Anna owns a grocery business in Downtown Manhattan. Her father previously owned the store and she eventually inherited it from him. It had a fairly good inflow of customers back in the day, but the number of customers started to dry up over the years. Now, only a few of the regulars remain.
But Anna was confident about her store and the services it offered. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and started analyzing the operations of the business.
During this process, she identified a major flaw in her business operation – It was extremely old school. And, with the number of grocery stores rising up in that region, her store was getting pushed towards the back end of the line. But she was not willing to give up.
She decided to make some significant changes in the way her business operated. And, as the first step towards it, she decided to design an app for her store. Once the app went live, she started to witness a steady increase in the orders, and both her online and offline customers started growing in numbers slowly.
And this is the story of most modern food and grocery owners today.
Now, if you are a store owner who is still pondering about developing a mobile app for your business, Anna’s story should be a good push for you. Innovation is the key to success in the highly competitive food and grocery industry.
The quality of products and services you offer might be impeccable, but it won’t be enough to sustain the business in the long run. So you need to adapt to stay in the race, and a mobile app is one of the tools that will help you with it.
In this blog post, we will try to explain some of the benefits of having a mobile app for your business in 2022.
Irrespective of your business model, a mobile app will improve the customer experience. In this digital age, there are certain facets that a customer expects when it comes to the service that you offer, especially in the food and grocery business. A mobile app will ensure that all their expectations are met.
For example, suppose your mobile app has a payment integration feature. In that case, it is incredibly easy for your customers to complete the payment instead of carrying cash or taking out their credit cards at their store. They can wave their smartphone in front of the point of sale and complete the transaction instantly. Apart from payments, if your store has a mobile app, your customers will also know what products are available and at what price.
A mobile app will ensure you stay connected with the customers and keep them engaged. You can send out push notifications about special deals, new additions to the store, special hours, and much more.
It will encourage the customer to engage with the app, thereby engaging with your store. And, if the offers are appealing, the customer might be lured in for a transaction, but make sure that you are not overdoing it with frequent push notifications.
Also, with a mobile app, you can encourage the customers to post a review about your store. By driving reviews, you can keep the engagement at an all-time high, and it creates a communication channel between you and your customers. They can share their positive and negative experiences, and you must be ready to interact with both. These reviews are vital tools that you can use for marketing campaigns in the future.
Millennials & Gen-Z are the smartphone generation. If the millennials adapted to smartphone technology, Gen-Z was born into the smartphone era. But the key takeaway here is that these two generations hold immense buying power currently. And for grocery business owners, it is crucial to get them on their side to drive sales and revenue. A mobile app will act as a bridge between them and your store, and if you are able to deliver a personalized experience to them, you will hold a competitive advantage.
Mobile apps play an important role in boosting customer loyalty. In the food and grocery business, it is extremely difficult to retain customers as it is their general nature to hop between stores. However, many studies indicate that people tend to download a mobile app if it involves a digital loyalty program. Getting customers to download the app is the first step, and if the loyalty programs offer attractive incentives, they are bound to keep the customer hooked and come back for more.
The food and grocery industry took a big hit during the pandemic. Many stores were forced to shut down their operations partially or completely for many months. Some went bankrupt completely, and some are slowly opening up amidst all the chaos. But the rate at which the customers are coming back to the stores has been slow.
And, to pile on the misery, stores must operate under strict sanitization protocols and by maintaining social distancing. With the threat of the pandemic refusing to go away anytime soon, you have to adapt to this adversity. And now will be the best time for you to think about a mobile app for your grocery business.
With a mobile app, you can add an online delivery option to keep the business running in these tough times.
Don’t worry. If you are still worried about the time and cost of building a mobile app, Vajro has got you covered. Our instant mobile app factory will deliver your dream mobile app for your store within a short span of time. With all the latest features like push notifications, payment integrations, and much more, our apps will help you take your business to the next level. For more information, book a demo now.
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