Covid-19 has been hammering the retail and restaurant markets. It has caused changes in consumer behaviors and their buying habits. What is becoming clear is that recent past and future restrictions are accelerating buying behavior patterns that are quickly becoming ‘the new norm’. Just how fast retail and catalog houses are reacting to these changes means company growth or…
The rapid growth of on-line shopping is creating a proliferation of websites that are being updated to more effectively support new buying patterns. While these websites support the activity and process of on-line selection and buying, they are not necessarily providing many of the features considered to be crucial to the effective on-line shopping experience because of the length of time it takes to modify the software. Add to that most companies have not taken into consideration the need for a cross-channel retail strategy once the effects of Covid-19 start to recede on main street and in the malls.
This is where the introduction of retail-oriented apps on mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers working in combination with a website are becoming increasingly more valuable.
Apps are not only able to meet the demands of on-line commerce but also address the critical issue of customer loyalty. Well-designed apps encourage customers to return to their favorite on-line store rather than surf the web to find a competitive website selling the same products.
The big retail chains have large marketing and IT departments to create websites that drives sales. One of the problems is that these companies cannot quickly change their website to adjust to changes in consumer behavior and drive new customer loyalty that is until some of them discovered low-code rapid app development platforms.
Low-code development platforms allow for the rapid creation of apps that run on desktops, tablets, phones and watches. Some low-code providers even proclaim they can create apps 20 times faster than long-hand coding by professional technicians. A very important feature of low-code platforms is that they can quickly be enhanced, changed to meet CURRENT CHANGES IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MARKET CONDITIONS – that is called “Agility”. Some large enterprises won’t investigate low-code because the IT group considers it to be “the enemy”; it takes away some of the mystique of IT. In a way that is true but the IT professional can greatly enhance the apps because of their technical wizardry. The developer does not always need to be a technical whiz but they should be computer savvy and know the processes they want to create with the low-code platform. Some low-code platforms like Evoke from BlueFinity International even focus on the retail marketplace providing the capability of creating an Amazon type app in days and weeks, not months or years.
If you are not aware of low-code platforms just google “low-code”. Some low-code suppliers even offer no-code development, you can google that too!