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NATIVE APP & HYBRID APP: KEY DIFFERENCES, PROS & CONS
27/04/2023
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According to Statista, by 2023, there will be approximately 6.9 billion smartphone users worldwide, which will lead to the emergence of mobile apps to enrich user experience. That is why many businesses find ways to build and develop mobile apps to interact with their customers. However, with many platforms and devices around, mobile app development can be a complex and costly process. There are two most popular types of mobile apps including Native Apps and Hybrid Apps.
Both apps have their own advantages and disadvantages, so businesses should consider their demand and resources to choose the right type of app.
Native App
What is Native app?
Native app is a type of mobile application that is developed specifically for a particular platform or operating system, such as iOS or Android. Native apps use different programming languages depending on the platform they are built on: Objective-C or Swift are the main programming languages for iOS, while Java or Kotlin are the main programming languages for Android.
Advantages of Native App
- Performance: Native apps are designed to run directly on the device’s operating system, which means that they can fully leverage the device’s capabilities. Therefore, the app’s performance is faster and the user experience is smoother.
- Access to device features: Native apps have full access to the hardware features of mobile devices such as the camera, GPS, contacts, microphone, etc. Developers can create mobile apps with advanced features and functionality that hybrid apps cannot help.
- User experience: Because Native apps are optimized for specific platforms, they provide an intuitive and rich user experience. Users also can use native apps even when they are not connected to the Internet.
- Security: The data security of Native apps is high because they are optimized for specific platforms, so developers must comply with certain principles for securing user data and information on each platform.
Disadvantages of Native App
In addition to outstanding advantages, Native apps still have some limitations to be aware of:
- Separate codebase: This is a major disadvantage of Native apps because it requires a high level of skills and expertise in developing tools and programming languages for each platform. Moreover, the process of maintaining and updating the application version must be done separately for each codebase, leading to a lack of consistency on iOS but not on Android, or the app versions on Android are updated regularly while on iOS they are updated slower and vice versa. Because businesses have to create a separate version of the app for each platform, this can limit the app’s reach to many target customers.
- Costly and time-consuming: Because native apps have a separate codebase for each platform, businesses will spend a lot of time and costs to develop, maintain, and update app versions.
Native apps will be suitable for businesses that want to build mobile apps with high performance, diverse features, and a focus on user experience. However, this choice requires a lot of development and maintenance costs, as well as significant time and effort to be put in.
Hybrid App
What is Hybrid app?
Hybrid app is a type of mobile application built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and then packaged in a Native app container. This allows hybrid apps to run on multiple platforms or different operating systems, including iOS and Android.
Frameworks for developing hybrid apps include React Native, Flutter, Xamarin, and Ionic.
Advantages of Hybrid App
- Single Codebase: This is a major advantage of hybrid apps because developers can create an app that runs on multiple platforms with a single codebase instead of creating separate app versions for each platform like native apps. This helps businesses save a considerable amount of budget, for example, instead of finding developers specialized in both iOS and Android platforms to build a mobile app, they only need to find someone with expertise in hybrid apps. Additionally, since hybrid apps are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, developers can leverage existing web development skills and expertise to speed up the development process.
- Time and cost savings: With a single codebase that runs on multiple platforms, businesses will develop hybrid apps faster and at a lower cost. Also, maintenance will be easier since update versions are made on a single codebase and applied simultaneously across all platforms.
Disadvantages of Hybrid App
In addition to the advantages mentioned above, hybrid apps also have some drawbacks that businesses need to consider when building them.
- Performance: Compared to native apps, hybrid apps have pooper performance and sometimes experience lag or stuttering during use.
- Limited access to device features: Unlike native apps, hybrid apps have limited access to devise hardware features such as cameras, contacts, microphones, etc. This can significantly impact the user experience of the app.
- User experience: Platforms such as iOS or Android have different rules and operating methods, so a design that is used across most hybrid apps may not be suitable for each platform’s operating rules. This can result in a poor and disjointed user experience. Additionally, users may not be able to use the apps without an Internet connection.
- Security: Because hybrid apps are built using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and are compatible with multiple platforms, they are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Hybrid apps are a good choice for businesses that want to create a mobile app that works on multiple platforms and devices, with a faster development time and lower costs than native apps. However, hybrid apps still have many limitations in terms of performance, user experience, etc. Therefore, businesses should consider this before deciding to build a hybrid app.
Comparison Table
Facing the rapid development of mobile apps, quickly building a proprietary app is an urgent mission for every business. With the set of advantages and disadvantages summarized of the two most popular types of applications today: Native app and Hybrid app, the decision will depend on the purpose of each business.
SECOMM has gained many years of experience implementing eCommerce for many customers in many countries, understanding the difficulties and challenges each business faces when deploying mobile applications.
Contact us today to receive a free consultation.
TOP 6 BENEFITS OF BUILDING ECOMMERCE APP
27/04/2023
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According to data compiled by Forbes Advisor, global Mobile Commerce sales reached $415 billion in 2022 and are expected to reach $710 billion in 2025.
In fact, Mobile Commerce dominates the eCommerce industry, accounting for about 73%, and the use of eCommerce app is growing faster than any other type of app on the market, with an annual growth rate of 54%. This shows that eCommerce app contribute significantly to sales on mobile devices and implementing mobile app is considered the right path for every business in the mobile commerce era.
Boost Brand Awareness
Increasing brand awareness is one of the benefits that eCommerce app bring to businesses. Since most customers spend hours on mobile devices (e.g smartphones), it’s easier for brands to connect with them through eCommerce app. However, to fully leverage the other capabilities of mobile app, brands need to provide a rich and high-quality app experience. As Statista has noted, about 32%-34% of app users will uninstall if the app is difficult to use or has too many unwanted ads.
Offer Personalized Shopping Experience
eCommerce websites help deliver personalized shopping experiences with algorithms and support tools but eCommerce apps enable businesses to offer personalized special incentives or promotional programs right in the app without having to access the websites via browsers on desktop or mobile. As a result, among various methods, business owners can combine push notifications, and instead of sending the same push notification to all app users, they can send personalized notifications based on user behavior.
Increase Conversion Rates
As mentioned, customers tend to love and prioritize shopping on eCommerce mobile app instead of eCommerce mobile web. Therefore, the conversion rate of the mobile app will be higher than that of the mobile web. The graph below indicates the different conversion rates between the mobile app and mobile web.
Mobile app users view products more than 286% and add items to the cart at a higher rate of 85% compared to mobile web users. Moreover, the graph shows that the conversion rate of mobile app is over 130% higher than that of the mobile web. Naturally, when the conversion rate increases, it will lead to an increase in sales revenue and profits.
Increase Average Order Value
Building an eCommerce app not only boosts brand awareness, enhances customer experience, and improves conversion rate but also increases the average order value (AOV). This is the average dollar amount customers spend each time an order is placed on the app.
Customers prefer shopping on eCommerce app because it’s convenient for them to browse through products and make purchases. Therefore, they have more opportunities to browse through a wider range of products. This enables businesses to apply cross-selling and upselling techniques, suggesting complementary products to encourage customers to make additional purchases. As a result, the increased AOV drives up revenue and profits.
Reduce Cart Abandonment
Some data on cart abandonment has been reported by Ruby Garage:
One of the top reasons for that is the long and confusing checkout process. Mobile shopping app will help businesses reduce cart abandonment with the optimized checkout process. When customers buy products, relevant information will be stored in the app’s system, so they don’t have to re-enter their information but complete the purchase with a few taps. In addition, businesses can also shorten the checkout process to improve cart abandonment rates by integrating various payment methods into the shopping app.
Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty
For every eCommerce business, increasing sales revenue is a valuable achievement. However, it’s crucial to point out how many regular customers contribute to this success. According to the Harvard Business Review, the cost of acquiring a new customer is more expensive than retaining and satisfying an existing one, ranging from 5-25 times higher. But, if the customer retention rate increases by just 5%, profits can increase from 5% to 95%. As a result, businesses need to put their minds to existing customers.
There is a 50% chance that customers will return to a shopping app within 30 days of their last purchase. In other words, businesses can increase customer retention and loyalty with their mobile app in several ways, including
- Leveraging customer data to provide personalized shopping experiences;
- Using push notifications as a means of communicating with customers;
- Offering exclusive incentives to encourage users to download and use the app;
- Building a loyalty program to encourage people to return to the app, shop, and interact more to earn reward points.
With the incredible benefits of mobile app, businesses are increasingly motivated to quickly build their app to enrich the customer shopping experience while capturing the Mobile Commerce trend.
With years of experience in implementing eCommerce for many businesses in many countries, SECOMM understands the difficulties and obstacles in developing your mobile shopping app.
Contact us today for free advice.
THE 10 MOST SUCCESSFUL ECOMMERCE APPS IN VIETNAMESE MARKET
26/04/2023
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The significant increase in the number of smartphone users has contributed to the rise of Mobile Commerce trends worldwide, including in Vietnam. It’s time for retailers to focus on supporting their customers in searching and shopping through mobile devices, in addition to eCommerce websites.
Many businesses across various sectors, from shopping, healthcare to food, have performed very well in this strategy by becoming pioneers in embracing Mobile Commerce trends in Vietnam.
SHEIN
The SHEIN app is known as one of the most successful eCommerce apps in the world today, and now it has become the most downloaded mobile app in the shopping category in 2022 with 229 million downloads and installs from both Google Play and the App Store.
In the Vietnamese market, SHEIN is also highly rated by users for their shopping experience on the app. In the latest update, SHEIN added a discount program for some fashion items of up to 70%, as well as fixing some bugs and improving performance to provide users with a better experience.
- Downloads: +100M
- Reviews: 4.5 ★ (Google Play), 4.4 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #4 in the Shopping category
Download the SHEIN app: Google Play | App Store
Uniqlo VN
When entering the Vietnamese market in 2019, Uniqlo quickly captured and responded to the local consumers’ fashion shopping trends, which made the brand very popular. The Uniqlo VN app stands out with many necessary functions for a consistent shopping experience between mobile devices and other channels. In order to attract more users, Uniqlo will offer a 150,000 VND discount voucher for anyone who downloads the app and signs up as a new member.
Although the Uniqlo VN app is highly rated for user experience, the brand still keeps updating and improving its features. In the latest update, Uniqlo has improved the quality of product image display and adjusted the accurate display of the number of products available in-store.
- Downloads: +500K
- Reviews: 4.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.9 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #10 in the Shopping category
Download the Uniqlo VN app: Google Play | App Store
Hasaki
Hasaki not only has nationwide brick-and-mortar stores and an eCommerce website but also develops a mobile app to offer its customers enriched shopping experiences and attractive incentives.
By using the Hasaki app, customers can conveniently search and purchase products anytime, anywhere, track their order status, and make appointments for spa and clinic services at the store. One thing that makes Hasaki special is the free delivery within 2 hours for all customers, whether shopping at the store, eCommerce website, or mobile app. Despite getting much critical feedback for usage quality, Hasaki is still very receptive, fixing bugs and optimizing performance in the recent updates.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 3.3 ★ (Google Play), 4.3 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #12 in the Shopping category
Download the Hasaki app: Google Play | App Store
Go! & Big C
After rebranding, the Big C supermarket chain has been renamed Go!. As a result, the mobile app of this business is now called Go! & Big C. Customers who shop on the app will enjoy many benefits, including:
- Free shipping for orders over 300,000 VND purchased on the mobile app;
- Daily promotions will be automatically updated;
- Create shopping lists directly on the app;
- Participate in weekly games to win coupons or vouchers;
- Track & accumulate points directly in the app.
The Go! & Big C app is regularly updated to improve the online shopping experience for customers. In the most recent update, the developer has improved the payment function, fixed bugs, optimized performance, and image display capabilities.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 2.8 ★ (Google Play), 2.4★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #13 in the Shopping category
Download the Go! & Big C: Google Play | App Store
Con Cung
Con Cung is one of the first childcare brands to develop its mobile app to provide customers with a consistent shopping experience across different channels, including physical stores, mobile apps, and eCommerce websites.
The Con Cung app has received very positive reviews from users on both Google Play and App Store for user experience, product quality, and promotional programs. However, the brand still maintains the practice of testing and improving certain features such as displaying detailed driver’s information when customers place orders for the 1-hour delivery service and fixing bugs related to payment via eWallet.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 4.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.8 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #24 in the Shopping category
Download the Con Cung app: Google Play | App Store
Dien May Xanh
Dien May Xanh is a big player in the Vietnamese home appliance industry that has successfully captured the market trend and quickly developed a mobile app to reach the huge smartphone user base in Vietnam – approximately 69 million users.
In addition to massive promotional programs on special occasions, Dien May Xanh also provides customers with discounted payment programs using various methods such as Buy Now Pay Later, QR Code, etc. All of these are carried out quickly and easily both on the website and the mobile app.
- Download: +1M
- Reviews: 4.0 ★ (Google Play), 2.3 ★ (App Store)
- Rankings: #31 in the Shopping category
Download the app: Google Play | App Store
LixiBox
The Vietnamese mobile commerce market has witnessed the entrance of another famous cosmetics retail brand, LixiBox. Similar to Hasaki, LixiBox also continuously updates its app to enhance the shopping experience of customers.
Moreover, the brand offers many special incentives to attract users such as a 20% discount for the first order placed on the app, a referral program where customers can receive 500,000 VND, a magazine section where users can update the latest beauty trends right on the app, and a LixiBox Feed section where customers can share their experiences on products and services.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 4.4 ★ (Google Play), 4.4 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #113 in the Shopping category
Download the LixiBox app: Google Play | App Store
Long Chau
When the Long Chau mobile app was launched during the Covid epidemic, it quickly received support from customers everywhere because they could buy medicine and healthcare products online and have them delivered to their door, while also earning reward points for their next purchase. In addition, the app has a call and message feature that allows users to contact pharmacists online for free in-depth advice and support. Furthermore, Long Chau is the first pharmacy to pioneer the Buy Now Pay Later service with 0% interest, helping patients and customers find a new convenient way to make purchases.
User experience is a particularly important factor that Long Chau focuses on, and the app regularly releases updates. These updates include optimizing the login function, improving the payment function, integrating payment via eWallet, synchronizing order status on the website and app, suggesting reordering, and more.
- Downloads: +1M
- Reviews: 4.5 ★ (Google Play), 4.8 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #1 in the Medical category
Download the Long Chau app: Google Play | App Store
Pharmacity
Pharmacity is a mobile app developed by the convenient pharmacy chain – Pharmacity in 2018. Similar to Long Chau, the Pharmacity app was created to provide customers and patients with a convenient and fast shopping experience, along with online consultation services from a team of highly specialized pharmacists.
In its latest update, Pharmacity has improved and added some features, including a gift program for first-time users who download the app and sign up as members.
- Downloads: +100K
- Reviews: 2.2 ★ (Google Play), 3.9 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #4 in the Medical category
Download the Pharmacity app: Google Play | App Store
The Coffee House
In 2021, the famous beverage brand The Coffee House officially launched its mobile app with the same name, aimed at providing customers with the experience of ordering drinks for delivery or picking up at the store, along with many reward point programs for attractive incentives.
After two years of development, the new version of The Coffee House app features a completely new interface and many special features designed to enhance the customer experience both on the app and at physical stores.
- Downloads: +500K
- Reviews: 3.7 ★ (Google Play), 4.7 ★ (App Store)
- Ranking: #20 in the Cuisine category
Download the app: Google Play | App Store
Mobile eCommerce apps are one of the rising trends in mobile commerce. As a result, developing mobile shopping apps is the first smart move to achieve sustainable growth in the booming era of mobile commerce.
Contact SECOMM now for advice on how to implement and develop the best strategies to dominate the Mobile Commerce market.