Tablet apps are booming — not only are more people getting their hands on the devices, but users are spending even more time browsing with them than smartphones. With that information in hand, retail companies are taking their shopping experiences to the tablet at an increasing rate, creating new ways to shop without ever having to leave your bed.
Unfortunately, a tablet only has so much space to go around. How do you know which app is going to provide the best shopping experience?
We found seven great retail apps that will help you get the most out of your shopping. These ones stood out for their unique ideas, crisp UI and smart social integration, so you’ll find more than just a shopping website tucked into a tablet app.
What is your favorite retail app? Let us know in the comments.
1. For the Window Shopper: Kaleidoscope
On the Internet, it’s difficult to create the perfect department store window display. You know, the kind that makes you stop, stare and immediately go inside.
Kaleidoscope is the closest window shopping experience you’ll get on a tablet. As soon as you load the app, a series of looks modeled by different people glides through the UI. If something catches your eye, click to expand the look for a breakdown of each individual piece — then learn where you can snatch it up.
Kaleidoscope doesn’t offer its own sale experience, but it will forward directly to the garment’s online page for purchase. If you love window shopping and can’t get enough of curated looks, Kaleidoscope will be dangerous for your wallet.
2. Smartest Push Notifications: Hukkster
We don’t like when we have to pay full price for anything. That’s why we flock to flash deals and comb sales racks for the perfect find. Deal-hounds will appreciate that Hukkster can help score those valuable finds without a ton of work.
The process is pretty simple: Select one of Hukkster’s shopping partners to enter a portal for the company’s website, scroll through merchandise and “Hukk” items you love but find too expensive at the moment. Hukkster will keep an eye on the product and send you a push notification when the item’s price drops, or when it gets tagged a “sale” item. Once that happens, you can re-enter through the app and snag your find, smug knowing that you did the right thing by waiting.
In a lot of ways, Hukkster reminds us of how RSS can (and should) work — instead of scrolling through every day, hoping that your favorite dress or pair of jeans goes on sale, just wait for the app to bring the information to you.
3. For the High End: Net-A-Porter
Image courtesy of Net-A-Porter
Do you love luxury goods? Are you interested in buying a thousand-dollar Diane von Furstenberg silk wrap dress with hand-embroidered sequins — without leaving your bed? Net-A-Porter offers the world’s greatest designers in one easy package.
Net-A-Porter has developed its shopping platform into a full-blown lifestyle network, and the website’s tablet app does very well to reflect that. In addition to snapping up a Proenza Schouler handbag and Alexander Wang sandals, users can read up on the latest fashion trends and watch exclusive videos on everything from designer interviews to full-blown runway shows.
Plus, did I mention the app doesn’t even bother with a vertical screen orientation? Rich people do love real estate.
4. Best Cutting Edge UI: Art Circles
Image courtesy of art.com
When you're scrolling through countless pieces of art, curated by various themes, it’s easy to forget that Art Circles is actually a retail app for Art.com. The app’s minimalist and thoughtful UI is not only fun to play with, but actually helps people figure out what exactly works on their walls.
When you open up Art Circles, there’s plenty to take in — giant wheels of concepts, separated into themes, full of collections that embody a specific sub-category. For example, spin the “Colors” wheel all the way to “Chartreuse” to browse an art collection that features colorful paintings. The concepts are dynamic, offering curated lists based on art movement or something more abstract, like “Words.” Once you find a painting you like, you can test it on your own wall — superimpose paintings onto pictures of the space and scale accordingly before purchasing.
Art Circles does a smart job fitting together form and function, creating a smart UI that is just fun to browse.
5. Easiest Coupon Grab: Shopkick
In the retail app world, Shopkick is a bit of an odd duck. It doesn’t really sell anything per se, nor does it work best just from the tablet alone. Instead, Shopkick straddles the line between real-world purchases and online interactivity to help savvy shoppers score coupons and gift cards from their favorite stores.
Shopkick works best across three separate entry points: tablet, phone and your credit or debit card. Essentially, activate the tablet in the morning to scope the latest deals and newest items from frequently shopped places, such as Target, Macy’s and Best Buy. Then use the smartphone when you’re on your way to shop at those places to check in or scan certain items within the store. Finally, make all purchases from a specifically designated card; the transaction record will be sent back to Shopkick. All of these are designed to collect “kicks,” points that can be converted into gift cards over time.
It may sound complex, but Shopkick functions like a loyalty card for stores that really don’t have those programs. The more you check in on their deals, shop at their stores and spend a certain amount of time there, the more kicks you can put toward gift cards and other deals.
6. Most Like A Social Media Site: WaNeLo
Once WaNeLo loads onto a screen, it’s really difficult to avoid shouting, “Pinterest!” This retail app's UI looks just like the ubiquitous social media network. But you know, that isn’t such a bad thing.
WaNeLo enables users to follow their favorite stores the way they would follow someone on social media, as well as seek advice from stylists and other curators on the site. Once a feed is set up, a beautiful stream of products flows through a minimalist and picture-heavy UI. Users can like, save and discuss products with friends — or they can just go ahead and buy an item right on the spot.
WaNeLo captures the magic of photo-heavy websites, while converting that pleasure into a point of sale. It’s ingenious, it’s addictive, and it’s a godsend they don’t allow you to save a credit card number.
7. Best Site-to-App Experience: ModCloth
Vintage apparel and goods website ModCloth has already made a mint online, growing an organic online website with fans all over the world. In order to meet growing needs, the company finally launched an app for iPhone and iPad last month, and its experience stays faithful to the website’s whimsical vibe while bringing some extra functionality along the way.
Arguably, the layout and design of ModCloth’s tablet app is actually better than its web iteration, with bigger photos and a simpler browsing mechanism to view the company’s wares more efficiently. The thoughtful integration of clothing reviews, which ModCloth has strived to make a core feature of the website, makes it easy to see how the community feels about individual garments.
It doesn’t add a whole lot of new features to the overall ModCloth UI, but it’s hard not to enjoy shopping when all the items are laid out so nicely.
Image via iStockphoto, gpointstudio
