From The PC Era to The App Generation?

Are we moving towards an era of applications? This digitisation era is upon us where we’re progressively using our mobile devices; connecting us to the digital world via applications.

Fashion brand, The Iconic, uses Instagram as a platform for e-commerce

According to the Sensis Social Media Report 2017, Smartphone penetration was 81% compared to laptop and desktop computers that were respectively 59% and 51%. This indicates that there has been a rise of smartphone ownership to access social media platforms by means of apps; which is quite understandable due to its convenient mode. With the growing trends of smartphone usage, the practice of social media marketing has grown simultaneously.

In a fast-pacing era where the newest technologies can become irrelevant, some believe that there’s no use for businesses to invest launching their own retail app and to just stick to social media marketing. While the day will eventually come when mobile apps become a thing of the past, an article by Kyle Wong suggests that businesses should take advantage of the power of smartphone apps, specifically if the target is towards Millennial. User experience, speed and extra features are the key characteristics that drives users to retailer-branded apps for e-commerce instead of on websites.

The Iconic mobile application for quick e-commerce

With businesses dubbing their own app as their digital loyalty card, whereby apps have several key features and benefits that are not obtainable on websites, it keeps customers engaged and enhances customer loyalty.

Furthermore, according to ABI research, 40.4% of users who had downloaded a retailer-branded app had purchased more products from the brand, with 45.9% of respondents visiting the physical store more often after the download.

Whilst retailer-branded applications can be seen as a future potential for businesses, there’s a need for consideration of the cost and time spend in launching such computing. Thus, this imposes the question:

Would it be beneficial to launch a mobile application or should businesses stick to social media marketing whereby it’s less costly and time-consuming?