Mobile applications have a significant or, some would say, the most impact on business than ever. Mobile technologies and business have intersected even stronger since the COVID-19 outbreak. Companies are going the mobile route ensuring the adoption of mobile even to the disadvantage of other business solutions. In this article, we’ll consider hybrid app development and its capacity for businesses. 

What is a hybrid app?

Hybrid app development means building an application that operates across platforms – Android, Windows, iOS. While implementing the hybrid app approach, developers write code once and it runs on different operating systems. Hybrid apps become possible due to certain coding tools that enable communication between the native and web platforms. In other words, the core of a hybrid app is developed using web tools like JavaScript, CSS, HTML and then embedded into a native app wrapper by means of a framework.  

Can my business take advantage of a hybrid app?

Since hybrid app development is about writing a single code compatible with different operating systems, it is easier and more cost-effective. With a hybrid solution, businesses may save up to 40 % of the development budget. Respectively, hybrid apps are faster in development than native or web ones. Hybrid apps are built using low code that accelerates development time. Some companies, like Elinext, claim that using a low-code approach “they have been able to build a full e-commerce platform and a curbside pickup solution in 11 days, from scratch”.

Secondly, hybrid mobile solutions are able to work in an offline mode. If real-time data is not available for a user, they can still load the app and use the data loaded earlier. To put it differently, hybrid apps can ensure a close-to-native user experience. 

“How do you have one experience between your website and your app? Take a step back … it’s thinking about it from a platform-first approach. If I’ve done that the right way, then I can serve up more capabilities without having to rewrite core components,” says Sunil Rao, Salesforce representative. In other words, going hybrid is important to ensure a unified customer experience.

One may doubt these thoughts while hybrid apps are often said to have lower performance compared to that native apps. In response, it is useful to recall hybrid apps you use every day – Gmail, Twitter, Instagram – the names that associate themselves with great functionality and user experience. 

Hybrid apps also allow businesses to target a larger audience. 74% of the top retails apps in America are hybrid apps, including Walmart, Amazon, Nike, research says. 

To sum it all up, hybrid apps bring value to a business through:

• Enabling one-fits-all codebase
• Engaging more users with a single solution
• Saving development costs
• Offline support
• Quicker delivery time.

Hybrid apps: trends and case studies

With a reference to the above-mentioned app names, hybrid app development becomes a sample of excellence for various industries from email services (Gmail) and urban transportation (Uber) to retail (Walmart, Amazon, etc). 

E-commerce is the industry, which makes the most of hybrid app development at the moment. As mentioned above, the majority of U.S. retails businesses have shifted to hybrid solutions. 

The E-commerce experience behind a hybrid app embraces the catalogue of goods, record of client’s purchases, shipping data, support, etc. Meanwhile, not only customers but retailers’ store associates can leverage hybrid app capabilities. Thus, an e-commerce hybrid application with a number of popular retail brands onboard allows building a store associate’s profile in the retailer’s original design. The store associate can advise consumers and chat with them in the profile. If a retail company has stores in different cities, the app will link the visitor with the right associate. This e-commerce hybrid app also includes CRM tools, such as contact lists, analytics and interaction logs. A store associate can also tailor a set of items for a particular consumer using the app. 

Generally speaking, hybrid development will be a preponderance of business apps, like e-commerce, applications with more commonly used features and when you have limited funds. 

Conclusion

While the use of mobile was predicted to set a record in 2020 and further, shifting priorities for mobile technologies is the right way where hybrid apps are definitely able to future-proof your business strategy.