Developing an app and maintaining its security go hand-in-hand. When it comes to mobile commerce apps, then, one thing is for sure the security of the app is a must. Mcommerce development growth has expanded over the last couple of years, but that doesn’t mean every app will be successful in the market.
There could be many reasons for m-commerce applications to fail, and one of them is the lack of security. Users will not think twice before completely abandoning the m-commerce app if there are any chances of threat.
Mobile commerce development has revolutionized the way people shop online. The wide range of products, the convenience of shopping, and comparing before buying are some best advantages of using mobile commerce technology.
When going for the user experience and app designing in the mobile commerce app development, make sure you also add the mobile commerce security to the same list. There may be a security hack that will cost you and your users. There are various steps that need to be taken to secure mobile commerce app features that we will discuss later at the end of the blog. But first, let’s check out the latest stats related to the m-commerce market.
What do Stats Say About Mcommerce Market Growth?
The m-commerce industry has got a lot of plus points as the global m-commerce market is projected to reach a valuation of $3,901 billion by the end of the year 2026, growing at a CAGR of 34.9%. The m-commerce industry is growing because of the increasing demand for smartphones.
Smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of everyone’s life. It has been estimated that almost 55% of traffic in m-commerce comes from smartphones. Also, as per a recent estimate, retail m-commerce sales in the US have already reached $360 billion in 2021, and by 2025, it will amount to approximately $710 billion.
Almost every other smartphone user has a retail app on their phone. Other than that, the growing urge for online shopping amongst people is another factor for the m-commerce market growth.
Why you Need to Secure your Mobile Commerce Business
It is impossible to guarantee 100% security coverage. But it does not mean that your business data is exposed to cyber risk. The goal here is to ensure your security measures that prevent attackers from targeting your app in the first place.
Here are a few possible reasons to secure your m-commerce app:
- All the m-commerce apps operate through a form of P2P sharing. And as a service provider of mobile transactions, you are partially responsible for securing yourself and your customers’ data.
- The second reason for securing your m-commerce business is that any kind of malware or security breach can lower the trust of your customers in your brand.
- Security issues might force the users to uninstall and abandon your application, thus swiftly dropping your engagement rates and thereby completely stopping your revenue stream.
How to Develop Mobile Commerce Apps?
The mobile commerce app development process is not a short and simple one. It requires a lot of resources and advanced planning. However, the steps that are involved in the whole process can be explained briefly.
Step1. Select the mobile app’s platform for the development process. iOS app development, Android app development, Windows app development, etc., are some of the options. Android has a massive user base, whereas iOS users have a higher conversion rate. Depending on the purpose of the business model, choose the platform.
Step 2. Designing the mobile application is the next step. The mobile commerce app design should include visually appealing designs, simple animation as well as a clear font. Make sure the app does not become complicated with too many features.
Step 3. The app must include the necessary features for shopping, browsing, and saving items to buy later. These are the features that make an app likable to users. Also, if a user cannot buy an item without facing any glitches, he will likely not use the app the second time.
Step 4. Publish your app on the app store and go for pre-launch and post-launch marketing. The promotion of the app is a must once it’s launched so that it gets maximum traction. Make sure you use all the marketing tools available online.
Step 5. Maintain the app by fixing the bugs and introducing new updates as needed. Support and maintenance of the app are equally important, so make sure you give it the attention it needs. In the updates, new features can be added to the app that might have been demanded by the users.
So, these were the steps for mobile commerce application development that you can implement to build an m-commerce app of your own. Let’s see how mobile commerce app developers safeguard their applications.
How to Secure Your M-Commerce App?
What is m-commerce without its security? Your customers should have a reason to trust you, and that reason is strong mobile commerce security that can protect customer information. Mobile app security practices should be followed to build an app that is secure at all times. Here are a few key security features of mobile commerce platforms.
Additional Security Features to Consider for your Mcommerce App
Although you have a top-notch security level implemented in your application, unfortunately, it is not enough. In order to develop mcommerce app of your own, you also need to consider a few additional security features. Let’s check them out:
User Experience (UX)
Don’t make the application too much complicated for the users. Remember, m-commerce app isn’t just an online banking app; it is also about user experience. So there is no requirement for the users to log out every time. Such restrictions can make your app unnecessarily complicated and less user-friendly. Focus on providing mobile-friendly design for your m-commerce app.
Utilize in-built tools or solutions that can improvise the security and experience level. This includes integrating reliable payment methods like Google pay or Apple pay or in app-purchases and sign-in methods from Google or Apple. This method requires almost no action from the users as they can easily auto-fill the forms by utilizing the data already present on the device.
Citing a use case of 6th Street, an eCommerce mobile app was looking for ways to boost its user experience by integrating user-friendly features and enhancing the shopping experience. 6th Street came up to us with alarming challenges like delays in the app start, issues with payment gateways, unfamiliar modules, and an overall poor user experience.
We fixed issues in the current Algolia SDK and implemented the Algolia analytics. We also restructured their product listing screen design.
This resulted in a smoother app launch as it was able to render data faster than before. We even integrated secured payment gateways like Apple Pay, Checkout.com, Tabby, Qpay along with the push notification feature for ensuring high engagement.
Legal Compliances
Being an m-commerce development service provider, you need to abide by regulatory compliances. These include:
Google or Apple developers agreement: The Apple and Google Play Store requires the users to know what is actually happening with their data and how these data are being processed. Therefore, you are required to share this information in the privacy policy or app description.
US export law: You can’t leverage some cryptography algorithms in a few global regions or countries that has export restrictions. Also, a few device features may not be available in some selected global regions. To target those regions, you would require using a substitute mobile commerce platform.
GDPR: The European Directive punishes companies and enforces user data security that allows data leakage. The mobile commerce solutions must grant the user the right to investigate all their data. They can also request data removal.
This is not an easy task, as there are several things like purchase history, invoices, and other details that can only be anonymized. This is why mobile commerce solutions should always implement security by design.
Internal policies: Various smart internal policies help in preventing social network attacks or phishing on users. As they never ask users about their password or any other code.
After discussing the additional security features for mobile commerce application development, now let us look into the must-have features in order to build m-commerce app.
Content source: How to Develop an M-Commerce App and Maintain its Security?
