Dive Brief:

• Smaller, unique brands can benefit from the growth in mobile with community-based mobile apps like Slack's app and Swedish platform Tictail.

• Tictail expanded from Europe into the U.S. last year and now has more than 100,000 boutique brands that is user-friendly for retailers and shoppers alike.

• Tictail’s mobile technology in particular now provides ways to feature products and interact with customers in a way that is says approaches the superior experience of connecting with an in-store associate.

Dive Insight:

As the powerful, pocket-sized shopping tools that are smartphones continue to amp up e-commerce, tools like Slack and Tictail are helping smaller brands compete with retail powerhouses that in some cases are hobbled by legacy systems that are impeding their moves to omnichannel.

The platform’s new opportunity to interact with its participating brands is a powerful advantage. The app allows direct text chats, allowing customers to get answers and brands to find out what its customers are looking for. Personalization becomes a whole lot easier as shoppers drop invaluable information that allow the retailers tailor messages, discounts, and product suggestions that are not only well targeted but have an intimate feel.

Retailers can take advantage of Slack’s and Tictail’s capacities to collect all those interactions into a vertical, chronological timeline.

“Direct text chatting between customers and proprietors sounds like a simple feature, and it is, but one that vastly improves the customer experience,” writes Fast Company’s David Lumb. “Tictail’s prided itself mostly on its chic design and user-friendliness, but being able to directly chat with shop owners, especially from mobile, is a huge upgrade for digital shopping.”