A recent survey indicated that 88% of those polled utilize mobile shopping apps. But as we’ve discussed before, a low percentage of those apps were highly rated by those same consumers. We even identified some key areas of improvement ranging from digital strategy to user experience to content creation and loyalty building.
That’s why we were excited to see some recent mobile shopping and retail app innovations by top brands to shake up this market. These innovations include mobile-enabled fitting rooms, a new items to shop for on Amazon and an interactive app for children.
Macy’s
Trying on clothes in-store is one of the biggest hassles of shopping, with shoppers having to haul a handful of clothes into a fitting room, and then still having to work with the sales associate to request different styles or size. Or perhaps you’ve had to run through a store in a mis-matched, ill-fitting outfit looking for that correct size/color yourself? Macy’s is testing a product developed by Hointer that changes all of that by deploying an innovative solution that “leverages mobile technology, etags and in-store sensors to create a smart showroom, where only one example of a piece of clothing is on the floor for shoppers to look at. A micro-warehouse operates behind the scenes, locating and delivering items to the fitting rooms in under 30 seconds through a chute”. This will likely save time and embarrassment for customers.
Amazon
Amazon has gotten very effective at fulfilling customers needs very quickly, by making it very easy to use the site when to purchase exactly what you are looking for. But Amazon with the introduction of LaunchPad, Amazon is trying to help you discover new products as well. Launchpad is a new area for start-ups which unveils unique products you might not normally think of searching for. And that’s the other problem Amazon is trying to solve. With new marketing initiatives and a better layout for certain sections of the site, they hope to recreate the experience of wandering into a store and purchasing related items that you come across.
Build-A-Bear
While known for their retail presence in malls, Build-A-Bear hopes to expand their reach with their digital strategy and more specifically their-brand focused mobile apps. By allowing their target market, children around 12 years old, to virtually create and care for a wide range of pets. As Build-A-Bear tries to create the mobile equivalent of a tagamotchi pets, they hope it will create passionate, dedicated users, who will in turn make return visits to actual stores to create and purchase both virtual goods for their pets and similar stuffed animal products.
While a large part of the mobile shopping and retail apps market is failing to innovate rapidly enough, there are brands willing to take a risk and invest in their digital strategy by designing for the consumer experience.
Interested in the learning how your company can leverage the latest in mobility developments to stand out as well? Contact Us.
