App first is an English term that means “app first”. In e-commerce, he names a strategy in which the application is the main sales channel of a company and, therefore, receives the largest investments in both development and Marketing.
So, if a company like yours has a common online store, a mobile store and an e-commerce application, the app will be the most powerful channel, in which most sales happen.
- Also read our article “User first” and learn about the e-commerce approach in which the user must always come first!
HOW DID THE APP FIRST STRATEGY ARISE?
In order for you to understand how the app first strategy came about, I'll have to go back 30 years. In the mid-1990s, that is, in the early days of the internet, companies began to create virtual stores that worked from web browsers. These stores, however, were only good for the large screens of personal computers (PCs), which in the following years became a problem.
In the late 2000s, mobile devices became popular and this created a bottleneck in e-commerce. People couldn't access PC-friendly online stores on such small screens. It was difficult to enter data, press buttons, that is, the experience was not good. Thus, the mobile commerce and mobile first strategies were born, which aimed to create stores ideal for the small screens of smartphones.
In the wake of mobile first, the e-commerce app strategy emerged in the following years. The basic difference between a mobile store and an app is that the latter requires installation on the consumer's cell phone. Therefore, the app requires from the consumer a vote of confidence in the e-commerce brand in question. Be that as it may, the e-commerce app is what gave rise to the app first strategy.
In the 2010s, the app development industry matured. In fact, cases began to appear in which the application became one of the main sales channels of an e-commerce. Today, in many cases, the app is the main sales channel, and some companies in the field even call themselves app first.
EXAMPLE
One of the most notable examples of app-first design is Shopee . For those who don't know, Shopee is an Asian marketplace , specifically from Singapore, launched in 2015 by the Sea Group. It has a virtual store for PC browsers, a mobile store, and an app. But the app is the one with the best features.
“More than mobile-first, we see ourselves as app-first. Over 95% of sales come from the app. Shopee has been app-first from the start, which helps the consumer experience. Our experience is different from that of all other e-commerce sites,” commented the company's Marketing Director in Brazil, Felipe Piringer, in an article on the Mobile Time website.
Shopee has been present in Brazil since 2019 and in just two years has become the most downloaded e-commerce app in the country, according to Reuters cited by FDR . It competes directly with AliExpress, Wish, and eBay, among other companies—in other words, only with the big players. With such success, it's easy to say that the app-first strategy (at least for Shopee) really works.
- As soon as you can click on “superapp” and discover a sales channel that increases the omnichannel power of your company!
