British fashion apparel retailer Topshop recently launched a fully transactional iPhone app to engage customers when they are in a store or on the go.

With a significant percentage of Topshop’s online sales already coming from mobile devices, Topshop created the app to make its entire product catalog easily accessible to mobile customers. In the first four weeks that it has been available, the app has seen more than 280,000 downloads.

“At this point customers expect a native app from their favorite retailers, at least on the iPhone,” said Alex Sbardella, mobile products manager at Red Ant, London.

“For a brand such as Topshop, the brand experience and overall level of polish is essential to the customer perception, so a native app offers a much more slick and engaging experience than a mobile Web site,” he said.

“Topshop is also very fast moving in terms of its product range, changing several hundred items a week, so we’re seeing a lot of users checking daily for the latest pieces – very well suited to the mobile when they have five spare minutes during their daily routine and driving the ‘lifestyle integration’ that is the Holy Grail of this sort of app.”

Sharing items is popular
Topshop’s digital team worked with digital strategy agency Red Ant to identify the best and most appropriate features for the app. The app was designed to keep the Topshop brand identity at heart while making it easy for customers to stay up-to-date on what is new at Topshop, as the retailer changes several hundred items a week.

The first screen of the app is a dynamically updated home screen that links to key collections, a blog, Tumblr and campaign content.
The main thrust of the app is the shop tab, which drills down through categories into product details via different list views.

Other features include a store locator, the ability to scan bar codes and QR codes or share products as well as daily product updates.
Customers can use the app’s scanner to check stock at other stores if something is out of stock or share an item they like to their Facebook page.

“The Notebook section of the app, which allows users to save and share their favorite items, has been very popular, with customers adding both online items and in-store items that they’ve scanned,” Mr. Sbardella said.

The goals for the app include creating a new channel for sales and engagement, providing enhanced in-store and social engagement and bridging online and offline marketing activities.

“Really the key goal for retailers like Topshop is true multichannel presence – the customer sees all their channels as a whole, not as a separate bricks-and-mortar store, Web site, and mobile site,” Mr. Sbardella said. “It is vital that we can offer a consistent experience across all those channels, and that they are truly connected.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York