It is rightly said that- “where there is a will there is a way”. Your wish to put your store in the hands of the customers has been successfully accomplished. Yes, you heard it right. You have every way to create a cohesive and fulfilling brand experience for your consumers. They can now connect to your store via their mobile devices, anytime and anywhere. Well, thanks to Magento who made it possible in this mobile era!
Magneto mobile with its native storefront mobile apps pave the way to engage your customers and extend your brand like never before. Isn’t it a great way to take customer relationships to a completely different level? I am sure once you discover its capabilities, you would certainly agree to my point?
Why Magento-mobile?
This new Magento-powered mobile app has given a head start in this rapidly growing mobile commerce industry. There is a significant demand from the eCommerce merchants to mobilize their business. But as you are already aware of Magento’s mobile web optimized themes, this new concept has helped the majority of the retailers, who want to engage their customers with the personal and rich features that are only provided by mobile apps. However, the cost involved in building, integrating and managing these apps for different mobile devices is crucial.
The Magento mobile includes a native iPhone app, administrative manager and service where Magento manages the submission and maintenance process for the app store
It is no more difficult to gain the serviceable powerhouse of Magento eCommerce to your mobile commerce channel. But how? It is through Magento-mobile admin. In addition to this, it also includes full integration with your store’s inventory, reporting, catalog and checkout
This new application technology easily manages multiple devices with a distinct installation and expands the presence of your mobile to iPhone, iPad and Android devices
For iOS:
For Android:
The complexity involved in managing a mobile app is no more tedious. It enables the online merchant to focus on their business
It is a purely cost-efficient approach to bring the best mobile experience for the consumers. All they need to do is pay for the desired features and devices and the rest of the on-going maintenance of the app is handled by Magento
It just needs a few clicks to update the colour and appearance of your app with Magento mobile admin. And it is possible even after the customers have downloaded the apps
Smartphones in today’s world can build stronger relationships with your profitable customers. The mobile app unlocks different opportunities such as geo-targeted push notification and immersive native experiences.
How will you build Magento mobile application?
Magento mobile consists of two parts- a Magento web store with an XMLconnect extension installed and configured and native application. The XMLconnect extension serve your application with requested data for instance the product information or product catalog and also execute the desired action such as log in, purchase and check out. The application sends a request to the Magento store (XML connect) and it responds with an XML results.
Take a look at the following steps:
Set up Magento store on your web server with a few sample data
In the Magento admin, go to Mobile> Manage app and add a new mobile application
Install the Magento mobile on your device
With Magento store URL and app code of the application you can start Magento mobile on your device.
However, while dealing with the Magento mobile be careful with the activity log file to check what application is requesting from the server. You may find the first request to be the application configuration request.
Are there any factors to consider before you submit your app to Magento?
In order for the app to pull in different information from your website create a separate store view through admin panel. And associate it to the application. Navigate to the System tab> Manage store> create store view
However, do not worry! Changing something on your webpage will not affect your application.
Update the categories thumbnail images by navigating the Catalog tab and click on Manage Categories. Select the top level categories on the left. The third option is the thumbnail image where you can upload images which will show up in your mobile app for that category
Also update the app’s copyright information. Navigate to the System Tab> Configurations> Design Tabs> Under Footer>Copyright. Place the copyright information you want to include within the app
Do not forget to update both the field of short description verses description. Short description on the Product Information Page should include a brief explanation of the product. Description should include an extensive explanation of the products you want your customers to know. Navigate the Catalog Tab>Manage products>click on the product to fill out both the description field
You may also check the color configuration guide to make your app visually appealing.
Magento-mobile is a cost-effective, feature-rich and easy to implement, making it perfect for both the experienced online retailers as well as the start-up online merchants to target the growing numbers of mobile users.
Besides Magento mobile, there are a few more companies who have shown their keen interests in developing mobile apps for iPhone and Android. The MCommerce is getting bigger and so is the Smartphone market.
Appy Pie has introduced a plug-in that can convert the Magento Community Edition based website into mobile apps for both iPhone and Android. They provide the mobile application development in the following sectors-
- Business
- Utilities
- EBooks
- Entertainment
- Social networking
- Education
- Travel
Similarly, Mob eCommerce also places your Magento store in several android and iPhone devices and customise your store at a reasonable cost. The app will have the following features-
- Supports the native language
- Add unlimited products and categories
- Works with all payment gateway
- No monthly commitment, it is a one-time fee
- Provide source code at additional cost
- Work with any eCommerce platform.
Zeon has also created mobile app for the customers to experience additional functionality such as
- Mobile promotional codes
- Advanced product viewing and zooming
- Shopping cart
- Shopping history
They allow custom mobile application to allow for more functionality for your customer using their mobile devices.
David Meyer
Prince Kapoor
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Sudeep Banerjee