Two weeks after the conclusion of the Epic Games v. Apple trial over the latter’s allegedly anticompetitive app store policies, Apple used its WWDC keynote to defend these policies and tout the App Store’s success.
“Since the beginning, we designed the App Store to be a safe and trusted place,” Ann Thai, Director of App Store Product Marketing told viewers during the keynote, adding that “users can just focus on finding the right app, knowing Apple has reviewed every app to make sure it meets our high standards for security, privacy, and safety.”
Thai also revealed that the App Store serves nearly 600 million visitors a week and that Apple has paid out more than $230 billion to app developers since the App Store’s inception in 2008.
That figure has grown from $155 billion in January 2020, an acceleration helped in part by the introduction of the App Store Small Business Program, which reduces Apple’s commission from 30 to 15 percent for developers making less than $1 million a year.
Apple claims that the app industry has created more than 1.5 million jobs each in the United States and across Europe since 2008 in what could be described as the 21st-century gold rush.
While Apple understandably likes to emphasize the success that third-party developers are having on the App Store, the company participates in that success to no small extent.
Assuming an average commission rate between 20 and 30 percent, Apple probably raked in between $20 and $30 billion in-app store commissions since January 2020, making apps a central pillar of its quickly growing services segment.
This chart shows the cumulative amount of money earned by app developers on Apple’s App Store.
The e-commerce industry growing every day as everyone wants to open an online store. Even teenagers are showing interest in start-ups with setting up a store online. But, the competition is very high. So, you need an effective custom online store if you want to win over your competitors.
The e-commerce industry growing every day as everyone wants to open an online store. Even teenagers are showing interest in start-ups with setting up a store online. But, the competition is very high. So, you need an effective custom online store if you want to win over your competitors.
There are many e-commerce platforms that allow you to build a store online quickly. Here are the 9 reasons why you need a custom online store.
1. Customize your products for your customers
The advantage of e-store is to meet your consumers’ demands and needs. This can only be served by a custom online shop. If you have a store of dresses, you need some personalized filter options like sizes, colors, and fonts to help buyers.
If you copy a template, it will not fulfill your all requirement. A well-structured store serves people in the best way and is successful in retaining customer interest.
2. Store and shipping options
These days, most of the business stores offer a variety of products that need different shipping options. Your consumers will be happy to get their favorite name for their order shipments. Only a custom online store will offer such benefits.
3. A custom e-store for multiple vendors
You may be working with multiple vendors and everyone has different requirements. So, customize options help them use the best way to ship their products. When you have many vendors, you have many income streams.
4. Offers promo-codes and discounts
Discounts and promo-codes attract more people. With a custom e-commerce store, you can plan unique promo codes on the purchase. In the e-commerce industry, this move has been recognized as a very attractive step. When you design a customized store, you can generate as many discounts as your business needs.
5. Online store with backend software support
Backend software is necessary for all the online stores. Integrate the software with the store and easily do some complex works. You may need a software support for tracking your order. So, always opt for a customizable store that allows you to use the features of your demands.
6. Different needs of your customers
The requirements of customers are different. While some want an easy purchase, some love to visit an organized store with products in a right place. As people make a purchase decision after several visits, you have to give priority to their needs.
7. Credit card processors
Pre-built themes do not always process all credit cards. It may disappoint your buyers and can be a reason for leaving your store without any action. Add different credit card processors so that you can make your customers happy.
8. Online store security
You have to make your store secure if you want more consumers. The e-commerce, security issue holds a major importance. You should take a strict step to protect consumers’ confidential data and the payment card details. When you opt for a custom e-commerce store, your store will get boosted with such necessary details.
9. Management inventory
An inventory management is a prime concern for all e-commerce companies. When you have a number of stocks, your company will also run well. To maintain this critical concern, you need to connect vendors with the inventory management system. When your product inventory is low, the system will generate the order and send it to the vendors automatically.
WordPress and Small E-commerce Stores
WordPress is no more a simple publishing platform. It is now considered to be one of the most powerful CMS. Several reputed names like BBC, Mashable, CNN, TechCrunch, etc. Use WordPress as a platform for their website.
Initially, people were quite skeptical about using WordPress to build e-commerce websites. But now, thanks to WooCommerce the scenario has changed and WordPress has become a favorite platform for several small e-commerce store owners.
So what makes WordPress a popular choice amongst them? Let see the advantages.
Extremely easy to install, configure and use
In past, if you have tried creating your blog with WordPress you must be aware that it is very easy to create an account and write blogs on it. You don’t need to know to code in order to create a website with WordPress.
However, if you have specific demands, you can also hire professionals who provide with WordPress customization services and create your website exactly according to your business requirements.
WordPress enables you to add products, monitor sales and gives you all the documents you need so that you can manage your WordPress store while you are expanding your business.
Many of eCommerce Themes and Plugins
The foundation of WordPress is laid on its array of themes and plugin architecture. With the help of unique themes, you can make your e-commerce store look extraordinary. You can also make use of plugins that define the functionality of your website.
There are several companies that provide WordPress plugin development services at cost-effective rates. Using these plugins, you can turn your ordinarily functioning store into a successful e-commerce shopping site.
Save on monthly fee
Most of the e-commerce platforms today charge a monthly fee and a transaction fee for hosting your e-commerce store. With small business owners, this might be a problem as it is difficult for them to pay the monthly subscription until the targeted sales are achieved.
With WordPress, things are different. When you create an online store with WordPress, you have to pay only for what you actually need. This includes paying for the domain name, themes, and plugins which is a onetime investment. Undoubtedly, it’s the best way to start an online business.
Find all the support you need
As WordPress is open-source software, you can use and modify the source code to suit your business requirements. There is a supportive community behind WordPress that always makes itself available whenever you get stuck.
It also gives you a complete control over your e-commerce store and keeps you away from the commercial restrictions and tight rules imposed by some e-commerce firms.
SEO friendly
Initially, as WordPress started as a basic blogging tool, it provides with all the features one needs to get their eCommerce site ranked high on search engine pages. This makes the platform SEO friendly and perfect for the business owners who want to attract a huge amount of traffic.
With other e-commerce platforms, it can be quite difficult to fetch traffic easily. WordPress also has the potential to take care of several SEO related problems. All you need to do is provide with high-quality content and WordPress will take care of the rest.
Can be easily integrated with your existing website
The best part about using WordPress for e-commerce is that it can be seamlessly integrated into your current e-commerce store. If you decide to set up an online store without planning, there is no need to redesign your website.
All you have to do is install a Woocommerce plugin and you’re done! As Woocommerce plugins can be easily integrated with your e-commerce store, your website will have a look and feel similar to other parts of your website.
Offers excellent product customization
Products are the most important part of any e-commerce store. Moreover, store owners keep adding and removing different products at regular intervals. It can get quite confusing and overwhelming if there are complex products like clothes.
With WordPress, you will never face any issues as it will provide you with a user-friendly dashboard and make your shop look unique and colorful. Customizing the product also becomes easy with WordPress as doing it as easy as publishing a blog post.
Many online businesses and entrepreneurs now building their online stores because more and more people shopping online. The online stores are open 24 hours a day and they have better prices and discounts than traditional stores.
Many online businesses and entrepreneurs now building their online stores because more and more people shopping online. The online stores are open 24 hours a day and they have better prices and discounts than traditional stores. Also, with the help of e-commerce platform providers, it’s very easy to build an online store. Here are 4 tips on how to create a successful online store.
Eye-Catching Design
It’s not just the variety of products that attract the customers but also the attractive website. Beautiful design themes should be a part of your website as it is necessary for creating an engaging online store. Also providing facility to optimize themes across various devices. This can be achieved by implementing the UI/ UX techniques which help in building up an engaging website.
Mobile Friendly Online Store
Top e-commerce platforms ensure that the power of mobile commerce is utilized in a smart way. In an era where mobile phones have become a necessity for almost every one of us, creating a mobile-friendly website can’t be missed at all. The online store needs to be easily accessible from all the basic to high-level mobile devices. Store owners can leverage the latest technology to build a quick loading site and provide the best shopping experience to the customers on their mobile phones.
The Social Media
Visiting various social media sites is a part of the daily routine of almost every customer. Apart from being connected to friends and family, people use social media to look for various products that they need.
Top e-commerce platforms provide the facility of integration with various social media channels and carefully analyze the visitors and followers which is itself a good marketing strategy. Depending on the preference of your customers, you can arrange various contests and offer discounts to encourage the customers to buy from your online store.
Effective Tools and Personal Touch
One of the best ways to create a reputation and fans for your online store is by engaging the customers with multiple channels and offering them a personalized touch. Keeping the customers updated regarding the new product launches, offers, deals, etc.
Use effective marketing tools like PUSH notifications, SMS, emails, to increase your sales. It becomes easy to pull the customers back to your site using these effective marketing tools.
There are several top e-commerce platforms on the market that provides various features that can help you create an online store. Analysing the requirements and target of your online business is the first step to do before choosing an e-commerce platform.
eCommerce and Personalisation 4 Tips You Need to Know
Online businesses have realized that it is crucial to keep up with the expectations of the buyers and make them feel special on every shopping journey. The personalization is very effective tip and nearly 90 percent of business owners feel that it is the future of eCommerce.
1. Segmentation
The most effective way to personalize an eCommerce site is segmenting the customers according to their needs, interests, age, gender, and income level. The more is the number of criteria you apply, the more customers you can have. Also, segmentation means giving the buyers the comfort to choose products as per their preferences, needs, or budget.
Simply with segmentation, you will give your customers the best product they need and they can buy.
2. Personalised Search
The majority of the buyers feel frustrated when they do not get the items they search for, and what shows are nothing to do with them. The best way suggested by eCommerce experts is making the search field/box responsive.
That is, most relevant and popular results will come up in results as buyers start typing. Further, typo error corrections, items most searched, and suggestions for products are other necessary features to offer personalized search.
3. Create Filters for Your Customer Interests
Customers want to first see the products that are either trending, new or have more ratings or are best priced. Thus, filter your search with such options that sound relevant to the shoppers. As they apply a filter, the products get sorted in the page and they can pick the best from the lot. That is an effective way to make customers glued to your product pages.
4. Grow the Interest of Your Customers
There are many ways to put enough interests in customers and give them the reasons to stay, create an account and make use of it as and when required. Wishlist, saved earlier purchases, contact details, fast checkout with saved credentials, are some of the imperative measures to keep customers stick to your eCommerce.
Also, give them free offers and awesome discounts on the products they need.
eCommerce businesses need to understand that customer-centric content are more effective in catching enough attention of the target customers rather than a site built with ‘one-size-fits-all’ concept.
You should be doing enough market research to know about the personal interests and needs of the targeted audience and ask your developer to incorporate them while crafting your eCommerce store.
The more you give your customers the more you will take back.
You will find more infographics at Statista
