The widespread use of mobile phones and mobile applications has had a remarkable impact on aesthetic, social, economic and health aspects of life. Usage of mobile phones have resulted into a positive influence on human life. Mobile phones are the main communication tool in every aspect of business from service sector, industries and transport (Kim & Kim 2011).
One of the substantial impacts of using mobile phones is the ease of communication. Unlike the landline phones, mobile phones are easier to use because of their convenient portability and easy usage (Inukollu et al. 2014). Now a days mobile phones are not only used for making calls; rather they, have been advanced with more inbuilt features such as gaming, GPRS, calculator, calendar, internet and many more applications (Holzer & Ondrus 2009). Electronic commerce which involves trading in products and services using internet networks is becoming a boom day by day and mobile applications are becoming the backbone of e-commerce environment (Kim & Kim 2011). Use of mobile applications to search for and purchase products from online stores is one of the rapidly proliferating segments of the e-commerce technology. With versatile and robust mobile platforms such as e-commerce magneto, an e-Commerce software and platform trusted by world’s leading brands for growing their online business in an effective way. Online retailers are able to present themselves well in the market and uniquely use the vast opportunities of mobile commerce (Tsang et al. 2014).
The continuously changing environment makes it difficult for companies to keep up with growing consumer demands and it is almost a never-ending process. In order to sustain and grow the customer base, there is a need to develop a workplace environment where quick and easy access of services is available for customers. One of the frequently used strategies is developing a website with a convenient responsive design, i.e. a website that is responsive across different devices. Therefore many companies are now launching mobile applications in addition to responsive websites in order to boost sales and to provide an enhanced experience to the customers. Rapid proliferation of mobile phones has created a new channel for marketing (Jaokar & Fish 2006). By using various mobile shopping applications the customers are experiencing an enhanced shopping experience where they can have all the details of the product, the best price of it right in front of them just by one simple click (Dellarocas & Narayan 2006). So these mobile applications do not just serve the purpose of gaming, mailing, socializing; rather, they can also serve as an effective marketing tool.
A well designed mobile app allow customers to quickly place their orders from the convenience of their smartphones or tablets. One of the very best examples in this regard is the fast food restaurants that have significantly benefited by adopting this mobile app marketing tool. Dominos, Pizza hut, Food panda and many more food enterprises are the examples which are continuously growing their business and tempting more and more customers to choose the best deal using their mobile apps (Inukollu et al. 2014). Whether from big box stores or a small retail establishment, companies are now making big profits by making their offerings convenient and accessible to their customers.
Airlines such as Jet Airways, Delta Airlines offer mobile applications which allow the customers to check-in to the flight, make modifications, change seating and store traveler’s boarding pass at the gate.
One of the reasons why companies are switching to mobile applications instead of websites is that when the customers browse a product on a website on their desktop, Google ads of competing products are pushed to the consumer. However, such a situation is entirely absent in case of mobile application where customers do not get a chance to compare or review competitors offerings (Dellarocas & Narayan 2006).
Development of mobile applications provides a very suitable environment for companies as it can be used as an effective interaction channel with their customers and help them to deliver information related to specific service or product. Various advertisements and messages regarding the product/service can be transmitted through mobile app by excluding the chances of comparisons with competitors in the market. Mobile applications allow service providers to have continuous access to customers regardless of time and location and thus are an indispensable tool for marketing for many modern e-stores.
Ballon, P. & Walravens, N., 2008. The reconfiguration of mobile service provision: towards platform business models. Available at SSRN …. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1331549 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Dellarocas, C. & Narayan, R., 2006. What motivates consumers to review a product online? A study of the product-specific antecedents of online movie reviews. … of the International Conference on Web …. Available at: http://digital.mit.edu/wise2006/papers/2b-3_finalwise2006abstract-dell-narayan.pdf [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Holzer, A. & Ondrus, J., 2011a. Mobile application market: A developer’s perspective. Telematics and informatics. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585310000377 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Holzer, A. & Ondrus, J., 2011b. Mobile application market: A mobile network operators’ perspective. Exploring the Grand Challenges for Next Generation …. Available at: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-17449-0_19 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Holzer, A. & Ondrus, J., 2009. Trends in mobile application development. Mobile wireless middleware, operating systems, and …. Available at: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-03569-2_6 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Inukollu, V.N. et al., 2014. Factors Influencing Quality of Mobile Apps:Role of Mobile App Development Life Cycle. Available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/1410.4537 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Jaokar, A. & Fish, T., 2006. Mobile Web 2.0: The Innovator’s Guide to Developing and Marketing Next Generation Wireless/Mobile Applications. Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1201235 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Kim, P. & Kim, S., 2011. A model of close-relationship among mobile users on mobile social network. … and Secure Computing (DASC), 2011 IEEE …. Available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6118735 [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Tsang, M.M., Ho, S.-C. & Liang, T.-P., 2014. Consumer Attitudes Toward Mobile Advertising: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Electronic Commerce. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10864415.2004.11044301#.Ve_2xtJViko [Accessed September 9, 2015].
Understanding complainers and their complains Variety of negative emotions can occur following a service failure, including such feelings as anger, discontent, disappointment, self pity.
Consumer vs. Customer As layman the terms ‘consumer’ and ‘customer’ are mostly used interchangeably. Mostly people do not find any difference between the two.
Customer Knowledge of Services Pricing To what extent do customers use price as a criterion in selecting services? How much do consumers know about the costs of services?