With the continued growth of ecommerce and in-store comparison-shopping via mobile devices, it’s become harder for many bricks-and-mortar retailers to get customers to make on-the-spot purchases. However, instead of seeing mobile and e-commerce as a threat, some savvy retailers have embraced the adage “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

So how are these bricks-and-mortar retailers using mobile and social apps to their advantage – and what can you do to keep consumers from going elsewhere to shop? Follow these nine suggestions to make the sale.

“Retailers should look to deploy secure public wireless networks that support consumer apps that drive engagement with mobile shoppers,” says Greg Griffiths, vice president, product marketing, EarthLink, which provides managed network, security and cloud solutions for multi-location retail and service businesses. Using Wi-Fi and beacons, “retailers can interact with mobile shoppers while gathering information on who’s in the store and how long they stay to learn more about shopping patterns.”

Moreover, “a recent IHL Group study showed [that] retailers [that] deployed in-store Wi-Fi report[ed] increased customer loyalty since deploying the technology,” he notes.

2. Station self-service kiosks around the store.

Not every customer has or wants to use her mobile device when in a store, which is why retailers should consider self-service kiosks.

“In-store kiosks that integrate with the [retailer’s] point of sale system and online store can show customers what options are available online and in store, and even direct them to where they [can find items] within the store,” says Andrew Van Noy, CEO, Warp 9, digital commerce, mobile and security experts. “In addition, these integrated kiosks could make product recommendations that may have not been previously considered.”

3. Showcase user-generated content next to products.

“Bazaarvoice research shows that mobile shoppers who view consumer-generated content [have a] 133 percent higher conversion rate,” says Lucas Tieleman, director of in-store product innovation at Bazaarvoice, which provides user-generated content marketing solutions. “Using a mobile phone’s geolocation features and beacon technology, brands can push relevant product reviews to a consumer’s device in their exact moment of need, enabling the consumer to read reviews from likeminded shoppers and make a more informed purchase decision.”

Similarly, “retailers can take a page from the Target and Macy’s playbooks and draw attention in store to items that have been featured or highly popular on Pinterest [or Instagram],” says Michelle Stinson Ross, who handles social media outreach at AuthorityLabs, which provides search engine rank monitoring software. “Take it a step further with pins that demonstrate how a product can be used.” For example, “a cake pan can be featured in a creative summer recipe. A scarf can be featured as a way to change up several outfits.”

4. Create a branded retail mobile app that can be used in store to provide shoppers better service.

“When a shopper enters a physical store, encourage them to launch a branded app to see available loyalty credits, view products they tagged as favorites and get suggestions on products based on their profile and past purchases,” suggests Tom Redd, global vice president, strategic communications, SAP. “This connects shoppers with products matched to their preferences, and helps them find new products to complement ones they already own. This is highly effective in fashion, but also tools, electronics and housewares,” he says. “After purchase, shoppers can use the app to post purchases to social sites for extended marketing reach.”

“Retail mobile apps allow customers to opt-in to sharing personal information in exchange for receiving more knowledgeable customer service,” says Alison Clark, product manager, RhoMobile, an enterprise app development platform. For example, “Neiman Marcus is finding success with its NM app, [which provides] store associates with information like a customer’s shopping history, product preferences, location and Facebook profile image,” she notes. “Associates can then locate and greet customers in store, and provide smartly tailored offers and product recommendations.”

5. Offer mobile coupons to customers while they are shopping.

“Shoppers [often] forget they have mobile coupons while they are in a store aisle,” says Liz Crawford, senior vice president, Insights & Strategy, and head of ShopLab, a division of Match Marketing Group. However, apps like “Target’s cartwheel have successfully overcome this issue.” Target shoppers unaware of sales or promotions “can grab a discount on the spot by scanning a code on the endcap at Target stores [with cartwheel],” she explains. Then “the shopper’s cartwheel account code is shown, via smartphone, at checkout.”

Another popular in-store rewards and deals app is shopkick, whose retail partners include Macy’s, Target, Best Buy, JCPenney, Kraft, Unilever, P&G and many others.

“It is a seamless experience as consumers are used to communicating via SMS,” says Adam Meshekow, executive vice president, Product Strategy & National Sales, SITO Mobile. “If a shopper was shopping in a grocery store and they saw they could get $5 off if they buy 4 or more Unilever products, it can entice a larger basket size and give value to the consumer.”

6. Give in-store discounts for social media promotion. “One way to integrate your social strategy into shopping is to give customers an in-store incentive for interacting with your brand digitally,” says Evan James, head of North American marketing at social media analytics company Socialbakers. For example, “offer in-store customers a discount on a product if they take a desired action on Facebook or send a tweet with a certain hashtag. That way, you’re using social to increase the word of mouth around your product to other potential customers while also boosting your in-store sales at the same time.”

“Offer a small discount to anyone who uses the check in function on Facebook,” suggests Graeme Watt, online strategy manager, The Zen Agency. “The check-in will be visible to the friends of the person who is checking in, giving your business additional exposure for relatively little cost.”

“We ask our customers to check in on Facebook with their purchase for a free sample,” says Krista Dolash, owner, Root, a maker of natural and organic beauty products. “It has created a local buzz about our business and converted so many of our customers to purchase full sizes of the samples we’ve given them. It’s a double win!”

7. Use apps to make in-store shopping more fun. “Add a layer of excitement [to in-store shopping] by providing an experience, like a scavenger hunt, games and contests,” suggests Alex Muller, CEO, GPShopper, an integrated mobile platform for retailers and brands.

Similarly, allow “customers [to] earn points, unlock rewards and share scanned items over social media as they shop,” says Samuel Mueller, CEO, Scandit, which provides mobile barcode scanning solutions for smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. Customers will enjoy the in-store shopping experience more “while retailers [will] benefit from increased brand loyalty and enhanced community engagement.”

“To make shopping easier and more entertaining for families with small children, British shoe retailer Clarks recently rolled out an interactive, iPad-based system for measuring children’s shoe sizes,” says Tom Karren, cofounder & CEO, Moki, which provides device management, security and analytics. The app “creates an engaging heat sensor image of the child’s foot, making the process of trying on new shoes more appealing to children and easier for parents.”

8. Use mobile technology to make trying on clothes easier. “Arm your store associates with tablets and offer an Assist Me feature in your app,” suggests Muller. “This allows shoppers in the dressing room to summon help from your in-store staff when they’d like to try an alternate color or size.”

“If you make a customer put their clothes back on to go out and find a different size/color, and then have to wait in line again for an available room, or if you make them awkwardly yell to a sales assistant that they need help, you are decreasing the likelihood of a sale,” adds Van Noy. However, “if retailers implemented Smart Dressing Rooms, [where] customers could request products from a sales associate from a tablet,” you’re more likely to keep the customer engaged and make the sale.

9. Give shoppers a mobile checkout option. “Many retailers are developing apps that allow shoppers to browse, scan and buy products on their phone, there[by] skipping the always dreaded long checkout lines,” says Laura Swanson, senior consultant at FitForCommerce, an omnichannel consulting firm that helps retailers define and execute growth strategies and select technologies. “This is especially popular in grocery stores where the convenience of popping into the store for a few grocery items is typically hindered by a long line.”

“By empowering customers to scan items as they shop and effortlessly check out, retailers ensure customers experience shorter lines and abandon fewer items,” says Mueller. “Retailers are also able to reduce the number of traditional checkout stations required, reducing operational costs. With fewer traditional checkout stations, retailers can reserve valuable front-of-store real estate for product showcases.”

About ARworks Middle-East

ARworks Middle East is leading provider of strategic and innovative Mobile engagement solutions. Headquartered in Dubai, we’re part of ARworks Global, which has offices across Europe and the USA. We’ve been at the forefront of the industry since our launch in 2011, seamlessly blurring the lines between the physical and the digital, creating award-winning, innovative mobile applications that deliver strategic solutions to enhance business and marketing objectives.

 Let’s have a look on the top 15 development trends of the mobile app market:

1. Faster Mobile Development:

Companies are going through a tough phase in pacing up with the increasing demand for mobile apps. With these progressive demands, businesses are competing to launch their products and services faster than anyone else. The main objective for mobile app developers would be to reduce the duration of the development lifecycles and cutting down the time gap that lies between ideation and launch. You can expect to view advanced rapid app development tools as well as frameworks in the market. In fact, many companies are looking forward to introducing solutions that can cater to the consumer’s requirement of launching their app faster than anyone else like Multicore JIT, Gesture Search, and SwipePad etc. Such solutions for mobile development were originated with the very idea of delivering consistent value to the customers at every step while developing their app utilising the key components including rapid launches and quick reach to the market

2. Driven With Cloud Technology:

Booming cloud technology is expected to play a vital role in the app development revolution. There has been anupward shift in the usage of mobile devices. This tends to make app developers more focused towards the ability of integrating and synchronising apps developed formultiple devices. The cloud approach will help developers to build functionalitythat can easily be used on different mobile devices with similar data and features.

Besides that, there are multiple companies working on cloud-based app development platforms. Developers are providedwith complete tool chains for building an app, continuous integration, testing and submitting their apps to the app stores.This leads to a faster development process without having in-depth technical knowledge for those important activities.

3. Security In Apps:

There have been several reports pointing to concerns of users with regard to hackingand as per the prediction of Gartner, 75% of mobile applications wouldnot be able to passeven basic security tests. Hackers will tend to continue with the trend of exploiting known security gaps in mobile applications for obtaining sensitive and confidential information. Security will still remain a big challenge in mobile applications. It has become a dire need today that developers take security issues like insecure data storage, unintended leakage of data, broken cryptography etc seriously.

4. Location Based and Beacon Internet (Wi-Fi) Services:

Beacon (Beam) technology has blurred the bottom line differences between online and offline – be it retail sector or advertising. This technology has already been adopted in iOS and is expected to follow in Android systems in the near future. Almost every industry including Retail, Hospitality,Tourism, Education, Healthcare, Entertainment, Travel, Corporate, Real Estate, Automotive, Advertising etc.is receiving benefits from such internet services. An instance could help understand this trend better is Beacons used in large buildings. It is quite common to see beacons implemented in large buildings to provide internal mapping. When an emergency occurs, the first responders can quickly access where the issue occurred. You can get a list of last known locations tracked through beacons or temperature sensors help to determine dangerous zones as long as they are active in case of emergencies like fire.

5. Wearable Tech:

Credit goes to the Apple Watch – wearable technology became the hottest topic in the industry of consumer electronics. Most of the wearable devices developed so far were focusing on health and fitness. But, with the opening of 2015 these wearables are also expected to be utilised in enterprises in order to improve their efficiency and productivity. For instance, there is a boom among fashion and textile industry about adopting wearable technology. The encouragement to the development of cross-device applications that can be operated over a cellular device as well as wearable device or any third party device is sure to open up an unlimited scope for new apps, breaking the limitations of traditional health and fitness apps.

6. Mobile Banking, Payments and M-Commerce:

Recent surveys have shown 19% of commercial sales are coming from either aSmartphone or tablet. Analysts say this trend will positively continue as more and more consumers are adapting m-commerce solutions. Transferring money or purchasing goods using a mobile phone is becoming as common as using credit or debit cards. This implies that developers can develop the mobile apps that can process transactions without needing cash or any physical cards.

7. Internet of Things:

Just like cloud technology, Internet of things is also gaining immense popularity. Though it just started gaining serious attention, this hype is expected to grow huge with new innovations and implementations that can open a ubiquitous world of connectivity and sources of information. Some key IoT trends that will be on lookout are new devices, development of new standards formulti-sensor support and M2M automation, vertical IoT services and a lot of topics related to security and privacy concerns. These trends clearly indicate a boom around Internet of Things, which will lead to an increased adoption of related products and a growth of the required ecosystem. Some organisations are still underestimating the impact of IoT on their market and business processes and it is highly recommended that they should measure this impact on their business goals.

Since IoT will be everywhere – just like are smart devices – developers are encouraged to create flexible mobile experience embracing those new opportunities provided by the sensors and actors around.

8. Prioritising User Experience ThroughApp Analytics and Big Data:

User experience will usher technology in the future. As the use of tablets, smartphones and wearable devices is increasing day by day, app user experience is getting more critical than ever. It seems to be even more challenging when in-app advertisements and purchases need to be kept in mind. Here, data analytics will play a vital role by helping app developers to bring improvements to the user experience.

So, it would just not be sensible to separate the successful mobile application development from analytics or big data. Modern businesses demand for instant insight into real time data that shows their customer’s behaviour and decision-making process. In fact, the relationship between big data and app analytics results in efficient business processes on the one hand and improvements in user experience on the other hand.

9. Improved Enterprise Apps:

As per the predictions made by IDC, 35% of big enterprises will utilise mobile application development platforms for building and deploying mobile apps. This indicates an upsurge in enterprise app stores that comprises internal app ratings, allowing companies to get rid of apps that are not in use and save huge amount of costs. Many enterprise app stores integrate with public stores that result into wider approach. Therefore, app developers will get a tremendous opportunity to work on applications for the growing mobile enterprise market.

10. Marketing, Advertising and Purchasing within Apps:

According to a new study publicised by Juniper Research, expenditure on in-app advertisements in all the mobile devices will get manyfold. Mobile advertisements are no longer limited to banners -a variety of ad formats such as image, text, or video ads are being integrated and experimented with right now. Both mobile app advertisements and purchases will become a focal point for monetisation and a ladder towards success as many app developers are making a shift away from paid download models.

The marketing techniques of mobile apps are also evolving constantly. In previous years, app marketers were extensively focused on grabbing maximum user attention (app downloads) instead of user engagement. Now, developers and marketers have started to realize the significance of an enhanced experience for organic users. Organic user is considered more engaged and loyal than users gathered via multiple paid channels. As stated before, a great user experience can be created by constantly analysing user behaviour and improving the app accordingly. With the availability of location based Wi-Fi services and beacon technology, there is even a whole new dimension of advertising the lets marketers initiate promotions based on the precise location and context of a user.

11. HTML 5:

HTML 5 and related development tools will gain huge popularity. As this technology will enhance, more and more enterprises will adopt “hybrid” as their primary technology for mobile apps. Unlike development of native apps, mobile applications built using hybrid frameworks like Ionic, Mobile Angular UI, Intel XDK or Senscha Touch can support multiple platforms and reaching a larger user base will get considerably cheaper. For that reason, developers should keep an eye on hybrid technologies and maybe even think about their focus on native app development.

12. Mobile Gaming:

In recent years, there has been a gradual movement observed in mobile games towards multi-player-gaming. With the rise of such games, integration of social media within games will become more significant than before. Furthermore, mobile games will increasingly be driven by cloud technology to sync between different devices playing the same game or to sync between different users taking part in the same game.

About ARworks Middle-East

ARworks Middle East is leading provider of strategic and innovative Mobile engagement solutions. Headquartered in Dubai, we’re part of ARworks Global, which has offices across Europe and the USA. We’ve been at the forefront of the industry since our launch in 2011, seamlessly blurring the lines between the physical and the digital, creating award-winning, innovative mobile applications that deliver strategic solutions to enhance business and marketing objectives.

If you’d like an open discussion about your current Mobile Marketing requirements, or would like hear more about our portfolio of services,  please contact our Regional Director; Szab Budahazy on: szbudahazy@arworks.com