Dirxion customer Ulta Beauty’s mobile traffic to their website increased by 104 percent with their total traffic increasing by 74 percent, according to FierceRetail. The increase is in part due to Ulta’s investments in online advertising and paid promotion programs through social media platforms.
“We continue to update, enhance our mobile apps which at last count has been downloaded by 4.4 million guests and has a 5-star rating in iTunes app store. Traffic for our mobile app is up 450% year over year with 41 million visits during the quarter.”
– Mary Dillon, CEO of Ulta Beauty
Mobile ownership and overall traffic on mobile devices has increased exponentially in the last decade. According to the PEW Research Center, 77 percent of Americans now own a smartphone as compared to 35 percent when the survey was first conducted in 2011. While mobile e-commerce, or m-commerce as its now commonly known as, has risen in popularity the platform still falls behind physical retail sales. However, consumers have adopted m-commerce platforms and the mobile experience as a researching method. Mobile devices have begun to influence offline sales at a greater, yet not always entirely clear, rate.
To explore the connection between retail sales and smartphone ownership, Google paired with Ipsos Media CT as well as Sterling Brands to conduct an online survey. The survey results revealed 71 percent of in-store shoppers who use their smartphones for online research say their device has become more important to their in-store experience. Many businesses, especially within the retail market, have steered away from mobilizing and creating an omni channel experience for their customers. According to GeoMarketing, “Retailers appear to view mobile as a channel for direct sales rather than a medium that can greatly shape consumers decisions of what and where to make a purchase. Retailers still don’t see mobile as a tool that can improve the overall customer experience online and offline in their stores.”
Partnered with Ulta Beauty, Dirxion has provided Ulta with new avenues to connect to their customers by utilizing Dirxion’s integration technologies within Ulta’s mobile applications. The format increases the efficiency in which Ulta can interact with and increase the quality of shopping for their customers. Placed on both the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores, Ulta now has a dedicated mobile audience through which they can extend news and deals to via push notifications.
