IPads Unique Features

IPad's unique features to inspire and sell are making retailers invite shoppers to use these features.
Consider an iPad app created by a apparel retailer that presents an image of woman in a green dress. When a customer blows into the iPad's microphone, as prompted by the app, the woman spins in slow motion to show off the dress from every angle, all accompanied by operatic music. This application places the user in the driver's seat so that they can control the technical function of apparel and experience the brand in a way that is entertaining. Other retailers, have created iPad apps, including some that bring formerly printed catalogs to life in new ways.
And, experts point out, the large number of mostly affluent consumers accessing conventional web sites on iPads means retailers will have to rethink some aspects of how they design their e-commerce sites.
The iPad can render retailer apps designed for the iPhone, but only displays them at the size of an iPhone screen. That means the app won’t take advantage of the much larger screen of the iPad. The iPhone screen is only 3.5 inches long on the diagonal versus 9.7 inches for the iPad.
Many of the first retailers to develop apps specifically for the iPad were high-end brands that cater to more affluent consumers, and that saw the potential of creating richer apps that would appeal to buyers of Apple’s tablet computer.
iPad app for its RLX athletic apparel brand features athletes in flight, demonstrating the form, style and functionality of the apparel. The tablet technology enables shoppers to interact with the athletes’ images on screen by tilting, rotating, flipping and tapping the iPad to manipulate their movements, taking advantage of what Apple calls its “accelerometer” that detects how an iPad is being held. For example, a shopper can tilt the iPad app back to make a stream of models move the photos can be tapped to play a video or to access more content such as an article, and consumers can swipe in any direction—up, down or diagonal—to see more images.App enables consumers to receive sales alerts, pinch and expand their fingers to view bigger, rich images, to touch and drag items to a shopping cart and to jump from one Gilt sale to another with one tap.
Besides offering a richer experience, there’s another reason to consider an iPad app, the fact that the iPad, like the iPhone, does not render Flash. Many e-commerce sites use Adobe Inc.’s Flash technology to present graphics, video and animation, and those elements will show up as blank boxes on an iPad or iPhone screen.
Ultimately, HTML5, the latest version of the HTML language used to create web sites, may solve that problem for retailers. It renders on Apple devices and can serve as a replacement for images now presented using Flash. Mobile technology vendors including Mobify use HTML5 to replace Flash in the mobile realm. Mobify has worked with hotel booking site Kiwi Collection and online bookseller Alibris.com to replace Flash with HTML5 for mobile sites and apps.
For loyal shoppers, however, retailers can benefit from apps that keep a shopper logged in and allow her to customize her preferences. Further, with permission, the retailer can send shoppers pop-up text alerts via an app, a form of communication not possible through a mobile web site.
The combination of the relatively large color screen and the touch interface is
leading many magazine publishers to tailor their content for the iPad—and for retailers to do the same with their printed catalogs. Retailers are launching interactive iPad catalog apps that consumers can flip through as if they were thumbing through a paper magazine.
Yoox.com, an Italy-based retailer of tony apparel and home décor, launched an iPad app that lets shoppers flip from page to page with a touch of the finger to view high-resolution product images.A tap of an item brings up more images. Yoox developed its iPad app in-house and made it available in six languages; shoppers can have their purchases delivered to 67 countries.
Upscale department store chain offers a commerce enabled catalog iPad app that lets customers view and shop not only from the retailer’s web site but also from catalogs.
And the iPad app is extending beyond retailers of physical goods. Consumers can use the app to book reservations at the more than 4,000 Best Western hotels worldwide.
In addition to reserving rooms, app users also can share travel experiences and photos through the app via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, plan their travel by inputting addresses of attractions and restaurants nearby, and use a GPS-enabled map to create itineraries.
Additionally, a trip saver tool allows users to save past trips, including favorite locations visited, or to save the itineraries they create for future trips.
IPad app users also can add pictures and additional information to the app to help them remember and share details about saved locations. They can categorize and sort locations by city, trip name and location type for easy future reference.
As online retailers plan and navigate their own mobile paths, they might want to consider making a stop at the iPad app. It’s becoming quite the popular attraction, and the numbers suggest it’s poised for growth.