With the number of smartphone users soaring, increasingly ingenious applications are opening up a multitude of new ways for brands and retailers to connect with consumers, as Simon Creasey reports


If you want to order your weekly shop from the train, there's an app for that. If you want to check whether you've had one too many alcoholic drinks on a night out, there's an app for that, too. If you want to scan the barcodes of ingredients in your kitchen and be presented with a series of recipe ideas for your evening meal... there isn't an app for that yet, but chances are somebody's developing one.

With more than 65,000 applications to choose from at Apple's App Store, and more than two billion apps downloaded by users so far, smartphone apps are giving companies access to a massive new audience.

Telecoms analyst Juniper Research predicts the number of app downloads will approach 20 billion a year by 2014. And grocery retailers and manufacturers haven't waited for an invitation to the party. A host of new apps has hit the market and many more are in the pipeline. But in their desperation to steal a march on rivals, some are in danger of putting out apps that are, well, crap. So what can smart brands learn from grocery's app pioneers?

The first question any company considering launching an app should ask itself is: who is the target audience and what do we want the app to achieve better brand awareness or a new revenue stream?

In the former category there are few better examples than Carling's iPint. This fully interactive virtual pint users can "pour" and "drink" from a pint glass has set the bar in terms of product promotion, achieving millions of downloads since it was launched in July 2008.

The reason it works so well, say experts, is that iPint perfectly meets the key criteria for a successful app: it's engaging and gets people to spread the word about the brand. "If a user chooses to download your application, they are proactively choosing to spend time with your brand," says Rob Salmon, marketing communications partner at Carling brand owner Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK). "If the application is compelling or useful, then your brand is delivering a positive experience. If a person is given a positive experience they are likely to share it with friends."

Apps that engage with customers and enhance their shopping experience are win-wins, agrees Ocado, which launched its Ocado on the Go app in July. This lets shoppers order groceries or amend existing orders placed with the Ocado website using their phone. The move was an obvious one for the online supermarket, says head of retail Jon Rudoe of the app, which now accounts for 2% of sales and reached number 15 on Apple's free app download chart shortly after launch.

One of the clever features of the app, says Rudoe, is that it works both online and offline. A key frustration experienced by smartphone users is the loss of data when their net connection is broken, but with Ocado's app customers can create or edit a basket offline and then, when they have sufficient signal strength, they can sync the app and complete the order online.

This ability to foresee and iron out potential problems is crucial, as is the wherewithal to respond to any issues once the app has launched. Ocado has created a page on its website where problems with its app can be flagged up, with 'workarounds' then suggested by the tech team.

Most problems can be resolved easily but if an app does have flaws it may stop it from gaining a listing in the Apple App Store, as Tesco recently found out. The app a store finder that enabled iPhone users to locate their nearest Tesco branch was rejected by Apple as the result of a user interface issue. If the user denied the app access to iPhone's location service the app could not obtain the latitude and longitude of the phone.

Writing on his blog, Tesco.com's head of research and development Nick Lansley explained the app had been accidentally programmed to give users a 'stores near me' list based on the assumption the user was always somewhere near Tesco.com HQ in Welwyn Garden City. Simply disabling the 'stores near me' button and switching to the 'town/city search' allowed them to get around the problem. As a result the Tesco store finder app should be available shortly.

Sainsbury's is also working on an app, confirms a spokesman, but the plans are at an early stage. "Our Facebook group and other online social media activity have been successful in helping develop new ways to interact with our customers and a smartphone app could help with this," he says. "It is something we are looking into but we have nothing we can announce at the moment."

As well as the function of the app, Tesco and Sainsbury's will need to decide whether to make it free, like Ocado's app and the iPint. Unsurprisingly, free apps tend to be downloaded more than their paid-for cousins, but consumers are happy to pay if the app offers tangible benefits, as Kraft found when it launched its iFood Assistant last November. The functional rather than flashy $0.99 app, which features recipe ideas and helps users create shopping lists and find their nearest grocery store, was catapulted into the top 20 paid-for lifestyle apps on launch.

As well as contributing a modest new revenue stream, the app has also widened the company's reach, according to Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation, new services, at Kraft Foods. "iFood Assistant helps us connect with new consumers. For example, 27% of iFood Assistant users are men, so we're appealing to a broader base of customers than our traditional audience, which is primarily women. And a high percentage of people who download iFood Assistant were not previously members of our website kraftfoods.com, so we're able to introduce more people to our recipe ideas and content."

Apps are a great way of reaching new customers, agrees social media director Paul Armstrong from integrated agency Kindred. "They help brands to connect with their customers and become part of the consumer's habit," he says. "You're not talking at them but creating a dialogue with them."

It is not just manufacturers and retailers that are getting in on the act. Kindred is currently advising the Milk Marketing Forum on the potential launch of an app. "We see a role for this as part of an overall integrated campaign for milk," explains Robin Robb, co-ordination director of the MMF. "We will use this to reach younger age groups. We're still forming our programme at the moment but we have said that we will have an application in it."

Whether you're trying to communicate recipes, the location of your nearest store or how to pour a virtual pint, you need to ensure you've picked the right platform for your customer demographic, of course. To date, the iPhone has been very much the platform of choice. But it's not the only smartphone handset that runs apps. Blackberry, through App World, and Google, through its Android platform, both offer alternatives, and earlier this year Nokia launched its own app store, Ovi, to a potential audience of 50 million Nokia devices. The company expects to have more than 300 million users by 2012.

Of course, there's always a risk a company will pick the wrong platform, says Armstrong. "As an agency we make social media decisions based on audience demographics and how they're using devices," he says. "Some clients will be best served targeting a Google Android but for others it will be the iPhone."

Companies also need to appreciate that with single-platform apps they are only reaching a small proportion of mobile phone users. "Smartphone users are still in the minority," says Dr Windsor Holden, principal analyst at Juniper Research. "The challenge is that virtually everybody has a mobile phone so how can you monetise the majority of mobile phone users?"

It's a pertinent question, but one that will soon be academic if forecasts that the number of smartphone users globally will hit 1.6 billion by 2013 prove true.

Marketing agencies that claim they can't pitch to clients these days without mentioning Facebook or Twitter will no doubt already be considering their apptions.