German Multinational corporation, Adidas is planning to launch its official app by December in India. Adidas Group India is planning to drive customer engagement through content and loyalty programmes, and boost online sales.
“Our engagement with consumers do not end in incremental sales or how many omni-channel stores are rolled out. Shopping is just a small fraction. For engaging, we are planning an app and a rewards programme for loyal customers to increase their engagement with the brand. Engagement is what we are headed to,” said Abhishek Lal, senior e-commerce director for Adidas Group in India.
The company is said to launch separate apps for Adidas and its subsidiary Reebok India.
Looking at the current market state, much of which is going online it may be a push towards strengthening its online presence is part of the efforts by brands and offline retailers to adopt a so-called omni-channel strategy. Currently major brands like Adidas does not have their own mobile app and are available in offline stores and othe e-commerce portals like Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong etc. which contribute about 10-15% of the company’s overall sales.
A few other brands are already building their own online stores to reduce their dependence on the likes of Myntra and Amazon India.
By launching its own app, Adidas is also trying to get into social commerce where the companies create a social community of fashion. It’s primarily an attempt to hook users using alternatives other than discounts.
“Social commerce is complementary to pure play e-commerce and also the way forward for us. There is no history of a single brand app yet; so it is very difficult to assess what the outcome will be,” said Lal.
Furthermore by December, Adidas plans to bring about 400 stores under the omni-channel loop. The stores under the omni-channel strategy have witnessed about 3-5% increase in revenue and the number is expected to double in the next 12 months.