Retail Apps Report U.S. EDITION

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Retail Apps Report

U.S. EDITION

2014

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Introduction

State of the Industry

Research Findings

Average Rating

Highest Rated Apps

Lowest Rated Apps

Categories of Research

Customer Feedback

Positive and Negative Feedback in the Same Category

Who is Doing it Well

Conclusion

Appendix

Our Expertise in Mcommerce

About Pivotal Labs

Contributors

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32 Introduction

PURPOSE

This report provides insight into the quality of mobile apps offered by the top 25 U.S. mCommerce retailers. Using publicly available data on the U.S. iTunes Store and Google Play, we compiled customer feedback, average ratings, and which platforms the retailers have targeted. This research drives a series of recommendations for where retailers should focus when launching a mobile app. For the complete lists of retailers and apps researched, please consult

the Appendix. METHODOLOGY

Research for the Retail Apps Report 2014 - U.S. Edition was conducted from December 24, 2013 to January 15, 2014. Each retailer on each platform was looked at once, providing a snapshot of their ratings and reviews at that time. The retailers selected for analysis are based on the list of the top 500 mobile retailers as defined by industry trade publication Internet Retailer in their “Mobile 500 Guide” at http://www.top500guide.com. We analyzed the top 25 retailers headquartered in the U.S. that have smartphone apps on iOS and Android*.

The report tabulated publicly available ratings in both the U.S. Apple App Store and Google Play as well as the 50 most recent comments made for each app; if there were fewer than 50 comments, we analyzed those available. If a minimum of 5 comments were made about a feature, we accepted it as legitimate feedback.

SECOND IN A SERIES

In February 2013, we published our first U.S. Retail Apps Report. In that report, we used the “2012 STORES Top 100 Retailers” list. Although an excellent resource, we felt that the top 100 was too broad, and had too many physical location retailers for the analysis we wanted to perform, which is why we decided to focus instead of the top 25 U.S. mCommerce retailers for our second annual report. An archived copy of the 2013 report can be found here.

* Tablet-specific apps have been excluded from our dataset, as only a fraction of the retailers analyzed had them.

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State of the Industry

Mobile has greatly influenced the shopper’s decision journey; what used to be a linear path to purchase has become a complex maze of actions that are all affected by smartphones. Connected consumers now define this path, being influenced by mobile at each stage.

MOBILE’S INFLUENCE ON THE PATH TO PURCHASE 1

1 _{Martin, Chuck. (June 11, 2013.) The Mobile Shopping Life Cycle.}

Retrieved from http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/06/the-mobile-shopping-life-cycle/

2 _{Nielsen. (August 12, 2013). A Mobile Shopper’s Journey: From the Couch to the Store (and Back Again).}

Retrieved from http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/a-mobile-shoppers-journey--from-the-couch-to-the-store--and-back.html

3 _{Parago. (July 23, 2013). Dynamic Pricing in a Smartphone World: A Shopper Showrooming Study.}

Retrieved from http://www.parago.com/showrooming-blog/

SOURCES

Coupons

Gift Certificates

Loyalty Points

LOCATION

According to Nielsen, “En route to the store, 70 percent of smartphone shoppers use a store locator to plan their shopping trip. Once they arrive at the store, 37 percent stay organized using lists while shopping on their phones.”2

List

SELECTION PROCESS

In a study by Parago, they found that in-store showrooming was up 400% in 2013 over 2012, a trend “occurring across all income levels and retail categories.”3

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State of the Industry

Consider these findings about the state of mCommerce:

4_{Cisco. (2013). ‘Catch and Keep’ Digital Shoppers: How To Deliver Retail Their Way.}

Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/retail/Catch-and-Keep-the-Digital-Shopper_PoV.pdf

5 _{Latitude. (2012, December 9). What Shoppers Want: Study Investigates Opportunities for Mobile-Enhanced Retail.}

Retrieved from http://latd.com/2012/12/09/what-shoppers-want-study-investigates-opportunities-for-mobile-enhanced-retail/

6 _{Deloitte. (2012). The dawn of mobile influence: Discovering the value of mobile in retail.}

Retrieved from http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/RetailDistribution/us_retail_Mobile- Influence-Factor_062712.pdf

7_{comScore. (September 12, 2013). Choices, Channels and Convenience: Enhancing the Online Shopping Experience.}

Retrieved from http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2013/Choices_Channels_and_Convenience_ Enhancing_the_Online_Shopping_Experience

8_{Gillespie, Joe. (November 1, 2013). Engage: Moms. On Their Terms: In The Moment And On The Go.}

Retrieved from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/212596/on-their-terms-in-the-moment-and-on-the-go.html

9_{Siwicki, Bill. (March 1, 2012). Internet Retailer. Neiman Marcus connects customers and associates with a SoLoMo app.}

Retrieved from http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/03/01/neiman-marcus-links-customers-and-associates-solomo-app

SOURCES

48%

of digital shoppers are currently using or would like to use a smartphone to shop while in the store or on the go4

61%

58%

of people have a better opinion of brands that offer a

compelling mobile experience (while 40% of customers turn to a competitor based on a bad mobile experience)5

of smartphone owners use mobile for store-related shopping (and are 14% more likely than non-smartphone shoppers to convert in-store)6

Retail apps, which formerly existed only to provide an eCommerce shopping experience on mobile, can now create a more compelling experience for shoppers by adding an in-store experience. Whether it’s to offset the showrooming trend, develop their eCommerce streams, or cultivate customer loyalty, mobile solutions are becoming increasingly instrumental to the success of retail businesses worldwide. Additionally, savvy in-store marketers are leveraging other mobile features to engage users, such as in-aisle shopping capabilities and tools like shopping lists, product location, or smartphone checkout.

The growth in smartphone penetration, now over 50% in many countries, has increased the usage of location-based services and phone sensors.

46%

of shoppers are less likely to comparison shop when using a mobile app7

TARGET AND NICKELODEON

These brands partnered together on a mobile campaign featuring in-store messaging. It resulted in a 30% coupon redemption rate (and 10x higher engagement than previous campaigns without a digital component).8

Who’s doing it well?

NEIMAN MARCUS

One company testing in-store apps - for both salespeople and customers - is Neiman Marcus. With the app, consumers can favorite a salesperson, make appointments, and scan QR codes for product information. Additionally, Neiman Marcus salespeople are notified when customers with the app are in the store, prompting them to offer assistance. This allows the company to provide great customer service as well as a personalized experience.9

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Research Findings

This report summarizes the results of our research, with commentary about each area covered. We discuss the average ratings and what those mean for retailers; the highest and lowest rated apps; customer feedback in three major categories; and our recommendations for retailers to create premium apps.

The Appendix lists the retailers researched on each platform, including the star ratings for each app.

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Ratings are important because they can deter or entice app downloads. A low rating is indicative of a poorly executed mobile strategy, which could range from lack of planning, poor development, careless quality assurance, etc.

The average rating was recorded for all versions of each app.

Average Rating

3.5

4.0

Android: iOS:

The retailers researched are performing extremely well in terms of ratings; last year’s retailers averaged 2.9 on iOS and 2.2 on Android. As this year’s report looked at the top mCommerce retailers, it makes sense that they would be performing well on mobile overall.

MobileDevHQ has written about recent changes made in iTunes that make “the number of ratings you have and the ratings themselves become more influential in the ranking of your app. This is a way for Apple to legitimize apps, establish app credibility, and make sure people don’t cheat the system by purchasing downloads from bots to boost their Top Charts rankings...If a lot of users are rating and reviewing apps, not only do you know that the downloads are coming from real people, but you can also measure overall satisfaction with the app.”10 Google Play will likely follow suit as users demand better ways to find top apps from among the 1 million or so in each store.

10_{Apptentive. (January 13, 2014). A Break Down of iOS Apps Rankings by Ratings in the Apple Store.}

Retrieved from http://www.apptentive.com/blog/ios-app-rankings-ratings-apple-app-store/

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Highest Rated Apps

The list of highest rated apps is based on a combination of the star rating (those over 4 stars) and the percentage of favorable ratings (3 stars and higher), for apps with at least 50 ratings.

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 646 99.1% 0.9%

Fanatics

*

5

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 4,555 98.3% 1.7%

Amazon Local

4.5 Groupon HD

*

4.5

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 105 91.4% 8.6% Home Depot Pro App

- For Contractors and

Construction Professionals

4.5 Rue La La

- Shop All Day

4.5 Joss & Main

- Home Décor Shopping

and Inspiration

4.5

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 60,263 88% 12%

Walgreens

4.5

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Highest Rated Apps

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 1,493 99.3% 0.7%

Fanatics

*

4.8 Groupon

*

4.6 Amazon

4.5 Walmart

4.4 NOOK

- Read Books & Magazines

4.5 Rue La La

- Shop All Day

4.3 Hollister

So Cal Style

4.3 Walgreens

4.3

* Fanatics and Groupon are clients of Pivotal Labs. With such a large number of

reviews, it is impressive that Groupon has such a high rating. A small number of reviews and a high rating correlates with very loyal customers, but 321,556 reviews with a high rating indicates their mobile strategy is striking a chord with a large subsection of customers.

Note

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Highest Rated Apps

Victoria’s Secret

for Android

4.1 Best Buy

*

4.2 HSN

4.2

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Favorable Percentage: Negative Percentage: 631 86.7% 13.3%

Office Depot

4.2

* Best Buy is a client of Pivotal Labs.

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Lowest Rated Apps

The list of lowest rated apps is based on a combination of the average rating (those under 3 stars) and the percentage of negative ratings (those under 3 stars), for apps with at least 50 ratings.

Star Rating: Total Ratings: Negative Percentage: Favorable Percentage: 9,925 49.6% 50.4%

Sears

2.5 The Home

Depot

2.5 Cartwheel

by Target

2.5 Costco

2 Hulu Plus

2

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Lowest Rated Apps

None of the apps researched were below 3 stars on Android. There could be several reasons for this. The company uTest crawled the Apple store and Google Play and found that Android apps were higher rated on average. They surmised that, “One reason for this shift is likely related to hardware. One of the strongest historical correlations to users’ satisfaction with apps is device make & model (more so than OS version or even carrier). So one contributing factor is that Android phones are much better than in years past – or at least perceived to be better by users. This makes intuitive sense, given the strides Samsung has made in winning a dominant share of the Android market, and the pace at which Android devices overall have evolved.

“Another plausible answer (which has strong anecdotal proof points, but not as clear as the above) is that the shift to iOS7 has had an impact last fall– particularly among users of those apps that haven’t been updated or optimized to fully leverage what iOS7 offers.”11

11_{Rowinski, Dan. (January 31, 2014). The Reviews Are In: Android Apps Outshone iOS Apps in 2013.}

Retrieved from http://readwrite.com/2014/01/31/android-ios-app-quality-utest-applause#awesm=~oyjr7zJY4lXBw7 SOURCE

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The categories of feedback that we researched were Performance, Features and Design because we felt they offered a broad enough scope to encompass the main areas of commentary usually seen in mobile app reviews. Each category could have positive or negative commentary made about it.

We discuss below the categories of feedback, with our recommendations for how retailers can improve their mCommerce offerings in these areas.

Categories of Research

12 _{Compuware. Mobile Apps: What Consumers Really Need and Want.}

Retrieved from http://offers2.compuware.com/rs/compuware/images/Mobile_App_Survey_Report.pdf

13_{Wong, Jennifer. (October 8, 2013). Why Users Delete Your Mobile App.}

Retrieved from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2299176/Why-Users-Delete-Your-Mobile-App

SOURCES

Iterative development and delivery enables the rapid response to change necessary for business success. Enterprises can quickly and more effectively meet evolving customer, partner, competitive and marketplace needs by practicing Test Driven Development, which results in high-quality, reliable and more maintainable code. Agile Development Practices

Your mobile development vendor should be able to help you discover insight from all your data so you can build applications that serve your customers in the context of who they are, where they are, and what they are doing in the moment.

Analyzing Big Data

Performance

(e.g., fast, slow, bugs, crashing)

Poor performance is the number one reason why consumers uninstall mobile apps; according to a study by Compuware, “79 percent would retry a mobile app only once or twice if it failed to work the first time.”12

The best performance comes from a native app - that is, one custom-built for the intended platform (i.e., iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows). Many companies make the mistake of building an HTML 5 or hybrid app because they believe it is faster and more cost-effective to build a single, so-called “write once, run anywhere” app. In reality, such apps are often slow and buggy because they cannot take advantage of the specific platform functions that enable them to operate at maximum performance. Search Engine Watch has advised that, “To figure out how to prevent users from deleting your app, you need to understand why they’re leaving in the first place...Monitor valuable metrics, such as tutorial completion, time spent on each screen, quitting the app, back tracking between screens and more.”13

Features

(e.g., great feature set, missing functionality)

A retail app that is missing critical features can present such a poor user experience that consumers will immediately uninstall it, never to give it another try. Therefore, if your strategy is to launch a basic app as soon as possible just so you have a presence in the mobile space, we caution you to rethink that tactic.

An app should also not be a mobile version of your website, with the full roster of features better suited to the desktop. The smaller screen size, coupled with consumer’s short attention span on mobile, means that only a few features are absolutely necessary. Once your app has been in the market for a while, you should have enough reliable data to help you drive decisions about which features should be added, modified, or removed.

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Here is a list of features that our experience has shown are necessary for an initial launch:

Categories of Research

14_{Overstreet, Jennifer. (September 30, 2013). How to avoid common mistakes in mobile retailing.}

Retrieved from http://blog.nrf.com/2013/09/30/how-to-avoid-common-mistakes-in-mobile-retailing/

* MEC is a client of Pivotal Labs. SOURCE

After you’ve been in the market for a few months, analytics, reviews, and other data can tell you which additional features your customers are looking for. These are common ones you may want to consider: • Barcode scanning • Social media

integration • Ratings and reviews

of products • Push notifications • Digital coupons • Context-aware functionality (e.g., in-stadium notifications) Secondary Features SEARCH

At last September’s Shop.org Annual Summit, Eight by Eight CEO Amy Africa emphasized the importance of enabling mobile consumers - who have short attention spans - to quickly find what they need. “With mobile, people don’t try again. They go somewhere else,” she remarked.14 _{A well-executed search functionality helps} users find what they’re looking for as quickly as possible. This area, where we provide recommendations is

especially important. Not sure how you do it, but this really should be the focus. It’s a hard report to organize but I’ll leave it with you.

STORE LOCATOR

This feature should provide a quick and easy way for users to look up a location nearby, with mapped directions, hours, and contact information.

CATALOGUE

A catalogue should not just be a list of items you offer; it should include high-quality, attractive photos, clear descriptions, and up-to-date inventory numbers. The ability to select different sizes, colors, styles, etc, should also be offered if applicable. The best retailers use a recommendation engine to make suggestions for similar or complementary items to the one being looked at. MCOMMERCE

Some retailers have a mobile app that doesn’t actually offer the ability for consumers to make purchases from it. This leads to frustration for consumers who were expecting to be able to buy from their phone, and there are very few retailers whom we would advise to not allow in-app purchasing. Even if you’re a retailer that cannot offer shipping, you should consider offering an mCommerce app that allows in-store pickup.

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SHOPPING LIST/CART

This is necessary if your app is mCommerce-enabled. If mCommerce is simply not an option, at the very least you should provide a way for customers to make a list of the items they wish to buy, to make their in-store shopping experience as convenient as possible.

UNIVERSAL CART

In a study conducted by Google in partnership with Sterling Brands and Ipsos, 90% of participants indicated they “use multiple screens sequentially to complete a task over time.”15 This means that if your customer starts shopping on their deskop, moves to a smartphone, and finally buys from their tablet, their cart needs to be consistent across all these devices.

Categories of Research

15 _{Google. (August 2012). The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-platform Consumer Behavior.} Retrieved from http://www.google.ca/think/research-studies/the-new-multi-screen-world-study.html

16_{Wong, Jennifer. (October 8, 2013). Why Users Delete Your Mobile App.}

Retrieved from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2299176/Why-Users-Delete-Your-Mobile-App

SOURCES

Design

(e.g., looks great, front end to mobile site)

Search Engine Watch has noted that, “Mobile customers are intolerant and fickle…If your app isn’t a knockout on first impression, it’s probably going to be deleted or will be forgotten on their smartphones.”16

Mobile design should adhere to a rigorous methodology to ensure the finished app meets your needs and customer expectations. The agency or individual you select should take the time to learn about your business, customers, goals, branding, competitors, etc. Storyboarding, sticky notes, wireframes, interaction models, and prototypes are common tools for a designer to refine your vision into a stunning final product.

After you’ve been in the market for a few months, analytics, reviews, and other data can tell you which additional features your customers are looking for. These are common ones you may want to consider: • Barcode scanning • Social media

integration • Ratings and reviews

of products • Push notifications • Digital coupons • Context-aware functionality (e.g., in-stadium notifications) Secondary Features

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Customer Feedback

Amazon Local Apple Store Best Buy*

Chegg - Textbooks, eTextbooks & Study Tools Fanatics*

Groupon HD* HSN Shop App Office Depot Target

The Home Depot Walgreens Walmart

Wedding & Gift Registry by Crate & Barrel

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon Fresh Gilt City Groupon*

Home Depot Pro App - For Contractors & Construction Professionals

HSN Shop App Rue La La - Shop All Day Target Walgreens Walmart Amazon Local Fanatics* Gilt City HSN Shop App

Joss & Main - Home Décor Shopping and Inspiration

Overstock.com - Mobile Shopping Rue La La - Shop All Day

* Best Buy, Fanatics and Groupon are clients of Pivotal Labs.

When reviewing the 50 most recent comments for the apps analyzed, we divided the comments into three categories: Performance, Features, and Design. Each category could be either positive or negative; if a minimum of 5 comments were made about a category, we accepted it as legitimate feedback.

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

By platform, the leading positive reviews were:

33%

Performance

(e.g., fast)

of iOS apps had positive feedback in the Performance category

of iOS apps had positive feedback in the Features category

of iOS apps had positive feedback in the Design category

Design

(e.g., looks great)

Features

(e.g., great feature set)

26%

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Customer Feedback

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

By platform, the leading positive reviews were:

Android

Best Buy*

HSN Phone Shop App

NOOK Video - Watch Movies & TV

Walmart

Rue La La - Shop All Day Walgreens

Rue La La - Shop All Day

of Android apps had positive feedback in the Performance category

Performance

(e.g., fast)

24%

of Android apps had positive feedback in the Features category

Features

7%

of Android apps had positive feedback in the Design category

Design

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Customer Feedback

NEGATIVEFEEDBACK

By platform, the leading negative reviews were:

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon App Amazon Fresh Apple Store Best Buy* Best Buy* Gaming Cartwheel by Target Costco

Gilt City

Gilt - Designer Shopping at Insider Prices Hollister So Cal Style

Home Depot Pro App - For Contractors & Construction Professionals

HSN Shop App Hulu Plus Macy’s

Macy’s Star Gifts Office Depot

Overstock.com - Mobile Shopping QVC Beauty

QVC for iPhone Rue La La - Shop All Day Sears

Staples Target

72%

of iOS apps had negative feedback in the Performance category

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Customer Feedback

NEGATIVEFEEDBACK

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon App Amazon Fresh Amazon Student Costco

Gilt City

Gilt - Designer Shopping at Insider Prices Hollister So Cal Style

Joss & Main - Home Décor Shopping and Inspiration Macy’s

Office Depot

Overstock.com - Mobile Shopping QVC Beauty

QVC for iPhone Rue La La - Shop All Day Sears

The Home Depot

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon App Costco Macy’s Sears

of iOS apps had negaitve feedback in the Features category

51%

Features

13%

of iOS apps had negative feedback in the Design category

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Customer Feedback

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Best Buy* Costco Wholesale Gilt for Android Hollister So Cal Style HSN Phone Shop App Hulu Plus

JCPenney Macy’s

NOOK Video - Watch Movies & TV Office Depot

Overstock.com - Shopping App QVC (US)

Rue La La - Shop All Day Sears

The Home Depot

Victoria’s Secret for Android Walgreens

Walgreens for Nexus 7 Walmart

Wedding & Gift Registry (Crate & Barrel)

Amazon

Costco Wholesale Gilt for Android Groupon

Staples

Android

76%

of Android apps had negative feedback in the Performance category

Performance

(e.g., fast)

of Android apps had negative feedback in the Design category of Android apps had negaitve feedback in the Features category

14%

Features

Design

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Customer Feedback

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN THE SAME CATEGORY

As shown in the lists below, it’s not unusual for an app to receive positive and negative feedback in the same category, especially for Performance. Several causes could account for this, including a device’s internet connection, model, operating system, and available memory. A newer device with an up-to-date OS and a fast connection will almost certainly perform better than an older model with an outdated OS on a slow connection.

Apple Store Best Buy* HSN Shop App Office Depot Target

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon Fresh Gilt City

Rue La La - Shop All Day Target of iOS apps of iOS apps of iOS apps

23%

13%

NA

Design

Features

Performance

(e.g., fast)

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Customer Feedback

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK IN THE SAME CATEGORY

For almost every application there were multiple complaints about permissions - people giving low ratings, deleting their app or refusing to download it in the first place because the application wants access to what is viewed as irrelevant and intrusive information like phone calls, text messages, contacts, device usage, etc.

Although this was a recurring theme, it did not fit into our positive/negative category structure, so was not taken into account in our research. Notes

Amazon Local Apple Store Best Buy*

Chegg - Textbooks, eTextbooks & Study Tools Fanatics**

Groupon HD*** HSN Shop App Office Depot Target

Abercrombie & Fitch Amazon Fresh Gilt City Groupon**

Home Depot Pro App - For Contractors & Construction Professionals

HSN Shop App Rue La La - Shop All Day Target Walgreens Walmart Amazon Local Fanatics* Gilt City HSN Shop App

Joss & Main - Home Décor Shopping and Inspiration

Overstock.com - Mobile Shopping Rue La La - Shop All Day

Android

The figures given represent the percentage of apps that received each item of feedback, so totals equal more than 100% per platform. The percentage of negative feedback is higher, which is not unusual - users tend to leave reviews when they are unhappy about an app more often than when they like it. Not all apps had 50 comments, in which case we reviewed those available.

of Android apps of Android apps of Android apps

33%

26%

21%

Design

Features

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Frank & Oak

• Won Applied Arts Magazine’s 2013 Interactive Award in ecommerce category • Earns 22% of monthly sales

during Hunt Club promotion • Was generating 15% of sales

within 3 months

Who is Doing it Well

Fanatics

• Was on track to generate over $1Billion in 2013

• Built native apps for iOS and Android; will likely release an iPad app in 2014

• Available in 66 countries • Mobile app earned over $1M

in revenue in 38 days with over 100,000 downloads

• 5 star rating in the iTunes App Store and 4.8 in the Google Play Store

Shop MEC

• Generates

more revenue than their smallest store

• Had 30,000 downloads and 1.2M screen views in first week of launch

• Featured by Apple in the iTunes Store

Below are three clients of Pivotal Labs who have met with a great deal of success building native mCommerce apps.

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Conclusion

Retailers that are succeeding in today’s omnichannel market are those that have fully leveraged mobile to make their products more relevant to their customers. Newer companies have a competitive advantage, as they can incorporate modern software in their initial go-to-market strategy; but where does this leave traditional companies and enterprises?

The list of the top 25 U.S. mobile retailers has a healthy mix of traditional (pre-smartphone) and more recent brands. For retailers in particular, the right mobile strategy can be an effective ‘win’. Consider Walmart: the retailer celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2012 and has one of the highest rated iOS apps in this report. This shows the importance of an agile mobile strategy that isn’t bound by traditional ways of doing business.

For today’s retailer, mobile development and delivery enables the rapid response to change necessary for business success. As a multibillion dollar industry, it’s clear that your retail business needs a mobile app before your competitors beat you to it.

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Appendix

LIST OF RETAILERS AND APPS RESEARCHED

The lists of 25 retailers vary between iOS and Android; not all the same retailers have apps on both platforms, and we restricted our research to retailers who had an app on the platform being analyzed. Here are the retailers and apps we researched by platform, with comments about specific apps that had unusual data. Their rank is their placement in the Mobile 500 Guide, and their headquarters are the corporate information provided by the guide.

RANK COMPANY APP RATING* U.S. HEADQUARTERS

1 Apple Inc. Apple Store 3.5 Cupertino, CA

2 Amazon.com Inc. Amazon App Amazon Local Amazon Student Amazon Fresh 3.5 4.5 3.5 4 Seattle, WA 3 QVC QVC for iPhone QVC for Beauty 3 3 West Chester, PA

4 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Walmart 3 San Bruno, CA

5 Groupon Goods** Groupon

Groupon HD

4

4.5 Chicago, IL

9 HSN Inc. HSN Shop App 3.5 St. Petersburg, FL

10 Gilt Groupe Gilt - Designer Shopping at Insider Prices Gilt City 3.5 3 New York, NY

11 RueLaLa.com Rue La La - Shop All Day 4.5 Boston, MA

12 Overstock.com Inc. Overstock.com -

Mobile Shopping 3 Salt Lake City, UT

14 Costco Wholesale Corp. Costco 2 Issaquah, WA

17 Office Depot Inc.

Office Depot Office Depot Business Solutions 3.5 4 Boca Raton, FL

18 Fanatics Inc.** _Fanatics ₅ _{Jacksonville, FL}

21 Staples Inc. Staples Staples Advantage by Staples Inc. 3 4 Framingham, MA

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Appendix

24 Best Buy Co. Inc.** Best Buy

Best Buy Gaming

3.5

3.5 Richfield, MN

26 Macy's Inc. Macy’s

Macy’s Star Gifts

3

2.5 San Francisco, CA

28 Rakuten.com Rakuten Shopping 5 Aliso Viejo, CA

29 Abercrombie

& Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch Hollister So Cal Style

3

3 New Albany, OH

30 Sears Sears 2.5 Hoffman Estates, IL

31 Walgreens Walgreens 4.5 Chicago, IL

32 Crate & Barrel

Wedding & Gift Registry

by Crate & Barrel

3D Room Designer

3.5 3

Northbrook, IL

33 Home Depot

The Home Depot Home Depot Pro App - For Contractors & Construction Professionals

2.5

4.5 Atlanta, GA

35 Hulu LLC Hulu Plus 2 Los Angeles, CA

36 Target Target

Cartwheel by Target

3

2.5 Minneapolis, MN

37 Joss & Main

Joss & Main - Home Décor Shopping and Inspiration

4.5 Boston, MA

38 Chegg

Chegg - Tectbooks, eTextbooks & Study Tools

3.5 Santa Clara, CA

(CONTINUED)

Office Depot Business Solutions - Had only 6 written reviews.

Staples Advantage by Staples Inc. - Had only 5 written reviews.

Rakuten Shopping - Had only 4 written reviews.

3D Room Designer - Had only 10 written reviews.

Hulu Plus - Had multiple complaints about users having to watch commercials even though they pay for the service, as well as catalogue complaints.

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Appendix

The lists of 25 retailers vary between iOS and Android; not all the same retailers have apps on both platforms, and we restricted our research to retailers who had an app on the platform being analyzed. Here are the retailers and apps we researched by platform, with comments about specific apps that had unusual data. Their rank is their placement in the Mobile 500 Guide, and their headquarters are the corporate information provided by the guide.

2 Amazon.com Inc. Amazon 4.5 Seattle, WA

3 QVC QVC (US) 3.7 West Chester, PA

4 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Walmart 4.4 San Bruno, CA

5 Groupon Goods** _Groupon _4.6 _{Chicago, IL}

9 HSN Inc. HSN Phone Shop App 4.2 St. Petersburg, FL

10 Gilt Groupe Gilt for Android 3.5 New York, NY

11 RueLaLa.com Rue La La _{- Shop All Day} 4.3 Boston, MA

12 Overstock.com Inc. Overstock.com

- Shopping App 4 Salt Lake City, UT

14 Costco Wholesale

Corp. Costco Wholesale 3.6 Issaquah, WA

17 Office Depot Inc.

Office Depot Office Depot for Business

4.2 4.8

Boca Raton, FL

18 Fanatics** _Fanatics _4.8 _{Jacksonville, FL}

21 Staples Inc. Staples 3.6 Framingham, MA

24 Best Buy Co. Inc.** _{Best Buy} _4.2 _{Richfield, MN}

26 Macy's Inc. Macy’s 3.9 San Francisco, CA

28 Rakuten.com Rakuten Shopping 3.3 Aliso Viejo, CA

Office Depot - Most reviews were about the Band One Direction, likely due to their November 2013 partnership.

Office Depot for Business - Had only 6 written reviews with no useful data.

Rakuten Shopping - Although the Mobile 500 Guide listed their head office in the U.S., the app is only

supported in Spain and in Spanish, which spurred the majority of complaints.

* for all versions **Best Buy, Groupon and Fanatics are clients of Pivotal Labs.

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Appendix

29 Abercrombie

& Fitch Hollister So Cal Style 4.3 New Albany, OH

30 Sears Sears 3.8 Hoffman Estates, IL

31 Walgreens Walgreens

Walgreens for Nexus 7

4.3

3.8 Chicago, IL

32 Crate & Barrel Wedding & Gift

Registry 3.3 Northbrook, IL

33 Home Depot The Home Depot 3.9 Atlanta, GA

35 Hulu Hulu Plus

Hulu

3.5

3 Los Angeles, CA

36 Target Target 3.9 Minneapolis, MN

39 Victoria’s Secret Victoria’s Secret

for Android 4.1 New York, NY

41 Barnes & Noble

NOOK - Read Books & Magazines

NOOK Video - Watch Movies & TV

4.5 3.9

New York, NY

43 JC Penney JC Penney 3.6 Plano, TX

(CONTINUED)

Hulu - Only supported in Japan.

* for all versions

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pivotallabs.com

Top Retailers Without Apps

As we worked through the list of the top U.S. retailers with apps, we noticed that more top-ranking retailers choose to develop on iOS than Android - we had to go to rank #43 (JC Penney) on Android to get 25 retailers with apps on that platform, but only to rank #38 (Chegg) on iOS to get 25 for that platform.

RANK RETAILER IOS ANDROID

1 Apple Inc

27 Foot Locker

37 Joss & Main

38 Chegg

Although it seems logical at first that Apple would not have an Android app, they are missing out on the opportunity to use mCommerce to sell or promote Apple gift certificates or other products to Android users. APPLE

With over $118 million dollars in estimated 2013 mobile sales, Foot Locker has little excuse for not having a dedicated mobile app on either platform. FOOT LOCKER

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Our Expertise in Mcommerce

Mobile apps are an ideal way for retailers to communicate with consumers, driving customer engagement and conversion. In the store, consumers can use the app to improve their experience with a brand; outside the store, the app remains on customers’ homescreens, keeping the brand top of mind. This increased usage of mobile apps results in another opportunity for retailers: the ability to understand and cater to consumer behavior using Big Data and analytics. Additionally, consumers increasingly expect an omni-channel shopping experience that is seamless across in-store, web and mobile channels. Having a mobile strategy and execution plan in place that caters to this expectation is critical for mCommerce retailers.

Pivotal Labs partners with industry leaders to develop digital strategies that use the power of Big Data and analytics to cater to customer demands and generate revenue. Having delivered innovative solutions for brands such as Fanatics, Groupon, and Best Buy, our team has the right mix of retail and digital expertise to take your mobile or web strategy to the next level.

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pivotallabs.com

About Us

Pivotal Labs has been at the forefront of agile development

for 25 years. We specialize in building highly reliable, scalable

software for innovative industry leaders and emerging

companies across a number of industries.

We’ve launched hundreds of web and mobile products

and built complex enterprise infrastructures that run

some of the world’s most effective business platforms.

Pivotal Labs co-innovates with a range of clients, from seed stage startups building a first version of their product, to established startups rapidly scaling their product and team, to Fortune 1000 companies looking for better ways to engage their users.

MISSION

WHO WE WORK WITH

OUR SERVICES

Mobile and Web Engineering

Develop next generation concept sites and applications.

Strategic Consulting

Advise on how to take advantage of industry trends to ensure an optimal product launch.

Product Design

Create a product that is on-brand and consistent with design and usability best practices across all platforms.

Product Management

Work with your and our teams to design and develop software that meets your requirements.

Quality Assurance

Utilize our large inventory of tools to test across all platforms and browsers.

Co-Innovation

Provide focused coaching so you can integrate our practices with your team.

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Megan Wheeler

Communications Lead

Contributors

AUTHOR DESIGN

Lindsay Auchinachie

Graphic Designer

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TRANSFORMING HOW THE WORLD BUILDS SOFTWARE

Retail Apps Report U.S. EDITION