Shopping apps, they’re everywhere now, retailers are jumping on the bandwagon left, right and centre to get a piece of the app craze. The rise of smartphone shoppers increased online retail sales in the UK to a high of £133bn in 2016 (Telegraph, 2017). And with the rise of m-commerce shopping booming it would be interesting so see how retailers can use mobile shopping apps to boost retail sales, as we know retailers are always looking for new ways to increase their sales revenue.
- Social Media Integration
Firstly, integrating social media accounts within shopping apps means the consumer can login via social connect i.e. using their Facebook login details, and therefore this also means the retailer can collect customer data to track the consumer behaviour (click here for more about social media integration in apps). However, there can be issues with social connect logins, as consumers are sceptical that the brand will limit their privacy or post information on their social accounts that is unauthorised. Also, by using social media integration, the retailer can encourage inbound mechanisms for e-referrals including tactics such as a “tell-a-friend” option, meaning the consumer can share the product to a friend via their social media platforms (Ahrens et al, 2013), this can improve brand reputation and could help the brand to acquire new customers and retain the existing customer (read more about e-referrals here).
- Extra-Mile Personalisation
Personalisation has become essential to consumer satisfaction within apps, and if the retailer goes the extra mile to personalise the consumers account on the app they’re sure to boost sales. Personalisation can come in the form of offering the consumer products they may like or notifying them of new offers and new products that match their criteria, these encourage future purchases and gives the consumer trust in the brand. Personalisation is said to increase sales as the consumer will be more exposed to products that fit to their individual needs making the shopping experience more accessible. Furthermore, giving the consumer personalised information has become crucial to increasing sales, as they influence the outcome of the consumer decision to purchase (Chau et al, 2016).
- Targeted Marketing
Targeted marketing can come in many forms including personalised promotions i.e. addressing the consumer by their first name. By customising marketing messages based on a visitor’s history and shopping behaviour, there are far more powers of persuasion aimed at the consumer to re-purchase (Grossberg, 2016) Read more about personalisation in marketing here. Targeted marketing can also be based on a consumers location which is tracked by geo-location features within the app, however these location based promotions MUST add value to the consumer to avoid irritation. Also, if targeted push notifications are used it is important for organisations to recognise the timing of their notifications and to implement useful A/B testing to see where promotions are working best for them.
- Click and Collect
Online retailers are going from strength to strength due to their accessibility and frequent low cost or sometimes FREE delivery options, which is ideal for us couch potatoes. However, there is also the option for the not so lazy Brits, to go for the ‘Click & Collect’ option. ‘Click & Collect’ boosts online sales by getting the consumer in-store, and a lot of customers are drawn to click and collect due to it being a free option so they are more inclined to purchase frequently. Take Argos’ for example their new FastTrack system allows customers to buy online and collect from dedicated Fast Track counters in-store in as little as 60 seconds, this new system grew Argos’s mobile sales by 15% and now mobile sales make up 28% of total Argos sales (This Is Money, 2016).
However, there can be some drawbacks with relying on mobile shopping apps for boosting online sales, including:
- The retailers often use apps so they can gain and analyse customer data, however it can be hard to gain this data due to customer privacy concerns.
- Apps can also often contain bugs which affect the consumer checking out and purchasing items, therefore decreasing sales and giving the retailer a bad review.
- There are also consumers who will not download apps in the initial stage due to lack of trust.
Finally, there are lots of ways for retailers to utilise their mobile apps to the fullest potential to drive sales, the best way is to keep ahead of technology and making the app as functional and easy to use as possible for the consumer. However, remember the drawbacks and try to find ways to resolve these, there is a lot of speculation around privacy, but studies suggest that personalisation in apps overrides privacy (Morosan and DeFranco, 2016) Read more here about the personalisation over privacy debate.
References:
Ahrens, J et al. (2013). Electronic word of mouth: The effects of incentives on e-referrals by senders and receivers. European Journal of Marketing. 47 (7), p1035.
Armstrong, A. (2017). Smartphone shoppers boost online spending to £133bn – but tablets lose ground. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/01/17/smartphone-shoppers-boost-online-spending-133bn-tablets-lose/. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Business of Apps. (2017). 4 Must-Do Things for Retail Apps to Boost Your Sales. Available: http://www.businessofapps.com/boost-your-retail-apps-sales/. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Choi, B et al. (2016). Location-based system: Comparative effects of personalization vs ease of use. Telematics and Informatics. 34 (1), p91.
Clark, N. (2014). Five ways to boost your company’s sales with mobile content and apps. Available: http://business-technology.co.uk/2014/06/five-ways-to-boost-your-companys-sales-with-mobile-content-and-apps/. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Gazdecki, A. (2016). How Mobile Apps Can Increase Sales. Available: https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/mobile-apps-increase-sales-233038601.html. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Grossberg, K.A. (2016). The new marketing solutions that will drive strategy implementation. Strategy & Leadership. 44 (3), p22.
Lambert, S. (2016). Argos shoppers taking advantage of faster collection and home delivery boost sales as takeover battle deadline nears Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3485391/Argos-shoppe. Available: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3485391/Argos-shoppers-taking-advantage-improved-home-delivery-boost-sales.html. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Marinina, M. (2016). 4 ingredients of higher sales through retail apps. Available: http://customerthink.com/4-ingredients-of-higher-sales-through-retail-apps/. Last accessed 27/04/17.
Morosan,C and DeFranco, A. (2016). Modeling guests’ intentions to use mobile apps in hotels The roles of personalization, privacy, and involvement. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28 (9), p1972.
Padhye, S. (2015). Why You Should Integrate Social Media Platforms into Your App. Available: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/why-you-should-integrate-social-media-platforms-your-app. Last accessed 27/04/17