The holiday season has arrived, and U.S. shopping app downloads continue to stay steady despite economic challenges. According to the latest report, 'The State of Shopping Apps,' downloads increased by 3% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2022, maintaining 100 million downloads for top 100 apps since Q4 2019.
The Clothes & Fashion category grew significantly during Black Friday weekend, with over 9 million downloads in 2022, a 9% increase from 2019, driven by exclusive deals from apps like GOAT. Grocery apps have become a necessity, with brands like Kroger and Safeway seeing growth in July 2022 by leveraging personalized rewards programs and promoting contactless options amid inflation. These trends highlight how shopping apps are adapting to economic challenges by focusing on rewards, savings, and deals.
With Sensor Tower data, brands can measure their digital strategy against competitors and gain insights into the U.S. shopping app category.
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Q4 2026 planning should treat peak shopping as a compressed event, not a week. Black Friday/Cyber Monday purchase lift runs 2–3x install lift, so ad ops must schedule by daypart and hour. Singles Day is not global: Brazil, UAE and Spain show real lift, while US/France barely react. CPI spikes hardest in supposedly cheap markets—Spain’s CPI rose nearly 50%. Remarketing already drives 65–92% of non-organic spend and rises during peak. Deep linking is critical: deep-linked users are ~2x more likely to purchase and spend nearly 3x more. Benchmark market CPI, shift budget to remarketing, and connect every entry point.
Mobile advertising uses paid channels on smartphones and tablets, offering hyper-targeting and cost-effectiveness but facing challenges like privacy changes and fraud. Key metrics include CPI, ROAS, and LTV. Effective strategies involve clear goals, audience definition, and mastering ATT prompts.
CTV advertising offers precise targeting, high viewability, and measurable performance. Advertisers should use short, punchy creatives, leverage QR codes, and test multiple versions. Targeting options include geolocation, demographics, platform, and contextual data, with first-party data enhancing ROI.
AppsFlyer’s 2026 creative data shows video and static image ads reward opposite creative qualities, so ad ops teams should plan, budget, and test them separately. Video spend is concentrating: gaming’s top 2% of video creatives captured 60.7% of spend, up from 53.5%, while image spend spread out. Top spenders are testing far more variations, widening the testing gap. Action/Strategy and Puzzle/Lifestyle show format-specific tone and social-proof reversals; Finance is the exception. Teams should use AI-assisted variation, analyze video winners deeply, keep broad image testing, and measure performance at attribute level.
Sensor Tower data shows social app downloads to rank #1 in Europe dropped 30% since 2019. TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitch lead revenue. Despite slowing growth, TikTok dominates. BeReal's dual-camera feature is a key trend for 2023.
Adjust's Halloween 2025 data across six weeks shows the holiday window opens well before October 31 and differs by category and market. Entertainment installs peaked the weekend before Halloween (up 42–44% vs. summer baseline), with OTT/streaming and video content installs up 120% on October 25 and 300% YoY. Photo and video sessions instead spiked on Halloween night itself (+6% global vs. the four prior Fridays; Canada +15%, Germany +13%, U.K. +11%, U.S. +9%, Mexico +7%). Single global send dates miss market-level peaks, so ad ops should time creative, push, and budget shifts per market—especially in Mexico, where activity runs through Día de los Muertos.
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