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Sports Direct

Delivering a Cross-platform App in Under 4 Months

Sports Direct is the UK’s largest sporting goods retailer, operating in over 400 stores in the UK alone. The retail giant also owns a number of well-known sub-brands including USC, Flannels, and Lillywhites.

Cantarus has been working with Sports Direct since 2012, collaborating on the design and support of their web estate and the development of their eCommerce website. With an already strong in-store shopping experience, Sports Direct wanted to expand its online shopping presence. They required a cross-platform eCommerce app that both complemented and enhanced the online experience for customers.

400%+ more registrations in the first week of release
4.7 stars on the Apple app store
340K unique monthly users

Sports Direct wanted their customers to be able to receive personalised content directly in the palm of their hands. Better user engagement, better long-term relationships. Drawing from our previous work with Sports Direct, we combined the pre-existing framework from their website with an entirely new ‘native’ solution as the foundation for their app. This meant the app still contained all of the content from the web but provides a more innovative, intuitive shopping experience overall.

We built a fully functioning, infinitely customisable cross-platform app in an extremely short timeframe of less than four months in order to synchronise with other timelines in play across the business.

Our goal was to meet Sports Direct’s expectations, but also to continually exceed them – surprising their customers with a range of personalisation features and settings from the get-go. From relevant promotional offers in push notifications to an easy-to-use site navigation menu, to basket sync for customers across desktop and app – the app combines numerous features that lend to a seamless user experience.

Updates can be applied to the app without the need to undergo the lengthy App Store review process, ensuring customers aren’t faced with excessive delays for small updates or minor bug fixes.

Subsequently, we have worked with Sports Direct to evolve their app even further. Collaborating with their UX team on the designs, we designed and implemented a refreshed welcome journey and product details page area within the app which makes the user experience flow better overall. In the first week of release, the new welcome journey saw over 400%+ more registrations than usual.

Since its launch, the Sports Direct app has been downloaded millions of times, attracting over 340,000+ unique monthly users and achieving an exceptional rating of 4.7 stars on the Apple app store. The app has further strengthened Sports Direct’s already powerful presence as number one in the sports retail market, and provides a robust platform for the future growth of the business – and we’re looking forward to working on even more features going forward.

young woman browsing online store

I was unsure we could deliver an app with the quality we were looking for within the strict time constraints. Due to their terrific track record, Cantarus was the only option to carry out the project.

Duncan Lowe Web & Mobile Development Manager

Headshot of Cantarus' Head of Product Delivery, Becky

Want to know more?

Our Head of Product Delivery, Rebecca Doran, would love to chat with you about your app needs.
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