Smartphone technology, in large part due to the overwhelming success of Apple’s iPhone, has created an extraordinary opportunity for business owners and consumers to connect to the web and the world in new ways. As you may have noticed from the influx of iPhone commercials, there’s an app for just about everything on the iPhone. With this new technology comes a new opportunity to reach your customers and potential customers. Custom app development enables you to turn your iPhone app idea into a reality. Let’s take a quick look at how one forward-thinking company is doing it profitably.
As an example, let’s take a look at gourmet grocery store Whole Foods, which has a great (and free) iPhone app. Now you may be thinking, “yeah, but if it’s free and it cost them money to develop it, how is it profitable?” Good question, let me explain.
What Whole Foods has done is create a robust and easy to use app that provides the user with a TON of great recipes and cooking ideas based on a bunch of different categories including “Course” (brunch, snacks, drinks, entrees and more), “Category” (entertaining, affordable, family, etc.) and special diet (high fiber, low fat, gluten free, etc.). You can target exactly the type of food you’re looking for in seconds. For example, my search for “Vegetarian, Entertaining, Appetizers” turned up recipes for Homemade Hummus, Tomato Bruschetta Spread, Roasted Peppers with Marinated Feta and Greek Olives, and so on. I’m getting hungry just looking at some of these photos.
And that is exactly what they want. You see, not only do they offer all these great recipes, they tell you exactly where to find the ingredients in their grocery stores! Now you can see how this could be profitable. People who already shop at Whole Foods will be more likely to purchase more items as they experiment with these recipes, and people who have never shopped here will be more likely to come in, knowing they can easily find all the items they need for their new recipe. recipe under one roof. Sparkly!
I think you can see the impact a simple app can have on a business. And it doesn’t just apply to iPhone users. Smartphones are everywhere, and with Google’s Droid at Verizon, the competition for better and cheaper smartphones will make visibility in the mobile market even more important. Now take a look at your business. How can you extend your reach through a free or even paid app? How can you harness the power of this evolving marketplace, get ahead of your market and deliver a service your customers aren’t even anticipating? This is a provocative question that deserves your attention.
Building a custom app can extend your reach and influence far beyond your current market and has the power to grow virally without much promotion. It can become one more tool in your growing arsenal of marketing and communication firepower.
What are you doing to improve your game?
