According to Gilt, Android users can now access their favorite women’s, men’s, kids and home brand sales more seamlessly. To celebrate the revamped app, Gilt is kicking off a series of Android-exclusive mobile sales on May 28 through June 1.

“There’s a huge opportunity for growth in mobile in the future, as we’re seeing more and more of our members shopping on Gilt from mobile devices every day,” said from Yonatan Feldman, vice president of mobile at Gilt.

“So, when it came to developing our new Gilt for Android v3.0 app, we focused on improving the shopping experience from start to finish, making it even faster and easier for our members to access our sales anywhere,” he said. “We completely redesigned every screen to reflect Gilt’s latest aesthetic.

“We also learned from our other mobile platforms that members are really inspired by beautiful imagery, so we’ve made our Android app screen more image-focused with larger product photos as well.”

Key features
As part of the new look, the Android app has been redesigned to reflect Gilt’s latest aesthetic, with sale images increased five-times in size to showcase improved visuals and smoother navigation.

Furthermore, the Android app loads faster. Gilt is using Backbone JS and HTML5 to make it speedier than before.

The app also features new checkout capability that lets consumer complete their orders faster.

Over the past few years, Gilt has seen success with mobile, with more than 30 percent of overall revenue and half of the site’s daily traffic coming from the company’s existing apps and mobile site.

The company has also taken on a mobile-first mentality by offering pre-shoppable, mobile-first looks and mobile exclusive sales on its apps for members to discover each day.

“Consumers are using a variety of platforms to shop online, so it’s important for us to always think about how we can make our shopping experience better, whether it’s on our Web site, Android, iPhone and iPad apps, or mobile Web,” said Jason John, vice president of online, mobile and social marketing at Gilt.

“People are also switching between devices, or between the app and the Web site, when making their purchase decisions – someone looking for a new rug, for example, might see one they like on our Web site, but then make their purchase on an iPad because they used it as a swatch to make sure the rug worked in their apartment,” he said. “So, we want to make sure our messaging is unified across our various channels, the aesthetic remains consistent, etc. 

“At the same time, we also want to give our members new and unique offerings that they can’t find anywhere else. So, we offer mobile-exclusive sales on our iPhone, iPad and Android apps. It’s a new and different way to shop, and something our members love coming back to discover each day.”

Mobile awareness
Companies should follow in the steps of Gilt, which is increasingly raising the bar and continuing to build its mobile-first powerhouse (see story).

Additionally, Gilt has been experiencing strong mobile engagement and sales results this past holiday season thanks to a focus on merchandising and other strategies that helped close the loop on browsing and sales (see story).

“Mobile is an integral part of Gilt’s business and continues to be one of our core focuses for the future,” Mr. Feldman said. “In fact, more than 30 percent of Gilt’s overall revenue and half of our daily traffic comes from mobile and that trend will only increase over time.

“We’re always keeping this top-of-mind when developing our strategy and building new features and improvements, from mobile exclusive sales to app updates and more,” he said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York