Why You Don’t Need a Mobile App for Your Small Business?

If you are thinking that you need a mobile app for your small or medium business, you might be wrong. Let’s check the fact folio before making a decision.

Statistical Facts on Usage of Mobile Apps

As of January 2020, 93% of mobile users around the world use smartphones while only the rest 7% use basic phones. In total, 2.6 billion people worldwide use smartphones. Almost all smart phone users have internet connectivity to avail all the functions of their phones. Those who use internet through mobile data are about 91% and the rest 9% get internet accessibility by public Wi-Fi connectivity. Android OS runs approximately 88% smart smartphones, while iOS runs 11% and other OS altogether run only 1%.

The number of available apps in Google Play Store is more than 3.8 million. Apple has about 2.1 million apps. Approximate 2 million apps are commonly shared by both.

Smartphone users use an average of nine apps a day, 30 a month, and 46 a year.

The average number of pre-installed apps in a smartphone is 60. About 29 are essential apps for proper functionality of the mobile, 15 for additional functionality from the OS manufacturer, seven are popular apps loved by most of the users, and the rest nine are either from the manufacturer of the mobile or its third-party partner. None of the pre-installed apps can be uninstalled.

WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, SnapChat, UC Browser, YouTube, Shareit, Google Play, Google Search, Google Map, Uber, Google Photo, Google Drive, Gmail, Amazon, Bitmoji, True Caller, Chrome, and Twitter are the twenty most popular apps used worldwide. An average smart phone user uses at least eight of these daily.

Hard disk space per user in average is 16 GB out of which 3.5 GB is used by the system memory, 2 GB for pre-installed apps and 0.5 GB for the catches. Within about 11 GB a user in average has to install apps and store images, video etc.

Two apps are installed by a typical user on a monthly basis. 67% of the apps are not used again after 72 hours of installation. One out of four apps is uninstalled daily.

Most common types of apps used on regular basis are social media, music and video players, games, search and chatting. Utility bill payment, mobile wallet, shopping and booking apps come in the second position.

Out of 3.8 apps in the Play Store, 133 apps are installed by the vast majority. Approximately 82% of apps don’t cross few hundred installations and two-third of them are rarely used after installation.

While shopping and booking apps are popular among 56% of mobile users, more than two-thirds of them prefer to use an app by a multi-billion-dollar business.

mobile app for businesses

Selectivity in Using a Mobile App

More apps mean more problems for a user. The problems are using disk space, consuming data, sending frequent notifications, working in the background, and slowing down the processor. Therefore, people prefer to use fewer apps. Those that are considered highly beneficial from the user point of view are installed and used more frequently. Along with most of the top twenty, one or two mobile wallets, a relevant banking app, a popular multi-vendor booking app, two to three multi-vendor shopping carts, a music player, a video player, an image editor, a file manager, a local directory, etc., are the most frequently downloaded types of apps. Apps with multi-functionality are normally given preferences.

While installing and using an application, a user gives priority to using less hard disk space and a low quantity of data used by the app. Hard disk space is always limited, and it’s drastically limited in a budget smartphone. People prefer to store more files in the form of images, videos, and documents instead of storing more apps.

Positive user experience is the most important aspect. If a user doesn’t find an app better than the other in a similar category, he/she will definitely abandon it.

If you are a small business runner, your app might not be preferred equally with a multi-vendor large marketplace like Amazon or Ebay.

Development and Maintenance Cost of a Mobile App

The approximate cost of a low-budget mobile app is $100 per year. This includes development, testing, and listing costs. But the cost of an error-free, robust, and safe app is many times higher. In fact, annual running cost of a mobile app is ten times higher than the development cost.

When the OS for which your mobile app is developed upgrades itself, you need to upgrade your app in accordance. Otherwise, it’ll not work properly.

Bug problems are common to most of the apps unless they are developed in a robust technical environment. Low-cost apps always suffer from low optimization and speed. Users generally don’t prefer such apps.

In order to meet the users’ expectations, a business needs a considerably high budgetary allocation to launch and keep it continuously usable. After developing an app, there are a number of steps to take. Most important is updating and upgrading. If you fail to upgrade your app, it’ll not meet the technological advancement as required. It might not work properly in an upgraded OS environment.

Competition among Mobile Apps

Competition among mobile apps is very high. Those who have a highly able technical team and can spend a large amount on marketing can win the battle. Small businesses normally have no space in this competition.

Mobile App vs. Mobile Friendly Website

Having a website optimized for mobile devices and having accelerated mobile pages (AMP) is a better idea than having a mobile app for small businesses.

Building, hosting, designing, optimizing, updating and marketing a website cost many times less than a mobile device.

While people don’t take an interest in installing more apps in a mobile phone, they normally don’t hesitate to visit a website by a browser again and again.

All businesses, especially small businesses, can’t handle an app properly, but handling a website and making it popular is not a difficult task.

A mobile app is always a smaller version of a website. Adding all functionality of a website to a mobile app has not yet been possible.

Who Need Mobile Apps for Their Business?

1. Companies, small or big, those have primary focuses on technology. They can sell their technology in the form of mobile apps.
2. Banks and financial corporations of any size do better with mobile apps
3. Booking service providers with robust technology that can provide single window service through mobile apps.
4. Businesses having clearly defined visible existing customers can do better by offering app based services.
5. Utility service providers

You may or may not have a mobile app for your business. If it’ll be beneficial for you, then go for one. If it’s not a primary requirement, then avoid. But, whatever may be the nature and size of your business, you definitely need a website for it.