Why e-commerce are going app based? An analysis of pros and cons.

1. App commerce
Sathish Kumar S
BIM, Trichy

2.  Online shopping has arrived in India barely 10 years
before, but the growth they had is exponential.
 In less than a decade, E-commerce has gained 12%
of market share in 2015.
 The reasons are,
 Economic development.
 Increasing internet penetration
 Advent of smartphones
 And, Changing consumer behaviour.
E- commerce in India

3. App or website Conundrum
 Exponential growth and huge market scope has
brought in many players in to the market.
 To gauge themselves against competition and grab a
chunk of market, many e-com are going with many
modes – Website, Mobile website, apps.
 But, some take a dare step to go only app based.
 This has become a debate in recent times.
 Weighing the pros and cons of going app-only will
provide better picture.

4. Pros –
1.Market scope
 In 2016, India is expected to become 2nd largest
smartphone users market behind China, replacing
US.
 It is expected to grow 12% yoy till 2020.
 As said earlier, the market share is only 12% and
there is much more to be tapped in 1.2 billion
population.
 Sachin Bansal once quoted, “ If only looks at the
financial and strategic analysis, App-only is the way
forward”

5. Pros –
2.Personalization
 App-only can make shopping a seamless and
personalized experience.
 Marketers can target the customers more precisely.
 Feature like geo-tagging, push notifications can enhance
the process
 Moreover, data and information about consumer
behavior can be gathered which in turn will allow to
customize.

6. Pros –
3.Niche segment
 Players like Myntra have already gone App-only.
 Here, the strategy can be to tap a niche segment – a
premium segment for example.
 Concept of long tail applies here to more of less.
 Moreover, Marketing is not everything to everybody,
it is something to somebody.

7. Pros –
4.Forcing loyalty
 Indian customer are more prone to switch based on
prices and various factors.
 Mobile apps can arrest this.
 Installing a app in smartphone will force the
customer to shop only through that.
 Easy tapping between tabs, google search can be
avoided.
 And, based on shopping history, push notifications
can be used to reinforce the customer to shop in app
only.

8. Pros –
5.Cost saving
 The cost of handling a website is higher than just
running a app.
 For a customer, the bandwidth required to run a app
is also lesser than using the browser.
 Possibilities of augmented reality and virtual reality is
high in near future.

9. Cons-
1.Smartphone usage
 The rise in smartphone is exponential.
 But there are intricases.
 The storage memory in all available cheap
smartphones is less.
 Today, that storage space is occupied by messaging
and social network apps.
 Will the average customer afford that frugal space to
a shopping app ? !

10. Cons-
2. Ease of using
 The mobile web doesn't give the same kind of
freedom and framework to engage a user.
 The luxury in a desktop browser cannot be
experienced in a app.
 Viewing multiple products through various tabs,
comparing with others, these things things cant not
be done in a app.
 Also, the app only will force the customer to use only
a particular service. TO which, customers will refrain.

11. Cons-
3.Alternative routes
 Given the pros, there are many alternatives for
capitalize..
 Mobile websites
 All three modes of shopping
 This is be able to target customers in many routes
rather than a risky single route.

12. Cons –
4.A gamble
 For an existing player, going app only will certainly
reduce the user base.
 The probability of increasing user in short is very
less.
 Further technological advancement, enhanced
consumer behavior in future may provide a right timr
to app-only based.
 And, Certainly this is not the right time.

13. Thank you