Android | Internet Marketing Blog

H&M’s slick app is undermined by poor checkout UX

H&M first launched its mobile app way back in 2010, however up until January this year you couldn’t actually use it to make a purchase.

Most major retail apps are transactional these days so it’s surprising that H&M has taken this long to make the upgrade, particularly as research shows that a majority of consumers expect to be able to make purchases using retail apps.

Now it just so happens that I’m on the look out for new some jeans, so I thought it was the perfect chance to see how easy it is to buy something using H&M’s Android app...

by David Moth 11 April 2013 10:09am 0 comments

B&Q's Club app is the perfect mobile loyalty scheme

B&Q recently launched its new Club loyalty app as it seeks to take advantage of that fact that up to two-thirds of its customers use their phones in-store.

The home and garden retailer already has more than 640,000 customers signed up to its loyalty scheme, so the idea is to give them an easier way to redeem offers and also attract new users.

Rather than rewarding purchases with loyalty points, the B&Q Club app gives customers a reason to go in-store by offering exclusive discounts on various products.

The app, which was designed by Grapple, is available on iOS and Android, so I gave it a test run on my Galaxy S2...

by David Moth 09 April 2013 13:21pm 6 comments

85% of consumers favour apps over mobile websites

In the early days of m-commerce it was often asked whether brands should opt for a mobile app or a mobile website.

I think most marketers now accept that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, and the decision should be made based on the business needs and aims of individual companies.

However a new report from Compuware suggests that consumer preference is strongly in favour of apps (85%) ahead of mobile sites.

The most common reason for this is that apps are seen to be more convenient (55%), faster (48%) and easier to browse (40%).

by David Moth 12 March 2013 11:29am 10 comments

11 reasons why eBay's mobile apps are so popular

Stats published by Nielsen earlier this week showed that eBay’s mobile app has been downloaded by a whopping 43% of Android smartphone users.

It’s the only shopping app in the top 10 most popular Android apps, and with that kind of reach it’s no wonder that eBay and PayPal each expected to take more than $10bn in mobile revenues in 2012.

I’ve previously blogged 12 reasons behind Amazon’s mobile success, so thought it would be interesting to turn the spotlight on eBay’s smartphone app.

Though eBay also has dedicated fashion and motors apps, for the purposes of this article I’m only going to look at its main shopping app...

by David Moth 19 February 2013 09:58am 0 comments

M-commerce and banking are among fastest growing Android apps in the UK

New data shows that the use of commerce and banking apps is growing faster among UK Android users than the use of gaming apps, however Google and Facebook still dominate the market.

According to stats from Nielsen, seven of the 15 major apps experiencing the fastest growing usage among Android users are commerce apps from the likes of Tesco, Amazon and Quidco.

But Nielsen’s definition includes apps used to buy digital products, general retail products, and experiences through social commerce.

If you look at shopping apps from retailers, only Tesco and Asda are represented in this list.

We've previously looked at whether retail apps deliver a decent user experience on Android by investigating store finder functions and Debenhams' use of push alerts to notify users of sale and discounts.

by David Moth 18 February 2013 10:51am 1 comment

Debenhams makes great use of its mobile app with timely sales alerts

Over the past year I’ve downloaded several retail apps on my Android smartphone, mainly for the purpose of reviewing them for the blog.

Apps from John Lewis, Debenhams, Argos and Tesco have all remained on my phone as I have no pressing need to delete them, meaning I’m a sitting target for messages about offers and discounts.

However as far as I can remember, only Debenhams has taken the opportunity to send me any marketing messages, which appears to be a missed opportunity for the other brands.

Adobe recently conducted a survey that asked 1,003 UK consumers about the features they most looked for in smartphone apps – 67% of respondents rated money saving offers as the most important feature.

by David Moth 18 February 2013 09:36am 0 comments

Three essentials of Android design DNA

For many years since its release, the Android OS has been behaving like a teenager in the grip of raging hormones. Growth has been nothing short of explosive and the changes have been sweeping and profound.

With the release of Ice-Cream Sandwich OS, the UI standards and design elements have changed dramatically and the platform has really matured and even stabilized somewhat.

Nevertheless, the OS has retained it’s rebellious hacker DNA with unique features that are authentically Android.

by Greg Nudelman 25 January 2013 15:29pm 0 comments

What to expect from apps in 2013

Love mobile? Love your apps? On the other with Windows 8 hitting the scene, it looks like apps will be more popular than ever. But is it the way to go?

The average smart phone user has only 40 apps on their phone with a great precentage of them leaning toward a utility function. So what would the advantage be for your company to go into the app space. If you aren't there already, should you still jump in?

by Heather Taylor 24 January 2013 16:45pm 2 comments

Will Tizen give Android a run for its money?

Ask folks about mobile operating systems and most will probably tell you that it's a two-horse race: Apple's iOS versus Google's Android.

The mobile OS landscape isn't this way because other companies haven't tried.

Microsoft has done some interesting things with Windows Phone, and Palm's webOS looked pretty darn promising when it launched.

by Patricio Robles 18 January 2013 16:48pm 3 comments

Google needs e-commerce school after Nexus 4 ‘Play’ sale fails

Google's new smartphone, the Nexus 4, is available to buy and the search giant is currently accepting pre-orders through Play, its version of iTunes.

However we've been hearing some negative feedback around Play and the way Google is handling the entire purchase cycle for the Nexus 4, so decided to investigate the user experience.

We used the same e-commerce best practice criteria that we used for previous posts, the full details of which can be seen below.

The verdict? Wait and buy the Nexus 4 in store. Here is why...

by Ryan Sommer 05 December 2012 16:59pm 13 comments