Liftoff(Vungle)Data-Backed Insights to Boost E-Commerce Sales This Holiday Season
Summary
The holiday playbook is shifting: mobile drove 54% of holiday revenue last year, and consumers prioritize value and trust. To win in 2025, ad ops must front-load UA spend early—iOS ad spend nearly doubled by May 2025—to build a user base before peak periods. While UA dips in late summer, campaigns should scale again by September, with messaging focused on gifting and early sales to stay top-of-mind.
Remarketing is equally crucial; maintain steady campaigns year-round, but boost spend on top shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Remarketing on iOS ramps up in September and spikes in November. Sustained in-app purchase revenue underscores the need to optimize onboarding and loyalty flows to maximize LTV from holiday-acquired users.
For creative, interactive ads (up 20% YoY) like scratch-offs or spin-to-win drive engagement, while UGC with in-app walkthroughs builds trust. Generative AI enables scaling creative testing and personalizing region-specific assets. Key actionable takeaways: break UA into cycles with early gifting messages, leverage first-party data for remarketing personalization, and blend interactive ads with urgency-driven CTAs to convert impulse shoppers.
Analyst Note
The article signals a structural shift in holiday planning for e-commerce apps: the front-loading of UA spend, particularly on iOS, suggests marketers are aggressively testing and optimizing campaigns earlier to capture lower costs and build audiences before Q4. The near-doubling of iOS UA spend by May 2025 reflects a response to platform-level changes—likely ATT-driven efficiency improvements or shifts in auction dynamics—and indicates that iOS is now the primary battleground for early user acquisition. Meanwhile, the steadiness of remarketing spend year-round, with spikes in November and March, reveals a strategic move to smooth out revenue peaks and reduce dependency on short holiday windows.
For ad ops teams, this implies a need for dynamic budget allocation models that can scale UA in early summer and reallocate to remarketing during key sales days without disrupting always-on campaigns. The resilience of in-app purchase revenue despite fluctuating spend underscores the importance of onboarding and retention flows—teams must ensure that holiday-acquired users convert into loyal, IAP-generating customers. Finally, the 20% increase in interactive ad spend and adoption of AI-generated creative highlight a competitive pressure to differentiate through engagement and personalization.
The key implication: success in 2025 will hinge on integrated planning across UA, remarketing, and creative iteration, with a focus on sustained LTV rather than one-off holiday spikes.
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