As opposed to PCs or laptops when users need a table and a chair, mobile devices allow people to stay mobile and connected irrespective of their location. They don’t have to be in the office but can be commuting to work, traveling or doing other things. A mobile device with a decent screen now presents a viable alternative to a laptop and users can do all of the things through their App.
The market for classifieds apps is no exception and more and more people put their car or property up for sale right from their phone. Similarly, users on the other end use mobile devices to search for and purchase cars, houses and multiple other classifieds items.
Flynax offers native mobile classifieds apps for both Android and IOS environments. In this post, we would like to take a deeper look at the mobile apps we offer and see how they may help you in your classifieds business.We will also attempt to answer the biggest question we often get from our customers:
“Can a mobile app be a viable alternative to a desktop site version?”
Probably a few years ago, we would have said “No” because back then, apps were only a temporary solution for a user and most of the features were available only in desktop site version. However, since that time, mobile apps have made a big step forward, and today, we can safely say “Yes” Flynax Mobile Apps for classifieds may allow users to do most of the things right from their apps without having to fall back to their PCs.
Let us take a closer look at both Flydroid and IOS Apps and see how your users can benefit from them.
Sign up from the App
Even if we assume that some of your users do not use PCs and rely solely on their mobile devices, they can still download the app and sign up right from it. They may even sign up using their Facebook accounts and start using the App immediately.
In other words, your classifieds business can operate perfectly through the apps and users may register on your website without having to be close to a PC. All they need to do is download the IOS or Android Apps to their smartphones and start using them.
Run a Search from the App
When users register and open the app, they may start using it immediately and browse through listings. Users can search for listings with Google Maps and also see ads around their locations. Considering that some mobile devices have small screens, it may be difficult to see multiple listings stacked together on a small map area. To remedy this, users may easily switch from map to list view and view the nearby listings neatly arranged in a list. Both Android and IOS app feature a full-fledged search that can help users find all types of listings.
Listing Details Page
When developing the apps, we thought how we could best present the Listing Details page and make sure that all the essential information fits a small screen allowing users to locate every detail without straining their eyes. Our apps feature a neatly-organized listings details page with the most essential information about a listing, such as details, seller info, photos, videos, maps etc. As opposed to big computer screens which have enough space to fit all of the menu items, mobile screens offer much less screen space, and with this in mind, we kept all of the menu items but concealed them in a sliding menu. A simple slide to the right or click on the menu icon gives users instant access to navigation.
Post Ads from the App
Dealers or sellers are usually busy people who are always on the go, and therefore need the ability to post ads right from their smartphones. Both Flynax apps allow sellers to add listings from their smartphones. The process of posting an ad is similar to a desktop site version: the seller fills in fields with information about the ad, furthermore, there is an ability to take photos or record videos right with a smartphone and add them to a listing. Sellers may also edit their listings right from the app, add new information, photos or simply remove it. Added to that, every seller has a full-stack profile in the app and users may see all the ads posted by a particular seller and contact him through an app messenger.
Make Purchases right from the Apps
Even if you have an app that allows users to sign up, search, post and edit ads, it is all in vain if users cannot purchase a membership or upgrade a plan right from the app. At the beginning of this post, we asked a question “can users use your site only from the app without having to fall back to their PC”, and clearly, this would not be possible without allowing users to make purchases right from the apps.
With this in mind, we took it upon ourselves to make sure that apps have their own pre-integrated payment gateways. Users who downloaded the IOS app have the ability to pay for services on your site with PayPal or Apple In-App-Purchase. For Android phone users, we have integrated PayPal and Google Wallet. With these native mobile payment gateways, users are totally independent from PCs and may make purchases in mobile environment.
High Speed and instant Access
Mobiles apps allow users to be mobile and have instant access to your website even with slow internet speed. Since most of the functionality and the app interface is stored within the app itself, users only need to make one server request in order to get data on the app section they are viewing as opposed to a website that needs to load the entire page with its styles, scripts and source code.
What can’t you do on Mobile Apps?
All of the features and Plugins for Flynax script have been written to work in a PHP environment, it means that to make them work in native Android/IOS environments, they had to be re-written from scratch. Obviously, we could not recreate the entire functionality of the website and fit it into the mobile version. But if we come to think of it, there’s no need for all of the website functionality in a mobile version that is why we covered only the most essential features.
To start with, mobile apps do not offer you the choice of templates however, we offer mobile app template customization services, and a simple change of colors, your logo and your app name may bring it in line with your website concept.
With the web version, you get many more payment gateways, which you can offer your users. Mobile apps offer native payment gateways for Android/IOS, although if you wish to give your users more ways to pay for your services. However, if you wish to give users more options, there are quite a few payment gateways tailored to Android environment and we can integrate them in the app for an extra fee.
Most of the Flynax Plugins were written to function in the PHP environment and are not available for the mobile apps, except for a few Plugins which we reproduced in the app.
Final Thoughts
The message that we want to get across to you is that it is not correct to compare a desktop site with a mobile app because the former will always have more functionality (at least for many years to come). Nevertheless, we believe we have achieved our main goal, that is, our apps can be used independently from a desktop version and your customers may browse, add, edit listings, purchase membership plans right through the apps and more.
We keep our hands on the pulse of app usage statistics and know that mobile apps today account for 52% of all the time users spend on digital media and people spend around two hours a day using the apps. With this in mind, we keep working on our mobile apps because we know that apps for classifieds are an integral part of your classifieds business.
As we come to an end of this blogpost, we would like to list five major benefits for your website from using the mobile apps for classifieds:
- Double your website audience by providing them access to mobile apps;
- Increase sales by allowing users to make purchases through apps;
- Allow sellers to take pictures/videos of items right from the app and post ads on the go;
- Allow users who do not have a PC access your website from their smartphones;
- Long lasting benefits for your website as more and more people use the apps;
We no longer consider the app a “light version” and we are doing everything possible to turn it into a full-fledged classifieds platform giving your users independence from a PC and the luxury of being able to do everything right from their smartphones.
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