India Shopping App Growth Exposes Retention Weakness Arabian Post

2026-09-28 04:21:50

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post) clearfix">India's shopping-app market is pulling further ahead of global peers in installations and usage, but a sharp deterioration in longer-term retention is exposing a widening gap between acquiring customers and keeping them active.

Android shopping-app installs in India grew 85% between the third quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026, compared with 2% globally, according to AppsFlyer's State of eCommerce for Marketers in India 2026 report. India accounted for 63% of Android shopping installs and 71% of sessions across the markets measured, underscoring the scale of mobile-led commerce.

The expansion has not translated into equally durable customer relationships. Day-30 retention on Android fell 41% between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, steeper than the 30% global decline. Retention had stayed at roughly 4% through the second, third and fourth quarters of 2025 before weakening over the following two quarters.

<p>Marketing allocations moved in the same direction. Remarketing expenditure in India dropped 42% between the fourth quarter of 2025 and second quarter of 2026 while user-acquisition spending rose 10%. Android remarketing conversions subsequently fell 62% in the second quarter, suggesting businesses were putting more money into attracting users while spending less on bringing existing customers back.</p><p>Paid installs overtook organic installs in absolute volume by the first quarter of 2026, reversing the organic-led pattern that prevailed through most of 2025. The shift increases the importance of measuring whether customers acquired through advertising remain active long enough to justify acquisition costs.</p><p>“India's install numbers are exceptional by any global measure, and quick commerce is a big part of why,” AppsFlyer's India and ANZ general manager Sanjay Trisal said. He said engagement was holding up even as install growth cooled, adding that businesses could under-invest in existing customers when acquisition remained strong.</p>See also  Kerala Tourism spotlights Gulf market at Dubai fair <p>Install volumes have moderated from their festive-season high without erasing India's substantial lead. Android installs were 22% below their third-quarter 2025 peak by the second quarter of 2026, while sessions declined only 5%. On iOS, sessions increased 13% over the same period, indicating that established users continued opening shopping apps even as new-install momentum eased.</p><p>The festive surge was particularly pronounced. Android shopping installs climbed 136% year on year during the Navratri quarter, while organic installs rose 143%. The figures help explain why acquisition has remained attractive to marketers despite signs of weaker retention farther into the customer lifecycle.</p><p>Quick commerce is an important driver of that activity. Redseer Strategy Consultants estimates the segment closed the 2025-26 financial year at about $13 billion to $14 billion in gross merchandise value, equivalent to roughly 17% of India's online retail market. It has expanded beyond grocery into categories including beauty, personal care, electronics and fashion, increasing the number of shopping occasions served through apps.</p><p>Broader online retail demand also remains strong. Redseer estimates the market grew about 25% year on year in the first half of 2026 to roughly $38 billion and expects it to exceed $90 billion for the full calendar year. That growth provides a large pool of transactions for shopping platforms, while placing greater emphasis on whether customer acquisition produces repeat purchasing.</p><p>AppsFlyer's data also showed India generated its high Android activity with a comparatively smaller share of advertising expenditure. The country represented 19% of global Android user-acquisition spend among measured markets despite accounting for 63% of installs and 71% of sessions. On iOS, it accounted for 16% of installs but 2% of user-acquisition expenditure.</p>See also  PhonePe scales AI across payments and operations <p>Traffic quality strengthened over the longer measurement period. India's Android install-fraud rate declined from 10% in the third quarter of 2024 to 3% in the second quarter of 2026, against a 7% global rate. The iOS fraud rate stood at 1%, compared with 3% globally, although Android fraud increased quarter on quarter in the latest period.</p><div class='code-block code-block-1'><h2></h2></div>

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India Shopping App Growth Exposes Retention Weakness Arabian Post

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