MACO has one. Solidor has one. Eurocell has one. They all have apps, and they’re not the only ones to have invested in developing apps for smartphones and tablets. More and more are joining the trend and the number of companies with apps to their name is only going to grow as time moves on. So why develop apps for the window and door industry?
Long term implications
When you think about how many new products are being released right now, it must be a pain for all the marketing people out there. Each time a new door or window product is announced, the current crop of printed material such as leaflets, brochures etc are all instantly out of date. So new versions have to be printed, which costs a lot of time and money, then get distributed to all customers. Then in a few months time the process might have to be repeated again. It’s a never ending cycle.
However, create an app that can be updated as regularly as you like and suddenly that expensive, time consuming repeating print cycle becomes redundant. When a company creates an app it is their their front line tool where they can show off their latest and greatest to their customers and anyone else who may be interested. No need for brochures that can get lost and clutter up a corner of the room.
Cheaper long term
Apps can cost quite a bit initially. Just ask MACO how much they had to spend on theirs, with all that very clever augmented reality functionality! However that is a one off cost and not a recurring one. When the app is built that is it, apart from some occasional maintenance or updates. Print marketing however is a constant cost.
If you’re a major supplier you’ll have to have print runs of your brochures in the tens of thousands, and probably at fairly regular intervals. This can be a major cost, not to mention the extras for leaflets, cards, and all other printed marketing. This is why apps are becoming more popular with suppliers. It might be expensive at first, but it then becomes a platform to then push new products, new information, announcements and so on. It can cut out the reliance on print marketing.
Future trend
The number of people with smartphones and tablets increases every year. It’s a trend that doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. So some companies are seeing that and adapting they way they market to customers accordingly. Apps being one of the ways to do so.
They know that most of us can now go on to Google’s Play Store or Apple’s Store and download millions of apps for free. That means games, information, news and everything in between free, on screen, in just a few clicks. We’re all getting used to the idea of being able to download an app to service a curiosity. Businesses in our industry are starting to understand that and realise that the guys and girls on the road want to be able to use their phone or tablet to help with with their own work.
It is apps that are increasingly being used as a sales tool. Take the Solidor app for example. It has videos embedded in the app showing you the manufacturing process. It has door selection. It’s basically an interactive brochure on your phone or tablet. It could quite easily replace their brochures and allow sales people to use that with homeowners instead.
Industry apps will increase over time. Whether they will be used a lot or a little, they will form part of the wider information and sales processes of many of our businesses.
