How to Convert Your Magento Site Into A Mobile App

Are you looking to expand your ecommerce store’s reach and increase customer conversions? In today’s mobile-first world, it’s crucial to consider turning your Magento store into a mobile app in 2023.

With the rising trend of mobile ecommerce and people increasingly turning to their smartphones for shopping, not having a mobile app can lead to a loss of a significant customer base. By creating a mobile app, you can make it easier and more convenient for customers to shop and increase revenue.

Don't be left behind in this mobile-first world. Keep reading to discover the benefits of turning your Magento store into a mobile app and learn how to take advantage of this opportunity.

Why You Need a Mobile App

Mobile accounts for over 72% of the total ecommerce market share, having grown from slightly over 52% in just five years.

This trend aligns with the increasing use of mobile internet, which now accounts for approximately 60% of the total internet usage market share. In addition, 15% of Americans rely solely on smartphones for internet access. This represents the future of ecommerce, with customers who are not only mobile-first but also mobile-only.

While optimizing your Magento site for mobile is a good start, it is not enough. Investing in a ecommerce mobile app can provide a superior user experience on mobile, resulting in significant increases in key metrics, including:

• Higher conversion rates
• Increased average order value
• More products viewed per session

Data shows that users of ecommerce mobile apps are twice as likely to return to the store within 30 days compared to those on mobile browsers.

Mobile apps also provide full access to push notifications, which, on average, have 20% open rates and 28% click-through rates.

Furthermore, they are an excellent tool for nurturing loyal, repeat customers.

While it may not be necessary to turn your Magento store into a mobile app, doing so can provide significant benefits for your business.

Can You Create Mobile Apps for Magento?

If you want to publish a mobile app, Magento won't help you directly because it's designed for webstores. However, there are several ways to work around this:

1. Use a third-party Magento mobile app builder.
2. Find a tech-savvy service that can transform your Magento store into a mobile app.
3. Hire a team of developers to create apps for Android and iOS and integrate them with your Magento store.

Can I Turn My Magento Store into an App?

It's possible to transform a Magento store into an app by utilizing one of the techniques mentioned earlier.

However, most store owners should disregard the third alternative (hiring programmers to create native apps). The primary reason for this is that mobile apps are expensive. It costs between $20,000 and $150,000 to create a native app. And that's just for one operating system - you'll need to double this cost to release apps for Android and iOS (which you should).

Developing an app takes a lot of time, is complicated, and is expensive in the first place. It becomes even more so when your developers must construct an API and connect the back end of your apps to your Magento store.

You most likely don't have the resources for this - and that's before we consider how much it costs each year to keep your app running.

The Recurring Cost of Having an App

Most people don’t realize the recurring yearly expenses associated with launching an app. Things like maintenance, OS updates, Magento updates, bug fixes, new features, and improvements cost at least 15-20% of the initial cost each year.

According to David Cost from Rainbow Apparel, these costs could be even higher. He conducted in-depth research when launching apps and discovered the cost could be as much as a million dollars per year.

“If we had unlimited time and money, we would probably go for a custom native app, but that is half a million to a million a year to maintain.”

- David Cost, VP of Marketing, Rainbow Apparel

To be conservative, let’s assume it takes $100,000 to build apps for both mobile platforms. The estimated cost for updates and maintenance is $15,000 per year.

This expense is too high for most store owners to handle. Moreover, managing multiple platforms is a headache instead of just having a website. It triples the workload each time you want to make changes to your site, adding unnecessary complexity to your workflow.

The Best Way to Turn Your Magento Store into an App

The best choice is to transform your Magento store into an app using a Magento mobile app builder.

A Magento mobile app builder will convert your current Magento website to a similar mobile app, which customers can easily download and install on their mobile devices.

The top mobile app builders will provide you with a mobile app that delivers around 90-95% of the features you get with a native app, but at a lower cost and with less hassle. Nonetheless, you should be aware that not all available options are ideal for creating professional, high-traffic mobile apps that reflect well on your brand.

How to Convert Magento to App

If you're a major brand like Nike, Target, or Zara, you could have the resources to hire developers to create your shopping app from scratch. But if you're not, there's a better way to build your app using Magento. MobiLoud offers a simple, affordable, and speedy solution that's also easier and less expensive to maintain over time.

Curious about the process? Here's a step-by-step breakdown:

Step One: Preview Your App or Get a Free Consultation

You have two options to get started with Magento.

1. You can use the MobiLoud builder to create a free preview of how your site will look as an app.
2. Alternatively, you can schedule a free consultation call with our app experts to discuss your project and learn about the process.

Regardless of which option you choose, optimizing your site for mobile is crucial. If you need assistance with this step, we're happy to help. This will make the rest of the process run smoothly.

Step Two: Work With Our Team to Build Your App

If you're ready to start building, sign up for MobiLoud. All of our plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee, and there's no long-term commitment required.

We'll work with your team to configure and design your app. Keep in mind that most of the work is already done. You don't need to create a new UI from scratch, just make a few adjustments to make it look and feel like a native app.

Once you're satisfied, we'll begin building your mobile app. We'll take care of all the technical details - you don't need to write any code or have any coding knowledge.

If you prefer our team to handle the entire process from start to finish, we can do that too. Our full-service package includes everything needed to configure, design, and publish your app, so you can be completely hands-off.

Step Three: Prepare for Launch

After building your app, it's time to prepare for its launch to the public. A launch plan is crucial to draw people to download your app.

We offer various resources for app store descriptions, launch announcements for your website and email list, press releases, and other materials. Furthermore, you can enable extra features without any additional charges, such as smart app banners and exclusive app discounts to encourage current customers to make purchases through the app.

Step Four: Launch and Submit Your Apps to the App Stores

Finally, we'll launch your apps to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The process of submitting your app to these stores can be quite challenging, especially for first-time app owners and developers. However, we have extensive experience in this area and understand it thoroughly.

Our team will manage the app submission process with Apple and Google on your behalf. We offer a 100% guarantee for app approval and will make multiple submissions if necessary, as well as provide recommendations and implement any required changes. You won't need to do anything.

Once your app is live, you can start receiving downloads and take advantage of all the benefits of having your own Magento mobile app.

Wrapping Up – Why You Should Use MobiLoud to Convert Your Magento Store into a Mobile App

The mobile era is here, and if you want to maximize your revenue, you need to cater to your mobile users. A mobile-optimized website is not enough, you should offer them a branded app too.

Creating an app for your Magento store is no longer expensive or complicated. MobiLoud offers a cost-effective and straightforward solution to turn your store into a professional and high-quality app.

If you're wondering about the benefits of using MobiLoud's Magento app builder, here are some key points:

 
• It's a fraction of the cost of custom app development.
 
• You can launch your apps in less than a month.
 
• Your apps will have all the features and functionality of your website, from product collections to payment gateways, plugins, tools, themes, and more.
 
• Everything is synced across web, Android, and iOS platforms. Any changes you make on your site will reflect in your apps instantly.
 
• You don't have to worry about submitting your apps to the app stores, as we guarantee approval.
 
• Our team is ready to assist you every step of the way, making the process hassle-free for you.

This app builder comes with no coding required, thus enabling you to launch your shopping apps easily and take your place in the app stores alongside the biggest brands in the world.

If you're interested in learning more about how MobiLoud can help you launch a Magento app for your store, reach out to us now. Book a free, personalized demo, and one of our app experts will guide you through the process.