How a Retail App Can Elevate Your Brand
Posted by Julia Morrissey on Aug 6, 2024
Deliver modern, mobile-first shopping experiences that delight your customers. Drive ROI back to your business across all customer touchpoints—in-store, online, and on mobile. Book a time with our team to learn how we can help transform your business with our omnichannel solutions.
*Privacy Notice: By hitting "Submit," I acknowledge receipt of the NewStore Privacy Policy.
Retail apps are not new concepts. They’ve long been the future of online and in-store retail as mobile shopping continues to gain popularity. But few brands are getting this channel right, and they’re falling short of offering customers a shopping app they love.
Shoppers expect to interact with their favorite brands more frequently and throughout their shopping experiences. It’s never been more important for retail brands to create digital engagement across the entire customer journey.
The future of retail looks more connected than ever. For the first time, shoppers have what effectively amounts to a remote control for their favorite brands – retail apps.
A retail app is a mobile application specifically designed to enhance the shopping experience for customers. These apps are launched by retail brands to provide customers with a convenient and efficient way to browse, purchase, and engage with their products and services.
By leveraging the capabilities of smartphones and tablets, retail apps offer a seamless shopping experience that can be accessed anytime and anywhere.
With so many of us tethered to our phones almost 24/7, apps have become an integral part of the day-to-day. Many brands are already taking advantage of the large-scale use of social media and are using it as an opportunity to increase awareness, reach, and engagement with their brand.
However, the brands that are thriving are furthering these relationships by deploying retail apps. While shopping apps may once have been a ‘nice-to-have,’ they’re now the new digital storefront with which the mobile web can’t compete. In fact, 1 in 3 shoppers prefer retail apps to all other channels.
To put your brand in your customer’s pocket, you’ll need to go beyond creating a mobile-optimized website. Customers today expect their favorite brands to have a retail app.
With a well-designed retail app, brands can increase the number of touchpoints and time spent with consumers, complement their omnichannel efforts, drive purchases, and contribute to overall brand growth. Below, we cover the advantages of investing in a retail app.
Done right, retail apps slot seamlessly into the customer journey, putting your brand in the hands of customers whether they’re at home or on the go. Through product exploration and customization, direct communication, or sales, a shopping app can redefine the customer experience.
Like beautifully designed stores, a beautifully designed app is a brand’s opportunity to tell its story and make shopping a joy. Smart navigation, detailed product information, and interactive features, such as augmented reality and video lookbooks, let customers explore products in new and delightful ways.
Retail apps enable brands to implement effective loyalty programs, offering points, discounts, and exclusive offers to frequent shoppers. These incentives encourage repeat purchases and help build a loyal customer base. By providing a personalized shopping experience, apps can make customers feel valued and appreciated, further enhancing loyalty.
With a shopping app, brands can send personalized messages to customers about their loyalty points, order status, vouchers, and rewards. With modern location-based technology, associates know when to prepare online orders for customers who are on their way to pick them up. It’s these highly immersive experiences that convert regular shoppers into deeply engaged fans.
Retail apps provide a convenient platform for customers to shop anytime, anywhere. This accessibility increases the likelihood of impulse purchases and repeat transactions. Features like push notifications about sales and new arrivals keep customers informed and engaged, driving more frequent purchases.
When integrated with a powerful back-end such as omnichannel order management and inventory management systems, brands can use retail apps to notify customers about new products, offers, and even product availability in real-time as they browse in-store.
In today’s digital age, having a robust retail app can set a brand apart from its competitors. An app that offers a superior user experience, personalized engagement, and convenient shopping options can attract and retain customers more effectively than competitors who rely solely on traditional channels.
A great retail app will have a huge payoff. But like all technology, apps can be complicated to pull off.
Some brands that have invested in this space are struggling to engage customers. Becoming aware of common pitfalls can help brands make the necessary changes to their shopping app to turn it into a potent marketing and commerce platform.
Below, we discuss three common reasons brands may be struggling to engage and connect with customers through their retail app.
Pride in your brand should be encouraged and applauded. But be wary of focusing too much on designing your app to show off your cool branding and not focusing enough on appealing to your target customer.
To create positive engagement, new revenue opportunities, and high user retention, conduct market research to ensure the design and development of your app meets your customers’ needs and expectations.
Many retail apps currently focus on one thing–mobile shopping. But customers don’t just shop on your app, the same way they don’t just shop in-store or online. They shop everywhere and all at once.
Instead of designing an app to only be used for mobile shopping, offer customers an app experience that works across channels.
With a feature like “Store Mode,” shoppers can use the app in-store to scan products, pick up orders with one tap, and interact with store associates. The app is a shopping channel at home and a customer service tool in-store.
Building connections is important to your customers (digitally or in-person), and driving customer loyalty is important for your brand. An app should be for more than just transactions.
Consider including functions like in-app chat. Through a shopping app, store associates can chat with shoppers and send product recommendations, build carts, and complete orders. This is an easy way to ensure there’s a human touch, even if it’s a fully-digital experience.
Consumers want a personalized experience that can be conducted both online and in-store.
In 2018, Golden Goose shifted its focus towards a shopping app, recognizing the potential of retail apps in this space. By partnering with NewStore, the brand was able to create an app that significantly enhanced customer engagement.
How a retail app drove success for Golden Goose:
By creating a constant conversation with its consumers through the Golden Passport app, Golden Goose has successfully nurtured a loyal community, driving significant growth and engagement.
Learn more by reading our Golden Goose case study.
NewStore offers a native shopping app that drives provable value and loyalty. With an app, you can create a profoundly engaging experience for your brand’s superfans.
To learn more about the value of apps, check out our Shopping App eBook.
