More delivery options, such as Click & Collect, increase the chances of consumer conversion and help businesses to generate more revenues, which was proving to be tedious otherwise.

Endnotes

Magento takes pride in being openly innovative and continually offering new modular capabilities that enable retailers and brands from B2B and B2C markets to consistently transform their business, and add new technologies to meet consumer demands and industry standards.

Magento Commerce platform improvements roll out worldwide from the second quarter of this year. Two Magento modules – PWA Studio and MSI – are already available on Magento 2.3.

Till then, B2B and B2C retailers should utilize the remaining time to create a strategy to capitalize best on using the improved Magento Commerce solution for global growth and to achieve more revenues.

Now that we have rung in the New Year, one thing is for sure – “mobile” is still very important for consumers and businesses alike! Let us tell you why:

• Google drives 90% of mobile search traffic.
• Users spend 86% of their time on mobile sites on an average with a majority of the time spent on gaming and social media.
• Google mobile app payments amounted to $700mn in just four years where its Pay service also paid a crucial role.

Mobile is now seen as the first digital touch with consumers. It is undoubtedly the new battleground for businesses, and eCommerce brands specifically are leveraging that in a significant way. They are continually looking for new ways to target and engage their customers.

That’s where Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) enter the picture.

Defining PWAs in an age of mobile commerce

(Source – https://www.applozic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PWA.png)

Google introduced the PWA technology in 2015 with an aim to create an enhanced website with an app-like functionality, and thus combat the constant problem of app fatigue and poor app discover rates.

The technology is known for a gamut of benefits, including:

1) Improved loading experience

Mobile websites that take more than three seconds to load have already lost 53% of their traffic. To add to it, a 100-millisecond delay can cost 7% of the conversion rate on the website, and that is a number that businesses can’t ignore.

2) Active push notifications

The user gets notified on his or her device even when the progressive web application is not open in any browser. 2.7x more people are likely to open and click a push notification as compared to an email. The feature helps eCommerce brands lock in more conversions. Retail chains like Lancome and Starbucks are known for their excellent PWA-enabled sites. Ever browsed through them?

3) Better internet discoverability

The end goal for any business is to get discovered by their customers. A progressive web app is easily discoverable by search engines because it’s full of content and if appropriately optimized, a web app can fetch good search results.

4) Offline usage

(source – https://brooklynseo.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web-design-brooklyn-cg-media-692×576.jpg

Whatever content is downloaded on the web app works even when the device is not connected to any Wi-Fi with the support of a Service Worker which is a script that the browser runs separately in the background. This means your customers can even access your PWA-enabled site in locations with spotty internet connectivity.

5) App-like navigation

The UX and UI of a PWA are similar to a mobile app, but here, you don’t need to search for it in the app store and download it to use it. It’s fully responsive and eliminates any lags or jerky transitions to ensure a smooth user interaction.

A PWA is served via HTTPS to ensure the web content isn’t tampered with and to prevent snooping.

How PWAs can help improve eCommerce SEO

(source – https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*6lsqh6xg_UzpRs9A.png

PWAs leverage technologies like Service Workers, Cache API, Web App Manifests to provide a web experience similar to native mobile apps.

In the last two years, they have proven to get 50% higher conversions for eCommerce brands and helped to improve the customer experience on the web app.

Recommended blog: Why Progressive Web Apps Are Important for Businesses?

George.com, Alibaba, Jumia, eXtra, MakeMyTrip and Flipkart are some of the most popular global brands in the eCommerce industry to have launched a PWA-enabled website. Social sharing platform Pinterest observed an increase in engagement by 60% and a rise in user-generated revenue by 40%.

So how does a PWA affect SEO? In more ways than you can imagine.

1) If an eCommerce PWA, serving contents from multiple resources, uses rel=canonical tags, it avoids any content violations.

2) If a web app page is available through a specific URL that does not make use of any fragment identifiers (#), Google crawls that page often which further helps in search rankings.

3) To ensure that the content of each page on the web app is indexable, it is necessary to use the feature of server-side rendering (SSR). Google’s master tool called Fetch and Render tool tests how Google Bots see and index a page.

4) Since PWAS are identifiable as “apps” thanks to Service Workers and W3C Manifests, it helps search engines to find the progressive web applications better and faster.

5) The number of embedded resources on the pages of a web app is considerably less as compared to a desktop site. This helps in faster loading of the pages. No wonder PWAs load better and quicker!

What’s new in store for PWAs in 2019?

1) Apple has always remained fresh and at the top of their game. However, the tech giant chose to ignore PWAs, when they first came into the picture. However, things have changed and how. Now even iOS devices support the technology as Apple feels PWAs have stood the test of time.

2) Google states PWA compliance standards have secured a perfect score of 100%. According to Mobile Marketer, the mobile conversions of online retailer Luxmart doubled and reached 1.24% since the launch of their PWA-enabled website.

3) Now that major tech companies like Apple and Google are wholeheartedly adopting the technology, it has convinced web developers around the world to write the coding of web apps just once and then deploy to different sites.

Wrapping up

Progressive web apps for Android and iOS are in the making on a massive scale in 2019 – for various industries, and eCommerce is no exception.

MobiCommerce, a progressive web app builder, completely understands if your customers don’t find it easy to purchase your products, you are losing sales to competitors. You need to be where your customers are! We will build a responsive, SEO-optimized PWA for your eCommerce business that enables more consumers to find you easily.

Looking for a one-stop-solution commerce solution? Contact us today, and a member of our staff will reach out to you at the earliest to learn about your requirements.

The eCommerce industry in Saudi Arabia is booming. In 2017, online purchases worth USD 8mn were made on shopping websites and mobile applications. Females constitute a more significant part of the eCommerce customer base in the country at USD 1.7bn.

Don’t be surprised when the average spendings of an online shopper in Saudi Arabia reach SAR 2,405 in 15-18 months or when the number of eCommerce buyers in the country increases at a CAGR of 12.4% by 2020.

With Saudi Arabia taking pride in its higher connectivity rates, young working population, and advanced infrastructure, the day isn’t far when the country becomes the top online retailer in the Middle East.

The logistics and warehousing industry in Saudi Arabia: An overview

Currently, there are 12.94mn eCommerce shoppers in Saudi Arabia, and an additional 6.34mn users are expected to start shopping online by 2022. The statistic reveals that anywhere there are these many customers, the demand for robust logistics providers will be more.

Generally speaking, customers are picky by nature. They are spoiled for choice and have the liberty to choose the same product from five different online websites! Therefore, the delivery time plays a significant role for eCommerce businesses in engaging customers on a long-term basis.

The scenario in Saudi Arabia is no different. Since a large number of orders are placed on multiple eCommerce websites, we can’t help but wonder the state of logistics in the country.

Quite interestingly, Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest growing countries in the logistics and warehousing industry in the world and even managed to grab the 52nd spot in the World Bank Logistics ranking in 2016.

From the viewpoint of logistics, there are two types of deliveries that an eCommerce business offers:

A. Standard delivery takes about 6-7 days depending upon the pickup and drop-off location.

B. Express delivery services boast of a turnaround time of 24-72 hours depending upon the pickup and drop-off location.

In Saudi Arabia, the logistics sector has been dramatically influenced by the express facility offered by eCommerce businesses to their online shoppers.

Without further ado, let us take a look at the top three logistics service providers in the eCommerce industry in Saudi Arabia:

#1. DHL Express

In 2017, DHL Express was named the number one “Great Place To Work” in Saudi Arabia for the 4th consecutive year. The same year, the logistics company announced its plans to implement a new automated process that would enable them to process 5,000 shipments in one hour!

To stay ahead of the curve, DHL Express invested 40mn euros in building facilities across Saudi Arabia including Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam airports apart from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. This infrastructure allows them to have quicker transit times, and faster clearance – which majority of logistics companies don’t.

No wonder it is the number one logistics service provider in the country! Do you know that it delivers shipments from the US in less than 48 hours from the time of dispatch? It keeps itself up-to-date with the latest technologies so that the order can reach the doorstep of the customers faster.

Today, DHL Express is in a better position than most logistics service providers to supply last mile delivery and airfreight services to the customers. With a market share of around 50% of the express logistics market in the Middle East, there’s no stopping DHL from scaling up their operations exponentially.

#2. Pick Logistics

If you are looking for a logistics service provider that solely caters to eCommerce shopping marketplaces, then pay attention to PICK. Launched in 2015, the Riyadh-based company ensures the delivery of orders on time and safely through its mobile application.

The eCommerce app builder has a straight forward process of shipment and fulfillment. As soon as an eCommerce business uploads the orders to be shipped and delivered, the operations team at Pick get an alert.

The ops team then sends an SMS to the customer with a smart link for confirming the order details, including pick-up location and time. Pick sends authorized personnel to receive the order from the eCommerce company’s warehouse or gets it delivered to its warehouse.

Either way, once Pick has the order, it delivers it to the customer. The eCommerce business and its customers can track the order until the delivery has been done. Simple, isn’t it?

#3. SMSA Express

Founded in 1994, SMSA Express is a name to reckon with in the eCommerce shopping marketplace in Saudi Arabia. It offers a range of services including road, see and air freight, mailroom management, customs clearance and most importantly, eCommerce solutions.

In an effort to up-scale itself as a robust logistics services provider, it launched two initiatives Store2Door and SmartShip to enable deliveries to online Saudi shoppers from all age groups across geographies and industries.

Store2Door, for instance, has put much emphasis on its back-end logistics operations by establishing partnerships with eCommerce stores in the US. The partnership is particularly interesting as it allows the shoppers in Saudi Arabia to buy US products online, with the deliveries handled by Store2Door.

SmartShip, on the other hand, has been specifically designed for web sellers and social media trades that want customized logistics services to deliver their products to the online shoppers in the country.

Since it is targeted at bootstrapped eCommerce businesses, the logistics services offered are affordable. Currently, SmartShip is the most capable provider of logistics in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Over to you

Whether the eCommerce businesses should create an online store mobile app to track their deliveries or take external help, there are ways in which logistics can be handled and made more effective. And the logistics service providers, specializing in eCommerce, in Saudi Arabia are surely doing the right way.

In numerous regards, the Middle East is a market on the move. This incorporates the web-based business part, which has just started to make its mark as the area’s economies hope to expand far from petrochemicals to more supportable ventures. Generally speaking, there is a considerable measure of guarantee for eCommere mobile app business in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates setting up the layout for maintainable plans of action that different nations will hope to imitate.

Over the most recent few years, business visionaries over the Middle East have propelled new items, organizations, and have demonstrated the likelihood of making a dynamic startup scene like Europe and the United States. New companies from the locale have indicated extraordinary growth. A case for this is the ongoing securing of Souq, an internet business player that got gained by Amazon for nearly $800 million. Another prominent exit from this area is Talabat which was procured by Delivery Hero based out of Germany. As indicated by a report distributed by MAGNiTT, a research agency, more than $870 million worth of resources were put into Middle Eastern new companies a year ago and each organization raised more than $500k independently. eCommerce business, be that as it may, is a significant area in which new companies can do considerably more to fill the hole in the market. This is exactly why numerous entrepreneurs are all set for creating free eCommerce apps for the users to explore the market.

As per an ongoing report by Gulf Pinnacle Logistics (GPL) prior to 2018, the nation’s web based business showcase is relied upon to develop at a rate of 7.2 percent for every annum to reach $23.7bn by 2022. Also, the terrifically vital last-mile delivery market is relied upon to grow upto two-folds in size to $3.4bn by 2022.

Having more internet business players accessible, in any case, will urge all to enhance their contributions no matter how you look at it, as none will want to be abandoned. This unmistakable difference is a glaring difference to the situation a while ago, when a total deficiency of choices made the whole procedure – from item choice to delivery – horrendously moderate and frequently muddled. It currently appears as if the area’s eCommerce business players have arrived at a similar end and are secured a race-to-the-end fight as they attempt to lure the dependable customers into buying their products via their mobile store eCommerce app.

It is generally realized that the adjustment and infiltration of the Internet in the Middle East is high, essentially higher than the worldwide and not long behind the US and European locales. As opposed to this, local organizations’ appropriation of web based shopping has generally been fairly low. From the details introduced by PayPal and other research directed in the district, one can obviously distinguish the requirement for more nearby organizations to grasp eCommerce all the more truly. Right now, there is a genuine absence of professionally executed shopping cart app development that will ingrain trust in the online viewers and convert them into online customers. Organizations need to put more into their advanced directs, keeping in mind the end goal to partake and bear the product of this eCommerce development which is at last occurring in this locale.

For as far back as three years,an expedient development with numbers multiplying every year has been observed. Today, 15% of physical retailers in the GCC are on the web. This number will change drastically inside the following year as stages are making it simpler for retailers and littler organizations to bounce on the web-based business fad rapidly and cost adequately.

In spite of the fact that our viewpoint for web-based business is educated, to some degree, by the accessibility of online installment stages, it is essential to take note of the cash-on-delivery system in quite a bit of Asia and expansive parts of Latin America. Albeit such installments acquire extra taking care of expenses and need security, online business suppliers will keep offering these alternatives, especially in wilderness markets, for example, Iraq and Iran. The last has a vast, energetic and well-to-do purchaser market and a significant interest for premium apparel and buyer electronic products is anticipated to rise in the last piece of the 2016-2020 conjecture. Internet business suppliers entering these business sectors will see a long haul requirement for cash-on-delivery frameworks, enabling one to estimate a solid development – though from a low base – in these nations.

Conclusion:

With this advancement, organizations cannot afford to overlook versatility. eCommerce mobile app business has considerably more potential in the Middle East because of the high cell phone and tablet infiltration, with cell phones being the most widely recognized method of association with the web.

The evolving e-Commerce industry and the M-commerce boom are set to turn around the face of economy in the middle east. But this exciting transition does not come without its fair share of obstacles. So what are the challenges these industries face?

1. Traditional logistics

Many of the traditional logistics businesses find it hard to create an online presence. In the Middle East, although the potential for e-commerce is high, it remains relatively unexplored largely due to logistical challenges. Automated discovery of delivery location using GPS services is almost impossible since home delivery postal systems do not exist. This in turn requires mobile apps to be able to utilize location services to automatically tag the order location, increasing the investment and time requirement for the development of apps. The under-developed warehouses & stocking points in the region pose another challenge for the e-commerce industries. Since the traditional retail businesses did not require such infrastructure, the initial investment of e-commerce transition for the local industries increases.

The solution?

Retailers have already started adopting omni-channel strategies to solve the investment problem, by utilizing the pre-existing retail outlet infrastructure to serve as warehouses and stocking locations. Better development of e-commerce mobile apps, keeping in mind the above requirements, is another thing to keep in mind.

2. Competitive pricing and customer satisfaction

With further growth of M-commerce, companies tend to focus on the most common customer requirement: price. As per PwC’s 2017 e-commerce report, 40 % of respondents in the region said ‘cheaper price’ is the biggest motivation to buy online. And while that wins the battle for e-commerce industry as a whole, the competition between the existing online retailers and the newer generation of app development is intense, so much so that quality of products and services gets compromised, leading to consumer dissatisfaction, bringing the entire process of customer approval back to square one.

The solution?

As per the KPMG 2017 Global Online Consumer Report, while pricing remained the most common reason why people shopped online, factors like return policies and being a trusted website are far more important for the baby boomer generation, who are biggest spenders and almost as frequent shoppers as the most commonly thought target generation, the millenials. Focusing on customer satisfaction, therefore, becomes more important than blatant lowering of price without consideration of service quality. Safer payment gateways, and more efficient and faster delivery times will serve better to ensure customer satisfaction and increase participation.

3. Communication gap: The hurdles to Loyalty creation

The e-commerce industry, especially the newly developing ones, such as in this region, suffer from a profound lack of loyalty. A very important aspect which allowed traditional brick and mortar services to flourish was direct communication between the seller and buyer, which made the entire process trustworthy, complete with feedback and problem solving, making it an experience the consumer wants to repeat. E-commerce in the region as of now, however, lacks any such interaction. With cheaper pricing and faster delivery being the drivers of consumer satisfaction, loyalty to a single brand becomes a challenge. Another obstacle is incentives. Offline shopping is heavily incentivized, with shops offering membership cards, special discounts and loyalty benefits personalized for each person. Online platforms still suffer from the lack of such incentives.

The solution?

The KPMG 2017 report shows that providing excellent customer support, having loyalty programs and exclusive member offers constituted the 3 major criteria for customer loyalty. Understanding the local demographics and creating content based upon local patterns instead of a globally accepted safe formula is the key to surviving the cut throat e-commerce competition.

4. Omnipresence: Omni-commerce

The concept of omni-channel business is very simple – in theory, at least. Creating a network such that a brand is present everywhere, in all forms, not restricted to just online vs offline conundrum. It has become a business prerequisite to survive in a rapidly developing e-commerce scene. So where do the problems lie?

A. The pure-players (Only e-commerce) and the brick and mortar retailers (who are trying to enter the e-commerce scene) both are at a risk of becoming obsolete if they continue to rake in profits by conventional safe approaches and fail to adapt themselves to the rising consumer expectations. And as of now, no omni-channel experience of substantial quality exists from these industries in the region.

B. Another problem that is being recognized, due to already established omni-channel services globally, is the failure of service providers to integrate the channels to provide a smooth experience.

The solution?

As Martin Simonsen from Implement Consulting Group writes, “the winning solution being the ability to deliver a seamless customer experience in alignment with those needs and simultaneously integrate all channels on relevant platforms, each carefully adjusted to enhance what it does best.”When done well, buyers seamlessly transition from one channel to the next, blissfully falling deeper and deeper into the brand experience.

A research by McKinsey Research and Harvard Business Review showed that Customers who used 4+ channels spent 9% more in the store, on average, when compared to those who used just one cchannel. Aberdeen Group found that companies with omni-channel engagement strategies enjoy an aaverage 9.5% increase in annual revenue, compared with 3.4% and 89% retention rate of their customers vs 33% for companies with weak omni-channel customer engagement. The result? Better revenues, loyalty and market presence.

5. Funding challenges: The start-up bottleneck

How does one of the biggest investor markets in the world become a problem for its own start-ups? Dubai-based Research and Markets estimates that around $165 billion are tied up in venture capital firms, but most of them are non-regional VC funds. Traditionally, Middle Eastern investors have looked at investment opportunities outside of the region, with real estate returns been spectacular around the region, hence the hesitancy to step out of the safe profit zone. Other than that, lack of information about start-ups in the region and doubt of the legitimacy of the project discourages investors. The region suffers from a low credit card penetration, hence setup and payments becomes a costly affair.

The solution?

The investment scene has started to change, more so in face of the changing commerce landscape in the region. Al Tayyar Travel Group, the largest travel company in the region and Majid Al Futtaim Group, a diversified private company, have both invested in startups recently.

Another important option which comes to the fore in midst of unwilling investor is: Crowd-funding. With sky high internet penetration in the region, and increasing investors taking risks, crowd-funding is more important than ever today.

A newer challenge

The GCC introduced a 5% VAT following expensive military campaigns and drop in global oil prices. Introduction of a 5% tax seems pale in comparison to global VAT rates, but poses threat to investments, revenue and spending in the region. The transition to e-commerce for many businesses is now pricier, and so are the services provided by them. However, the VAT tax provides an alternative source of income in the region, and may prove instrumental in providing a safe haven for industrialists and start-ups alike in a future with lower global oil prices.

Conclusion

The MENA region is poised to experience an e-commerce boom despite the challenges faced by the companies. Smart planning, understanding the demographic, the user base and catering to their needs, all the while adopting the concepts of Omni-commerce will prove beneficial both to the retailers transiting to e-commerce and the ones trying to excel in it.

I know you all have must heard about Artificial Intelligence somewhere or the other as it is the most discussed topic now-a-days. It is the rising technology helping almost all the industry to one or the other way to improve productivity and the ease of work.

Artificial Intelligence – Transforming Industries

Defining it according to the father of Artificial Intelligence, John McCarthy, it is “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs”.

It is the technological advancement that simulates human intelligence in machines especially in computers. In general terms, it is all about making machines to understand human language, behaviour and sentiments and work intelligently without interference of human. It is evolving at a rapid pace and has the capability to work alongside the humans. Sound interesting right!

When the machines will

• start adapting human behaviour based on the experiences
• not be dependent on instructions from humans and
• start thinking, learning and acting like humans and
• come up with unanticipated results

Then, we will experience advantages of strong AI.

AI – Intelligent Analysis, Intelligent Interaction and Intelligent Automation!

Artificial Intelligent has already enabled various industries like automobile, healthcare, Data security, Finance and accountancy and many more including Ecommerce. If you took a glance around the technology you’re using, you’ll get to know that AI has already entered in your daily lifestyle. Think of the facilities provided by your smart phone.

UBER, by providing cab booking application using AI technology has made the life very easier and it is now embedded in your routines.

Amzon has designed its store called “AmazonGo” where you can go, shop whatever you want and just walk away without standing in queue to pay the bills! It automatically identifies the products you bought, charge you from your account and send you invoice on your mobile. No human interaction, enabled by AI technology.

In Australia, few innovators have developed software based on AI which can predict localized ride demand in next 30 minutes within a 500 square meter area. It enhances the business and also saves wastage of time in waiting for customers.

Implication of Artificial Intelligence in Ecommerce

AI has also not left ecommerce or mobile commerce industry by transforming it the way people experience online shopping. Find out the ways AI has and will transform Ecommerce business.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capability of AI

AI comprises of Robotics, Machine Learning, Expert systems, General Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP helps ecommerce industry to very great extent.

NLP includes text translation, sentiment analysis and speech recognition that enables machine for contextual understanding of human language. Chatbots, product searches, Customer relationship management etc. is based on NLP enhancing successful conversions.

It helps to improve in store purchase behaviour result into high probability of business growth.
CHATBOT enables “Chat Now” for prompt assistance

You must have seen “Chat Now” or “Online Chat Assistant” while browsing through websites and I am sure you must have used that as well. There are high chances that there won’t be any human talent in the backend and machines via “bots’ technology was assisting you to solve your queries and questions!

AI based Bots technology with IT service management system has developed ‘Chatbots’ to reduce human efforts, prompt reply and 24*7 service. It enables conversational and natural language user interfaces by understanding the human language and expressions and replying accordingly. Data base is the most important factor while developing such technology. It’s all made possible with the Natural Language Processing capabilities of AI.

As per Juniper’s new research, it is forecasted that Chatbots will be responsible for cost savings of over $8 billion p.a. by 2022, up from $20 million in 2017 in retail, ecommerce, healthcare and banking industries.

According to TechEmergence, chatbots are expected to be the number one consumer application of AI over the next five years.

Enabling “Search” to be more powerful

Current search algorithm works based on keyword matches, search queries, keywords in product title or description. Thus, it shows multiple different products in search results and reduces the relevancy. It increases visitor’s burden to identify the product they want from search results! So, if customer won’t find the required products within certain time, customer goes away without making purchase and ecommerce sites have to bear the cost of losing customer.

Improving this results with the help of AI will enhance the search performance and of course the sales ratio. AI will enhance contextual understanding, practical intelligence and ability to understand natural language and expression powered with NLP. This will result into increased transaction, consumer satisfaction, retention and ultimately more conversions.

As per the forecast made by Gartner, “more than 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by 2020.”

“Image Search” Classification

Many of the time it happens that you wanted to buy certain products but you don’t know the name of it. AI allows image search option to you to resolve this problem.

You can experience this in Pinterest, where you can pin the product you want and then it will pull visually similar such results.

Voice Recognition

Virtual Personal Assistant is increasing day by day with NLP and voice interaction has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 43% from 2015 to 2020 according to Gartner. Voice commands has enabled consumer to do voice search, accepted widely for ease of work and faster process.

Inventory Management

Smart technology is helping you to manage your products and stocks by keeping the track of your inventory, providing analytics report and ordering it when stock gets low. AI also analyse your business, does the predictive analyse and identify the future demands based on current business trends, consumer patterns and factors that are driving the business and industry. It’s not an easy but will yield more results for you.

Samsung’s Family Hub fridge actually monitors the products kept in your fridge with the help of camera and ask you to order groceries when the stock gets low. AI can also recommend you about recipes for upcoming meals based on inventory!

Such technology will reduce human labour involved in managing inventory and is very helpful for ecommerce and marketplace sites to arrange the stocks.

Personalised Product Recommendation

You searched for particular product on ecommerce site e.g. on Amazon and left without making purchase. When next time you will browse any other site, you will see the ads for that product or such relevant products over there.

AI recommends you personalised products based on choice and likelihood based on your search history. This gives easy platform for customer to buy the product quickly without much hustle of searching it, also enabling more business of ecommerce owners.

Predictive Analysis and CRM

AI has the ability to do all the predictive analysis of your customer’s data and will tell you who has the potential to buy the products along with bifurcating customers based on that buying requirements and patterns, who is likely to buy products, what will they buy and many more. You just need to have AI enabled program installed and machine will do everything for you.

Artificial Intelligence will not be limited to this, it is growing at a very fast pace and 2018 is dramatically becoming transforming phase for ecommerce. It would be highly accepted by the benefits it provides to consumers over ecommerce mobile apps or websites. Gartner predicts that by 2020, “AI will be the top most investment priority for more than 20% of CIOs.”

Stay tuned with the latest AI updates and Start implementing it to yield better improved results and gains.

For retailers, having their own ecommerce store in this era is a must much like food and clothing required for the sake of surviving. Building an ecommerce mobile app or ecommerce website just won’t fulfil your purpose of expanding your business rather it would be just a vague step taken. To pull out the best out of your ecommerce store, it is mandatory to spread a word prior its launch. Most of the retailers fail all because of a weak launch plan for their ecommerce store.

Well if you are planning to start-up with your ecommerce store or create a mobile app for your ecommerce website, Try out the below 8 effective launching strategy for your ecommerce store:

1) Content Marketing: It all starts with content. Content forms an important part as what all needs to be placed in Videos, PR, Product detail page and other media needs to be decided well in advance. How you want to project your estore among your targeted audience totally depends on your content. For your content, having a strategy is essential. It should be something you plan up week wise or to be precise day wise. While deciding the content strategy, understand your target audience their interest level, their age group and how you can convince them to visit your ecommerce store.

Plan up each and every small step like planning to post contents on social media, setting your calendar for publishing the PR’s and ads or any other.

2) Email Marketing: As per a study conducted by direct marketing association, Email has an ROI of around 4,300%. Moreover,

• It has an effective reach coz 80% of people say they receive marketing messages alongside their personal emails on a daily basis.
• It has also been found that 70% of audience make use of coupons codes they receive via email.
• Also, 60% of people subscribe to an email list just to receive special offers from a particular business.

Above stats prove that email marketing would prove an effective methodology while launching your new ecommerce mobile app or website.

3)Social Media Marketing: A trending or you can say a default marketing strategy nowadays as 80% of your target audience spend around 3 hours a day on social platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are the popular ones which almost every individual uses. While Pinterest, Linked in and others are used quiet often by mid-aged group audience. You just have to analyse your set of audience and their presence on particular platform and just target that platform rather than wasting your time and money on all platforms.

4)Offline Marketing: In addition to online marketing, do explore the offline media too like Print media- Newspaper ad, Magazine ad, Leaflet, Hoardings and many more.

When to do what is very important while enabling the offline channel. It is suggested that if you are a well-established business, you can try out offline marketing as per your business requirements while for a start-up, it is advisable to go for an online channel first and at later stage when the funding or revenues are generated, offline channel can be a wise choice.

Recommended Blog: How to promote eCommerce mobile app and website using QR Code

5)Local Marketing:If your business falls under a category where you require establishing a local presence, do not forget to go for local marketing such as, if you own a brick and mortar store, reaching out to customers near your store with geo-location tools and local search engine targeting are proven to be an effective launch strategy.

6)Promote through PPC and SEO: An effective way to launch is exploring the Pay per click and SEO as 70% of people own a smartphone and uses the search option effectively. It is being advised that the Paid advertising should not always be the first option for a start-up as it requires funding therefore it can be the best way to generate sales if you have an ample amount of marketing funds or you can put your efforts in SEO strategies and grab an organic crowd.

7)Leverage PR Platforms: PR is something which gives your business an instant boost. All you need to do is list down the publicationsread by your target market/audience, segment it to different focuses with different pitch lines and there you go, results would be visible to you. Your ecommerce app and website would be spreaded at a go.

8)Bloggers & Influencers: When you are all new to your audience, Influencers and bloggers help you out in fixing your products/services on your consumers mind coz they are passionate about a particular topic and can attract followers having the same interest. You can easily amplify your reach with their help.

Now that you’ve ticked all the 8 points of the launch plan, it’s time to get the fruits out of it. If you’ve implemented everything listed above, you should surely have a healthy reach as well as following on the social media and an effective subscriber list of customer ready to visit and purchase from your ecommerce store.

It’s really important today to integrate technology with a Salon to embrace changes and innovation in the industry. Customers are now quite a tech-savvy to make your salon services easily accessible to them a beauty salon mobile app is extremely crucial. One cannot ignore the fact that today your salon must possess a beauty salon app as consumers today would first google your salon before paying a visit like in the day of old. Having a decent online presence would definitely work in building prestige for your brand. Next comes in the convenience of interacting with your salon and mobile apps cannot be beaten in their portability as well as versatility with minimum clutter but an immersive experience. Additionally, it has become essential for Beauty Salons to provide an enterprise mobility solution to their Admin and Staff to even out the everyday working and Salon appointments.

1. Mobile Reservation

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It’s a very well known discomfort to the salon owners, to handle appointments via calls. Add to it the added hassle of keeping a separate caller to manage the bookings, fixing stylists, and so on. Mobile reservation gives you.

• the facility to implement an upfront commitment fee when booking an appointment
• Manage your appointments efficiently with a beautiful built in calendar.
• Provide your customers with email alerts, notification informing them of their scheduled appointments
• Offer the customers a convenient way of managing the appointments booked by them, i.e canceling one or rescheduling one, etc.
• Save time as compared to traditional over the call bookings and thus handle more customers and also increasing the likelihood of repeat customers manifold.

2. Loyalty Cards

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Rewards are coveted by everyone, irrespective of any criteria. and that could be the tool of difference in successful repeating of customers. A simple reward program of membership points that offers them points on their regular visits which they can use to avail free salon sessions. You can implement your own mobile version of a traditional stamp card for building brand. Your app can have a separate section where users can maintain their coupon activities. Develop several levels of perks to better reward your customers and also keep them engaged in regular appointments. Have increased consumer loyalty on account of constant incentive increments.

Recommended blog Impact of Online Reviews on Business Branding and Sales

3. Push Notification

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“Out of sight, out of mind” isn’t a saying without base. To be relevant and constantly in your customers active thought process, you need to stay in touch with them. This is where push notification comes into play. You can target specific users and locations with radial and geofencing technologies just from the lock screen of your customer’s smartphone without them even needing to log on to the app. In addition to this you can also provide the customers with updates easily and relevant information regarding the salon or their appointments. You can engage clients far more frequently with push notifications as compared to any other means of promotion.

4.Mobile Payments

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There are quite a few benefits of offering your customers the option of mobile payments. You save the hassle of a separate book keeping for client appointments. Not only does it bring convenience to you but also your customers have the option of a simple and fast way of payment. Some beauty salon app builders also provide the salon owners with a convenient app extension to simplistically handle their consumer transactions. The amount can be easily transacted to your business account via integrated payment services like Paypal. Increased convenience of payment leads to rise in customer loyalty and builds customer faith. It also leads to increase in sales

5) To Accumulate Rich Data on Customers

Every consumer today is looking for a more and more personalized experience. The beauty industry is strictly governed by personalization. Consumers look for beauty service providers who know and understand their preferences and their needs. They seek beauty salons that provide personalized grooming crafted specifically for them. For a salon this can be done only if it has a database holding the psychographic data of a rich demographic that helps them grasp customer preferences and behavior. With the help of enterprise mobility solutions, you can collect Customers information, and subsequently use it to offer them better services and products in accordance with their requirements, also push deals of promotional value and discounts which might be of their interest.

6) To Increase your Bottom Line and Profits

Your salon’s presence on a mobile or even any web platform can boost your revenue. You can witness increase customer influx on account of easy and convenient access to salon services. Your salon’s bottom line profits are bound to surge with increased brand loyalty, customer retention, awareness, more personalized beauty services and a free flowing communication with your consumer.

Summary

Women spend about $3,756 a year on their beautification and enhancing their appearance in salons with products, states a study by Groupon. And this poses a potentially huge market to target. For the owners of the beauty salons it’s time to make the most of the opportunity, get your own salon app via a salon app builder. Nothing beats going live in your own app. As of now, apps contribute over $40 billion to the industry – that’s a staggering figure. App based businesses are expanding with a remarkable success!