Why people love to use fashion shopping apps – Manchester University research

A 2015 IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) report shows that visits to ecommerce sites via smartphone and tablet devices accounted for 45% of all ecommerce traffic in the UK. But retailers who have not ‘gone mobile’ are missing out on £6.6bn a year, Joinfo.ua reports with reference to the University of Manchester.

Fashion shopping is also one of the most important areas of the online economy.

Dr Christopher J. Parker and Huchen Wang wanted to find out why people love to use the most popular fashion shopping apps, in order for developers to be able to design better, more enjoyable and useful apps.

The research found that companies who design shopping apps that focus on shopping efficiency and convenience are the most highly valued, and that consumers do most of their online shopping at 8pm, a time which the researchers suggest companies should target in their marketing.

They also found that apps which offer personalisation and integration with social media are more likely to perform better, with customers wanting to use to app more often and make more purchases – but they say that most developers are yet to capitalise on this.

“This study reveals the practical focus of fashion retail apps, within an industry often focused on physical interactions, and provides a focus for fashion retail app designers to tailor their products. Future apps should be designed specifically with this in mind to increase the chance of consumer engagement,” Dr Christopher J. Parker said.

The research provides an original insight into why people enjoy and use the most commerce fashion shopping apps, which differs from previous studies that focused on physical retail environments or general online shopping behaviours on non-fashion web stores accessed through a PC or laptop.