The coronavirus pandemic has caused the mobile market to suffer its fastest decline ever. Apps are scrambling to understand what they are going through, and what actions they must take to keep going. Clearly, we face challenging and uncertain times that are affecting market performance.
While the COVID-19 situation in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and India continues to rise, many countries are re-opening their economies. That action made app activities stabilize compared to the beginning of the pandemic situation, when there were some lockdowns which enhanced market performance. Let’s see what changed.
App install and spend during the pandemia
Based on a RankmyAPP’s research on how apps have adapted to moments of crisis, in the first quarter of 2020, there was a a 24% increase in app views and 23% in downloads. E-commerce and delivery applications also showed satisfactory numbers during the crisis period.
In the one-year period (March 2019 to March 2020) there was a 126% and 169% increase in the number of downloads of these mobile applications, respectively, with the mobile app install activity still higher than pre-lockdown days.
With the massive user acquisition, apps had a 20% increase in spend by early May. Since then, it dropped by 12% but remains almost 5% higher than the early COVID-19 days.
Revenue growth: shopping, finance and lifestyle
Although some apps have shown positive numbers during the period of social isolation caused by the new coronavirus, the economy has been hurt virtually worldwide. One of the reasons was the cancellation of social events to avoid crowding.
With this, apps of cinema, meetings and agenda of events ended up being left aside for a few months because of social isolation, which caused the elaboration of market performance.
Apps that presented a considerable revenue increase are mostly those for shopping, finance and lifestyle sections. The first one, for example, had a 50% increase since the lockdown, since the demand for online shopping keeps rising.
Finance apps presented a 75% rise since the beginning of coronavirus economic impact, especially considering investment apps, as people rely on digital money transactions. Finally, the revenue generated by lifestyle apps almost doubled since March, growing 35% in the last month.
How are apps adapting to the “new normal”?
Event apps started advertising online meetings to make new friends virtually, create free classrooms, and also form support groups, with therapists and other specialized professionals.
On the other hand, cinemas and shows were adapted to the drive-in format and, with this, the applications of these segments began to perform in-app sales of tickets and also popcorn, goodies, souvenirs and everything else that was at the entrance of these events. So the public can receive their purchases without having to leave their vehicle.
In addition, many mobile applications have adapted their payment format, allowing them to be made by approaching the smartphone in the card machines, for example, so that the physical contact is as small as possible.
What to expect for the future?
With so many changes made to adapt to times of crisis, it is important to maintain good market performance, so that your audience remains satisfied with the functions and services offered, added to a good UX. After all, it is not possible to maintain user loyalty with a bad application.
Therefore, it is essential to make sure that even with all the changes made within your mobile application, it is working properly. Make sure that the video player has no problems or that the user has no difficulty finalizing their purchases, for example.
It’s definitely not an easy period, but the changes caused by the pandemic will overcome the barriers of the isolation limit and become an even more recurrent habit acquired by apps. The possible paths are many. Even though it is too early to scale, it is already possible to understand that changes are important and we need to be open and reinvent.
Trust RankMyAPP to understand about market performance
The pandemic scenario has brought new habits and desires, but there is one factor that will not change: people will keep seeking content with which they identify. In that sense, it is essential to be aware of what is most relevant to attract their audience. RankMyAPP can help you with that! Check our newsletter to dig into this and other subjects relevant to the mobile market.
