Dive Brief:
- As consumers increasingly adopt digital channels, more than half (55%) of mobile shoppers downloaded at least one new shopping app before the holiday season, according to a report from Digital Turbine.
- Among the top shopping apps downloaded were Amazon, Walmart and Target. But the report also identified other apps, including Nike, Etsy, Poshmark and Fetch Rewards, as "climbers," indicating consumers had above average install intent for these apps.
- Sam's Club and eBay were among the apps that had lower install intent despite having higher consumer awareness, per the report.
Dive Insight:
The Digital Turbine report echoes similar research indicating retailers like Walmart and Amazon continue to dominate app downloads and awareness among consumers. A 2020 report from Sensor Tower Store Intelligence found that Walmart, Amazon and Shop were the most downloaded shopping apps during Black Friday last year. Another report released at the start of the year from Apptopia found that Amazon, Walmart and Wish were the top three most downloaded apps among U.S. shoppers in all of 2020.
More broadly, research indicates that consumers increasingly want to shop via mobile apps, particularly younger consumers. A report from Liftoff and Adjust found a 40% increase in shopping app engagement in 2020 compared to 2019, which suggested that more consumers turned to mobile shopping apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Brightpearl.com report this fall found that Gen Z planned to shop for the holidays via several mobile and social media channels, including Facebook, retailer's mobile apps, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube.
As shoppers rely more on mobile apps during the coronavirus pandemic, retailers have been adding new features to streamline the mobile shopping experience. In early October, Macy's updated its app design and navigation and introduced livestream shopping. Later that same month, Target added a "Forgot something?" button in its app along with new features to support its same-day delivery services.
