How to Create a Consumer App

We undertook a cross-comparison of 35 shopping/fast foods/services smartphone apps against a set of criteria in order to derive key consumer usability features for apps to support the growth of e-commerce.

The apps were split into fashion (PrettyLittleThing, Missguided, Burberry, Zara, ASOS, Bershka, Urban Outfitters, H&M, Topshop), cosmetics (LUSH, Boots), food & drink (Deliveroo, Caffe Nero, Starbucks, Morrisons), general (Apple Store, Argos, B&M, Ikea, John Lewis, Waterstones), marketplaces (eBay, Depop, Gumtree, AutoTrader), sports (Nike, SportsDirect), other (Amazon, Audi, PayByPhone).

Apps aren’t the only way of shopping on smartphones or tablets. However, once set up, they offer retailers and consumers greater opportunities for personalisation and low effort usability.

The insights have been split across four sections: in-app browsing, (post) checkout, delivery, issue resolution.

Davies Hickman Partners is a customer experience market research agency with a 10 years track record in helping businesses thrive.