India Saw 250% Growth In Shopping App Installs Amid Pandemic, Reveals Report

The State of Shopping App Marketing 2020 report by AppsFlyer, a mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform, notes that India witnessed a 250% spike in non-organic shopping app installs as the country began lifting Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in May. This shows that even when given the option of physically visiting the store, Indians preferred to shop online. 

This comes even as userbase for edtech applications, viewership for OTT platforms wholly specialising in the erotic genre and sales for sex toys have increased just as lockdown restrictions were lifted. The pandemic seems to have made visible, latent consumer preferences in the digital space. The same can be seen in numerous reports of a hike in app installs in India amid the Covid-19 pandemic. India also recorded 2.7 Bn gaming apps downloads in the second quarter of 2020, the highest in the world. 

In non-organic app installs for the first half of 2020, India ranks third, after the USA and Brazil. As for organic app installs, India ranks second, after the USA. 

Moreover, there was a 580% spike in retargeting conversions or repeat customers on shopping apps in India after the country had begun opening up. 

Other, more telling numbers reveal that there was an 85% higher share of buying users on shopping apps in India during May-June compared to March-April since the country was under a strict lockdown till May. The recovery in online shopping was led by fashion products, as the app reveals. There was also a 104% jump in revenue per user for fashion ecommerce apps in India, from March to May 2020, as online shopping picked up in the country. 

“As India is gearing up to embrace the much-awaited IPL season, marketers would also need to focus on messaging that delivers a sense of empathy and rekindles the holiday and festival spirit during troubled times,” said Sanjay Trisal, country manager, AppsFlyer India. 

“India is fast becoming a mobile-first economy, and having the right measurement infrastructure is the most critical requirement to succeed in this space.” 

The sharp recovery in online shopping in India is indicative of the larger trend of several industries recovering their businesses as the country opens up and reconciles with the new normal amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, food delivery startup Zomato also claimed that the industry was rebounding after a prolonged lull, with Delhi and Mumbai having made a 95% recovery of their pre-Covid levels of business, while some of the other metros such as Kolkata and Chennai were at 80% of the pre-Covid GMV.