You can do it when you… install B&Q’s new Club app!
DIY experts B&Q recently launched its new Club loyalty mobile app as it looks set to dominate the market after reports that up to two-thirds of its customers use their phones in-store.
App-ropriate timing
The home and garden specialists have more than 640,000 customers signed up to its loyalty scheme already, the idea behind the app is to give them an easier way to redeem their points and take advantage of offers while also attract new users.
Rather than adopting the more traditional method of loyalty schemes used by large retailers such as Tesco’s, B&Q has instead chosen a Club app that gives customers a reason to go in-store by offering exclusive discounts on various products.
The app was designed by the creative folks over at Grapple, and is available on iOS and Android. As an internet marketing agency we gave it a test run on a Samsung Galaxy S3 and here’s our thoughts!
Visual appeal
The app certainly looks very nice, with a simple colour scheme in-keeping with the brand and an obvious set calls-to-action making it easy to navigate. So far so good!
Usability
When you initially load the app, you’re required to either login or sign up for membership, if the sleek appeal of the app’s interface doesn’t sway you then the lure of a monthly £10,000 prize draw and cheap batteries might just do the trick!
Creating an account is a simple two-step process which requires two bits of information, your email address, name and postal address and if typing your whole address in seems a bit too much like hard work there’s even a handy little tool that uses your postcode to shorten the registration process.
The overall functionality of the Club app is also very simple, with just three tabs to choose from making it very user friendly as there’s no complexity to the navigation. The homepage is the ‘Club’ screen, which displays a barcode that you simply present to the cashier upon payment for goods in order to claim a discount.
Then there’s the ‘Stores’ tab that makes use of your devices GPS to show the exact location and details of all your nearest B&Q store, including a clickable telephone number and opening hours.
And the functionality doesn’t stop there because if you click on the address details it opens Google Maps so you can access directions to your chosen store, but the B&Q app stays open in the background so you can return to it at any point.
The third and final tab which may be the most important is ‘Offers’, which does exactly what it says on the tin and displays all the current promotional deals exclusively available for app users.
At the moment these include 3 for 2 on all batteries and three-for-two on smoke alarms, which is probably enough to lure our SEO Manager, Dan, into its stores this weekend!
Can we fix it?
Well, the B&Q Club app may be limited in terms of functionality, but given the ways in which the app will be used makes it perfect and fit for purpose. The aim of the app is no doubt to increase footfall in-store and by offering discounts and deals there’s no need to over-complicate things with unnecessary features that won’t be used but are there for aesthetics.
Two features that users consider to be most important in a shopping app are the ability to locate physical stores and money saving offers, both of which the B&Q Club app caters perfectly to this customer need. To incentivise users to down their app, B&Q are offering every app user into a monthly £10,000 cash prize draw and once they have users hooked B&Q are in a fortunate position to be able to target them with push notifications of new offers.
The one downside to the B&Q Club app is that cashiers currently have to type in the barcode number as the retailer hasn’t yet installed scanners at the till points, but overall the simplicity of the app should succeed in helping to drive customer loyalty and footfall in stores nationwide.
