CATALOGUES AS AN APP
Sales or product catalogues are either printed or available online as a website. Print catalogues are costy in terms of print, shipping and product updates in the middle and long run.
Online catalogues on a website are, as the name suggests, accessible only online with a good internet connection. Also, people quickly click away from a website, lose themselves on the internet and simply leave the online catalogue too often - this is the downside of online shopping.
If you want to eliminate both problems, a catalogue as an app might be the best solution for you.
Below you can see great fashion for men in an example app catalogue I created for FLGN TLT a few years ago.
You can tap through different product images. Tapping the red shopping button at the bottom of the page opens a website window, the so-called in-app browser. Within this in-app browser, you see the live web shop with the exact same product that you have just viewed in the app.
The big advantage of this in-app browser: As you can see, there is no URL address bar at the top, like usually on the internet. Everything you can do on this website is buying the product, completing the entire payment procedure and then leave the internet by tapping "Done" at the top left of the screen. It‘s impossible to surf away from the web shop. Either you fulfill the purchase or you leave the in-app browser without a purchase. Either way, you end up in the app catalogue at the exact same place where you entered the in-app browser. Amazing, isn‘t it?
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THE ADVANTAGES OF AN APP CATALOGUE IN BRIEF
I The user doesn‘t get lost on the internet compared to visiting an ordinary web shop
(the in-app browser mentioned above makes it possible).
I Stronger customer loyalty thanks to the app icon on tablets/smartphones of the users.
I Interactive and multimedia design of app catalogues (360° views, videos, sounds etc.).
I No printing costs.
I No shipping costs (like with ordinary print catalogues).
I Catalogue updates are quite cheap (i.e. adding new products).
I Amazing image boost.
I Accessible worldwide via the Apple App Store (iOS) and the Google Play Store (Android).
I The app catalogue works also offline (without internet connection) after the first download.
I Great eye-catcher on fairs, events, showrooms and more.
I "Push notifications" (similar to an SMS) can be sent to the app / mobile devices of the users for promoting new
products in the catalogue for example. Swiping on the mobile device directly opens the app. (More than one
catalogue has to be available in the app for this function.)
You can also download this article as a free whitepaper.
A handy audio version of this topic can be found in this podcast: