Member Article

Liverpool using apps to promote best of city’s retail, leisure and culture

The Liverpool BID Company and Liverpool ONE retail district have teamed up to launch two apps to help visitors find their way around – and discover the best the city has to offer.

The new apps - called Liverpool ONE and ThIS Liverpool - contain information about hundreds of shops, restaurants and cultural venues in the city centre, including details of money-saving offers and discounts. The aim is that, together, they offer the ultimate mobile guide for visitors, residents and those who work in the area.Both are now ‘live’.Â

Sara Wilde-McKeown, chair of the Liverpool City Region visitor economy board, described the apps as an important step in the city’s ambitions to be a digitally-connected destination.

She said: “People expect to be able to access information about their retail and leisure choices in real time and to be able to use mobile platforms to plan their visits and stays. Being able to communicate the richness of our city centre offer is essential if we are to continue to grow the city’s already booming visitor economy.“

The apps showcase the city centre from Liverpool ONE to Bold Street and Water Street, including Metquarter, Clayton Square, Queen Square, St Johns and Cavern Walks shopping centres, in addition to all of the main cultural venues in the city centre.

Both apps are available to download free. The Liverpool ONE app is available on both Android and Apple platforms. The ThIS Liverpool app is available on Android and is also available from the Apple Store.

Donna Howitt, Marketing Director at Liverpool ONE, said: “We wanted to create an app for Liverpool ONE which was more than just a guide but instead gave people access to exclusive offers and discounts which cannot be found anywhere else.

“Users can plan their trip to Liverpool ONE in advance by using the My Day feature within the app and keep up to date with cinema listings, special offers and discounts.

“Our app perfectly complements the ThIS Liverpool app and together they offer a brilliant and user-friendly guide to everything that’s going on in the city centre.“

Bill Addy, Chief Executive of Liverpool BID Company, which represents 1,500 businesses in Liverpool city centre, said: “There are more than 150,000 people working and studying in the city centre, as well as all the visitors we welcome every day, and we wanted an app that could be tailored to suit each audience.

“ThIS Liverpool App offers exclusive offers across shops, eateries and venues for workers, students and the general public and also puts them in the front row for all the great events that happen in the city centre.

“Liverpool’s retail sector is a huge engine in our visitor economy and it’s great that ourselves and Liverpool ONE are working together to embrace the mobile shopping revolution and support our businesses and the tens of thousands of people they employ.“

The Liverpool ONE app helps people to navigate around shops, bars and restaurants with maps and step-by-step directions around Liverpool ONE’s four distinct shopping districts, Leisure Terrace and Chavasse Park.

Users are encouraged to sign up for MyONE, Liverpool ONE’s loyalty scheme, which offers members a variety of rewards in many of the shops within Liverpool ONE. In addition to this, members will be the first to find out when the hottest new ranges hit the shelves and receive bespoke emails, specifically tailored to their personal interests and tastes.

Meanwhile, the ThIS Liverpool app, designed by Liverpool company Apposing, has exclusive offers aimed at city centre workers, students and the general public.

The app is also filtered across several categories including clothes and footwear, health and beauty, food and drink, culture and entertainment, home and technology allowing users to choose what they see.

A further feature is a voucher section which enables people to redeem offers and save their friends money by sharing the deals on social media.

There is also an event section and a thematic trails section – with built in offers – encouraging users to explore specific sites and tourist attractions in the city centre.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .