Is it valuable or even worthwhile for retailers and quick service restaurant (QSR) brands to have a mobile app? The answer may surprise you.
Throughout 2021, InMobi’s mobile intelligence team poured through the data, looking to see whether app owners (i.e., people who have downloaded a brand’s app onto their mobile device) in key retail and QSR categories visited physical storefronts more or less frequently than non-app owning consumers. With a significant chunk of sales still happening at brick-and-mortar locations, especially in retail, it was worthwhile to look into this connection.
Good news if you have been spending money to optimize and build audience for your app: App owners are much more likely to visit a brand’s brick-and-mortar stores as compared to those who haven’t downloaded said app—even during the pandemic, which overall decreased foot traffic.
But before getting deeper into the results—why this is the case and which factors are key contributors to app success—let’s first look at the evolution of apps and why this research matters.
Evolution of the app environment
For those of us around when the app stores were first launched, it seemed as though everyone created an app. It was the cool thing to do and there was seemingly unlimited consumer enthusiasm to download and use apps.
Of course, like any bubble, this enthusiasm eventually popped. Companies that released an app for the heck of it saw consumers churn.
But as the mobile space has matured, apps captured consumers’ attention through simplified workflows and ease of use, putting them once again at the top of the heap. In 2022, eMarketer predicts that over 35% of all time spent with media will be devoted to mobile, and over 80% of all time spent on mobile is devoted to apps.
Still, some retail and QSR brands remain hesitant to launch or invest in their own. Even as time spent on mobile apps rose dramatically during the pandemic—over three and half hours per day is now spent in apps—some retailers and QSR brands think they can solely rely on marketplace apps (like Amazon in retail or Uber Eats on the QSR side, for example) to reach today’s mobile-first consumer.
Why bother investing both in your own app and user acquisition when you can rely on existing incumbents?
What the study uncovered
It was with these two competing impulses in mind—the growth in app usage vs. the pain of building and growing your own app—that InMobi embarked on the aforementioned study. Here’s a snapshot of what our 2022 research uncovered:
- Retail app owners visit a brand’s physical store locations 37% more frequently than non-app owners do.
- Pharmacy app owners visit a brand’s physical store locations around 27% more frequently than non-app owners do.
- Burger QSR app owners visit a brand’s physical store locations 39% more frequently than non-app owners do.
- Pizza QSR app owners visit a brand’s physical store locations 17% more frequently than non-app owners do.
Why is this uplift so noteworthy? It reveals that app owners are more loyal, which is key in an era of declining brand loyalty. And with sales still largely taking place in person (over 80% of all retail sales occur in brick-and-mortar stores, according to eMarketer), it’s still extremely important for marketers to be able to drive foot traffic.
However, for all the value that apps can provide in boosting foot traffic, awareness and adoption overall remains low. According to subsequent polling completed through InMobi Pulse, our mobile market research solution, app awareness and adoption are still low in the QSR and retail spaces.
For example, fewer than three in 10 consumers knew that brands like Del Taco, Dominos, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell even had their own apps; further, over a third said they have never ordered through these brands’ apps.
The future of retail and QSR apps
It’s important to consider these findings as part of the broader picture.
“A mobile usage trend we have noticed is the reemergence of QR codes. While this technology has been around for years, retailers and QSR’s alike are using QR codes to drive more business and customers’ loyalty. Consumers are embracing the ease of use for ordering food at restaurants, discovering new products while shopping in-store and easy checkout from a mobile device. Even scanning codes from an ad for more information. We see this trend continuing in 2022 and beyond,” said Molly Seitel, InMobi’s vertical strategy lead, QSR and retail.
Brands everywhere are facing a loyalty problem and—now more than ever—are coming to understand the need for permissioned first-party customer data. In an era in which consumers can buy from multiple brands through multiple channels at any point in the day or year, why should they purchase from you?
Apps can help address these issues. With consumers spending more time than ever on mobile, apps give brands a direct connection to consumers, allowing them to better understand what their customers want. Going forward, the brands that invest in their own apps (and in-app user acquisition) are the ones that will be in the best position to succeed in 2022 and beyond.
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Krista Thomas is SVP and global head of marketing at InMobi, where she oversees brand, demand, and customer marketing, as well as PR and corporate communications. Currently at InMobi, she is focused on helping brands and agencies thrive in a privacy-centric world. Thomas was instrumental in creating the #AdTechCares consortium, which includes 50+ industry partners and launches PSA campaigns to combat misinformation and support human progress around the world.
