U.S. holiday shopping season on mobile expected to be largest to date, topping 1B hours on Android – ProWellTech

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the holiday shopping season are already underway. Amazon has delayed The annual sales event, Prime Day, runs from July to October 2020 as top ecommerce retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon keep growing stronger than ever. For a new one report From App Annie, mobile shopping apps can experience their biggest shopping season yet. The mobile data and analytics company estimates US consumers will spend over 1 billion hours on Android devices in the fourth quarter alone, up 50% from the same period last year.

This forecast represents a leap forward for mobile commerce that was only expected four to six years from now on, but the pandemic has pushed that schedule forward.

Credit: App Annie

The company also predicts that the pace of online shopping will be different than in previous years.

While holiday shopping is usually centered around the weeks around Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, the shopping season is expected to be longer and longer this year. To some extent, this could be attributed to the delay in Prime Day, but the economic pressures of the pandemic are also taking their toll.

Heading in the third quarter, Unemployment rate in the US, they were still higher than during the great financial crisis and more than double what they were before COVID. App Annie says this will manifest itself in lower disposable incomes and higher price sensitivity, which in turn will lead consumers to search for offers and promotions for longer periods of time during the lead up to the 2020 Holidays.

The Prime Day delay can also impact the shopping activity that takes place on the normally busy shopping days in November, as the sales event this year will be much closer to Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday than ever before.

App Annie also noted that Amazon’s app continues to be the # 1 US shopping app with monthly active users and has had heavy cross-app usage with other top shopping apps.

Credit: App Annie

By comparison, the weekly sessions in shopping apps were up 25% in the peak weeks of the fourth quarter of 2019. In the UK, too, they rose 15%

This growth trend will continue as the changes brought about by the pandemic are based on the existing consumer behavior that has now been chosen. Those changes will persist, claims App Annie.

Credit: App Annie

In the context of the growth in mobile shopping and the over 1 billion hours spent on Android in the fourth quarter, App Annie also predicts other categories of apps will benefit. PayPal for example, reported Best quarter ever with total payment volume up 29% year over year.

Online grocery services are also booming, especially in markets with rising COVID-19 cases like the US and Brazil. Thanksgiving in the US is expected to continue using mobile grocery shopping apps as consumers use the app for inventory checking, self-checkout, delivery, and online purchase / in-store pickup. Likewise, food delivery services like UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub are expected to continue to be valuable and widespread in the fourth quarter.

Credit: App Annie

Outside of the US, App Annie predicts Singles Day 2020 will raise over CNY 310 billion (over $ 45 billion) to make it the biggest shopping day ever. This will surpass last year’s record of $ 38 billion and follows China’s retail sales growth of 4.8% year over year in Q3 2020.