This month in the world of app commerce — March 2019
In this months’ news update we’ll examine the latest findings in the state of app commerce, how retailers can own the customer relationship and the quest for a truly omnichannel experience.
The quest for a truly omnichannel experience
Brick-and-mortar retailers are starting to cotton onto the demand, need and urgency around transactional mobile apps. Latest research from BRP identified that 56% of consumers said they would shop at retailers offering a shared shopping cart across channels. However, currently only around 7% of retailers actually provide this capability.
Recent findings from HCO concur, suggesting that 73% of their sample referenced having screen in-store to allow customers to quickly browse stock availability and many want to be able to connect to the store via mobile. Customers are expecting physical retailers to get connected and provide a truly omnichannel experience.
Forrester references how apps should contribute to the omnichannel experience by being considered “much more than just a glorified mobile site” and using features unique to the app to add to both traditional brick-and-mortar commerce and mobile commerce.
Owning the customer relationship
The impact of social
It’s no surprise, as we spend so much time on social media, that social commerce has evolved from this content source. However, what does social commerce mean for retailers?
This month Instagram have launched in-app checkout, for consumers, this means that they will be able to make purchases within the Instagram app, without ever having to leave it. This limited launch has been trialled with 23 brands including; Adidas, Dior and MAC Cosmetics, marking the end of social media simply being a modern day catalogue. At a glance, this seems beneficial for retailers as it reduces the friction to purchase. We’re excited to see Instagram taking on the demands of consumers and embracing and investing in app commerce.
However, there are some other implications for retailers. By Instagram keeping users within their app, retailers could lose control and ownership of the relationship they have with consumers. If customers are directed to a retailer’s own app or website from Instagram to make a purchase, they will be more likely to browse and engage with retailers products and content. However, by keeping shoppers within the Instagram app, retailers will lose this influence.
Additionally, Instagram is increasingly becoming a noisy and crowded place, limiting a retailer’s ability to stand out from their competition. Making it more difficult to differentiate and optimise their checkout process for their target demographics. Never mind the limitations on image dimensions and how to present content. This begs the question — by bringing a standardised checkout to the masses, how good will Instagrams’ checkout process be in comparison to retailer’s owned channels and will it be the same for every retailer large and small on Instagram?
We’re excited to see what purchasing in-app will mean for retailers in the near future.
State of app commerce
It’s common knowledge that consumers are turning to smartphones to shop. During Cyber Weekend Forrester reports that smartphone sales grew 48.1% year-over-year and our latest research shows that app’s share of ecommerce revenue is starting to overtake desktop.
Learn more from our latest Peak Trading Guide
In fact App Annie reported that an impressive 18 billion hours were spent on shopping apps in 2018 and in the US, consumers spent 60% more time in shopping apps than in 2016. Additionally, research from Button found that consumers make twice as many purchases on apps compared to mobile web. In reaction to this growth of mobile, latest findings from Nimbus Ninety revealed that 70% of retailers questioned are expecting their digital budgets to increase this year.
Reported by Samantha Rigg
Originally published at poqcommerce.com on March 27, 2019.
