The State of Retail on the iPad Volume 1
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The iPad has been heralded as a savior of industries and today I\'ll talk about the retail experience using the iPad. Will it usher in a new era of mobile commerce, or it it just hyperbole?
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The iPad has been heralded as a savior of industries and today I'll talk about the retail experience using the iPad. Will it usher in a new era of mobile commerce, or it it just hyperbole? When we say retail, we're talking about apps created by retailers to promote their mobile ecommerce strategies. This week, two apps in particular have caught my eye, the first is the 1969 stream app from Gap, and the second is the Pottery Barn catalog. Off the two, Gap has the more ambitious retail application.
The 1969 Stream app gets its name from a continuous set of news, products, Twitter feeds and video promoting the Gap 's premium denim. The main screen is a giant mosaic of icons and photos with little indication of what can be selected. The lack of the visual cues, invites the user to simply click on every photo; doing this exposes the user to a variety of content feeds. For instance, clicking on the Military Worker Shirt opens a lookbook where you can choose from a variety of pants and shirts. Each clothing option gives you the option to buy it, or to find out share it online. Nice touch. Another image triggers a window of blog posts and twitter feeds from Patrick Robinson, the head designer at Gap. In addition to the look books, there are a number of videos from designers, musicians and celebrities. What I'd definitely like to about the 1969 Stream app, was the ability to shop for a for all the clothing seen - it contains a full e-commerce experience.
Overall, AKQA has has created a stylish and fully functioning retail experience on the iPad; if the content is continually updated it will definitely be a big draw for fans of Gap clothing. However, if content and products are not frequently updated then I can see this becoming a very stale experiment soon.
The other entrant into the state of retail is the Pottery Barn catalog. If the Gap stream app was clever and ambitious then Pottery Barn's app is equally unambitious; it's simply the print catalog digitized with the bare minimum of interactive features included. There is the prerequisite page sliding, which I found works best if you slide your finger along the bottom of the screen. There is also a double tap to zoom function, but it does not zoom in any particular area, it's more of a general zoom where you pan the screen with your fingertip. Even though the Pottery Barn app has a simplistic feature set, the fact that it does not even have links to the Pottery Barn website just reeks of laziness by the marketing team.
Our two featured applications illustrate the highs and lows of the state of retail iPad apps. In the future as developers and brand stewards become more confident and experienced with the iPad, we shall see truly engaging experiences. I intend to look at the continually evolving sector of the iPad in future pieces.
Gap 1969 Stream: iTunes Link
Pottery Barn Catalog Viewer: iTunes Link
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