Technology! Not just a scientific term anymore, but virtually a life support system. The days of self-dependence and tech-free lives are long gone. Today, even the vitamin-laden fruit salad planned to be eaten comes out of the refrigerator only after your smart phone reminder buzzes. In this life of high tech-dependency, mobility has become the torch bearer for any brand, business or need.
Mobile apps have pinned themselves into our lives and swiped open a world of endless possibilities. For someone who doesn’t think himself to be a mobile geek, often encounters a critical moment of realization while facing this one simple question, “When was the last time you went shopping?”. And it is one of those dramatic moments of life when one cannot even answer about one’s own life. Surely, many people share this feeling of puzzlement with most of you asking yourself the same question. And we cannot deny it when we live in an era when one could order anything from milk to Mercedes with a touch on the genie in the pocket. It is even more evident when it comes to festive shopping, and more so in a country like India where shopping has traditionally been associated with festivals.
Stores have literally become pocket-sized, especially after the leading eCommerce giants decided to focus more on the app-only way. And, adding to the festive extravaganza, are the festive Mega Sales that every brand has, hiking the excitement levels as high as the festivals themselves. The entire tech generation goes into a mobile frenzy, and the response is unambiguous with news of the brand’s servers bearing the brunt of the buyer mayhem.
The pocket stores of India have already triggered the digital transformation of businesses. They have also made the mission critical revelation that businesses would be immobilized if they fail to go mobile. But, it has also put businesses into the dilemma if they need to go the mobile-only way, or even more importantly, do they even need to have a mobile app. Another myth that could prove to be a bottleneck and needs to be busted is that mobile isn’t for B2B organizations. Today, the minute we hear about a business, product or service, we immediately reach out to our mobile search engines, unless we have easy access to a computer. Studies have shown that more than half the internet searches result from mobile browsing. So a mobile optimized website could be the first impression that a potential customer would have of your business. And in this era of digital ease and comfort, a mobile app could propel a business to increased profitability.
Often, organizations have failed to gauge the potential of the mobile space and also to leverage it efficiently for business profitability. Thus, many organizations turned their business app-only and then had to go back to the drawing board. It is more of a business self-assessment and customer experience realization that organizations need to be mindful of before nose-diving into this mobile warfare.
Businesses today aim to focus more on building pocket stores that would surge their progress, but while doing this they shouldn’t overlook the fact that websites or desktop browsing still remains the favorite option of online buyers. Though this trend seems to be changing with the transforming audience and the increasing mobile literacy, business on mobile continues to be a highly potent terrain.
