Today is the time when consumers can shop just by tapping a few buttons. It’s easy. But how do you make sense of the variety of options flooded in the market? To tackle this challenge both for the consumers and retailers, shopping assistant apps are ready to help. Powered by AI apps and machine learning, these apps process huge amounts of data and make the best offers to consumers with the largest discounts available.
If shopping assistant apps are such a relief in this consumer age, why not create one and make money?
How to create a shopping assistant app? Here are a few steps to follow:
- Do market research;
- Follow the discovery stage;
- Build an MVP;
- Build a rigorous marketing strategy.
So, if you have this fabulous idea in mind, read this article. We will talk about:
- Types of shopping assistant apps;
- Benefits of shopping assistant apps;
- Most important features of shopping assistant apps;
- How to build your own shopping assistant app?
Types of Shopping Assistant Apps
To understand the basic types of shopping assistant apps, we must have an idea of what they do in general. Put simply, shopping assistant apps are applications for personal shopping. Why do the consumers need them?
Firstly, the users of the app can easily select the right products with personalized recommendations.
Secondly, they can search hundreds of stores for the best deals and offers within one space.
Lastly, they can get their desired products at the best price with possible discounts.
Taken this general description, we differentiate between four types of shopping assistant apps:
- Personal commercial service: users can shop various products and services through a single application;
- Trip planning apps: users can buy a plane, train, and bus ticket, as well as hotels, car rentals, and entertainment;
- Ticket booking apps: users buy any kinds of tickets, including cinema, theater, and tours;
- Gift deliver apps: the apps help users buy any kind of gifts and deliver their gifts to recipients.
Benefits of Shopping Assistant Apps
Before we move on to the benefits of shopping assistant apps, we must make it clear that consumption patterns have changed. Have a look at this study result by Google.
So, online is everything for today’s consumer. Another interesting finding by Google is that 84% of shoppers use a smartphone while shopping.
Why is this trend? What are the benefits of shopping assistant apps?
Save time and money
Time and money are two resources everybody loves to have. Shopping assistant apps allow users to search through thousands of items without even spending time or paying for transportation to reach the store. No wonder so may prefer these apps instead of visiting brick-and-mortar stores.
Build social community
Earlier many were shopping based on the popularity of the brand. Today, the shift is on the social community. A lot of people read reviews and ratings before they finally click on the “buy” button of a product or a service. They base their decisions on the recommendations of friends or influencers in the niche.
Personalized shopping
It’s really hard to shop. Have you thought about that? The market is flooded with goods and services and when it comes the time to buy, you are really confused. And here artificial intelligence comes in handy. Backed by AI, these apps make suggestions based on consumer preferences. So, instead of searching through thousands of items, consumers get suggestions based on what they liked or disliked previously.
A monetization tool
Shopping assistant apps are beneficial not only for consumers but for retailers as well. They allow retailers to better understand the needs of their customers and increase sales. This means that retailers gain access to the most valuable things — information about their customers’ needs. They make their decision proceeding from this data.
Most Important Features of Shopping Assistant Apps
Shopping assistant apps may have some unique features but there are several that are must-have. Here are some.
Price comparison
The idea of shopping assistant apps is to enable users to shop wisely. Therefore, they should be able to compare prices within one application. That’s why the price comparison feature is a must-have for any shopping assistant app.
Coupons
One of the reasons consumers use shopping assistant apps is that they want to get access to multiple discounts. Coupons help customers to get discounts even if there are no general discounts at the shop. By applying the coupon, users can know the final discounted price.
Custom recommendation
This is one of the features that is powered by AI and machine learning. Users get recommendations on various products and services based on their preferences. For example, if a user purchases a blouse, he or she will get a recommendation on the best offers that match the purchased item. An offer may also be based on the preferred brand.
Price predictions
Users get notifications on prices for the best deals. This is another incentive for consumers to use shopping assistant apps as they will know when the prices will go down for their preferred items.
Package trackings
Customers who make a purchase should be able to track the location of their purchase. Normally, the applications show the order status that the consumers can track at every stage.
Natural language processing
Today, shopping assistant apps understand not only text but human language and even colloquial slang. Based on user requests, a personal shopper makes offers and even comes up with recommendations. This is another feature powered by AI which allows communicating with an AI agent as if it were a real person.
Image recognition
Another cool staff! A user can upload a photo of the desired items and the application finds a similar product. This is especially useful for fashion retail and interior goods.
How to Build Your Own Shopping Assistant App?
Developing a shopping assistant app is both hard and easy. It’s easy because all the recommendations are in place. But it’s hard because it takes a lot of effort to produce something that stands out. Here are some of the recommendations to follow to have a one-of-a-kind shopping assistant app.
Market research
Yes, it starts with research. Even if you have a fabulous idea it may not work because Mr. X has a better offer in the market. Therefore, you should study your competitors and see what they can offer.
Discovery
The next stage is to hire a Business Analyst that will produce the technical specifications or the Discovery document. This person will come up with basic features and a tech stack to be used.
MVP
You should have a prototype of your products before the final version goes into the market. Once you do market research and produce the technical specification document, most of the work is done.
At the MVP stage, you should hire a development team that will work on the design and coding.
An important stage of MVP is feedback generation.
- Does your product work well?
- How satisfied is the consumer?
- What do they like most?
- What can be changed?
After answering these questions, you need to adapt the initial version of the product and come up with the final version.
Marketing
A rigorous marketing strategy will help you publicize your service or product. This includes:
- Email marketing
- Social media campaign
- Content marketing, including SEO and content generation
- Direct mail marketing.
In general, the development process takes 3–6 months. You need the following specialists in the course of the work:
- Business Analyst;
- Software Architect;
- Web/Mobile developers;
- Front-end coders;
- QA engineers;
- Scrum Master.
Conclusion
Time is a scarce resource. Maybe this is one of the reasons that shopping assistant apps have become popular. You don’t need a whole lotta money to develop one if you want to take your piece of the pie.
Now that you have an idea about the benefits, features, and how the apps work, you are ready to develop your own app. And it does not really matter whether you own a huge store or a small local shop, you definitely need to develop a personal shopping app to expand your client base. If you want your sales to be skyrocketing, we are here to help you develop an app that will multiply your sale. Contact us for details. As an Armenian company in Eastern Europe, we can offer you solutions that can meet your needs.
Check our other articles on instant app development and how to make an online selling app.
