Research suggests that customers are becoming less satisfied when they go shopping due to the poor service that is provided, for example, the stock availability, and the lengthy process shopping itself holds (Burke, 2002).  This therefore demonstrates the importance for retailers to use e-commerce marketing to be able to contend with the ever-changing consumer behaviour. If retailers were not to do this they are at high risk of losing custom whilst also damaging their ever so important reputation. Would you change your choice of shop if you could purchase the exact same product somewhere else, without even leaving your sofa? I would!

 

However it is important that if you are going to release an app, it is done properly, otherwise that itself is risky and you’re more than likely going to do more bad than good. An example of the company that got theirs completely wrong was boots, they have only got one star rating on apples App Store with many reviews claiming they would no longer shop there. So, what are the key points to success?

 

• Ease of access/simple layout – The layout needs to be as simple as possible, while still having the eye catching affect and contain all the necessary functions, but most importantly make it a pleasant experience for the customer. EBay is an excellent example of an app that has stripped back to the bare minimum yet still doing the exact same as what it has always done. The app has just three categories: activity, shop, and sell. It couldn’t get any simpler if it tried and each category does exactly what it says. Apps are meant to be quick and easy, so as soon as any difficulty navigating the app is incurred, the customer is likely to just exit the app and delete it.

EBay’s simple layout (Iclarified.com, 2016).

 

 

2. Make the app benefit the customer – Customers love nothing more than to think they are getting a good deal, furthermore it gives an incentive for them to come back again. If the retailer incorporates their loyalty card with the app it will benefit both, the retailers (because it’s creating loyalty to brand and customers will continue to return) and the customers (they get continued discounts). 90% of people that download an app delete it with just six months (com, 2016), so keeping them engaged is key.

 

There are other ways other than loyalty cards to keep customers using the app, a product scanner. This makes customers feel as though they have the upper hand, because they can know they are going to get the best deal if they scan a product and a price check of several stores appears showing which is cheapest. Or it could even just be used for those annoying times when you want to buy products but there is no price tag. All in all, it just makes the experience more pleasurable for the shopper.

 

3. Promote the app – Although 40% of smart phone users browse the App Store to see if there are any apps that take their fancy (Think with Google, 2016), that means that the other 60% do not, therefore they need to be told about the app. This highlights the importance of companies to promote their apps, because if people don’t know they exist, they won’t download them. There are several ways of doing this:

• Simply advertising it through other points of contact – put the App Store logo on the website, customers receipts, posters, throughout the store.

Starbucks invitation to get their app (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2016)

• Fund the advertising – spend some money getting awareness of the app out there. There are many different means of doing this, such as, social media and promoting through the App Store.
• Encourage reviews – positive reviews from customers is a great way to promote an app, as most people look at reviews first to see if there is any point downloading the app. The more positive reviews the app receives the more likely it is to go up the charts. Hopefully if the app is good, people will talk about the app to others, word of mouth is one of the best forms of publicity and even better knowing that it doesn’t cost a penny. Trusov, Bucklin, and Pauwels (2009) claim that word of mouth has a substantially larger influence than traditional marketing approaches, and also reaches more people. Therefore getting people to talk about the app is important.

4. Get the app tried and tested – this has got to be one of the most important fundamental things about making an app. So many companies have failed to do this and not noticed any bugs, glitches, or problems that are in the app before making it live. A couple to name our boots and forever 21. By failing to extensively test apps, companies could actually end up losing customers. For example, if a customer selects a coupon on the app to use in store, then visit the store and find that the coupon does not work and then having to spend more money than they wanted, they’re not going to leave the store happy and most certainly won’t use the app again and possibly change to a different store.

Example of an bad review due to poor app testing for Boots.

There are many companies that can be paid to test apps vigorously to check for any errors, therefore limitation any possible problems.

Here are some links to mobile app testing companies:

https://saucelabs.com/mobile/

http://www.applause.com/mobile-app-testing

 

 

Hopefully this blog has given an insight of the importance of companies entering the e-commerce market and highlighted some of the key factors to remember when creating an app. Below are some useful links to websites containing interesting information to keep in mind when making apps.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-app-marketing-insights.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidlarizadeh/2013/07/19/eight-tips-for-a-successful-app/#2cb0751865cc

 

References

 

Burke, R. R. (2002) Technology and the customer interface: what customers want in the physical and virtual store, Journal of the academy of marketing science. Vol. 30, No. 4, p411-432.

 

Iclarified.com, (2016). [online] Available at: http://www.iclarified.com/images/news/28004/108869/108869.png [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

 

Starbucks Coffee Company, (2016). Starbucks coffee shops – Starbucks.co.uk. [online] Available at: http://www.starbucks.co.uk/?gclid=CLDZp8aO18oCFeISwwodcbAHDg [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

 

Kissmeterics.com (2016). [online] Available at: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/mistakes-in-app-marketing/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2016].

 

Think with Google, (2016). Mobile App Marketing Insights: How Consumers Really Find and Use Your Apps. [online] Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-app-marketing-insights.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2016].

 

Trusov, M., Bucklin, R. E., Pauwels, K. (2009) Effects of word of mouth versus traditional marketing: Findings from an internet social networking site, Journal of marketing. Vol. 73, No. 5, p90-102.