The year 2020 saw unprecedented circumstances and businesses were forced to innovate or close down. Those who chose to innovate and keep up with the demands of the time – survived. Technology has always been an enabler for forward thinking businesses and in tough times technology enabled businesses to stay afloat. Well, Lokaly has been one such technology solution that enabled local businesses to keep going in times of crisis. It enabled them to keep in touch with their customers, engage with them and more importantly allow users to make purchases and place orders online. In a world where distancing has become a good thing, Lokaly managed to not only help businesses survive but some of them even thrived.
Lokaly keeps adding new and innovative features to help businesses further their goals. Here are some of the latest updates to the mobile app that stood by you when the world was locked down.
We are happy to announce some of the new features:
With new features rolling in, businesses can upgrade their app and install the new updates and leverage from their benefits!
Local businesses are the ones that took the initial hit of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Restaurant businesses especially thrive on the number of customers that walk into the door. The situation demanded that businesses make themselves more accessible to customers and serve their needs. This is only possible by offering easy ordering services, safe distancing and online payments and such features that keep customers in touch with your business.
Setting up a restaurant online and reaching out to customers is the key to keep business afloat during times of crisis. Lokaly is one of the online spaces where local businesses such as restaurants can quickly setup shop and begin serving their customers.
With Lokaly, restaurants can:
When it comes to hyper local businesses such as restaurants, trust plays a very important role and restaurants can benefit by taking charge of the situation and keeping customers well informed about their opening hours as well as their newly added online food delivery services. Customers to understand and trust a familiar name and it will help you not only keep your existing customers, but also create an entirely new avenue for customers to come flooding in – the mobile way!
Get your restaurant online instantly with Lokaly!
Lokaly is a solution for sellers and buyers. Sellers can register their stores and manage their accounts with various buyers online through the seller app. With the buyer’s app, users can order from their favourite store within their vicinity via the app. Lokaly acts as a gateway between you and the local stores.
How can users contact local stores?
Lokaly acts as a technology bridge between the sellers and buyers. Many local stores depend on the number of feet walking up to their storefront every day. Many times they lack in the extra efforts to reach out to a larger customer base. Lokaly offers local businesses with the opportunity to expand beyond their regular customers and look at a larger customer base. The buyers can conveniently place their orders from their favourite stores within their vicinity and within a few taps and swipes the job is done. Well, the stores can also offer regular customers with a ‘khata’ system of payment wherein the customer is offer a type of store credit which can be paid when the amount is due.
The good news is that buyers do not have to pay anything to use the Lokaly app. It is completely free and can be downloaded for free from Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
The app is pretty simple to use too. After logging in, users can see the local stores on a dashboard. Users can also see whether the seller has approved their khata. Everything is displayed on the dashboard so that users get direct access to the information they require. All payments for the orders placed are managed via a khata system and can be done directly via the app. This means that there is no need of separate apps for making payments too. All transactions are effectively managed within Lokaly.
With Lokaly, businesses get a wider reach and no longer have to be dependent on those customers who walk up to their stores!
One of the defining events of 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant global lockdown. This will probably have implications that will last well into the decade. The situation is rapidly changing and today, people are able to move out and office workers are definitely facing challenges working remotely. People are slowly coming to terms with the realities of our interconnected world and we are living in unprecedented times might be an understatement. This isolation and uncertainty has influenced how people shop and make buying decisions. From bulk buying to online shopping people are changing what they are buying, when and how. Brands are having to adapt and be flexible to meet changing needs.
Panic buying and coronavirus
As a response to the lockdown people began stocking up. Stores both brick and mortar and online were struggling to keep up with the demand. The lockdown reduced the access to the stores and people began to look for online means of ordering essentials.
Preparedness
For local stores and departmental stores, the lockdown was something that many weren’t prepared for. People buying off the shelves were now expecting an online place to order groceries, school supplies and other essential items. Well, stores eventually caught up and were looking for quick solutions to get online and serve their customers – while following all the mandates of the locked down world.
Lokaly
Mobile apps like Lokaly ensured that stores and local businesses got a platform to quickly put them out there – online. They could simply register and begin selling. Building an online presence was never so easy. Customers too got easy access to their favourite stores and could place their orders and get items delivered to their doorstep.
Unprecedented times brought about unprecedented solutions and even those businesses who never dreamed of being online were now ‘completely’ or partially online. Well, it probably worked out for the best. What the near future holds no one knows, but technology and mobile solutions are definitely the key to a successful future..
Ever since the world has been locked down, there has been a surge of businesses moving from physical stores to a completely online model of operation. The result? The competition has moved completely online. Every neighbourhood store and the local departmental store is finding ways and means to move online. The result? Many solution providers are trying to offer technology services that enable them to offer services online – as seamlessly as walking into a store, making a purchase, and walking out.
So, how do you set up a B2B online store?
There are a number of solutions available in the market – to go online. But if you are a B2B business, or a multi-brand, multi-store business, you need platforms that can specifically cater to your requirements. Some of the solutions like Lokaly can even help you set up at no cost. Ready solutions require very less time to go live.
How can Lokaly help set up your B2B online store?
Lokaly is your technology solution if you are dominating a locality in your geography, are a distributor or wholesaler for large product offerings, or are a multi-brand or multi-store business. You can offer digital access to your clients and customers via Lokaly.
Lokaly offers businesses with a quick and easy way to get online and ensure that their business stays ahead in this fiercely competitive world!
By the year 2021, mobile commerce sales are expected to by 54% of the total eCommerce sales. Growing at a rate of 33.8%, M-Commerce sales are projected to reach $3.56 trillion by 2021. M-commerce is definitely one of the channels that businesses are adopting quickly to boost sales.
So, how do we reap the benefits of this growth? How to use M-Commerce for your business? Here are a few places to begin with:
Mobile sites
Get a super-fast, lightweight mobile website. It will work seamlessly on all devices and keep your customers engaged.
Optimized content
While working with mobile commerce, make sure that you optimize your content and images to fit various screen sizes. It offers users a great user experience to have a seamless interface across all devices.
Simple search and navigation
One of the reasons mobile commerce is popular is because it offers ease of buying for the users. When developing a mobile commerce solution, make sure that users can reach where they want to as fast as they want to with simple search and navigation.
Product views
Make sure that your products are displayed well and can be seen via a small screen too. It will help boost sales.
PWA Stores
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) – meaning the apps look, feel and work as mobile apps and work best on entry-level devices as well as on poor connections.
In built marketing tools
Many mobile commerce solutions have built-in marketing tools that you can use to maximize your marketing ROI. You can offer multi-level personalized discounts too. Retargeting abandoned carts with auto follow up is essential.
Social media
It is easy to integrate various social media platforms and offer your buyers with social sharing coupons using the inbuilt discount engine to gently push customers to buy from you.
Mobile commerce is a natural progression of eCommerce and in the coming years, mobile commerce sales will definitely exceed the regular sales. It is essential that businesses implement eCommerce and mobile commerce solutions today to reap the benefits in the coming years.
Lokaly is a mobile commerce solution. Using Lokaly application, sellers can be online in less time and start selling. While buyers can order items from their favorite stores and get it delivered at the doorstep.
Lokaly launched its White-label Solution for the Marketplace, B2B and B2C models, in India and the rest of the world. Lokaly white-label solution is currently successfully operating at many businesses in India. Lokaly is a digital platform that gives you access to a wider Customer base. You can create your online marketplace or the B2B or B2C business using your own branding and features needed for the business. Meanwhile, Lokaly Marketplace in India has seen 400% growth in Seller registrations during the lockdown – past 2 months and sees further growth in times to come.
