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Airnow PLC has released data showing the downloads of online shopping and package tracking apps in both the UK and the US as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced people to rely on e-commerce for their retail needs over the festive period.
Data covering the 30 days to December 16 from the software-as-a-service (SaaS) group’s mobile app analytics, optimisation and market research platform, Airnow Data, showed that several shopping apps in the UK received record numbers of downloads and growth this holiday season. The leading five shopping apps in terms of number of downloads were Shop with 1.4mln, Amazon with 618,200, JD Sports with 368,100, Lidl Plus with 379,000 and SHEIN with 309,500.
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It was a similar story in the US, where the top five shopping apps were Walmart with 2.9mln downloads, Amazon with 2.6mln downloads, Shop with 2mln downloads, Target with 1.5mln downloads and Wish with 1.2mln downloads.
Airnow said the biggest winner in both the US and UK thus far has been Shopify‘s Shop app, which helps shoppers track delivery of their packages and orders. Shop saw an increase in US downloads during the holiday shopping season of 935,200. In the UK, the Shop app also experienced the most download growth, with an increase of 892,200.
“These numbers not only show that shoppers worldwide want to know exactly when their packages will arrive, but further highlight the huge role that e-commerce is playing in the 2020 holiday season, where the pandemic and lockdowns have prevented in-person shopping from taking place across the globe”, said Tim Armes, client services director at Airnow Data.
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