RESOURCES

Holiday To-Do List: Find Ways to Showcase Your App

Oct 30, 2019
By: Marissa Camilli

September has come and gone, which can only mean one thing; the holiday season is officially here. As schedules become jam-packed with family parties, work events and end-of-the-year activities, consumers are looking for an easier way to get things done. Enter: mobile apps. Year-over-year mobile usage is increasing; pulling consumers away from desktops, laptops and even brick and mortar stores.

Digital Turbine has a unique view on mobile growth. When looking at our data from 2016 – 2020, there is a clear up-tick in devices year-over-year. While FY20* is still in the works, we predict device activations from FY19 to grow another 9.3%, totaling 86.2 million. Of these devices, 27% are expected to be activated during the holiday season (November to January) – 2.5 million above average. This will be the highest growth rate of the fiscal year.

*Digital Turbine fiscal years run from April – March. As such, FY20 is from April 20119 – March 2020.

Branded mobile apps need to take advantage of this changing industry and growing season. As device activations reach record highs, mobile spending is increasing and consumers are becoming more reliant on apps to simplify their lives – just two of the many reasons apps need to be a priority during the holidays.

1) Increased Spending

Pumpkin spice is in the air, decorations are on the doors and already 50% of shoppers have started planning their holiday gifts. With over ⅓ of consumers saying they’re going to spend more this year than last year, it’s no wonder Deloitte estimates a 4.5-5% increase in holiday sales this year, pushing the total spend over $1 trillion.

In 2018, Cyber Monday set the new record for purchases via mobile, totaling $2.2B. Black Friday 2018 came in close at $2.1B, but both absolutely crushed the previous record of $1.4B from Cyber Monday 2017. For the 2019 holiday season, experts are foreshadowing a new record – 69% of millennials reported that they will use their phones to shop this holiday season. This is the first time this number has ever surpassed those who will use their laptop or desktop.

2) Increased App Reliance

We’ve all seen the crazy Black Friday videos and heard stories from friends. You get there early, pushing and shoving one another while waiting for the Best Buy doors to open. And when they do, you better be ready to run, fight and scream. The best part is – after waiting in line all night in the freezing cold and having a near-death experience for the newest flat-screen TV, you still have to wait in line to check out.

In fact, 53% of people identified waiting in line as the most stressful part of holiday shopping. Mobile apps reduce the stress of holidays by providing convenience and ease. And that’s why when Black Friday rolls around, consumers will most likely by purchasing a new living room TV from the comfort of Best Buy’s mobile app instead of spending hours in lines.

The holidays are not just a business opportunity for retail apps – take traveling, for example. In 2018, the number of Americans traveling by car on Thanksgiving weekend increased by 5% to 48.5 million. In 2017 INRIX and AAA predicted that holiday travel times could be up to 3x longer than normal. Sure, consumers and party-goers could sit in this terrible traffic, or they could download Waze before the busy season and find the best route possible.

Whether you’re a retail, recipe, travel or, heck, insurance app, consumers need you. They are more eager than ever to utilize mobile apps. If it makes their life easier, they’re in. Target your audiences, ease their troubles and help everyone survive the busiest and largest holiday season yet.

Take Advantage of the Holidays

But as a branded mobile app, how can you take advantage of the holiday season? By getting the right app in front of the right person at the right time. Two of our solutions are recommended for the holiday season: preloads and SingleTapTM installs.

Preloading removes the need to redirect the user to the Google Play store, making applications ready for immediate use upon opening. During initial device activation, our Ignite technology is working in the background to place apps directly on the device. Your app becomes a default on users phone screens, giving you first access to potential new consumers.

SingleTapTM installs create a seamless app install experience, allowing users to download your app through a single tap. After clicking on an ad on a mobile site, a user downloads an app in the background without being directed away. Once the app has been installed, the user receives a notification that allows them to seamlessly transition to your mobile app.

About Digital Turbine: As a leader in the mobile app delivery space, Digital Turbine works with more than 30 mobile operators and OEMs in over 190 countries to seamlessly deliver apps directly onto the device. Our Ignite technology has been preloaded onto +70% of Android devices globally and we are delivering over 900,000 apps to new users daily. We provide an end-to-end system of campaign sourcing, yield management, app installs and reporting either as a complete system or integrated with your technology.

Marissa Camilli
By Marissa Camilli
Read more by this author