5 retailers that are completely changing how we see mobile

Mobile technology is abundant, yet many retailers have failed to take advantage of its popularity. The App and Play stores are filled with shopping apps, but not all e-commerce apps are created equal.

To stand out in a tech-driven market, retailers must find new and creative ways to fulfill their customers’ wants and needs, providing them with the best experience possible while shopping on the go.

My company learned what it takes to create an app that will truly engage customers. It can be challenging, but that makes it all the more rewarding when it succeeds. The following companies have taken on that challenge and thrived. To drive a great customer experience, make like these five companies and create a successful mobile experience.

1. Walgreens

The Walgreens app makes refilling prescriptions significantly simpler, impressing its core customer base with the option to scan bottle barcodes, receive refill alerts, and transfer prescriptions on the go.

Users noticed Walgreens’ attention to detail and rated its native app four-and-a-half stars, with more than 65,000 ratings reported in the App Store. Walgreens positioned itself to attract loyal customers with an app that takes customer feedback into consideration.

2. JackThreads

The JackThreads app is also rated four-and-a-half stars in the App Store across 20,000 user ratings. JackThreads is the top shopping app for guys, attracting users with steep discounts, daily deals, and a sleek, appealing user experience. The company’s focus is on doorbusters, a retail standby.

JackThreads also seamlessly remembers user preferences, sizes, and dislikes to create a personalized shopping experience unlike anything available through web or mobile sites.

3. Amazon

Amazon Mobile offers a mobile shopping experience that includes features like barcode scanning and the ability to search inventory by using a picture of a product or the user’s voice. With such a large inventory, Amazon’s app is useful as a comparison tool while shopping anywhere.

Because Amazon lacks a brick-and-mortar presence, push notifications can be targeted based on criteria other than proximity. The app is designed to help users find the lowest price, regardless of what device they’re searching on.

4. Home Depot

Home Depot, on the other hand, has brick-and-mortar locations. The Home Depot app serves to enhance the in-store experience by detecting when users are in a store and customizing the menu to fit that location, including local ads and a store map.

This type of tracking is useful to ensure that users are being shown both the products available and the products they want. In addition, Home Depot is able to push custom notifications as users drive by, reminding them of a special they may have missed through other advertising methods.

5. Zappos

Zappos takes advantage of its desktop success by making its mobile user experience even smoother. The Zappos app offers live-chat customer support and the opportunity to communicate with friends within the app. By creating a community and only including the necessary features for mobile, the Zappos app has become extremely popular among customers, with reviews praising it as “fantastic.”

Creating an app for the sake of having an app won’t win you any new customers. Instead, focus on what your customers want and what value you can provide. Develop an app that meets a need, and you’ll soon find that your store is in the palms of millions of mobile users.