Does Your Business Really Need A Mobile App?

According to recent statistics, web and mobile users have been growing at a steady pace year over year and retail e-commerce revenue has been skyrocketing. The same statistics data also predicts that although the number of in-app mobile users will continue to grow, the number of mobile web users will stay stagnant or decline. Just take a look at the charts below:

(Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1044012/usa-digital-platform-audience/, https://www.statista.com/statistics/272391/us-retail-e-commerce-sales-forecast/, https://www.statista.com/statistics/470161/daily-mobile-time-usa-channel/)

With the number of smartphone users exceeding 6.3 billion in the world today, it should no longer be a question if a business should adapt their products or services for mobile devices but rather how to approach it in the right way. In today’s world every company is being forced to become a software company to compete. The first decision a business should make is whether to go for a responsive web application or native mobile application development.

Every business is different and it ultimately depends on what business does and how it interacts with its customers to determine which mobile development path to take. Often a mobile-optimized website can serve an organization’s needs just as well as a mobile app while requiring fewer developers, fewer resources and time to create, and less maintenance after the main build. Business owners should ask themselves how a hypothetical native mobile app would be different from their mobile-optimized website. If the differences are insignificant, they are better off investing their resources in mobile optimized and accessible web development.

It is also worth mentioning that both mobile web application and native mobile application development have their pros and cons.

Pros of responsive web design:

  • Lower cost of development
  • Cross-platform accessibility
  • No apps to download and install on mobile
  • Indexed content on various search engines
  • Potentially more shareable content

Cons of responsive web design:

  • Requires internet connection
  • Potentially slower performance
  • Limited support for native device features
  • Less interactive capabilities
  • Less personalization capabilities

Pros of native apps:

  • More personalization and better performance
  • Consistency with native app OS design
  • More interactive elements
  • Offline content
  • Works seamlessly with native device features

Cons of native apps:

  • Runs only on the OS it’s designed for
  • Expensive to build
  • Higher costs of acquiring new users
  • Higher ongoing maintenance costs

When facing an important investment decision such as mobile web or app development, businesses should carefully review their options. They should ask themselves, what fits their business goals better and what would satisfy their customer base more and go from there. If in doubt and need help with making your decision, our experienced UX and development team will be happy to help, just give us a shout.

Written by Lily S.