What’s behind the success of eCommerce apps in 2021?

Since 2020, lockdowns have drastically shifted the way consumers interact with mobile, and accelerated the move towards mCommerce, leading to levels of growth that have eclipsed previous years’ predictions.

In 2021, as restrictions have progressively eased in many markets, allowing “brick and mortar” brands to resume trading, the feared contraction of the eCommerce vertical has not materialised. Instead, mobile eCommerce has once again shown its strength, with installs and sessions increasing impressively.

While much of the shift to mCommerce can be attributed to demand and pandemic-related necessity, developers have continuously improved, diversified, and expanded the reach and potential of their apps.

As such, the popularity of mCommerce apps is soaring. Adjust’s latest report, complete with insights from Sensor Tower, zeroes in on the metrics behind the vertical’s continued success, equipping advertisers with essential data required to make smart decisions about campaign spend and budget allocation, as more markets recover from the pandemic.

Download the eCommerce App Report 2021 from Adjust.

There’s no doubt that mobile eCommerce has gone from strength to strength. By the end of 2021, it is predicted that 54% of total eCommerce sales will come from mobile, with global mobile eCommerce sales set to hit $3.56 trillion, up 22% from 2020.

In Adjust’s “E-commerce App Report 2021”, data from 2631 eCommerce apps provides an in-depth overview of the vertical’s performance, its trajectory over the course of 2021, and insights into how mCommerce has successfully built upon its 2020 growth.

The top three takeaways from the report are:

1. Installs in the eCommerce vertical have grown 10% so far in 2021 compared with 2020 – sessions have jumped by 12%.
2. Session lengths have steadily increased, up from 10.07 minutes in 2019, to 10.42 minutes in 2020, to 10.56 minutes in 2021 so far. EMEA has the highest session lengths in 2021 at 10.97 minutes per session.
3. In-app revenue has increased significantly in 2021, with May outperforming Q4 of 2020, and is set to reach an all-time high as we round out the holiday season.

Diving down deeper into the data reveals some important insights into how mobile eCommerce has capitalised on its 2020 growth, and what marketers and developers can do to drive growth in the future.

When it comes to navigating this highly competitive space, there’s an increasing need to focus on creating convenient and seamless cross-device experiences, and on successfully incentivising and retaining users.

With mobile eCommerce growth projected to continue, advertisers and marketers should look for opportunities to acquire new users from rising channels such as CTV, but also prioritise the enhancement of their experiences and user journeys to push for engagement, participation, and conversion, to ultimately drive user loyalty.

From social commerce, where potential customers can reach your app or products via social media app integrations or direct-to-purchase links, or by developing strategies, including gamification and conversational AI, the report outlines new ways developers can entice users to open their app more often and improve their overall experience to make it more seamless and rewarding.

Ultimately, brands must continue to adapt, measure, and analyse in order to retain their edge against the competition, with the onus increasingly on the marketers, developers, and advertisers, to make smart, data-driven, and UX-focused decisions.

Download the full report from Adjust and Sensor Tower for in-depth insights into the continued success of mobile eCommerce.