Walmart has it, GAP has it, Starbucks has it. Other retailers have it too. We are talking about custom-made retail apps or enterprise apps to engage with customers much closer, putting goods at their very fingertips — anytime and anywhere, in a deeply personal way — and steering your profits up the retail market highway.
Once, the only way people could buy products they need was traveling to stores. They walked down long aisles stacked with products to find their’ kids favorite snack; they stared down shop windows to pick exquisite earrings for their wives and mothers. Sounds incredibly, tiresomely intricate and time-consuming. The retail industry has a come a long, long way from that time. Today, customers can order products they need with their smartphones through elaborate retail store apps — during a coffee break while doing something else at the same time.
There might be no better time to grant them this power than now. The winter holidays are approaching, and that is one major concern. However, there is a greater reason — mobile sales are changing the face of the retail industry forever right now, and mobile apps will lead the changes.
Let’s look at the facts:
- The average daily time Americans spend on their mobile devices is an astounding three hours and forty minutes, according to a study by Flurry. That’s 1/8 of the day.
- Concurrently, the study reports that 90% of that time is spent in apps.
- According to comScore, U.S. mobile sales are vigorously growing in U.S. In 2015, they made a 56% upswing to $49.2 billion — twice more than in 2014.
- Going further — Internet Retailer reports that 61% of American consumers will think better of a brand that offers a satisfying mobile experience than one that does not, with 40% of respondents saying they will turn to competitors due to a “bad mobile experience.”
- Finally, a comScore study shows that the end of desktop reign is on the horizon — 2015 has seen a slowdown in annual growth, going from 12.5% to 8.1%.
There is even more conclusive data for retail chains to consider their own online retail applications. Even given this information, there are many skeptics. Here are even more advantages of making a retail application:
- Mobile apps help engage customers directly, delivering a tailored personal mobile experience at any time, anywhere.
- Mobile app helps a business stand out among its competitors and stand tall in the endlessly dynamic digital world and its intense entrepreneurial culture.
- Utilizing an app increases customer retention and loyalty because you are able to connect with shoppers through one of their most valued possessions — mobile devices.
- It puts goods and services at the fingertips of your clients, making shopping much easier and faster.
- An app takes sales support to another level: it becomes more responsive, spot-on, and rapid.
- You can scoop in specific data on your customers — big data. What they like, what they swipe away, how much time it takes to make a purchase, and much more.
- A well-developed app could work offline and has faster loading times.
- Utilizing an app would lead to revenue growth, especially in the retail industry.
Mobile apps are timely tools that grant prominent advantages to retail businesses, and they will help break new ground very soon, taking the shopping experience to a new, higher level for millions of consumers.
Want to be there long before retail apps become ubiquitous with the help of an exquisite custom app? Contacts us. We build great apps that enhance businesses and empower their customers and employees.