Adjust E-commerce App Report Sees Significant In-App Revenue Growth, Signaling Shift to Mobile Holiday Shopping

Along with insights from Sensor Tower, report also shows average session lengths have steadily increased, approaching 11 minutes per session globally

Just ahead of what’s widely predicted to be the most mobile holiday shopping season on record, mobile marketing analytics platform Adjust today released E-commerce App Report 2021: Top Trends in Mobile Shopping With Insights From Sensor Tower. The global report finds that in-app revenue has increased significantly in 2021, with May being the biggest month so far. Based on Adjust’s e-commerce app revenue trends from 2020 — when October, November, and December outperformed the previous nine months — this year’s shopping season is likely to reach an all-time high.

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Not only are shoppers spending more money in-app, they’re spending more of their time in-app overall per day. Globally, average session lengths are up from 10.07 minutes in 2019, to 10.42 minutes in 2020, to 10.56 minutes in 2021 so far.

Mobile has emerged as the leader in e-commerce in 2021, with time spent in-app and in-app revenue increasing steadily.

“Mobile has emerged as the leader in e-commerce,” said Paul H. Müller, co-founder and CEO of Adjust. “What’s most impressive is that e-commerce apps have managed to retain the users they’ve acquired while continuing to grow and acquire even more new customers. It’s a testament to mobile’s ability to provide convenient and user-optimized experiences. Retaining loyal customers will set brands up for continued growth throughout the holiday season, into the new year.”

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iOS 14.5+ and the opt-in

Adjust’s data shows the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in rate for e-commerce hovering at an average of 17% — far higher than initial industry projections. Adjust predicts that consent rates will continue to rise over time as users become more educated on the value of relevant advertising.

Additional key findings on global and regional growth and engagement in e-commerce apps in 2021 include:

• Global Installs of e-commerce apps have increased 10% in 2021 compared to 2020. Installs also rose regionally in EMEA (15%), LATAM (11%) and APAC (9%). Sensor Tower data shows that Shopee is the world’s top e-commerce app in 2021 so far, with Brazil as its key market.
• Sessions have seen the biggest uptick in LATAM in 2021 so far, jumping 27%, compared to 12% growth globally. Sessions rose 10% in APAC and 13% in EMEA.
• After a slight drop in Q1 2021, compared to 2020, retention rates picked back up in Q2 2021: Day 1 came in at 26% in Q2 of 2021, up from 21% in Q1 and matching Q2 2020. Q2 2021 then maintained higher retention rates than any other quarter — holding at 17% for Day 7, 14% for Day 15, and 11% for Day 30.

“Mobile commerce has finally expanded beyond the core shopping markets to become a global phenomenon, with LATAM and APAC exploding in growth,” said Randy Nelson, Head of Mobile Insights at Sensor Tower. “Meanwhile, trailblazers in the e-commerce space continue to build their user bases in well-established markets like the U.S. and China. Expect retail giants and newcomers alike to thrive on digital channels during the upcoming shopping holidays.”