SHOPPING apps like Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and Shein saw a notable uptake during the Covid-19 years, reaching more users than ever. Still, the global interest in using them hasn’t waned even three years after the lockdowns, pushing the entire market`s revenue and downloads to all-time highs.
According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, shopping apps have grossed more than $100 billion (R1.9 trillion) and hit 4.6 billion downloads in the past five years.
The past five years had seen a surge in mobile shopping, fuelled by the growing number of companies that embraced a mobile-centric approach.
Shopping apps provide users with a unique shopping experience and bringing an extensive range of features, including daily or hourly deals, member rewards programs, buy-now-pay-later options, and curated shopping content, OnlyAccounts.io says.
Shopping apps have doubled their revenue in the past five years, mainly due to advertising special deals and promotions.
According to Statista Market Insight, back in 2019, shopping apps grossed roughly $14bn in revenue. By the end of 2021, this jumped to more than $20bn. In 2022 revenue rose by 20% year-on-year to $24.1bn.
However, Statista expects shopping apps to gross a record $29bn in 2023, 20% more than last year, pushing their five-year revenue to a whopping $102bn.
The number of downloads has also more than doubled , rising from 530 million in 2019 to an expected 1.27 billion in 2023, the highest figure in the market`s history. Overall, shopping apps hit more than 4.6 billion downloads in the past five years. Statista expects this to top $46.2bn in revenue and more than 1.67 billion downloads by 2027.
In the past five years, China was the top online shopping app nation, generating nearly $35bn in revenue, followed by the US with $23.2bn and then the UK with $6.7bn.
BUSINESS REPORT