Table of Content
Executive summary
Survey responses from 500 US mobile app shoppers surfaced findings that matter for retail marketers, including:
- The customers brands acquire through their mobile app are among the most valuable
- Mobile user acquisition is one of the most competitive ways of capturing market share
- The ideal time to start building a mobile user base for the holiday surge is early fall
The brands and agencies that build an app audience by the end of Q3 have the opportunity to drive it into loyalty, and retarget it into the holiday peak, allowing them to win on conversion, loyalty, and cost.
The time to prepare is early fall, not in a reactive Q4 sprint.
Meet the experts
The perspectives in this report come from the experts driving growth at some of the most ambitious brands in mobile commerce. We thank every contributor for sharing what's working.
Methodology
PART 1
Why In-App? Why Now?
Key insights from 500 US mobile shoppers.
Not all customers are created equal, and the data is clear: the ones brands acquire through their mobile app are among the most valuable they can win.
Once brands acquire them, shoppers default to their mobile app over any other channel. When it comes to mobile web or in-app, seven in ten respondents said they buy in the app over the mobile site. Over half open a brand's own app before they search anywhere else. Among these shoppers, brand and retailer apps now edge out Amazon as the primary purchase channel.
Building that kind of highly engaged audience is a predictable, measurable effort: nearly three quarters installed a retailer's app because an ad asked. Two in three left one retailer for another over a better app. Most engage with loyalty programs in the app, and four in five will trade preferences for value.
Most importantly, shoppers make holiday purchase decisions early: More than half respond to holiday ads as soon as early fall, giving early movers a decided advantage.
Most mobile customers default to buying through your app
Ask a shopper how a purchase starts, and half of them name the same place: your app. 52% open the brand's own app first, which is nearly three times the number who start with a search engine, and five times the number who open Amazon.
The journey you spend media dollars shaping does not begin on a results page. It begins on a home screen. If your brand is not there, the journey starts somewhere you do not control.
Mobile shoppers prefer apps over websites
Put an app and a mobile site side by side for a shopper and it’s not even close: 71% prefer to buy in the app while just 19% would choose the mobile website.
The app wins because it’s faster, it remembers them, and it removes the steps that kill conversion. Give shoppers the choice and they tell you where the sale should happen.
Most mobile app shoppers make weekly purchases
App-based shopping is not an occasional behavior for mobile users. On average, 60% of app shoppers buy at least weekly. 88% buy at least a few times a month.
That cadence should set your re-engagement clock. Most retailers wait weeks or sometimes a full quarter to re-engage a buyer who is typically back in market within seven days.
Match your cadence to the shopper's real cycle and retargeting campaigns become a top revenue lever.
Mobile users are more likely to purchase through your app than Amazon
Among mobile app shoppers, branded apps beat Amazon as the primary purchase channel 40% to 38%.
For every brand that has written off direct because "everyone buys on the marketplace," it’s time to reconsider your strategy.
While competing with major marketplaces may seem daunting, the solution is clear: Your app is the one channel where the marketplace does not set the rules, take the margin, or own the customer.
Better mobile apps capture market share
App quality is not a UX nicety. It is a market-share weapon. Two in three shoppers have picked one retailer over another because its app was better.
Read from the other side, that means that a competitor with a faster, smoother app, as well as a well-tuned UA campaign, could be actively taking customers you already paid to acquire.
That means strong mobile UA isn’t just about growth: It’s table-stakes for defending your customer base.
Website UX friction costs revenue
Every second of mobile web friction has a price. 66% of shoppers have abandoned a purchase because a mobile site was slow or hard to use.
In mobile commerce, purchase journeys are short.
The name of the game for every retail brand is getting to payment as quickly as possible. The app exists to delete the friction: stored payment, stored address, one thumb to checkout.
Three out of four shoppers install retail apps from ads
The app audience you want does not appear on its own, but it can be built, and in-app advertising is the most reliable way of doing it. According to survey results, 73% of shoppers have downloaded a retailer's app because of an ad.
The insight is simple but crucial: Install campaigns work, repeatedly, on the same people. One craft rule from the field: put the offer in the creative itself. If there is a coupon code, it belongs in the ad and not behind a click.
Mobile shoppers are most likely to convert on in-app ads
Where are ads most likely to turn attention into action? Inside mobile apps.
Attention may be multi-surface, but survey results make a strong argument for planning for a journey that starts in-app and finishes in-app.
Keep in mind that mobile campaigns can drive any desired outcome, not just installs, including: saving, carting, and wish-listing.
Mobile apps capture cross-screen interest
A product catches a shopper's eye on TV, and the phone comes out. What happens next is the whole game: 34% search in a browser, 30% open the brand's app, 14% scan a QR code.
The browser-first crowd is telling you something specific: they do not have your app yet. That is not a lost impression, it’s a retargeting assignment. Follow the TV or streaming exposure with an install ad and connect the two screens to grow your base.
Mobile apps are where loyalty happens
Customer loyalty has a new home, and it’s your mobile app.
72% of shoppers in a retail loyalty program manage it mainly in the app and not by email or card. QSR historically led this shift and retail is following quickly.
This is also where two teams that rarely talk need each other. Growth fills the loyalty program; lifecycle works the audience growth built. Inside most brands those teams do not share a roadmap, and the app is where their goals converge. Connecting the two is a unique growth opportunity
Mobile shoppers volunteer data for value
Mobile shoppers are highly open to value exchange mechanics: 79% of app shoppers are willing to share their preferences and purchase history in return for better deals and a smoother experience. Give them real value, and they will tell you what they want.
Note: This is willingness to share shopping preferences inside an app the shopper chose to install. It is not a claim about ATT, IDFA, or regulatory opt-in claim.
Speed, savings, and rewards pull purchases into your app
Only 3% of shoppers say nothing could make them buy direct instead of on a marketplace. Everyone else named a price: lower prices (66%), free or faster shipping (61%), loyalty rewards (50%), exclusive products (36%), easy returns (29%).
Marketplace apathy is real and many brands simply do not want to fight Amazon. But according to mobile shoppers, they’re more than open to going direct. Price, shipping, and loyalty are the levers.
Mobile holiday shopping starts in early fall
Ask shoppers when holiday advertising starts shaping what they buy, and the answer lands well before Black Friday: 56% say early fall (September or October) or sooner. By the time November arrives, 76% of holiday demand has already been shaped.
A plan that starts spending at BFCM is bidding on decisions made six weeks earlier in the most expensive auction of the year. The brands that win the peak are already in-feed in September.
Mobile customers prefer brand apps for holiday shopping
When the biggest shopping days of the year arrive, brand apps are the top choice for holiday shopping at 35%, ahead of mobile websites (24%) and marketplace apps (23%).
The peak pays out through the app, but only for brands who have already made their way onto the shopper's home screen.
You cannot install your way into BFCM in Q4. Establish your base early so that you can drive results when it counts.
SECTION 2
The Mobile Holiday Shopper Playbook
Three steps to your most profitable holiday peak yet.
Successful brands win the holiday shopping peak before it starts. More than half of shoppers respond to holiday advertising by early fall, and the peak pays out through the app. The brands that win November are already on the home screen in September.
You cannot acquire and convert a cold user on Black Friday. Build the audience while it’s cheap. Foster loyalty. Then sell to them while everyone else is bidding. Better still: The base you build does not expire in December. It is a more loyal, higher-engaging customer base that outlasts Q4.
PLAYBOOK · STEP 1
Build your base early
Mobile app shoppers are worth more
Not all customers are created equal.
App-primary shoppers outpace marketplace-primary shoppers across the board: they open the brand's app first (78% vs 41%), run their loyalty in-app (84% vs 65%), prefer brand apps on the biggest sale days (56% vs 24%), and keep push notifications on (88% vs 73%).
Every install you win in September is a shopper who behaves exactly as you’d hope by November: reachable without an auction, loyal by default, and predisposed to buy direct at the peak.
Beauty and fashion mobile shoppers lead the app-first shift
Beauty and fashion shoppers are ahead of the market on every behavior this report measures.
They’re more willing to trade preferences for value, respond to holiday ads earlier, switch for a better app experience, and use brand apps at BFCM.
It’s a unique opportunity for growth marketers in those verticals to double-down and derive even greater returns over the holidays.
PLAYBOOK · STEP 2
Funnel to loyalty
An install is the start of the relationship, not the end of it. The base you built in the late summer only pays off if those users come back, and loyalty is what brings them. Convert installs into members now, while the base is fresh, and you reach the peak with an audience that is loyal, understood, and yours.
PLAYBOOK · STEP 3
Sequence the calendar
SECTION 3
Your Q4 Pre-Flight Checklist
Every item to complete before the end of Q3.
About RZR
RZR powers performance for the world's most ambitious brands through proprietary neural architecture that optimizes across user acquisition, retargeting, and CTV campaigns as one connected performance system. Trusted by brands across gaming, consumer, food and beverage, retail, and entertainment.
