Lucky for Fanatics, an online retailer of sports apparel and gear, sports fans aren’t hard to find. Even luckier for Fanatics, many of those fans are Fanatics fans.

Fanatics earned the top spot for best retail app on “The best and worst-rated retail apps,” released today by the Application Resource Center, the research arm of Applause App Quality Inc.

The Application Resource Center reviewed the Android and iOS app quality of 95 of the top retailers defined by mobile sales in 2014, according to Internet Retailer’s Mobile 500 and the National Retail Federation.

The research firm analyzed the app store ratings and consumer reviews for those apps in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. Apps were required to have more than 200 reviews to qualify for the study.

In addition to the reviews, the Application Resource Center  weighed several metrics, including usability, encouragement of repeat purchases, and performance under heavy or unexpected demand, such as during sales or holidays, says Ben Gray, digital experience analyst at the Application Resource Center  and the author of the report. The firm then applied a rating between 0 and 100 for both the retail company’s Android app and iOS app. The app’s final score was an average of the two scores.

The 95 most popular retail apps earned an average score of 43. Eight of the 13 lowest-rated apps were Android apps while 10 of the 13 highest-rated apps were Apple apps.

After Fanatics, the next six retailers with the best apps are: Domino’s Pizza Inc., Groupon Inc., HauteLook, Overstock.com, Recreational Equipment Inc. and CVS Health.

One app feature consumers noted they liked is the ability to see the best deals with a single tap. Another main point the Application Resource Center looked at was how easy it was for consumers to switch between devices when on a retailer’s site, such as starting a search on a desktop and then  continuing on a smartphone. This is especially important because 56% of U.S. consumers switch from a PC to a smartphone while shopping online and 69% switch from a PC to a tablet, says Deanna Laufer, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.

“Not enough retailers map their end-to-end customer journey to understand customer interactions and touchpoints,” Gray says.

Also, Gray notes that Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Corp., CVS, Amazon.com Inc. and eBay all test their app with actual customers, which helps ensure the app’s quality.

Conversely, six brands received more than 1,000 reviews and had an average app quality score of 25 or less. Those brands were: Old Navy, Macy’s Inc. Burger King Corp., Jimmy John’s Franchise LLC, Michaels Stores and McDonalds.

App stores are where consumers share their experiences—good or bad—about a retailer, Gray says. So if a customer checks the inventory of a local store via the app and then the product is sold out when she arrives, there is a good chance she will vent her frustrations in an app store, Gray says.

Apps are especially important for retailers over the holidays, as 81% of consumers who have used a retail mobile app in the last month plan on using an app to do some of their holiday shopping this year, according to Apptentive Inc.’s July survey, “The Retail Mobile App Usage Consumer Survey,” which  surveyed 362 U.S. consumers between 18 and 59 years old who use a smartphone every day.

In the survey, 88% of respondents said they use retail mobile apps; 61% use retail apps at least once a month.

Apps are also important for in-store shopping. Of survey respondents who use retail mobile apps, 51% said they use a retail app while shopping in store and 71% said they have used a retail app to browse items and then visited the store to purchase that specific item at least once in the last month. The top reasons consumers use apps in store are: to redeem in-store discounts, to compare pricing, to view a product’s ratings and reviews and to find products.