Mobile Apps for Boutique-Shopping

In our last blog we generally discussed the pleasure of boutique-shopping using a boutique app. In this blog, we take you a little further into the realm of boutique apps.

1. First off, boutiques that offer their customers an app end up having a much better brand image than their peers who don’t offer it. Better brand image means better brand reach. Brand isn’t just about the name, logo and exorbitant price tag. It’s an identity that a company develops and comes to be associated by. Brand is about the non-tangible things a boutique has to offer, and reflects the qualities and values of the enterprise. And this is something that unconsciously affects the buyer.
2. Next comes the feel and glide of usage. Apps offer superior UI/UX to shoppers. The user interface can make the user experience exceptional, which in turn translates into better conversion and retain rates. When you’re offering a better user experience via a mobile app, it turns into an intimate relationship with the customer, and it’s unlikely the customer is going to shop around at other places. They usually stick to your boutique’s app. It’s because of this that smartphone conversions have gone up 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rate.
3. Boutiques are unique little home-grown places that become a quaint part of a town and its memories, unlike big faceless retailers with many branches or franchises. So the relationship they develop with customers is more personal, and can generate a nice fan-following, which they can then leverage through social media and VIP groups. Firstly, this allows users the option of a social login over a password. Secondly, this can set off a series of healthy conversations around boutique products, offer first-hand reviews about products that become handy advice for other shoppers, and generally create more interest in the boutique’s wares. It also becomes a platform for the boutique to express itself, and share little nuggets of interest about the store, the history of special products, or any interesting things they plan to do.
4. We have spoken of the efficacy of push notifications before. This time we’ll provide the stats to back us up! Push notifications – being instantly received and responded to – let you engage with the customer at any moment in the day. That is precisely why conversion rates on push notifications are better than through e-mail campaigns. With the latter, although it is an excellent medium, it doesn’t offer as much engagement in terms of immediacy. Moreover, push notifications boost the app engagement by 88%, and consequently double the app retention rates.
5. Women love to shop. (The stats prove that we aren’t being sexist or making generalisations.) In our last blog we discussed the biggest targets of mobile commerce – women, millennials and Asians. Let’s focus on the women demographic. Women actually enjoy shopping, so it’s important that their shopping experience is memorable, and something that they are excited enough about to share with their friends (word-of-mouth marketing for you). Apps can help with that. Firstly, it allows users to leisurely look at products and make enquiries about it. It’s highly functional and makes life easier. If done right, it simply encourages them to keep going. The location-personalised messages (thanks to geo-location on your phone) give them a head-up on a sale in the vicinity or something else exciting that’s happening right then. Simple and important alerts are a great way to make customers know that they haven’t missed out on something. At the end of the day, boutique apps just cater to this demographic in a way that no other platform can make shopping exciting as well as convenient!

Still on the fence? Check out some of the boutiques that have invested in an app and are now doing extremely well. If you know of some boutiques that have started on this new path, you could download one of their apps and try it out for yourself. Here are three boutiques that are going quite strong with the introduction of mobile apps to their list of omni-channels to help them reach and rally cater to customers – Beautique, Glamour Defined and The Mason Jar.

As a boutique owner you already have the footfall at your store or online retail. All you have to do is offer another platform to bring the customers closer home!