The impact of mobile apps on brands and online shoppers

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: The impact of mobile apps on brands and online shoppers.

Going shopping should be a relaxing and enjoyable experience for the customer. But as people have swapped the brick and mortar stores for mobile apps instead, how much does this impact business and the overall shopping experience?

To find out, Heady surveyed 400 consumers, asking them all about their experiences using mobile apps to shop until they drop. 

Many of us prefer to make an informed decision before parting with our hard earned cash. 61% of those surveyed agreed, saying that they use mobile apps to read product information and reviews.

This is also translated into finding out more about the product they buy, as 60% said they like to look at the product photo and content on their mobile apps. 

However, the overwhelming majority use mobile apps with the intent to buy new things. 74% of respondents said that this was the most-used feature of their app usage. 

Staying logged in, increased functionality of apps and preferred payment methods all increase the convenience of mobile shopping. 

And 57.5% of consumers surveyed would agree, saying that mobile apps are simply more convenient for shopping, than any other channel. 

Just because brick and mortar stores don’t offer the same level of convenience, doesn’t mean that the brand has to suffer.

The survey also revealed that when an app offers the features consumers love, 86% of consumers said their loyalty to the brand will increase. 

Despite this, the results highlighted the turn-offs for consumers when using mobile apps to shop.

Poor organization would be a consumer's number one reason to leave a negative review with 44% saying so, followed by apps that don't save data between sessions (35%).

38% also complained about screens being too small for shopping, with men making up the majority of these complaints. 54% said they don’t like not being able to feel the product, with women saying this the most.

Other complaints include, not enough product information (35%), clunky user interface (23%), and not trusting the app to complete their purchases (22%).