Online Shopping Dominates Holiday Sales Results so Far

Holiday Shopping Drives E-commerce app Downloads

During this year's holiday shopping season, there was a remarkable surge in downloads of e-commerce apps, with Black Friday standing out as the peak day, witnessing an 81% increase compared to the average holiday download rate, as reported by Airship.

Holiday Shopping Drives E-commerce app Downloads

The momentum continued through Cyber Monday and the entire Cyber 5 period, setting new records for holiday shopping.

Airship's data reveals that the days from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to the Saturday after Black Friday saw the highest e-commerce app downloads, marking the first time in 2023 that top downloads occurred on consecutive days.

Among the top e-commerce apps downloaded between November 23 and November 27, prominent retailers 2023 ranking of the largest online retailers in North America, such as Temu, Walmart, Shopify, Amazon, and Shein, took the lead. These rankings were based on Similarweb data from both the Apple App Store and Google Play store, showing a notable overlap with the most visited retail websites during the same period.

Glassbox, a digital experience intelligence vendor, reported that 63% of online shoppers utilized mobile apps for their purchases during the holiday season, surpassing the 57% who had initially planned to do so according to a Dynata surveys.

Despite the robust performance, there appears to be untapped potential for mobile apps. Before Cyber 5, 84% of consumers expressed willingness to download and shop through a retailer's app for access to extra sales and promotions, but only 31% actually downloaded a new app. 

Mobile shopping, including app usage and visits to retailers' websites on mobile devices, played a significant role in Cyber 5 online sales. Adobe Analytics reported that 59% of Thanksgiving online sales came from smartphones, up from 55% in 2022, and this trend persisted with 51.8% of Cyber 5 online sales originating from smartphones, compared to 49.9% the previous year.

The importance of e-commerce app downloads for retailers is underscored by the fact that U.S. consumers spend 88% of their smartphone time within apps rather than browsers, according to Insider Intelligence. Global e-commerce app revenue reached $3.59 trillion in 2022, reflecting an 8.1% year-over-year increase, as highlighted by Business of Apps.

Retailers are taking note, with 74% emphasizing that investing in mobile apps is crucial for profitability, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos and Google in August 2023 among 450 retail app decision-makers.