Messaging app Kik has launched an online store where consumers can download app-like ‘bots’ that connect them directly to brands.
Users of the Kik app can download bots across three categories from the Kik Bot Shop – entertainment, lifestyle and games, reports AdWeek.
H&M and Sephora are the only retailers on the platform so far, and the platform has been designed so brands can access it and create their own bots. Sephora’s bot gives users tips, video clips and tutorials for applying makeup and fixing their hair, while H&M has a “personal stylist” bot to help users craft outfits.  
Instead of clicking a button to order through a retailer’s mobile site, customers can place orders in the Kik app, which not only simplifies the ordering process, but will help capture impulse buys.
Bundling bots in one messaging app with a wide audience could help retailers reach users that otherwise would not have downloaded their standalone app.
Facebook is expected to launch a bot store next week, while Microsoft has announced plans to build a framework for chatbot developers.
Meanwhile, research from analytics company App Annie shows that messaging apps are the most-used type of app in the Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK, while in China, 91 per cent of internet users use messaging apps.
“Messengers are the new browser and bots are the new websites,” says Kik’s head of messenger services Mike Roberts.
Kik has 275 million users, 40 per cent of them teenagers in the US.