e-tailers of all sizes need apps, but until now they have been costly to create and maintain. This could now all change thanks to a new plug-in for Magento from US firm Apptive.
The bulk of Magento platform users have a mobile optimized website, and that works well for the discovery phase of the sales funnel. However, apps have become ever more important to customer service and loyalty, as well as being much better at converting push notifications. However, for many smaller firms they have proved costly. Apptive’s solution seeks to make it easy and affordable for retailers of any size.
Apptive Apps currently start at $9.99/month. For that a merchant receives a native iOS and Android app, submission to both the App Store and Google Play, access to their EasyApp management console which includes analytics and editing options, and unlimited push notifications for deals and messages. The company also offers support, and a range of add on features covering design, configuration and management.
Apptive’s drag and drop app creation and management solution allows merchants to build a feature-rich native mobile app in minutes with no coding required. End customers can browse and buy products directly from the apps without additional management from store owners. The apps also provide native-only functionality, such as push notification messages and deals, which mobile websites cannot deliver. This integration with Magento furthers Apptive’s mission to make app creation a reality for all eCommerce merchants, large and small.
“As the number of purchases made through mobile devices continues to increase dramatically, it’s more important than ever for eCommerce merchants to offer a complete mobile presence to their customers. We’re very excited to be working with Magento to offer their merchants an optimized mobile commerce app solution to drive sales and engagement for their stores through smartphones and tablets,” says Chris Belew, Apptive CEO.
One company already benefiting from Apptive’s app plug-in is Kiki La’Rue. “At Kiki La’Rue, we’ve found many of our customers are women constantly on-the-go – from running their households to running a company. The ability to provide them with a cutting-edge mobile solution for shopping has given them the ultimate buying power. They can buy fun, fashionable attire from any place on the planet, at any time, on any device,” says Ben Clark, Kiki La’Rue owner, Apptive and Magento customer.
