It’s undeniable that mobile is taking overalmost every industry, but why?
To keep it simple - convenience. With theaverage user spending nearly 3 hours a day on mobile and over $101 billion being spent through app stores annually(according to Lexi Sydow from AppAnnie), it is clear that mobile is the primaryengine for growth. It is nearly impossible for brick and mortar stores tocompete with the overall ease of use and convenience that comes from having thestores/services in the palm of your hand. There is no more second guessing whenit comes to buying items on a whim or forgetting to order something. You cansimply pull your phone out on the train, bus, plane, or even at dinner and buythat pair of shoes you saw or book that hotel room you forgot about. With somany businesses adopting mobile, if you can't provide mobile accessibility toyour customers, someone else will.
Whether it be retail superstores like Walmartor food industry giants like Starbucks, the elite are not just taking note ofmobile, they’re diving into it headfirst.
Retail and Rewards
As a company that is the world’s largest byrevenue and private employment, Walmart obviously has a solid grip on itscustomers, but eCommerce giants like Amazon have caused a major dent in theirmarket. Why drive to the store and deal with all the traffic and checkout lineswhen you can order from the comfort of your own home and receive some itemswithin the same day? Well, that's exactly the mindset that Walmart is nowstarting to adopt by expanding their app services and incorporating digitalinto in-store shopping.
By offering services such as online ordering,free shipping with no membership fee, and access to store features such asWalmart Pharmacy, Pay, and Photo Print, Walmart is able to retain its currenttech savvy customers that would’ve typically shifted to another serviceprovider. With features like Item Finder, they are also able to bring morepeople into the store by reducing the stress that comes from searching foritems in a superstore, killing two birds with one stone.
Food and Funds
When you think of companies like uber, it’seasy to understand why its customer base would download their app - they haveto download it to use it- but for companies such as Starbucks, convincingcustomers to download your app is a battle in itself. Why would users downloadan app for something that you have to come in-store to receive anyways? Loyaltyand rewards programs! Starbucks Rewards members receive points forevery dollar spent, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks, as well asbirthday rewards and free in-store refills, in addition to the ability to orderahead and pay by phone.
By utilizing the enticing nature of appspecific reward programs, they have been able to convince their customers tonot only download the app, but to store money within the app for futurepurchases as well. In Q2 2016, Starbucks said there was$1.2 billion sitting in customers' mobile app accounts. This creates a hugeopportunity for business to create another revenue stream by utilizing the massamounts of store cash. For users of the app, the value of paying withtheir smartphones is clear and simple—you can save time and money at theregister, all while racking up rewards and special offers.
