Infogain, a global retail and mobile solutions provider, has announced an iPhone application as the first phase of the deployment of a retail mobility system for UK shoe retailers, Barratts Shoes. The app goes live on 25 March, timed to coincide with the opening of a new flagship store on Oxford Street in London.  
The Barratts iPhone app will present the entire seasons collections, searchable by occasion (weddings/evening dress/casual wear, etc) or by brand; a Barratts Changing Room, where clothes images can be uploaded to mix and match against the latest shoe styles; and a birthstone finder with related colours and styles, to add a new, personal search dimension. Customers will be able to email, MMS and Facebook their outfit choices to friends for fun or honest feedback. Customers will also be able to upload their completed look to the Barratts website to enter a dedicated My Barratts Style online competition.
There is also a transactional element to the app, with Click & Collect, loyalty recognition and voucher fulfilment functionality, complete with scannable barcodes, due to launch in April.
We wanted to give customers an exciting mobile proposition, delivering a compelling, reliable service, but with plenty of engaging, quirky features to help us extend our brand reach into new consumer bases, says Barratts e-commerce Director, Ken Platt. As a brand leader, we have to deliver on our promise to customers, which is why we chose Infogain as our mobile retail partner a trusted company with vision and capability, that could do more than just build our iPhone app, but also provide a strategic collaboration to help us plan for the mobile shopping revolution with confidence.
The app was inspired by the creative thinking of a customer survey and an internal Pink Tank of target market female staff aged 18-24, which identified trend imperatives, service appeal and lifestyle drivers.
Barratts says that once the app is fully transactional, it will be integrated into a new CRM system for effective multi-channel delivery, connecting in-store POS, e-commerce, call centre and back office systems to maximise new mobile revenue channels, get a 360-degree customer view, achieve rapid customer data acquisition and implement low-cost, highly targeted, loyalty programmes.
Barratts adds that is plans to extend the app to Android, Blackberry and other Smartphone platforms later in the year.