With over 20,00,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide, ‘social distancing’ is the new buzz. In the prevailing pandemic scenario across the globe when social gathering has become the talk of the past, brick and mortar store owners are having hard time retaining their businesses. With their shops shut down for an uncertain period, they have lost their sources of income. Even if they are open, there are hardly any customers due to lockdown restrictions imposed.
Now comes the question: Is there any way to survive this? The answer is ‘Yes’.
A business app! Yes, a business app can help you bounce back.
However, if you are totally new to the online world, it is crucial for you to understand how you can tap into a business app. There are two methods – a standard one and an unconventional one (or an effective short-cut).
Ideally, you should take your business online first by building an online store. If you are a novice in the field of online business, our AppJetty development team can help you with that. We can develop an online store, optimize its look and feel, its content, and market it for you.
Once people start noticing your online presence, you can build a mobile app using an app builder module for your online store and start ASO.
Sounds a well-thought and organized method, right? Undoubtedly, it is!
The only thing is it is a bit tedious and time-consuming as well. Which again wouldn’t be a problem in the otherwise normal days. But probably not in these times when every single day counts for your business survival. Further, this method is not only lengthy but also slightly more expensive. And risking a big investment these times won’t probably be a wise choice.
So, two questions that arise are:
Is there any alternative way to expedite this long process?
If yes, what is it?
Luckily, the answer to the first question is – YES.
All you need now is the answer to the second question.
If it is to be a one-word answer, it is the ‘short-cut’ method – INDUSTRY-BASED APP CUSTOMIZATION.
Let’s walk you through the procedure to get a business app in the shortest time possible to catch up.
For your better understanding, we are taking a real-life example.
Suppose you are a grocery store owner. Consider two scenarios.
– You are in a COVID-19 hotspot/high-risk zone with zero mobility enforced there.
– You are in a low-risk zone with a lockdown enforced with minimal mobility.
While only a few people in the vicinity may still be able to visit your store (during the hours the local authorities have specified) in the second scenario, no individual can in the first one.
In both cases, the number of customers visiting your store will be lesser than that in normal times. So, how to upkeep your sales?
A custom mobile app is the way out.
You must be wondering how, especially when you don’t have an online store yet.
Fortunately, it is possible through a custom business app.
We can help you quick-launch your online grocery business through such a custom app. We even have a wide range of ready-to-launch) industry-specific demo apps.
You can choose your industry and customize the app to make it a cutout for your business.
For a grocery app, you must have the following functionalities.
– Product catalogs
– Contact Us Page
– Payment Gateway (for pre-paid zero-contact order deliveries highly preferable as a preventive measure against the novel Coronavirus)
– Login Page and User Profile Management
– Inventory Management
And that’s it!
Once your developer company builds a grocery app with all these functionalities, it will launch it on Play Store (for Android users) and App Store (for iOS users). Though ASO (App Store Optimization) takes time to bring your app in top search results, you can still cater to your customers in your vicinity.
You already must be having your regular customers’ database in either hard copy or soft copy. All you need to do is create an Excel sheet for that and subscribe to a mass SMS or email service (like MailChimp) to send your app link to all your localized regular customers who are within a range of 5-6kms. for them to know about your app and download it. This way, they can order items easily through your app and you can deliver their orders at their doorsteps. With the inventory management feature enabled, you can easily manage your stocks from within the app as well.
Thus, your regular customers’ orders will keep in pouring and support your grocery sales despite the prevailing scenario. You can even help the local administration deliver the required grocery items in zero-mobility areas through your app.
For more customers to know about your grocery app, you can use social media (even your personal account) to reach out to all your friends and request them to inform others about it.
Consequently, your outreach will broaden slowly but surely and even distant customers will start noticing your store through your app. You can then receive orders from even distant customers, ready them and hand them over to local administration for door-step deliveries. If you have a few volunteers, you can even request the administration to grant you official permission for door-step deliveries and share their load.
Now remains the third and the last question – Can you go for a full-fledged online presence later with both a sales-driven website and a full-fledged engaging app?
Yes, you can!!
Here again, our development team can help you with that. You can build a grocery website and tweak your already existing app (a short-term solution to current situation) and extend its functionalities to transform it into a high-end grocery app later anytime!
Are You Ready to Safeguard Your Business?
A business app is an immediate solution that can help you tackle the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and minimize its impact on your store sales.
While the ideal way to go online is with an appealing and optimized online store followed by an engaging business app with full-fledged functionalities, you can always take your first small step with a custom business app for the time being.
After all, something is better than nothing!
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