What a year, right? The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the main events that made 2020 a year like no other.  It changed our way of working as we knew it. It took its toll on many communities and small businesses. Being present on digital channels has proven to be a must for these businesses.  2020 has been a year of unprecedented changes and challenges. But we remain optimistic. We've seen the people helping people. Businesses stepping up and even grow.  As we are a few days away from leaving 2020 behind, we take a moment to look at GoodBarber's key moments.   

For your Shopping App, as for any online shop, the checkout is one of the most important steps. How smooth (or not) the buyer experience is at this moment will determine if your potential client finalizes the purchase or not.  When you know that the average cart abandonment rate is 69.57%, you'll want to optimize your checkout page. Lucky for you, GoodBarber is always looking for ways to enhance your shopping app. In addition to already existing optimization features such as one-click payment, quick-buy button, we have now released the Fast Checkout add-on.   

Each year, Apple suspends app reviews during the Christmas week. This year App Store Connect will not be accepting any submission from December 23 to 27 (Pacific Time). Here are the different scenarios and see the impact of this announcement on your iOS submission.

This month we've been working to help you comply with the new standards. No jealousy this time, one is for Shopping Apps, and the other for Classic Apps:   SCA payment: On December 31, 2020, the new security requirements imposed on banks and payment organizations by the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2 ) will take effect in the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA). The European standard called SCA (Strong Customer Authentication), which is version 2 of the 3D Secure payment, will then come out. Transparency and Consent Framework: The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) has published a new version of the Transparency and Consent Framework, TCF V2. The objective is to ensure transparency between publishers (owners of sites displaying ads), ad networks, and suppliers (ad suppliers) using CMPs (Consent Management Platforms) that are verified by the IAB.  

This pandemic is having an immediate and long-term impact on small businesses. From lockdown to restrictions, and social distancing, small business owners have had to adapt and find solutions to keep their business running.    Digital channels are becoming the new norm. For example, local farmers have been embracing digital technologies as a way to directly sell produce.    A positive trend from this new norm is the support for small and local businesses. People are specifically seeking out local, independently-owned businesses. Many social media campaigns are dedicated to shopping locally and #supportlocalbusiness or #shoplocal are trending.    At GoodBarber, we’re here to support you and help you keep your business open by offering you solutions adapted to your needs.  

IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) released a new Transparency and Consent Framework version, the TCF V2. The aim is to provide transparency between Publishers (Site owner displaying ads), ad networks, and Vendors (ads suppliers) by using CMP (Consent Management Platforms) that are verified by the IAB. If you display ads on your GoodBarber apps via AdMob, Google Ad Manager, and Google AdSense to your European and Uk visitors, then this is for you.  To comply with Google’s EU User consent policy, GoodBarber implemented Google’s CMP Funding Choices. Funding Choices is a Consent Management Platform (approved by the IAB TCF v2) that integrates with Google’s advertising services to help you navigate user choice for privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.    

On December 31, 2020, the new security requirements imposed on banks and payment processors by the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) will be taking effect in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries. The European standard called SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) comes out, which is version 2 of the payment by 3D Secure.  GoodBarber has taken all the necessary steps to comply with the new standard and SCA has been implemented in our Shopping Apps.  All you need to do on your side is to rebuild your app to benefit from this update and submit the new version to the Stores.  Let's find out in more detail, what SCA is all about and what it means for your app. 

Article updated 11/112020 Should I move my business to mobile? You already know our answer, but the question is, how to transition from a desktop product to a mobile application. In terms of user expectations and usability, a mobile app is a different product altogether. Because we make a point of accompanying you every step of the way, here are a few elements to have in mind when looking to make this oh so important switch.

This month we present you some new features, especially in terms of Shopping Apps.  First of all, know that you can now set a time zone and apply it to your entire shop, from the Settings > Shop info of your back office. Once the timezone has been chosen, it will be applied to all the elements of your app, such as emails, dates displayed on your shop, etc. It will become the reference time zone of your shop.  Then, and at the same place, you will be able to choose the date and time format that will be applied to your shop.  And finally, a new line is displayed in your link manager: the "Product details" line. Got it? You can now create links towards the product pages.  You'll find below a summary of the improvements and updates made during the month of October 2020:  

Discover our advice to easily comply with the Play Store Privacy Policy requirement. Here's how to provide a Privacy Policy document, within your app and on the app's store listing page.

Every day, new podcasts are published on different platforms (Spotify, iTunes, etc). Podcasting is now mainstream and attracts tens of millions of people every week, generating more and more revenue.  According to this report from The Verge, the podcast industry revenue in 2018 was $479.1 million and will likely create $1 Billion annual revenue by 2021. “Technology, Media, And Telecommunications Predictions 2020” report that the podcasting business could grow to more than $3.3 billion by 2025. This is clearly a lucrative industry that has a lot of room for innovation.  If you're thinking of creating a podcast, this is definitely the right time.    

This month we've redesigned a section very appreciated by podcast lovers. I'm talking about the Sound section of your GoodBarber Classic apps. We are pleased to announce the release of a must-have feature: Mini Player.  From now on, your users will be able to browse the app while continuing to listen to the content of your Sound and Live sections. All this while always viewing the player at the bottom of their screen, no matter what view they are in!   We also worked on a new template for the details page of your Sound section, I let you discover it in your back office ;)    You will find below the summary of the improvements and updates made during the month of September 2020:

Creating an app may seem long and difficult, but we have planned everything to facilitate the task. Indeed, GoodBarber enables you to :

As you know, we strive to constantly develop our features and provide you with the tools to be successful. After releasing the Google AMP - Mobile Accelerated Pages - Add-on.-on for Shopping App last December, we are now making this add-on available on Classic Apps as well.  The AMP (accelerated mobile page) format was created by Google with the aim of making it easier and faster to load web pages on mobile phones. With this Add-On, you will be able to increase your visibility and drive more traffic.   Indeed Google highlights pages using AMP technology in its search results. AMP pages appear either in the AMP carousel at the top of the first results page, or in traditional results, with the AMP label. You therefore greatly increase your visibility and your chances of traffic on your shop. With this technology you ensure that your pages are loaded almost instantly resulting in a perfect user experience and increased customer retention.   

No rest at GoodBarber in August! Two new add-ons have been published and you might be particularly interested if you're using GoodBarber for your Shopping App.   "Quick Buy " add-on: Your clients will now be able to easily add products to their cart from the Home page of your app (widget List of products° or while browsing a collection. Once your clients have added the product, the button will say "added". Clients will never have to leave the page they're browsing, therefore increasing the chance of them browsing your catalog further, which will result in an increase in your average cart.    "Store Locator " add-on: Give your clients a quick overview of your different store locations and simplify their shopping experience by allowing them to find you instantly.  You will find below the updates and improvements for August, 2020. 

One of the biggest questions: how much it cost to create an app for iOS and Android? This article will provide the answers to better understand the cost of app development.

Did you know? 88% of all mobile searchers visit a related store they have searched for? With our new Store locator add-on, you can now merge your online and offline business. It allows you to display your store locations on your shopping app and help your clients find you easily, simplifying the shopping experience. With online sales taking over traditional shopping, small business owners need to find ways to bring customers back to their new o brick-and-mortar locations. According to studies (source Hubspot), 40% of all mobile searches today have some form of local intent, making store locators an important part of a marketing strategy.  

Easy navigation and smooth ordering process are two of the main reasons shoppers will stay or leave a shopping app.  You can improve this shopping experience by creating smooth ordering directly from the Home page or from a collection. Instead of navigating to single product pages, your clients can shop directly from the products list By allowing your clients to quickly select products, you can speed up their shopping flow on your app, which then will result in increasing your conversion rate. It might also encourage them to buy more. For example, if you're a caterer or selling beauty product, your clients are most likely going to buy more than one product from you. If they are buying a facial cleanser, they will probably also buy a moisturizer or exfoliant.  Thank to our new add-on, you can now add this feature to your Shopping App. 

This month we have several novelties to present you and which concern the Shopping Apps!   First of all, two new features in the checkout process: You can now customize the wording of the fields concerning the company, the VAT number, and the phone number of your clients. You can activate a new free field, the "Client note" field, which will allow your users to send you any message when placing an order. Then a brand new add-on! The "In-store pickup". It allows your clients to place their orders from your app and to pick it up in your shop. Convenient right? You can find below a summary of the developments and updates made during July, 2020.

Integrate social media un your marketing strategy and boost your sales.

e-Commerce is a tough competitive market. With large companies taking the main share of the market, what do local, independent businesses have to offer to compete? Shops! Their actual physical location.  Thanks to our new add-on “In-store pickup”, local shops can now increase in-store foot traffic, boosting sales and client satisfaction. 

Top marketing advice for each stage of your app development: pre-launch, publication, post-launch You’ve taken the right step by deciding to create an app. And you already know that promoting your app and setting a marketing strategy will be important for its success.   But sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start.  Or what to focus on depending on if you’re just starting creating your business, if you’re about to launch it, or are now looking to take your business to the next level.  We gathered for you all our best articles to guide you along your journey.  

This month we have something new for everyone! Among the developments made we offer two new features that will delight creators of content apps as well as shopping apps!   Let's start with the Classic apps and the new design. Our ambition has always been to provide you with a product at the cutting edge of technology and mobile user experience.   As the style of the action buttons we offer you is no longer satisfactory, we have updated the design to keep your apps up to date with the current design trends! The update will give an excellent refresh to the user interface of your apps :)  For the Shopping Apps, we continue our efforts by offering a new add-on for your Shopping Cart section: the "Cart Reminder " add-on.  This reminder is an easy and simple way to encourage your clients to complete their purchases, by showing them the products they have left in their cart.    You can find below a summary of the developments and updates made during June, 2020.

Abandoned order, shopping cart abandonment are dreaded terms for online shop owners.  Indeed almost 70% of users will leave a site or app without completing their shopping. What is an abandoned order? Order abandonment is when a shopper gets to the point in their journey where they add an item to their cart and then for some reason decides to leave without taking any further action. For the retail sector, some of the most common reasons for abandonment are issues with shipping and shipping cost, decided to buy in-store instead, lack of payment options, or technical issues.