The Growth of Retail Apps: Brick and Mortar’s Digital Light at the End of the Tunnel

Despite the increase in ecommerce and online shopping, the offline retail industry is still going strong world-wide. Retail stores large and small just need to learn to adapt to a digital world and that adaption seems to be emerging in the form of retail store apps. That is applications built for mobile devices that help shoppers identify sales or join loyalty programs for retail stores. A recent study from Flurry.com shoes that shoppers are spending an increasing amount of time using retailers’ applications.

“Consumer time spent in Retailer Apps has skyrocketed by 525% from December 2011 to December 2012. This growth far exceeds total shopping app growth of 274%, as well as overall app growth of 132%.”

It is important to note that time spent on retailer apps is much higher than even price comparison applications and daily deal site applications. Forbes points out, “Within the shopping category, retailers’ own apps are getting the most use and experiencing the highest rate of growth. This beats out daily deals, online marketplaces and price comparison apps, among others.”

What does all this mean for retailers with stores?

• “Showrooming”, or keeping samples on hand and special ordering to be delivered to customers, is a great way to offer customer value and variety without having to keep a large amount of stock.
• Investing in a shopping application, while it may seem like a costly venture, will be worth the investment.
• Brand loyalty is not dead. If customers are interested in your brand, offering them alternative ways to shop will lead to sales and a preference to shop in your store over daily deal sites, or searching for the lowest price.