Smartphones, since they have entered the market, they have changed the whole nature of doing business. The online industry has began to dominate the brick & mortar world and slowly people are seeing the benefits of having a mobile app or a mobile website or both. Advantages being, increased reach, faster ROI, increased scope, and better knowledge of the market, increases the rate of success for the business.

Mobile applications have come up to be a very intriguing way to scale up the perimeters of the business. Even mobile app development has also become a huge business in its own way. Although, it is on the firm’s or brand’s discretion to have an app or a mobile website as both are highly effective for business. Both of them have a huge impact on the progress of the business but mobile website being a feasible and access anytime unit seems to be more beneficial for SMEs or start-ups. However, possibilities also reveal that people who visit your website through PCs or laptops might want to connect to your brand via the mobile application.

Applications are straightforward, if a visitor wants to go through your collection of goods or services, they can simply do that by opening your application on their smartphones. Besides, mobile websites can do the same and user do not have to install your app and instead can access it from any smartphone. To find the right option for your business, you can simply judge on the basis of the advantages they provide you.

Mobile Apps

A mobile application is a software which can be installed in a smartphone or a tablet, unlike the mobile site that needs to be accessed through a search engine. The early phase when the apps were introduced, their experience was quite similar to the one of the mobile websites. But, gradually with the advancing technologies, these apps have become our second nature and provide us with a great user experience. They have become a great source for the business, to push the boundaries that were never even imagined and to accelerate the profits of the business.

Advantages of having Mobile Apps for Business Purposes

• Engages customer in no time and they can connect better with you as they get to access information, area maps, discounts, other offers, etc, provided by you.
• Increases your creditability, makes you unique, and enhances relation between you & the customers.
• Accelerates Brand Value
• Allows you to captivate your clients by enhancing their experience
• Attracts people on a larger scale through various mediums like push notifications.
• With the help of the database collected via the application, you can improve your performance by analyzing the customer behavior and their reviews.

Mobile Websites

A mobile website is just a mobile version of a desktop website, which can run on both smartphones/tablets or PCs. Responsive websites are attractive, more effective, feasible in terms of development, and is accessible on all Operating Systems. You don’t have to install it, you can bookmark it in your browser and open it whenever the need be.

Advantages of having Mobile Websites for Business Purposes

• No installation needed, can be accessed easily, provides all the benefits of a typical desktop website.
• Helps to score a better position on the search engine rankings board.
• Inexpensive as one URL caters all the devices, irrespective of their operating systems.
• Renders services to both existing and prospective customers and runs on all platforms outdate, new or upcoming.
• Inexpensive maintenance

Verdict

You have to see which of these gives you the largest benefit and go for that. There is no formula for opting the right choice for your business as all business have different aspects and the one that matches most of the aspects should be adopted. Mobile apps are expensive and requires a healthy maintenance which makes it better for the large enterprises. On the other hand, SMEs or start-ups can utilize the benefits of inexpensive mobile websites that provides almost all the benefits of a desktop website. For the enterprises who are already running both of them can carry on maintaining them as all the users do not install every app until its truly necessary.