Americans Spend 10 Hours Every Year in Shopping Apps

According to the latest report recently released by App Annie, mobile users based in the United States spend 10 hours every year (or close to 50 minutes on a monthly basis) in shopping apps. Naturally, as more and more people own smartphone devices, mobile shopping is sure to grow too, with digital first apps like Amazon and Etsy making it easy for consumers to buy stuff online. 

App Annie’s report also shows that during the first six months of this year, the top five digital first apps registered growth of over 60 percent in terms of the total number of sessions as compared to last year’s volume. It also appears that digital first apps are growing faster in terms of total sessions and usage per month as compared to the shopping apps of physical retail stores (like Walmart and Target). Indeed, the 60 percent growth mentioned earlier in this paragraph is way faster than the 50 percent growth posted by traditional retail stores’ mobile apps. 

Moreover, digital first apps improved almost 25 percent in terms of the average number of sessions per month, compared to only 15 percent growth for traditional retail stores’ apps. Digital first apps averaged 19 sessions every month, while apps of traditional retail stores average just a dozen sessions monthly. 

In terms of the average time spent during the first half of the year, the top five digital first apps in the United States are Amazon, Amazon Shopping, Wish, Etsy, and Zulily. In terms of the number of active users on a monthly basis during the first six months of 2017, the top five digital first apps are Amazon, Wish, Etsy, AliExpress, and Amazon Prime Now. The top five apps from traditional retailers in terms of time spent during the same period are Walmart, Cartwheel (by Target), Kohl’s, The Home Depot, and Kroger. The top five traditional retailers’ apps by monthly active user volume are Walmart, Walgreens, Cartwheel, Kohl’s, and Target.

App Annie also found that consumers are more likely to choose mobile apps from traditional retail stores while on the go, e.g. when trying to search for items inside the store, or when checking for stuff in the aisles or shelves. But when connected to a Wi-Fi network, Americans are more likely to use digital first apps.

On this year’s upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday, App Annie projects that mobile users will spend over 12 million hours using the top five digital first Android apps, which is 40 percent more than the time spent last year.