Walmart and Target are two of America’s largest retailers. And each has achieved massive penetration with their branded mobile apps.

However, they have adopted very different strategies to achieve this success.

A new study from Luth Research and Mobile+Positive looked at the overall download volume across the top four retailers in the US. The research used an index of relative volume designed by Luth that gave Walmart a score of 63 compared to Target’s score of 53.

Both of them are a long way ahead of rivals Sears, with a rating of 15 and Kohl with a rating of 1.

Interestingly, Walmart and Target have been pursuing very different approaches in order to build their audiences.

Walmart’s strategy

Walmart’s lead is accomplished by proliferating its brand across its many Soundcheck apps that feature individual artists, giving the user performances and recordings of artists such as Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.

This approach allows Walmart to tap into a wide range of audiences and taste as there are more than 30 of these apps in the iOS store.

Target’s approach

By contrast, Target’s focus has been on driving people to a single retail app. They concentrate all their marketing activities into driving consumers to this one ‘flagship’ application.

Target’s flagship application does in fact receive more individual downloads than Walmart’s core retail app, however Walmart achieves a greater overall brand reach from having multiple apps in the market.

Here is an infographic from Luth Research and Mobile+Positive which explains the study results graphically.