Mobile Apps As A Business

We have seen an increasing trend towards mobile apps as a stand alone business. Most of us are used to the idea that someone can earn a living by running a website. This may be by selling something via an online shop, or making money from google adsense, getting paid by advertisers or even affiliate marketing. But what is slowly being realised in South Africa is that it is much easier to make a difference in the local market with a mobile app rather than with a website. Why are apps a better business option?

1. Significantly less competition

There are thousands of websites for almost any topic or product or industry. This makes it tough to compete and make a difference. But when it comes to the app stores, there are so many opportunities that are yet to be taken advantage of. It is easier to get noticed and even to rank at the very top of the app store search results soon after launch. Let’s use one of our own apps as a real life example. We developed Cheap Flights South Africa in May 2015. It started out ranked in the mid 40’s in the Google Play Store, after 6 weeks of applying successful app store optimisation techniques, the app ranked number 1 in the Play Store if you search for ” Cheap Flight South Africa “. Soon after that, it became a Play Store autocomplete. This was fantastic as it meant that when people start to type “cheap f ” then Google will autocomplete the app’s name and you can just click on it. This saw a massive increase in app downloads and so a huge increase in selling flights via the app.

2. Location Services & Directories

The days of the yellow pages are long gone. It was replaced by websites and now websites are being replaced by apps. Why are directories like Factory Shops SA becoming such popular consumer apps? The main reason is convenience, the convenience location services bring you. You mobile phone has built in GPS. When an app is developed with advanced location services it means that you can always see the distance certain fixed points are from you. Such as your nearest factory shops specialising in designer jeans. These location services not only show you your closest store, it also allows you to filter and search digitally for a specific item. So essentially, I open the Factory Shops SA app, I go to the search bar and I type ” nuts ” and instantly I am shown all the factory shops that sell nuts and the results are ranked from closest to farthest.

3. Easy to use

Websites can be very cluttered as there is so much empty space on  a pc screen that web designers or owners of the site tend to fill up that space with unnecessary junk.  This just wastes time and often you see more ads on a webpage than content. Mobile Apps As A Business are easier to use than websites as space on a mobile device is limited and thus as an app developer you need to display the content neatly and well packaged. This is great because you know that when you use an app like Yummy Deals for instance that you will have everything you need on one page instantly. You can immediately view the outlet distance, the map, the trading hours, phone them directly, email them directly, share their details on social media, view outlet description, view outlet portfolio images or menu, visit the website and best of all you can click on Route and be taken to the outlet via GPS Navigation.

4. Barrier to entry

The barrier to entry to Mobile Apps As A Business is still being perceived as high when it comes to running your own app as a business. This is a false perception in South Africa. Yes app development is time consuming, a rare skill and it can be costly depending on the project. But the amazing thing about running and owning a digital service is that you do not need to worry about rent, insurance, theft, staff and all other brick and mortar type overheads. You also can’t run out of stock or have delivery issues. Running a digital service like Beauty On Tapp comes with a range of benefits that bring down the cost of business and certainly the risk of business.

5. Agility

Running a digital service like your own mobile app also offers the opportunity to adjust to market conditions much more easily than a traditional business allows for. You have detailed analytics of your campaigns and you can track your successes and failures in a much more tangible way compared to old school business. In the digital space you can also more accurately target your target market. Digital marketing on Facebook and YouTube allows you to be incredibly specific about who must see your ads and where they must be situated.

6. Entrepreneurial leadership

Mobile Apps As A Business is something close to our heart At App Development Ninjas. We have incredible clients, these clients all share a similar ethos and it is a spirit of entrepreneurial leadership that we admire. Our clients have realised the value in being first to market and the power that comes with establishing yourself as an authority while your competitors are still using old outdated ways of doing business.

7. Lifestyle

Being the successful owner of a mobile app as a business means that you can earn money while you sleep. Your app continues to provide a service to its users 24 hours a day. This means you do not ever need to exchange your time for money and this provides you with a flexible lifestyle instead of putting in the 08:00 to 17:00 at your Brick & Mortar Store or regular job. It also opens the opportunity to expand and establish a new type of digital service or app as a business.

Prediction:

We predict that all of the traditional directories that started on printed paper and then moved to websites will soon move to being a very useful mobile app. Apps give you faster more relevant results. This is why everyone loves them.

Please feel free as always to contact us for any information at all.