Pioneers to set the mall culture rolling in India, Inorbit Malls have always been leaders in setting trends. The latest that comes from them is a mobile app that is literally akin to having a virtual mall at your fingertips. We speak with Puneet Varma, GM – Marketing and Corporate Communication, Inorbit Malls Pvt. Ltd. to learn more.
Let’s begin with talking about the idea behind the launch of this app and the time it took to put it in action?The idea behind creating this app was to enhance the customer engagement with our brand – to provide useful content to our customers to help sharpen their decision to shop at our esteem malls. We also wanted to create a platform for our retail partner brands to reach out to millions of Inorbit customers and provide them instant offers to help them get best deals and discounts on the go.
From design phase to execution, it took us about six months to launch the app with intense hard work and dedication.
The initial set of roadblocks and challenges you faced while executing the idea and giving it a definite shape?Designing the app as per customers’ point of view and requirements, adaptation of the app to various versions of Android and iStore platforms to make it compatible across various versions of smart phones, engaging with retail brand partners to train them to use the app to offer rich content to the potential customers, data accumulation, filtering, cleaning, bug removal, and regular updating of content were some of the challenges we had to work around.
The learnings you had on the way while developing the app?Customer research to identify the needs, wants and desired user behaviour patterns.Microscopic designing of an app is very essential to deliver great user experience during app usage.Content provision and maintenance is a critical area of concern. Awareness of the product to its internal and external customers enables to achieve the set objectives.
Any inspiration drawn from international shopping mall apps that are already in existence?This particular app was designed after conducting exhaustive research on Indian retail customers rather than focusing on international shopping malls and their customers.
What makes this app special?
It is user friendly, free to download, small in size (around 4.8 MB), so it consumes minimal space on one’s handset. Its unique ‘shake and win’ feature surprises the user with gifts on birthday, anniversary and special occasions. It also provides special offers at numerous outlets of Inorbit malls.
Users can even book movie tickets using this app and get updates on events and happenings. Users can also directly connect with brands through a direct dial feature.
How are you going to monitor the smooth functioning of this app?
We are providing for feedback and addressing the areas of concern or issue, if any. We also have a backend team for app monitoring and issue resolution.
We ensure to provide regular and updated content timely so that users identify the usefulness of the app. In addition, we keep upgrading the technical aspects of the app to make it more user friendly.
How compatible is this app for various phones?
It works on iOS and Android platforms. The app is installed on 300+ devices. This device fragmentation remains a challenge, as we try to provide a consistent brand experience to Inorbit shoppers.
How many registered users do you have so far?
Nearly 7,500 users have downloaded this app so far.
Would it be free for lifetime?For now, it is free to download.
How was the co-operation received from the retailers at your malls? We have had a positive response so far.
Is there any brand association or partnerships in place? Is yes, in what capacity?For now, we don’t have any partnership in place.
What were the challenges that you faced and what makes this app special? Unlike standard catalogue or shopping mobile applications, we have a unique set of challenges – there are multiple stakeholders in our ecosystem who can benefit from a mobile app system. This can make the architecture of the app really complex. We wanted to bring in each retail partner across all our malls [in six cities] and put the power of the Inorbit brand at their fingertips. With the ‘In-Inorbit’ app, we have involved each retailer, mall manager as well as the corporate team in creating value for the end consumer. A simple workflow allows each store to control its messaging while moderation by mall managers maintains the overall Inorbit brand sanctity. This is a big win for us since now we can actually start leveraging mobile marketing at a granular level. We are very excited about what this means for the Inorbit shopper.
Devices
The app is installed on 300+ devices. This device fragmentation remains a challenge as we try to provide a consistent brand experience to Inorbit shoppers.
