Member Article

Appy Days - What makes a successful ecommerce app?

Mobile apps are everywhere - here’s what the best ecommerce apps get right, and how to create a mobile app that boosts your cross-channel retail success.

Why appify your retail business?

Native apps have notable advantages over ecommerce websites and mobile websites. Retailers can do a lot more by having a native app on a customer’s device. For example, a native app lets you send promotional messages and push notifications via SMS and can incorporate smartphone features such as GPS and the camera for product scanning. Native apps also benefit from inclusion in App Stores, where they can be discovered by new customers.

Your mobile app may be a highly optimised sales machine, a useful tool, or create brand engagement. Whichever type of app you create, integrate it into your wider branding and marketing strategy for the best results.

Common characteristics of the best ecommerce apps: 1. Discoverability

Promote the benefits of your app through existing customer touchpoints as well as awareness campaigns to help more people discover and download the app. Build your app for multiple operating systems - and multiple app stores - because Android is catching up to iOS as the most-used OS for online payments via mobile devices.

In summer 2014…

• 1,300,000 available apps in Google Play app store (for Android)
• 1,200,000 available apps in Apple App Store (for iOS)
• 300,000 available apps in Windows Phone Store (for Windows Phone)
• 240,000 available apps in Amazon Appstore (for Kindle or Android)
• 130,000 available apps in BlackBerry World (for BlackBerry)

In September 2014…

• North America: 4.3% of all online payments were made on Android vs 11.8% on iOS
• Europe: 8.3% on Android vs 15.6% on iOS
• Asia: 7.5% on Android vs 10.1% on iOS
• Latin America: 2.1% on Android vs 3.3% on iOS

Source: http://www.appbrain.com/stats/number-of-android-apps

2. Personalisation and integration

The best ecommerce apps tailor the in-app experience to the user, so link your app to your CRM, integrate with mobile data, and make the most of geolocation or proximity sensing technology (such as Beacon technology) to encourage sales in-store and enhance the customer journey.

Make your ecommerce app part of your multi-channel retail adventure, not an optional add-on. The top mobile commerce apps are integral elements of a much larger marketing strategy.

Most-downloaded retail apps…

1. iTunes
2. eBay
3. Amazon
4. AutoTrader
5. Groupon

3. Usefulness

Once a user downloads your app, make sure they’ll want to use it - so describe the benefits clearly and aim for the gaps where other retail apps haven’t satisfied.

Adult mobile device users want mobile retail apps to improve by…

• Offering unique savings or discounts: 44.1%
• Providing access to customer support: 38.5%
• Checking stock levels and/or offering in-store collection: 33.0%

4. Fun and community

Some of the best ecommerce apps are driven by their user communities. Pose, which lets users buy, sell or trade “gently worn or new” fashion products, also gives its users the ability to share photos of their fashion choices, curate image collections, and follow each others’ profiles for fun and inspiration.

Another example is Very.co.uk which uses editorial-led apps to engage with its user communities. Subscribers receive exclusive content, which is then ‘shoppable’ through the app.

Takeaways

The best apps:

• Are discoverable
• Are personalised
• Are useful
• Offer fun and community

Encourage customers to shop in-store. Check out The store of the future: 10 ways to make people love shopping again. Copy and paste this link into your browser: http://bit.ly/sandersoneguide

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ian Newcombe .