Fashion Angel and Poq Studio - Increasing online fashion sales with mobile apps

Last week we hosted another of our vibrant networking talks, this time focusing on how mobile websites and apps are revolutionising online shopping, Smartphones are becoming a force to be reckoned with for the industry, with over  25 % of online searches relating to fashion brands come from a mobile device.

We discovered how easy it is for a fashion brand to now have their own mobile app and make sure they are not being left behind and benefiting from changing buying patterns of consumers.

The evening started off with a short presentation from Michael Langguth, co-founder of mobile app developers Poq Studio. This set the scene and showed us that its isn’t necessary to spend a lot developing your own app – it’s much simpler and more cost effective to use an existing platform.

After the presentation, Sonja Todd from jewellery brand Tatty Devine joined us for the panel discussion. Tatty Devine launched their own mobile app around 10 months ago and have seen their online sales increase as a result.

First we discussed how to decide whether your brand is ready for a mobile app or not. This is fairly simple as Google Analytics allows to see whether traffic to an existing website is coming from. If you see that a lot of traffic is coming via  a smartphone then you can assume that a mobile app will benefit your business as your target audience are engaging with you this way.

One of the key benefits with an app is the ability to use push notifications as a way to drive sales on your app (it’s like text messaging your customers!).

As ever, good product images are essential – its important to have a few shots of each images so the customer can see the product from different angles, and also to have clear descriptions with key measurements.

As you’d expect some brilliant tips came out of the discussion

Sonja’s top tips for improving online sales:

• Use Twitter to woo celebrities – and then make the most of any famous connections 
• Listen to your customers and see what they want
• Use social media to respond– be as quick and as helpful as possible
• Find the channels that work for you and stick to them, but don’t be afraid to experiment
• Clever discounting can work wonders and boost sales 

Keep your product ranges tight – especially if you are a small brand

Michael’s top tips on getting mobile:

• Check your webshop stats to see how much mobile traffic you’re currently getting
• First step is a mobile website which will work on all platforms. Then an iPhone/iPad app is a must for online businesses that want to grow.
• Choose your developer carefully – ask to see their portfolio to check that they’ve made apps before.
• Don’t be scared – mobile is a great opportunity!

For those that were unable to make the event, Michael’s full presentation is below


Interested in getting your own mobile shopping app and website?  If you’re a fashion or design brand thinking about taking the plunge into mobile, we have arranged a special offer for you with Poq Studio.

They are offering an amazing 30% off the set-up cost and first three months of mobile shopping solutions. Click here to take advantage of the offer.

A big thank you to Michael and Sonja for making the evening such as a success.

Our next event The Shoe Lounge is on 5th December and focuses on setting up a successful footwear brand.