It doesn’t matter if you own a shoe store downtown, sportswear stores around the country or a boutique in a suburb, you need to make customers love your brand and keep coming back to you. You might have excellent service, but something might be missing. In order to achieve this, you need to be ahead of the competition and be innovative.In this era of the digitalized world, more and more shoppers are making decisions online on what they want to purchase. Many of them even do so, but mostly through their smartphones. Smartphones and tablets are now an important factor in the world of retail.

According to business intelligence firm Flurry Analytics, 90% of the time spent on a mobile device is in apps. This information is enough to trigger the thoughts: Does my business really need a mobile app? The answer is – yes! Why? Because you want your store to stand out, engage with customers, improve your brand recognition, get more direct approach and generally boost your business’ revenue.There truly are many benefits of accompanying app to your business. But what when it comes to the retail stores? We are here to present you with why your retail store needs a mobile app!

Keep ahead of the competition

As you are reading this article, we are well into the year 2018. Digitization is happening everywhere around us. People and business are accommodating, and everyone is trying to find their place in the digital world. Having a mobile app could be the best way for you to get ahead of the competition. This is getting popular and many companies have already opted to do so. Your competitors and their competitors are all producing apps for their shops.

It is not only large companies and brands that do so,  more and more smaller and medium-sized businesses are doing the same. Why? Traditional shopping is too one-dimensional. In today’s world, in the sea of other businesses similar to yours, it is crucial to stand out. People want to see and experience something different; they want more. If you want your business to grow and keep up with the race, it is totally worth joining the fad.

Customer loyalty

With having an app for your retail business, you can greatly improve your customers’ loyalty. Coupons are a great initiative for customers to buy something. Small pieces of paper from the Sunday ads are thing of the past. You can reward your customers with coupons if they have taken time to download your app. And to keep shoppers coming back to your store, you can reward them with points every time they shop if they have your app installed. This way they would feel the benefit of exclusivity. They can trade points for a certain prize (like a coupon or a discount). This is beneficial both for you and your customers.

Also, an interesting thing is that people who have downloaded your app will see the logo of your business on their home screen many times a day. This will frequently remind them of you. People will gain trust in your brand and most of the time probably choose you over your competitors without an app.

But what if some of your competitors already have an app? Your app needs to stand out, and be conceived the right way so it can contribute to your store the best way possible. This is possible only if your app reaches its full potential. The idea of how your app should function is crucial. For this, you should get in touch with the experienced and trustworthy team, just like LKnet, to turn your app into reality. LKnet has experienced team of designers and developers lead by the passion for their work. When you decide to choose LKnetto bring your phone application to life, be sure it will reach its full potential.

It is FUNctional for Customers and You

Having an app makes shopping much more interesting for your customers. You can conceive your app and let your customers check if what they seek to buy is in stock. And if not, what are the other available alternatives. You can implement payments through the app, which makes shopping for customers who have it installed much faster. Having this also unlocks the possibility of digital gift-cardswithout the actual paper.

Remember how hard it can be to sometimes reach customers and notify them about your store‘s novelty, sales or promotion? Forget expensive flyers and other physical material; people have moved to the digital world, and so can you! Mobile apps are a perfect communication channel between you and your shoppers – and it is totally free! You can send them notifications whenever you want. Additionally, if you add location tracking into your app, it can notify people automatically when they are near your store.

Improved analytics

This is something that really comes in handy if you want to further develop your business plan and marketing strategy. You can find your target group through detailed analytics by seeing what people are downloading your app. Information like which option on your app is used the most could be available. You can get to know your customers more. Find out more about their needs and wishes, and therefore improve the quality of your engagement. Remember, your customers will engage to you as much as you are engaging to them.

Why don’t you contact us and schedule a meeting?