There are thousands of small and big businesses in New York. From the ever-growing food industry to IT firms, financial services, Mobile Application travel agencies, transportation, and you name it. 

And the competition is fiercer than ever before. If you don’t pay attention to the new business trends, you will be left far behind in the race. Your competitor will establish a strong name, get more attention, and might even steal your long-term customers.

And one of the areas where every business is working is building a solid digital presence. Be it in the form of a responsive website or a mobile application. 

Today, even small businesses in New York have a website. And as they continue to grow, they further invest in mobile applications. When millions of searches are being conducted online with buying intent, not having a website or a mobile app means missing out on a huge opportunity.

But the thing is, maybe you’re on a tight budget so you can’t afford to invest in both. Or maybe you feel your business needs only one of them. This is what we are going to discuss in this article. In case you are confused about which is a better platform for your business, below is your solution:

A Mobile Website is a Must for Small, Local Businesses

Small businesses may not have the budget to afford the fees of app development, but website development in New York is much cheaper. And it’s a must for a local business.

For instance, you are delivering homemade food at the doorsteps of the locals. Your business involves cooking and delivering homemade food in the city. How would people learn about your business?

Statistics say 88% of consumers who search for a type of business on a mobile device call within a few hours. Chances are people will be searching for fresh homemade food in New York from their offices and homes.

How would they learn about your business if you don’t even have a website? If you have a website that displays your daily menu, prices, the areas you are covering, chances are you will get more business.

A Mobile App is a Must for Brand

It takes consistent effort and sweat to build a brand. And in today’s world, building a brand without a strong digital presence is impossible. Having a mobile-first website is not enough. All popular American brands have a mobile app to interact and engage with their audience.

This way, the loyal customers of the brand enjoy a personalized experience. It becomes a lot easier to target users based on their interests, Mobile Application location, usage behavior, and more.

Each user can set up his/her preferences upon downloading the app and gets custom recommendations and offers based on those preferences. Today, apps can also identify the user location and show geography-specific content to boost engagement and sales.

Mobile Website is Ideal for SEO-Dependent Industries

Some businesses have millions of searches online. Thus, investing in SEO in such industries brings a massive ROI. For example, you are selling web design and web development services in New York. Thousands of searches are conducted daily.

In this case, your best option is to create a mobile website and invest in SEO. It will take months, or maybe a complete year to appear on the first page for a high-volume keyword.

But if you simply launch a company app and don’t invest in a mobile website or SEO, you are never going to get any business. 

The same is true for services and products being searched online with monthly search volume in hundreds of thousands.

Ecommerce Stores Need Mobile Apps

Mobile app revenue is growing fast. It is expected to reach $935.2 billion worldwide by 2023. And the reason for this rise is e-commerce stores. There are over 2 million online retailers in the United States.

They rely heavily on mobile websites. And the most established ones of them have a mobile app as well. As it goes without saying, the ones with a mobile Application render a greater customer experience and get more sales.

Industry Experts Have Both

Don’t forget we are discussing your options in case you don’t have the resources to invest and manage both platforms. In the ideal case scenario, you need both a mobile website and a mobile app both.

Today, even 71% of small businesses have a website. And around 50% of them have a mobile app as well. Where there is greater competition it’s impossible to thrive without both.

So if you want to be an industry expert, or your ultimate goal is to become the no.1 service provider in your niche, invest in a mobile website as well as a mobile application

Improves Efficiency

Since the business apps are custom-built keeping your business requirements in mind, it acts like a comprehensive app performing diverse functions and negates the requirement of multiple apps. These apps, you can tailor to suit your working style which enhances the employee productivity and in turn business ROI.

Offers High Scalability

Regular apps can handle only a limited number of resources and processes for any business. In the event of your business growing, these apps may not be able to handle the load. Custom made apps, on the other hand, keep in mind all these parameters. when the need arises you can scale up the application as you like.

Secures Your App Data

General business apps may or may not have specialized security features, which may put your business data to risk. Having a custom app made solely for your business can reinforce your data security system, as relevant security measures will be taken care of according to your business needs while app development

Integrates With Existing Software

General business apps may be able to function smoothly with your existing software. Custom-made apps take into consideration your business software and hence ensures to integrate well and function without any errors with the existing software.

Easy to Maintain

By using regular apps for your daily business operations, you are risking yourself at the helm of an unknown mobile app developer. If the developer decides to discontinue the app for some reason, then you are left to find a new app and discontinue your current operations. By building your own custom business app, you get complete control and don’t have to depend on others for anything

Improves Customer Relationship

Customized business apps allow you to send personalized updates related to your products and services to your existing customers in real-time. Additionally, it allows you to access client details and receive feedback, which provides you the leverage to improve long-term customer relationships.

Facilitates New Client Data Retrieval

Adding simple forms and surveys in the custom mobile application can help you get the required client information. Apart from being a discreet way of collecting information, it also saves time of clients and employees, as they don’t have to physically submit the documents

Summary

There are different stages of growth for any online business. You start from scratch and gradually grow. A strong digital presence in the form of a mobile website and mobile app boosts your growth. However, if you don’t have the resources to invest in both, stick to the one that fulfills your objective and brings business.