How Mobile Apps Connect Brands with Retail Customers

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Maybe you’re walking through the store and want to ask a friend what they think about a shirt you see while perusing Walmart, Victoria’s Secret, or Amazon, and so you snap a picture and send it over Snapchat, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger. Maybe you later decide to buy the shirt and show it off with an Instagram post or two (or twelve). Maybe the whole time you’re doing that you’re busy listening to an audiobook on Audible or your favorite songs on Spotify or iTunes. Whatever brands and apps you prefer, there is no denying that we’re more connected to both than ever before. Moreover, the two are more interconnected than ever before. Apps connect us to our favorite retail brands with startling efficiency.

Here are just a few ways in which mobile apps are connecting us to the biggest brands out there.

1. Routine Needs

All of the apps in the aforementioned example center around a user making use of them during a pretty routine activity – buying clothes. That’s one way apps are connecting us to brands in a big way, by capitalizing on the fact that we shop with the latter regularly to fill routine needs, and so strive to facilitate that.

That’s one reason why more and more people are shopping online for clothes, toiletries, hardware, and other goods which used to be unthinkable to get anywhere besides a brick and mortar supermarket or hardware store. Not only can you buy these goods with the press of a button on the Amazon app, but you can set certain orders to repeat weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, thus automating much of your shopping list.

2. Added Incentives

Thomas Cook, one of the oldest and most storied UK companies, collapsed in September of this year. For more than a century and a half, it had convinced Britons “Don’t just book it – Thomas Cook it.”

Among the reasons for the iconic travel agency’s sudden demise? The fact that travel agencies are slowly giving way to travel apps such as those offered by Google, Kayak, and Skyscanner.

Not only can these apps help you find the fastest and most efficient flight to your destination, thus allowing you to compare flights with ease, but they and apps like them can often help you land discounts and deals which you just can’t get from traditional travel agencies. Apps in other industries likewise boast a join-for-incentives model, boasting everything from cheaper prices to better access.

Thomas Cook didn’t catch on to the App Arms Race fast enough. Traditional retailers in other industries have been careful to try to avoid that mistake.

3. Increased Convenience

Both of those former categories point to the big reason why mobile apps are making or breaking big-time traditional retailers – increased convenience. For however much old-fashioned firms like Thomas Cook may promise to offer a more intimate or personable experience, the fact of the matter is that most of the time, most of us will opt for better prices, faster shopping, better deals, and a more convenient experience overall.

This helps keep some traditional firms afloat, and is helping to elevate new ones. For example, apps such as those offered by Unibet practically put a whole casino in your pocket with the amount of casino and sports betting options they offer. They further diversify that into specific Casino, Poker, and Sports apps, allowing you to get information and deals and play in exactly the way you wish – all at the touch of your finger while on the go.

The best apps fill the niches in our lives and make them more affordable and convenient – and savvy firms and developers large and small know it.

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