Wrexham smashes Cardigan to have ‘the largest visitor app in Wales’

A new Wrexham app has been downloaded over 3000 times, however has only had 6000 ‘hits’ on content inside it.

Councillors were receiving a ‘Smart Towns‘ update, that included the data on a “Wrexham App’.

The report before councillors details, “This is a digital platform where local independent businesses have the ability to promote themselves to users of, and visitors to Wrexham. The app was developed in partnership with Near Me Now, which has developed the platform for use in other Welsh towns. This means that when users visit another place using the app, they can immediately toggle to that place or indeed see the Wrexham offer from their own location.

“The app is business-first and provides the opportunity to highlight the shop window and promotions to a much wider audience. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded 3,354 times and now hosts over 60 businesses with a total of over 6000 hits to the local businesses pages. The platform can develop over time with feedback from businesses and visitors alike to shape the overall digital experience”.

The apparent 3,300 downloads with just 1.8 ‘hits’ on businesses on the app per download raised eyebrows from some committee members who queried the figures.

The meeting was told by a council officer that the figures meant it was now “the largest visitor app in Wales” , the “strongest launch in Wales”, and Wrexham was now bigger than the leading ‘smart town’ Cardigan (population 4,000), and was selected due to the back end support, “I’ve spoken to many app developers from throughout the UK but these guys in South Wales are really, really focused on the town centre thriving. It’s not about the tech, it’s about the place more than anything. They spent six weeks up here, going around businesses talking to businesses, and even after the app launch, they are up here every two weeks now for the next six months, and they call up once a month for the next two years. So it’s still an ongoing platform which is developing. Hopefully, that will drive some some extra footfall into the city of Wrexham”.

Cllr Gallanders noted as a city centre business owner they were on the app, adding, “I love how the report calls it the Wrexham app, which I think is a far better name than vzta because quite frankly, who knows what vzta is? It’s been downloaded 3354 times. Now that that appears to be quite a quite a good number but it’s only had 6000 hits, meaning each person has only really looked at it twice. Have we had any feedback as to how many hits the the app should be getting off up that many downloads?

“Do we know how many of those downloads are domestic and how many are tourist because obviously, a large element of the app is tourism. Have we had any feedback from any customers actually using the app themselves? Obviously, I’ve given feedback to the app developers on it’s a bit laggy, a bit slow, some things dont link up right and they are working on those.

The officer told the meeting they didn’t have the data on the local v tourist use split but would ask.

On customer feedback it was described as ‘ongoing development’ and ‘work in progress’, with one example given that menus for restaurants would be useful, and should appear in the coming months.

Businesses are set to promote the app and you can look to social media for more information on it.

Cllr Dana Davies detailed her concerns, “I understand it is in its infancy, I am just a bit concerned here that those that have downloaded it and experienced glitches – those people have switched off, and that is why they are not using it. In all fairness, I have downloaded it, and I don’t even get pictures, I just get grey screens. Its not just quite slow, its trying to get all the information that’s in there.

“So where the Lead Member, and the Officer said, it’s a ‘work in progress’ that is great. But, I think going forward, can I just ask if there are any upgrades to that app, we need to keep residents and visitors informed so they continue to look at it and use it.

“From that point of view, I think we’ve got a responsibility here to communicate with the public and visitors on upgrades to that app.

Cllr Davies wondered if improvements could be communicated to the 3000+ who downloaded the app that there could be better versions out there now than their initial experience of using the app.

The officer assured the committee the ‘valid comments’ and ‘really helpful’ feedback would be taken back to the developers.

The Regeneration & Business Investment Lead Officer told the committee the vision for the app was for it to ‘get ahead of tour arrivals’ and be part of the literature and booking process for tourists to the area, “It becomes part of the information that’s available to people who are booking their holidays from all sorts of destinations across the world.”

The meeting was told specialist officers from the sector have been involved, and Visit Wales, will be used to make sure it is ‘pushed into channels where people will see it the most’ around events, so that the app ‘is part of your toolkit for coming and enjoying Wrexham over that period of time’.

The meeting also heard live from the USA – as Wrexham.com was ‘live tweeting’ some updates, and getting interactions as usual on social media:

Cllr Gallanders highlighted the tweet, noting Wrexham.com was ‘er, politely following todays meeting’, and read out the contribution that noted someone actively searching the app couldnt find it in the USA app store.

Cllr Gallanders asked for confirmation that the app, that has a tourism element, was available outside the UK.

Officers and the Lead Member then spoke for several minutes on general points without much clarity on if it was available internationally yet.

Cllr Dana Davies then reasked, “Wrexham is a global visitor destination at the moment. So it’s not just about USA, and being able to download, and our Canadian friends that come and visit us quite regular on the way to the Racecourse. But, it’s also our Asian tourists industry and everything. Can I get an understanding of is this just on the UK App Store at the moment, and not accessible globally yet? If that’s the case, and I understand it’s only been in operation since the first of March, can we have an understanding as to when that will be released globally?”

The officer replied, “We will come back to you outside of the meeting with an update on the App Store situation and get an understanding from where it is currently, where it could be in the future, and how quickly we can get there. Because again, completely accept it needs to be available to the range of different visitor sources that Wrexham benefits from and attracts.

The committee voted to request a ‘review’ of the Wrexham app is conducted, with a report due back in October. The review will look at the effectiveness of the app, promotional activities, customer usage, App Stores internationally, and the domestic versus tourist data information.