Poq App Commerce Report 2015

IntroductionMany retailers face uncertainty when it comes

to choosing the right set of features to include in

their apps, especially as the amount of cutting-edge

technologies that can be integrated into apps increases.

The impact that features have on app performance

remains unknown in the industry.

Which shopping app features truly

engage customers and inspire

spending?

For our most comprehensive platform report to date, we evaluated the performance of 23 popular app features by analysing a sample of over 790,500 app sessions that took place during the second quarter of 2015. We used data derived from users shopping the iOS and Android retail apps that are powered by our platform. Some of the UK’s largest retailers run their shopping apps on the Poq platform, including boohoo, Radley, Blue Inc and House of Fraser.

The main findings included which features drive revenue, increase order values and increase purchase likelihood across three categories: general shopping, in-store, and personal and social features.

When benchmarked against the average app shopper, shoppers that used the investigated features below were 1.7 times more likely to make a purchase and spent 3.2 times longer (9:21 minutes) browsing their apps.

Hat-trick featuresSix features drove the full combination of above-average session durations, conversion rates and average order values.

These were:

• Filter function• Full screen product zoom• View reviews• Show loyalty card in-store using app• Social media sharing• Store stock checker

• Add to wishlist

• Browse lookbook

• Filter★

• Full screen product zoom★

• Open push notification

• Search

• Shop lookbook

• Sort products

• View wishlist

• Enter loyalty card details

• Log in to profile

• Open new loyalty account

• View reviews★

• Set favourite store

• Set personal sizes

• Social media share★

• Barcode scanner

• Show loyalty card in-store using app

• Store directions

• Store finder

• Store mode

• Store stock checker★

General shopping Personal & social In-store

02

Investigatedfeatures

Personalisation& social features

06

Shoppingfeatures

10

In-storefeatures

16

AboutPoq

05

About PoqWe are committed to pushing the boundaries and advancing progress in the field of app commerce and omnichannel retail. Our access to data from over 30 retail apps enables us to reach a unified picture of app user behaviour. We work together with leading publications, consultancies and research institutions to push forward insights into app commerce.

The Poq app commerce platform empowers retailers to build fully customised, best-in-class native mobile apps across iPhone, iPad, and Android - in record time. Apps that allow the delivery of unmatched customer experiences through bespoke content, communications, and rewards. Our platform is the result of years of focus on retail apps and is proven to increase conversion rates and revenue. New code is rolled out every week and major releases delivered every quarter.

Some of the UK’s largest retailers run their retail apps on our platform, including House of Fraser, Radley, Blue Inc, Hawes & Curtis and boohoo.

04

Apps drive loyalty signupsMany app shoppers haven’t opted in to retailers’ loyalty schemes yet. Out of all the personal and social features, app users were most likely to apply for new loyalty cards and set their personal sizes such as shoe size or top size.

“A customer that signs up to your loyalty programme via the app is either a newly acquired customer or an occasional shopper that just decided to enter into a more longstanding relationship with your brand. “

App users who open a new loyalty account are 2.5 times more likely to make a purchase, and spend 3.5 times (10:38 minutes) longer browsing.

How can you take advantage of this knowledge?

Retarget: The most profitable

shopper is the omnichannel

shopper. Send information

about store-related events and promotions to customers who signed up to your loyalty database via your apps.

Attribute: Use information from personalisation settings, such as the ‘favourite store’ setting, to find out what type of shoppers your customers are. If you have loyalty integration in place, you will be able to attribute sales on the app and in-store sales to a single customer. This will help attain a single view of your customers and help determine what they do across channels.

Personalisation & social features

05

4%5%

5%

19%

21%

23%

23%

Personalisation& social features

This graph shows what features are most popular amongst customers using personalisation and social features.

View reviews

Social media share

Set personal sizes

Set favourite store

Open new loyalty account

Profile login

Enter loyalty card details

Platform average

Personal & social feature browsing time

Open new loyalty account

Set personal sizes

Profile login

View reviews

Social media share

Set favourite store

Enter loyalty card details

06

Social media share

View reviews

Platform average

Profile login

Open new loyalty account

Set personal sizes

Enter loyalty card details

Set favourite store

Personal & social feature AOV

Social media share

View reviews

Profile login

Open new loyalty account

Enter loyalty card details

Set personal sizes

Set favourite store

Platform average

Personal & social feature

conversion rate

07

Community convertsSocial media is great for customer

relationship management, but does

it drive sales? We found that social

features such as the ‘share’ button and

product reviews drive exceptional

conversions and engagement.

An app user who takes advantage of native social sharing browses 4.6 times (over 15:11 minutes) longer and is 3.7 times more likely to make a purchase than the average shopper.

This points against the notion that

individuals who share on social media

are just aspirational customers.

Someone who reads reviews penned

by fellow shoppers spends 5.3 times

longer browsing (18:15 minutes) and

is three times more likely to convert

than the average app user. The

role of product reviews in store is

also important: Using the barcode

scanner to access online product

reviews is one of the strongest use

cases of bringing the online shopping

experience into the store.

Both of these features highlight how

important social approval is in the

shopping journey.

You can take advantage of this

knowledge in the following ways:

Reinforce: Inspire app users to look

for wider social approval. Attach a

hashtag to the pre-set text of the

native share feature in your app.

This will automatically give your

customers an extra push to use

specific hashtags when they post, and

will increase the amount of social

recognition they receive. The best

way to reinforce your customers’

engagement is to acknowledge and

reward their interactions with you.

Encourage: Ask for contributions. Email customers who have recently purchased items, asking them to write a review.

08

Targeted browsing pays offThe search and filter functions are by

far the most popular general shopping

features.

Customers who use search are 1.7 times more likely to make a purchase

and spend 2.4 times (6:06 minutes)

longer browsing. Shoppers using the

filter function are 1.8 times more likely

to make a purchase, and spend 2.8 times

(7:30 minutes) longer browsing.

Remind: Add a personal search history

to your search feature. It will remind

shoppers of items they were looking to

buy.

Elaborate: Make sure that users can

filter for many different product

attributes, including colour, size, price

and item type.

Shopping feature traffic

This graph shows what features a shopper is likely to use

if they use the general shopping features we investigated.

The feature ‘Push notification’ refers to shoppers entering

the app through a push notification.

1%2%7%

7%

8%

11%

16%17%

31%

Search

Filter

Full screen product zoom

Sort products

Add to wishlist

View wishlist

Browse lookbook

Push notification

Shop lookbook

09

Shopping features

View wishlist

Full screen product zoom

Add to wishlist

Filter

Sort product

Shop lookbook

Search

Browse lookbook

Platform average

Push notification

Browse lookbook

Shop lookbook

Push notification

Full screen product zoom

Filter

Platform average

Add to wishlist

View wishlist

Search

Sort product

Shopping feature

browsing time

Shopping feature AOV

10

Full screen product zoom

View wishlist

Filter

Search

Add to wishlist

Sort product

Platform average

Shop lookbook

Browse lookbook

Push notification

Shopping feature

conversion rate

0811

Big spenders value lookbooks Shoppers browsing lookbooks are 56% less likely to

convert than the average shopper, but they drive the

steepest average order values and browse twice as long

(4:08 minutes).

Someone who browses a lookbook might take longer to commit to a purchase, but they will spend around twice as much as the average shopper.

Reinforce: Take advantage of the fact that the

customers who enjoy your lookbooks are also willing to

spend more. Showcase your newest and most premium

items in your lookbooks.

Diversify: Use different lookbooks to speak to different

shoppers’ interests. Great examples include shoppable

‘As seen on Instagram’ lookbooks, to which you can

deep link directly from your Instagram profile. Press

lookbooks featuring items that celebrities have worn

are also effective.

12

Details are persuasiveMobile device screens are small. Features that show

products in more detail – such as the full screen

product preview that allows shoppers to zoom in

and out with a pinch

of their fingers - will

double conversion rates

and triple engagement

(increase browsing time

by 9:03 minutes).

Captivate: Make sure that the product images

available in your product display page are beautiful

high-quality product shots that convey details of

the item when users zoom in. Images that appear

pixelated or blurry when zoomed in on won’t give a

clear impression of what your products look like in

real life.

Zoomable product previews triple engagement and double conversion.

13

Wishlists show 1.8 times higher conversion rates and 5% lower average order values.

Bargain hunters strike gold with the wishlistCustomers who look at their wishlists

are 1.8 times more likely to convert and

devote 3.6 times more time to browsing

(10:50 minutes), but spend around 5% less

on each order than the average shopper.

Conversion rates are higher for wishlist

views because many customers add

items to their wishlist in earlier browsing

sessions, and then view the wishlist

especially to purchase saved items.

Average order values are lower because

some shoppers

generally save

items in their

wishlist to keep

an eye on them,

waiting to buy

until they go on

sale.

Prompt: Once your customers have added

an item to their wishlist, consider them

hooked in. Send a push notification on a

Friday or Saturday – the days when app

transactions are highest (see our Q1 2015

platform report for more information),

reminding them of an item waiting in

their wishlist.

Encourage: During the sales period, use

push communication to alert customers

when items in their wishlist go on sale.

Or send a push notification about new

arrivals on a Sunday, the day when most

customers add products to their wishlist

(see our Q1 2015 platform report). This

will encourage shoppers to engage with

the app and add more products to their

wishlist than they may have done on a

different day.

Influence: Create an app-only product

category that features popular wishlisted

items. This will create urgency for bargain

hunters by making them aware that other

shoppers are also planning on buying

these items. It’s a great way of motivating

them to make a purchase before an item

goes on sale.

14

The store finder boosts order sizesThe most popular in-store features are

the store finder and the store stock

checker. Many shoppers use their app

to find out where the nearest brick-and-

mortar location is. Though customers

using the store finder are 18.2% less

likely to convert than the average

shopper, they spend 2.3 times longer

browsing (5:27 minutes) and make

purchases that are 1.2 times higher.

Reinforce: Add a banner for your

store finder in your home screen and

promote this feature when special store

events are on.

Attribute: Retailers who have

integrated their loyalty system with

their shopping app can pinpoint which

role this feature plays in the overall

shopping journey. This is because a

loyalty integration lets them trace the

steps that their customers take online

before making purchases in store.

In-storefeatures

This graph shows what features a shopper is likely to use if they use the in-store features we investigated.

Store finder

Store stock checker

Show loyalty card in-store using app

Barcode scanner

Store mode

Store directions

1%2%5%1%

20%

71%

15

In-store features

Store finder

Store directions

Store mode

Barcode scanner

Store stock checker

Show loyalty cardin-store usinge app

Platform average

In-store feature browsing time

Store finder

Store stock checker

Show loyalty cardin-store usinge app

Platform average

Store mode

Store directions

Barcode scanner

In-store feature AOV

16

Store stock checker

Show loyalty cardin-store usinge app

Barcode scanner

Store mode

Platform average

Store directions

Store finder

In-store featureconversion rate

17

Digital loyalty in-storeNo one likes carrying around a wallet full of loyalty cards. One of the advantages of

loyalty integration is that customers can show their phone at the till instead of having

to carry around their physical cards. Shoppers who use their app to show their card to

store staff are 2.1 times more likely to convert. They place orders of around the same size

as the average shopper and spend 4.17 times longer (13:28 minutes) browsing the app.

Communicate: Make sure your in-store shoppers know about the app loyalty

integration. Mention it on loyalty sign up cards at the till and in communication that

you send to members of your loyalty programme.

Barcodes unlock engagementThe barcode scanner instantly brings rich online information into the hands of in-store

customers.

Shoppers using the barcode scanner show conversion rates that are 1.8 times higher and browsing times that are three times longer (8:32 minutes) than average.

Complement: Make sure that you provide additional information on the app that cannot

easily be accessed in-store. Powerful examples include peer product reviews and ratings.

18

Stock checkers drive omnichannel shoppingThe store stock checker is the ultimate

hat-trick feature. It is also arguably one

of the most valuable omnichannel sales

tools. Customers using this feature are

2.8 times more likely to convert than the

average shopper.

They spend 4.9

times longer (15:49

minutes) browsing

the app and place

orders that are 1.2

times higher than

average.

The store stock checker improves the

quality of shopping at multiple points of

the customer journey. It helps app users

check stock availability of an item before

they go to a store. If a shopper sees that

the item they would like to check out in-

store is not in stock, they can order it on

the app rather than travelling to the store.

Customers using the store stock checker are 2.8 times more likely to convert.

When used in combination with the

barcode scanner, it enables customers to

check whether an item they see in store

is available in a different variation – e.g. in

another size or colour. If it is not, it can be

ordered straight from the app while in the

store.

Promote: Make sure that your in-store

shoppers know about the stock checker

and the barcode scanner in the app. Add

signage to the shop floor, in crucial places

such as changing rooms, mirrors, and free

standing displays to promote the app.

Educate: One of the greatest barriers

to in-store app adoption is when staff

don’t know what the customer-facing

technology can do. Educate your store

staff and get them excited about in-store

functions by running short workshops

demonstrating how they can be used.

“The store stock checker is one of the most valuable omnichannel sales tools.”

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