Mobile Apps Serve, Entertain Shoppers

Let’s say a DIYer named Shelby wants to make some home updates.

She’s trying to imagine her bathroom with a new color scheme and thinks fresh curtains and a stylish coffee table would upgrade her living room’s look.

Shelby decides to start her shopping with the device in her hand. She opens an app on her smartphone and snaps a picture of her bathroom. Within minutes, she’s tried 10 different paint colors on the walls in the photo she took. Plus, she’s having fun.

A quick look at her local hardware store’s app tells Shelby paint rollers are on sale and she still has $80 left on her gift card. So, she plans to shop local because she knows she can get the paint she wants, save money and show a local retailer some love.

Then she heads to her living room and begins scrolling through products on the Target app. The app lets her try out furniture, rugs and curtains in the room virtually through her phone’s camera.

For customers like Shelby, apps offer an expanding array of features that provide a personalized shopping experience. Read on to learn from retailers who use mobile apps to engage customers before they leave their homes and what your operation could gain by developing your own app.

Personal Service, Greater Loyalty

Customers have long been walking store aisles with their eyes on their smartphones, checking out competitor pricing, comparing product features and creating project shopping lists.

One of your jobs has been prying shoppers away from their phones by offering store experiences they can’t find in a giant home improvement warehouse or online store. You’ve provided project know-how, friendly customer service, niche products and creative in-store events.

Keeping up with technology helps draw people in and helps people understand we’re on top of our game.
—Jacob Buckingham, Bucks & Bolts Hardware & Outfitters

But your competitors have only gotten better at wooing your shoppers, and they’re entering customers’ homes, offices and daily commutes via their smartphone screens. Then, the big retailers are getting the shoppers to go to physical stores after tinkering with the apps. Did you realize you could do the same?

Bucks & Bolts Hardware & Outfitters in Blossvale, New York, has offered its customers a store mobile app for two years.

When he was attending his distributor’s buying show a few years ago, Bucks & Bolts store manager Jacob Buckingham learned about a company that creates custom mobile apps for independent businesses like his.

He and his team realized an app would offer solutions for Bucks & Bolts in two areas: customer loyalty and promotions.

It would also allow the independent store to use technology to be more competitive with other businesses in the area.

“The biggest thing I strive for here is to stay current,” Buckingham says. “The younger generation especially wants to go to a store that’s fresh and relevant. Keeping up with technology helps draw people in and helps people understand we’re on top of our game.”

The app is a customer service tool that offers frequent interactions with shoppers without leaving home.

In fact, one of the app’s most popular features is a spin-to-win game that some customers play daily to win small prizes, such as a screwdriver or bottle of windshield wiper fluid, which they have to pick up in the store. The game has grown store customer counts.

As businesses try to connect with customers, I think this is one of the better, low-cost methods.
—Jacob Buckingham, Bucks & Bolts Hardware & Outfitters

People pop into Bucks & Bolts weekly to redeem their free prizes, and once the shoppers are in the store, they typically buy other products, too.

“Offering as many services as we can, including a mobile app, helps people feel more comfortable in the store,” Buckingham says.

Bucks & Bolts needed to simplify its customer loyalty program. Because the app is easy for the store to customize, Buckingham says it has been a convenient solution.

The app has saved the store time and money, costing less to maintain than Bucks & Bolts’ prior customer rewards program, Buckingham says.

It also collects important analytics, such as how frequently users shop at the store.

The Bucks & Bolts app connects to the store’s POS system to track customer purchases, rewards points, gift certificate balances and any free products shoppers win through the spin-the-wheel game.

Buckingham can track the data the app collects, and customers get the benefit of viewing individual, personalized versions of much of that information.

In addition, customers can view special offers and use digital coupons on the app instead of clipping paper coupons and having to remember to bring them to the store. They can also earn rewards by referring friends to the app.

Bucks & Bolts can also use push notifications to alert customers to sales or send coupons if customers haven’t been to the store in awhile.

And the app provides custom reports that Buckingham checks monthly to track the number of people downloading the app, which features are most popular and how often they use it.

Buckingham monitors the app like he would a website, checking to make sure the information on it is up to date and relevant.

The customer rewards part of the app alone has made the price of the app worthwhile, growing customer interactions while saving time employees used to spend on managing the rewards program in house.

“The app is a service that could benefit any business,” Buckingham says. “The return on investment has made it well worth it. As businesses try to connect with customers, I think this is one of the better, low-cost methods.”