Mobile Applications can do Wonders for Your Business this Festive Season

With the onset of the holiday season, 'happy days are here again' for the businesses after a significant gloom.

Digitization had seen a giant leap since the outburst of the global Covid-19 pandemic as businesses worldwide were looking for survival while adjusting to the 'new normal.' It is not unknown that mobile apps have completely transformed how new-age consumers buy products and go about their day-to-day work.

Inculcating mobile apps' services becomes even more critical during the current festive season as the majority of the buyers would prefer the online platforms to abide by the social distancing rules. Concentrating on the mobile-first approach will benefit the businesses as a large chunk of their customers would like to use their mobile apps to order the concerned items.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has been the real disrupter in the business realm, which has forced the organizations to re-organize their strategy to stay relevant.

Impact of Covid-19 on businesses

Every industry has been hit immensely by the sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus. The auto industry has seen the worst effects as the profits are expected to fall over $100 billion worldwide in 2020. The restaurant and the tourism industry have also taken a significant hit. It is said that the tourism industry might go 20 years back due to the repercussions of the global pandemic.

It is estimated that the global Coronavirus pandemic will cost a whopping sum of $2.7 trillion to the worldwide economy.

Festive seasons – a ray of hope

At this time of distress, the festive season has come like a ‘boon’ for the world economy. Moreover, online applications' increased usage makes mobile apps the perfect medium for the business to get back on track and revive themselves during the festive season. Using mobile applications during festive season for your business would be the extra fuel that you need to pump your business again.

In this blog, we will answer the million-dollar question of how implementing the mobile app strategy can help you increase your business sales in the festive season.

The legend of constituting a 'Loyalty Program'

Having a loyal program can give your business a much-needed head start over your peers. You can use the users' previous data and use emphatic survey tools; you can effectively market your product to the customers. Stats show that if the customer is offered a valid and authentic reward, over 80% of the customers will not think twice to change their preferred brand happily.

Reward points will make the customer go in an 'infinite happy loop' of buying as more 'points' means more rewards, and to get those points, they have to do more shopping. Leading Ecommerce platforms Amazon has implemented the loyalty program method to good effect and reaps rich benefits from it. During the recently completed sale, a leader like Amazon and Flipkart earned $3 billion only from the Indian market.

Push your business high through ‘Push Notifications’

The most significant benefit of having a mobile app for your business and especially during the festive season is that you can be more personalized and direct with your potential customers. Through smartly designed push notifications, the companies can ride on the 'holiday euphoria' of the people.

The push notifications can work like an enticing card for your business products. The message would be highly personalized, designed according to the recent buying history of a particular user. As for example, during the Diwali festival sale or the Christmas sale, the companies can target their customers with lucrative offers according to the festival. Push notifications here would play a major role as it would allow you to give a short but effective message about the offer to your potential customers. In addition, you can plan a specific time or method to send in the push notifications through mobile apps; shoppers can buy their thing anywhere.

In addition to the push notifications, the personalized in-app offers can do wonders for your business's betterment. You can customize the in-app notifications, and it can be used to give a reminder about a deal or sale that will be starting soon or giving the consumer some gift-suggestions. Amazon's Great Sale and Flipkart Big Billion days are some of the events of leading Ecommerce platforms that use push notifications and in-app notifications to their benefit.

Don't underestimate the power of 'Social Media.'

In the present day and age, having a social media platform to sustain and increase a business is as essential as oxygen to life. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are some of the most conventional yet effective methods to engage the users.

Harnessing social media's power will enable your business to target the customer in small concentrated groups and more profound and personalized services to them. Moreover, social media platforms can work for you in two ways:

• It can be a medium where the users can directly contact you and share their feedback and experiences after using the product.

• You can promote your product more articulately and have better chances of reaching targeted customers more than any other medium.

Every social media platform has its specialty. Thus, you need to find out the most popular medium among your targeted audience and then promote the product on that platform accordingly. For example, if you are planning to make bigger Christmas sales, you can use the Christmas theme or the nostalgia related to the festival and sell your product accordingly. Nostalgia along with social media can become the USP of your product and it will sell like ‘hot cakes’.

Social media platforms also increase the chances of ‘word of mouth’ publicity of the product. So if your users like the product, they will tell their family and friends about it, which helps you increase the userbase of the business.

Affordable marketing methods for festivals through ‘mobile apps’

Mobile apps are as ubiquitous as ‘omnipotent’ in the present times. Businesses need to understand that through a mobile app, they can reach any customer and sell almost everything. In addition to this, marketing through mobile apps is relatively cheap as you don't have to make giant billboards and banners to grab your potential customer's attention to sell your product.

Through mobile apps, you can reach your customers 24/7 and thus increase the chances of making a sale.

Apart from more immersive marketing, businesses can enhance the user experience of their customers through mobile apps. A seamless checkout experience will decrease the cart abandonment rate to as high as 60%.

Keep your business ‘In Vogue’

It is said that adaptability is the key to survival; take dinosaurs, for example. Thus, businesses that thrive in the world implement a mobile-first approach because consumers these days spend most of their time on their phones. So, if your business has a mobile app, your business naturally finds space in the life of your existing and potential customers.

Create engaging content, give your users a 'deal that they can't refuse' as the mobile apps can open many new and exciting methods.

Winding off

Opting for the Mobile-first is and will be the most prolific method to keep your business flying-high this holiday season. You need to strike big during the festive season. For this, don’t heed away even if you would need to develop mobile app for festivals like Diwali, Christmas, New Year or any other big events. The mobile apps will allow you to implement even the simplest of the market techniques effectively to boost your sales.

You can retain your existing customers and pave ways to get new customers; the opportunities are endless with a mobile app.