Apps

Williams-Sonoma Acquires AR 3-D Imaging Startup
November 17, 2017 at 12:09 pm

Furniture and kitchenware giant Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) is acquiring augmented reality (AR) startup Outward in an all-cash deal for $112 million. The furniture brand, which operates stores including Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, West Elm and others, will be using the startup’s 3-D imaging tech to “enhance and extend its high-touch customer service platform,” the company says. Outward, founded…

How Poor Website and App Performance Create “Digital Desertion”
October 20, 2017 at 1:02 pm

Every second counts in today's online world. Today’s online shoppers expect a greater level of website and app performance than they did three years ago. Slow rendering time and digital disappointment will often drive consumers to a competitor’s offerings. Consumer expectations have become more demanding and patience with poor performance has diminished. Apica conducted a…

Connected Devices: The New Route to Personalization
October 12, 2017 at 12:20 pm

The future of retail? Personalizing the customer experience. It may seem obvious, but not all retailers are as tech savvy as they need to be to catch the attention of today’s millennial and Gen Z shoppers. For many retailers, the smartphone strategy was first. The industry advice was that retailers had to be at the…

Mobile Chat: What CEOs Need to Know About This Growing Trend
October 4, 2017 at 2:51 pm

Mobile chat apps have completely taken over the app ecosystem. WhatsApp reports that it delivers 55 billion messages every day. The top five apps in the world in terms of frequency of use are all messaging apps. We’re more addicted to messaging than to Facebook or Instagram. How did we get here, and what does this…

Speed (or a Lack Thereof) Kills: Why App Performance is a Priority for Target
October 3, 2017 at 1:20 pm

In a session last week at the Shop.org conference in Los Angeles, Grace Glenny, director of site merchandising at Target, discussed how the big-box chain is ensuring its mobile app is primed for performance — without sacrificing functionality — to give its customers the instantaneous shopping experiences they’ve come to expect. Target has recently shifted…

Consumers Want Innovative App Features
September 19, 2017 at 11:33 am

Before modern technology, consumers who wanted to shop had to visit a physical store to purchase items. Now, they can shop at home, on the go or anywhere else with Wi-Fi or phone service. That’s all thanks to smartphones, and according to a Clutch survey of 505 e-commerce app users, consumers are looking for apps…

Destination XL Group Launches First Mobile App
September 15, 2017 at 11:27 am

Destination XL Group, Inc., the largest omnichannel specialty retailer of men's apparel in sizes XL and up, partnered with mobile commerce platform provider PredictSpring to launch its first mobile app last month. The announcement comes as retailers are increasingly looking…

5 Tips for Generating More App Downloads
September 5, 2017 at 10:46 am

The App Store is a crowded place, and you need to stand out from the crowd. That's hard to do when there are so many other app developers out there trying to do the same. That's why your app description has to be highly compelling in order to get consumers to click through and download…

The Truth About E-Commerce Applications
August 22, 2017 at 8:18 am

Today's e-commerce universe is made up of hundreds of applications, in theory, all of which were created to solve a problem for the online seller. Unfortunately, many apps fail to get to the core of the issues they're trying to solve, and by floating aimlessly, they actually create other challenges. Worse still, apps that do…