If you work on mobile in the Middle East right now, you couldn’t ask for better conditions than what we have. According to ComScore, smartphone penetration is 93% in the 18-34 demographic, and 79% across all demographics.
Yet, desktop still accounts for most e-commerce transactions due to usability issues on mobile. Clearly, everyone is ready for sticky mobile solutions that work and there is an immense opportunity for innovation and improvement in the mobile space.
So, what should digital brands do?
Mobile apps must be useful, usable and best-in-class to succeed. The Adobe Mobile Survey conducted in 2016 revealed that the most popular reason for deleting an app across all age groups was “not useful”. According to Localytics, 24% of users abandon an app after just one use, and 63% users have used less than 10 times. Additionally, only 52% users have ever used a mobile payment method for online purchase.
A multi-platform strategy is critical for alignment with customer expectations, yet brands still treat desktop as their primary channel of reach and engagement. OLX Lebanon sees 9 in 10 customers now using mobile as their main channel. In March 2017, OLX Lebanon share of app users was 89%, and is now the highest of all channels. Therefore, for digital brands to become more customer-centric, it is essential to invest more resources and effort into mobile, specifically smartphones.
How might we deal with diversity?
By taking an active mobile-first attitude and collaborating with our users to personalize their experience and bringing them closer to things they want.
At OLX Lebanon, we want to be all things to everyone. We want to offer users a wide selection of relevant items. Although, our audience is unevenly distributed between categories, demographics, geographies and levels of tech-savvy, we address our users’ needs regardless of these differences by enabling them to find anything they desire and purchase with ease.
The future is mobile. Mobile apps are going to be the main channel to browse, buy and sell because they can leverage the power of communities, and engage users better than any other channel out there. All in all, user success is mobile success.
