Start-ups in retail technology are growing and Retail Week is highlighting some of the best. This week Instaply is in the spotlight.

Mobile app Instaply is designed to improve and personalise customer service, allowing customers to message retailers directly and have relevant staff answer their queries.

Mobile app Instaply is designed to improve and personalise customer service, allowing customers to message retailers directly and have relevant staff answer their queries. Customer success manager Stéphane Schneider explains more.

Key facts

Founded: 2013

Investment: Investment from various angel investors including Kima Ventures, amount not disclosed.

Retail partners: Instaply has partnered retail brands including Cole Hardware, Leroy Merlin and Tel and Com.

Founders: Fabien Degaugue

What it does

Instaply is a mobile messaging app that helps retailers to deliver personalised and instant customer service.

Through Instaply’s mobile platform, customers can message a retailer directly with a query. Instaply instantly conducts a GPS-based search, directing the query to the correct staff in a nearby store.

Retail staff and customers are able to respond to each other directly through the app. Retail employees throughout the store also have access to the exchange, allowing them to participate immediately if they can better answer the customer’s query.

By focusing on instant messaging and store proximity, Instaply increases convenience for shoppers, allowing retail staff to improve customer relationships by personalising customer service.

What problem does the technology solve for retailers?

Instaply’s technology allows bricks-and-mortar retailers to establish and maintain positive customer relationships. By putting shoppers in touch with nearby retail staff, Instaply improves customer service as well as incentivising shoppers to enter a retailer’s store.

Using technology to interact with customers and encourage them to shop in store could give bricks-and-mortar retailers an edge over pure-play online retailers.

“Our goal is to provide an easy way for customers to contact a retailer, whatever the device, time or location and bring human interaction back into customer experience” says Instaply’s customer success manager Stéphane Schneider.

“Instaply’s technology enables retailers to better engage their store staff to deliver convenient customer service even when shoppers aren’t in store, increasing sales and customer engagement.”

More information: https://instaply.com