How Flash Sales Sites Are Winning Retail’s Mobile App Wars

Reports of the death of flash sales may have been greatly exaggerated. Make no mistake: Flash sales are by no means the phenomenon they were just a few years ago, when sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe and Zulily dazzled investors and helped lead retail out of its Great Recession-era malaise. But there’s still a place for the flash model—especially on mobile. In fact, Groupon does mobile better than any other retailer, at least according to the results of a new survey conducted by digital quality and testing firm Applause and published under its Application Resources Center (ARC) aegis. After analyzing more than 1.2 million mobile retailer app star ratings and consumer reviews across Apple’s App Store and the Google Play storefront, ARC determined that Groupon has racked up an industry-high user sentiment score of 83 points out of 100. Furniture flash sales site One Kings Lane, which was acquired in June by Bed Bath & Beyond, follows in second at 82 points. Still another flash sales merchant, Rue La La, rounds out the top five at 77.6 points. Read more at Retail Dive.