Top Features For Your Retail Android App

There are far too many retailers who consider mobile apps as “nice to have”. In fact these apps are pivotal to their survival and growth. That said, retailers who approach an Android app development agency are often single-minded in their desire to milk the app for all its worth, by adding far too many features from the beginning.  This would result in a heavy and complex app, and users may not want to overload their devices with such an app.

Android technology offers virtually an infinite features list for mobile apps. Here we’ll find out the key functionalities that Android technology provides for retail apps.

Product finder

Retailers who have thousands of items on offer can do themselves a favor and include ‘smart search’ into their Android app. Shoppers find it highly convenient to locate everything that’s on offer, under specific characteristics (for instance, size, collection, color). They don’t want to plough through page after page to find what they want. Android’s camera-based search is a feature that would particularly benefit fashion and retail businesses.

QR code reader

Including a QR-scanner feature in your Android app would be great for online shoppers as well as in-store staff. Thanks to this feature they would not need to manually enter the product name. All they would have to do is use their smartphones to scan the QR code. The app will list out relevant product details such as varieties, reviews, shopping trends, etc.

Push notifications

For retailers that do not want their customers to miss out on anything, push notifications are a key feature. This feature allows shoppers to keep track of promotions, discounts, specials, events as well as personalized offers targeted solely to them.  Additionally, Android app development experts can design the app such that the push notifications will be interactive. Simply put, it will give users the opportunity to perform certain actions, such as responding to a question using a quick tap of a button from outside of an app. It’s a smart way for retailers to engage their potential customers in real-time, figure out their preferences and retarget them based on their responses.

Mobile payments

Consumers today have no qualms about making payments through their mobile apps. This is why a huge number of mobile payment options have cropped up over the years. Android retail apps can be integrated with platforms such as Android Pay, PayPal and the like. Adding this feature is crucial, because shoppers’ mentality is such that they expect to find their preferred payment method on your app.

Location-based services

Including an iBeacon feature in your retail app is always a good idea. It gives you an ideal opportunity to interact with your customers. Android app development specialists design this feature in such a way that your customer gets personalized information and strategic locations within your store. The shopper will get greeted when they enter the store, be shown products based on purchase history, be informed of special offers and deals and so forth.

So, when developing Android apps for retail stores,your best bet would be to keep them simple and concentrate on designing a seamless, convenient purchasing process.