The new year is ushering in new brooms across the Growth 2000 retailers, all seeking new ways to generate growth as things open up.
Sustainable children’s clothes site Frugi has replatformed to make itself more mobile-friendly, as well as being a better source of downloadable content to keep the kids amused.
Meanwhile, UK garden furniture site Lazy Susan has also replatformed and has seen sales and revenues grow dramatically – again by putting more emphasis on mobile.
Student discount marketplace UNiDAYS is also leveraging mobile – which is where its Gen Z demographic lives – using iOS 15 widgets to sell goods.
Even paddle board company Red Paddle Co is also looking at how to adapt its marketing to be more engaging on mobile.
It is hardly surprising that these four growing retailers are putting their money in mobile: so are consumers. Research by App Annie finds that, globally, consumers spent more than 100 billion hours in retailer apps in 202, up 18% on the previous year. They also spend 70% of all mobile hours in social media, much of it engaging with retailers.
The world of retail is increasingly mobile-led. It is the device of choice for shoppers to do everything to do with retail: from browsing, to looking for inspiration, to buying, to marketing, to reviews… the list of roles it now plays are endless.
And the pressure is on for retailers. Not only are consumers increasingly omni-channel, they are also fickle and inclined to use marketplaces to shop – often on mobile.
A global survey finds that 70% of UK shoppers say that marketplaces are the most convenient way to shop online, with highest value ‘power shoppers’ leading the way. A separate study goes on to show that marketplace use is growing steadily at 15% a year and that by 2025, marketplace spending will be higher than ecommerce sites.
The world of retail is changing fast and the companies that are looking to generate growth on 2022 are going to have to look at rethinking how they do business – that is what consumers now demand.
