The MACH Alliance is rooted in the common belief that the interoperability and open architecture of modern software will propel current and future digital experiences.

“With over 10 years of enterprise retail experience, working with brands such as Burberry, CVS, and Levi’s, Branding Brand is an exciting addition to our team,” says Sonja Keerl, president of the MACH Alliance. “Their platform empowers our members to easily demonstrate their value by putting a head on their headless technologies.”

“The MACH Alliance represents the future of where digital technology is going — headless and collaborative,” says Chris Mason, CEO of Branding Brand. “These values are the heart of our product, which allows you to quickly connect headless commerce experiences. We are excited to join the MACH Alliance, and we are proud to be among such an impressive group of peers.”

About Branding Brand

Branding Brand is a headless, composable commerce company disrupting the speed and quality of digital experience creation. Their mobile-first platform allows for enterprise team developers, designers, and marketers to collaboratively work in their respective tools without missing a beat. For more information, please visit brandingbrand.com.

About the MACH Alliance

The MACH Alliance is a [501(c)(6)] non-profit organization, governed by an independent board and does not endorse specific vendors, members or otherwise. The Alliance was formed in June 2020 to help enterprise organizations navigate the complex modern technology landscape. It aims to guide and show the business advantage of open tech ecosystems that are Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless. All MACH Alliance members meet certification principles that are published on machalliance.org.

Founding members include: Amplience, commercetools, Contentstack, EPAM Systems, and Valtech. The MACH Alliance welcomes technology companies and individual industry experts who share the same vision for the future.

Branding Brand Joins the MACH Alliance was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Digital wallets like Apple Pay, PayPal and Amazon Pay are taking over the e-commerce landscape and don’t seem to be slowing down. By eliminating the need for inputting credit cards, shipping addresses, and other user information, brands are able to provide a quick and streamlined buying experience to their customers.

Based on Branding Brand’s analytics from over 1 million monthly active users, we found that the use of regular checkout decreased 12%, while Amazon Pay has increased by 24%, PayPal by 33%, and Apple Pay 47% (YoY).

Our data also shows that the types of users who leverage alternative payment methods have been shown to spend more per transaction when compared to users who use regular checkout. Apple Pay users have proven to be the biggest spenders with a 28% higher average order value (AOV) than regular checkout. In addition, revenue coming from Apple Pay increased 62%, while revenue coming from regular checkout only increased 32% (YoY).

“Apple Pay users have proven to be the biggest spenders with a 28% higher average order value than regular checkout.”

As brands strive to improve conversion, customers continue to expect the seamless shopping experiences that these alternative payment methods can offer. Interested in learning more? Visit brandingbrand.com to get started.

Checkout is Changing was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

More than any other channel, mobile offers a unique opportunity to create contextual, personalized experiences. That’s why we’re proud to announce our new partnership with Episerver. Read on for the full press release, or view the original here.

LAS VEGAS, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Shoptalk — Episerver, the company transforming digital experiences, has announced a strategic partnership with Branding Brand, a mobile commerce and engagement platform designed to connect more channels, vendors and customers. The partnership will extend progressive web app (PWA), native app and store technology support to Episerver retail customers while enabling deeper personalized experiences for Branding Brand’s portfolio of enterprise clients.

Episerver data from nearly a quarter billion retail sessions shows that desktop conversions are outpacing sales made on smartphones, despite the majority of traffic coming from these devices (and for some time). If enterprise retailers continue to lag in mobile conversions, digital-first brands could take the lion’s share of sales by offering seamless experiences across all touchpoints. Episerver’s sample data further indicates, for example, that website visitors coming from organic search have the lowest bounce rate across referral sources — proving the search engines’ de-ranking of non-mobile friendly sites may be helping improve mobile-to-mobile experiences.

“Retailers need to support that level of ease, everywhere — whether it’s an app to an appliance, store to site or any other touchpoint combination consumers wish to interact with — retailers must be more agile in their approach to building experiences that cross channels,” said James Norwood, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Chief of Staff at Episerver. “Branding Brand has made a name for itself supporting some of the world’s biggest brands to do just that, by using mobile as the digital thread to connect in-store and online worlds. Episerver’s proven personalization capabilities will tie those connections together by presenting the experiences that matter most to individual consumers in a particular moment, on whatever device they choose.”

Branding Brand delivers those intuitive mobile-first experiences that Episerver customers like Calvin Klein™ and Arcadia Group™ (parent company of Topshop™) already benefit from, connected to AI-based personalization for improved business outcomes. The newly formed partnership between Episerver and Branding Brand will allow more retailers to easily create modern commerce scenarios that start on mobile and extend to any touchpoint a shopper wishes to interact with.

“While customers have already outpaced retailers when it comes to their use of technology-driven experiences, Episerver has developed an incredible market reputation for helping retailers create standout experiences that consumers crave,” said Christopher Mason, CEO and Co-Founder of Branding Brand. “Our shared customers are already benefiting from personalized mobile experiences, and this partnership will help align our tech in ways that may not be common commerce scenarios today — like voice-activated shopping — but will be tomorrow.”

To learn more about Episerver and Branding Brand’s partnership, visit Episerver at Shoptalk (Booth 3221) where Episerver Senior Director of Digital Commerce, Ed Kennedy, will be available to talk attendees through Episerver’s partnerships and products as well as recent accolades like Constellation ShortList™ Campaign to Commerce and Constellation ShortList™ Digital Experience (DX) Integrated Platforms.

About Episerver
Celebrating its 25th year, Episerver empowers digital leaders to easily create standout experiences for customers — everywhere they engage, and always with measurable business results. The Episerver Digital Experience Cloud™ unifies digital content, commerce and marketing in one platform, including omnichannel solutions for smart personalization and intelligent campaigns. Founded in 1994, Episerver has offices in the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, Vietnam and the UAE.

About Branding Brand
Branding Brand is the retail industry’s leading mobile commerce platform, powering apps, sites, and in-store shopping experiences for over 200 enterprise brands. In addition to being named a Gartner “Cool Vendor” of mobile apps, the Company is also the Forrester Wave Leader in “Mobile Commerce and Engagement Platforms.” For additional information, please visit brandingbrand.com.

Combining Technology to Create Personalized Mobile Experiences was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

With the official grand opening just over a week away, we couldn’t be more excited to see Branding Brand’s new mobile IoT app in action. Check out why Fast Company called Hudson Yards “the Neighborhood of the Future.”

Related uses data from cell phones and street cameras to monitor and react to traffic patterns, air quality, power demands, temperature, and pedestrian flows. The neighborhood’s residents can use the Hudson Yards app to pay bills and book onsite amenities. Visitors who use the public Wi-Fi may opt in to receive notifications about events and experiences.

Read the full article here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90285733/manhattans-hudson-yards-is-the-neighborhood-of-the-future

The Hudson Yards Smart City Mobile App was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As a platform, we work with enterprise brands in all shapes and forms of mobile, and offer one place for tools and software that enable our products to connect with everything.

Can we create everything? There are definitely things we create and enhance in our platform.

Should we? There’s no need to reinvent the wheel with Branding Brand’s platform. We guarantee connectivity with best-in-class vendor-partners to help quickly and efficiently bring new features and capabilities to shopping apps, sites, and in-store solutions.

Our partnerships and integrations have helped brands reach their next digital commerce milestone. Is it 40% overall revenue from app? Higher customer retention? Lower return rates? There’s likely a specific partnership connection to help make it happen.

We’re constantly evaluating and adding new partnerships to get this done. Since the last round of partner capabilities we announced in June, our newest partners focus on:

• Product customization
• Scheduling and booking
• Visual marketing
• Apparel fit measurement
• Consumer insights data

Contact Alison to learn more about our partnerships for your next project.

Don’t re-create, innovate. was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Native, hybrid, or progressive web? In-house or third-party? And, seriously, how long should all of this really take to launch? Don’t worry! Ashley Richards answers these questions for a living.

With a background in computer science and design, Ashley came to Branding Brand six years ago after working as a software engineering lead at a multi-billion-dollar health care company.

During her time at BB, Ashley has done everything from coding client projects, to traveling the globe to teach retailers how to create the perfect mobile experience. Today, she puts her diverse skills to work as the VP of Digital Solutions, leading a team of Design, Development, and Analytics experts who are passionate about helping brands figure out what they need and how to build it.

Find out everything she’s learned along the way as she answers some of the most commonly-asked questions about developing an enterprise app….

BB: What are some typical misconceptions about having a third party design and develop mobile shopping apps?

AR: I would say the biggest misconceptions revolve around the overall business case. Most assume that it will be too expensive or that there will be little lift to overall revenue for the business as a result of launching an app. The truth is that you can get started with few resources and a low upfront investment and quickly begin seeing gains in engagement, purchase frequency, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) with a smart MVP.

BB: What are the benefits of partnering with a third party to build a mobile app?

AR: Increasing internal IT team bandwidth and getting to market faster. The good partners in the space will take care of the hosting, maintenance, and 3AM critical bug fixes on Black Friday. Also, knowing that this is the 100th time that your team is launching an app and not the first is a huge advantage.

BB: Which type of app is better: native, hybrid, or progressive web? Why?

AR: All of the above, except for hybrid. You want to go with a platform that is cross-platform, uses native UI components, and seizes the opportunity to court the loyal customer who has not made the switch to the app channel yet. We are currently seeing a lot of success with a React Native platform coupled with PWA’s for mobile web. It checks all of the boxes.

BB: What’s the typical timeline for launching a native app?

AR: If you are working with an app platform like ours, inside of 2–3 months is reasonable. It can be done in 30 days if you are very motivated. If going at it alone, you can expect a timeline of between 6 and 12 months.

BB: What’s the best advice you can offer to retailers who are ready to build a mobile shopping app?

AR: My biggest piece of advice is to find a partner and platform that are compatible with your long-term objectives and has proven experience solving your problems.

If you are a brick and mortar retailer, find a partner with experience bridging the divide between digital and in-store experiences.

If in-house development is an internal competency, make sure that you can co-develop on the platform or take the code in-house someday. Make sure the tech stack is compatible with your engineering team’s strengths.

If you are viewing an app as a strategic opportunity for growth and have an ambitious roadmap, don’t go with a one-size-fits-all or templated solution.

Don’t be afraid to ask for a demo or a proof-of-concept. Finally, don’t build an entirely separate system for transacting outside of your existing eComm platform. You’ve spent years tuning and perfecting the eCommerce engine — make the most of it.

Do you have a question for Ashley and the Branding Brand Solutions Consulting Team? Drop us a line at brandingbrand.com/contact.

Enterprise App Q&A with Ashley was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today, four in five Fortune 500 retailers are in the Apple App Store. That’s a major change since 2008, when the only available shopping app was eBay and the prominent social network was MySpace.

There were less than 5,000 apps when the App Store launched in 2008. Today, there are more than two million iPhone apps available — a 40 thousand percent increase over 10 years. Due to the overwhelming adoption of retail apps, Apple even introduced a shopping category in 2015.

Ahead of the App Store’s 10th birthday, retail app platform Branding Brand conducted a study to identify the Fortune 500 e-retailers with apps and the most popular in-app capabilities.

The full matrix of findings is available here.

Fortune 500 retailers don’t get caught up in trending technology.

Although voice search, AR, and VR make for attention-grabbing headlines, Fortune 500 retailers are immune to their buzz. Voice search was only incorporated in 20% of these mobile shopping apps, AR was found in 12%, and none included VR.

Instead of chasing these trends, top retailers are nailing the basic app capabilities that shoppers have come to expect. All offer the ability to create an account. In addition, filter and sort functionality is standard in 96% of retailer apps, followed by geolocation in 88%.

They think about in-store mobile moments.

Retailers are helping shoppers help themselves. Within five years, Forrester estimates that $1.4 trillion of offline sales will be influenced by mobile. 72% of retailer apps offer product scanning and 64% help shoppers find products in stores. A rising self-service offering was in-store mode, which was included in 24% of retailer apps. Shoppers can also read reviews in 80% of retailer apps, replacing the need to talk to an associate.

Top retailers are designing for continuous engagement.

Retailers are designing apps to keep shoppers hooked. They update their apps multiple times per month to improve performance and add functionality — making those red bubbles appear on home screen app icons to lure in shoppers.

In these apps, 88% of retailers incorporate infinite scrolling instead of pagination for a shopping experience with no endpoint — similar to the addictive scrolling capabilities on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

These brands do it better where most miss the mark.

Shockingly, many retail giants missed some low-hanging fruit along the way while launching their mobile apps, like Apple Pay and in-app deals. Here are some that do it right.

• The option to reorder a product is offered by only 20% of retail apps. Return shoppers can visit Amazon and see items they’ve recently purchased, and buy again quickly. Amazon also offers Dash Buttons for this purpose.
• App-exclusive deals were only offered by 24% of retail apps. Macy’s gives 25% off first app order and advertises it in their App Store Preview.
• In-app rewards and loyalty was only offered by 40% of retail apps. Kohl’s helps shoppers stay loyal by showing a progress bar for points leading to their next deal.
• The majority of retailers (68%) offer in-app feedback. Walmart’s feedback button at the bottom of its home page helps limit shoppers from taking usability concerns to the App Store, which might lower app ratings overall.
• Only 16% of retailers offer seamless checkout with Apple Pay. GameStop shoppers can purchase directly from the product page using Apple Pay, and Macy’s offers the mobile payment in the cart.

Retailers looking to copy the success of these Fortune 500 brands should understand why every retailer needs a mobile shopping app and how to start building an app strategy.

For details about the report and methodology, contact Alison Judge.

About Branding Brand

Branding Brand is the retail industry’s leading omnichannel commerce platform, powering mobile apps, sites, and in-store shopping experiences for over 200 enterprise brands. In addition to being named a Gartner “Cool Vendor” of apps, the Company is also the Forrester Wave Leader in “Mobile Commerce and Engagement Platforms.”

Ten Years of The App Store: 85% of Fortune 500 Retailers Now Have Apps was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

To make this easier, we came up with 10 questions that you’ll definitely want to nail down before you start design and development.

This internal discussion is one of the most important steps in the planning process. Branding Brand’s Chief Revenue Officer, Jared Horowitz says:

“Take a look at your loyal customers, and analyze their behaviors. What added value will you be able to create for those loyal customers? Think about in-app exclusives, like pre-shop new arrivals, free shipping in the app, chat with your associate, personalized content and products, loyalty programs, and other functionality that will engage your loyal customers to give them an experience they will enjoy.”

In his time at Branding Brand, Jared has helped dozens of retailers with digital strategy and roadmaps and answered some additional questions to help brands start off their app projects on the right track:

How will a retailer know if they need a mobile app?

Is your customer mobile — is your mobile percentage of traffic greater than 50%? Do you have a loyalty program, or do you intend to roll one out? Are you looking to increase engagement with your customers? Do your competitors already have apps? All of these are good indicators that your brand is ready for an app.

Why is it important for brands to get their internal teams on board with building an app before approaching third-party mobile app vendors?

It’s important to define KPIs that will determine your app’s success, such as engagement, revenue, conversion, loyalty, and omnichannel attributions.

Based on your experience working with retailers who want to build apps, which team members should be involved to plan for a successful mobile shopping app?

Consider including the CMO, CDO, and/or folks on the C-Level team since an app touches many parts of the customer journey.

Is it better to launch a basic shopping app first and then add on, or should retailers wait to launch until there’s unique functionality?

Based on the KPIs determined, it’s OK to launch an MVP app first and continue to build on the roadmap. If revenue and conversion are your key indicators, then a basic shopping app that improves those metrics is a good starting point, but you want to make sure you are creating value for your customers and not just launching an app to check the box.

Ready to build an app? We’d love to help.

10 Mobile App Questions to Discuss With Your Team was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’ve recently built out several strategic partnerships to make it easier for our retailers to add new capabilities to apps, sites, and in-store technologies. Collectively, we share in the same goal: helping retailers provide better shopping experiences.

So far this year, we’ve partnered with vendors capturing:

• Analytics
• Arrival prediction
• Chat
• Engagement
• Fit visualization
• Inventory management
• Location services
• Loyalty
• Personalization
• Ratings and reviews
• Search
• UGC
• Visual search and cataloging

If any of these capabilities are on your digital roadmap, contact Alison to learn more.

Should we explore a specific vendor or partnership? Let us know.

Our Partners: Why Teamwork Makes Commerce Work was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the midst of the retail apocalypse, brands are focused on bridging the gap between online and in-store experiences, and retailers are betting big on mobile — specifically, mobile apps.

Why? Let me give you a few reasons…

1. People are flocking to apps — so much so that mobile shopping app sessions grew 54% from 2016 to 2017
2. Mobile apps not only convert 161% higher than mobile sites, they also convert 43% higher than desktop sites.
3. By 2021, nearly half of all online sales will be purchased on smartphones.

Mobile is a top priority for retailers, and 89% will increase their investments in smartphone initiatives this year. By 2020, 84% of retailers will have a mobile shopping app.

We made it easy for you to learn more about the mobile app landscape in our white paper, which can be found below or on SlideShare.

Have questions or want to build your own mobile app? We’d love to help.

Report: Why Every Retailer Needs a Mobile Shopping App was originally published in Branding Brand on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.