Sierra: Are Zips Still Possible?

Don’t force. Hint, provide the option to move it there upon the first launch of the app and forget about it afterwards.

Some publishers offer to move the app, if it is not in Applications. But they do not do it without asking, and only once at the first run.

App translocation will trip this up, even if the application is in the Applications folder. To avoid App Translocation, you need to ship via DMG or installer.