Winning in ‘The New Normal’

Poq’s recent report examines the impact of the last few months on consumer shopping habits and highlights the emerging trends that will be key to understanding app behaviour.

As the COVID-19 pandemic saw many governments place unprecedented restrictions on physical retail, consumers have been quick to embrace shopping online via mobile, according to the latest insights from Poq.

The results of last year’s peak Holiday season already indicated mobile was becoming the consumer’s digital channel of choice. But this year’s lockdowns have rapidly consolidated this trend, boosting app downloads, transactions and revenue across the apps running on Poq’s platform. Little did we realise then how 2020 would really be the ‘Year of the App’. 

In fact, Poq tracked double the rate of downloads during the height of lockdowns globally compared to the same period during last year and 27% uplift in the numbers of daily active customers shopping in-app. Moreover, this translated to a much-needed boost to the bottom line for many retailers, some of whose stores were forced to close. 

Based on data from 64 million sessions across more than 50 iOS and Android shopping apps built on the Poq Platform, transaction numbers per user rose 41% over the period and daily revenue per user increased by 22% year-on-year, making mobile the most lucrative channel for retailers right now and into the foreseeable future. 

Emerging app commerce best practice 

To capitalize on this opportunity, Poq examined consumer engagement and purchasing behaviours as they have developed in the first half of this year in its latest report, Understanding App Behaviour and Winning in ‘The New Normal. The report contains insights from retailers and tips for optimising app performance in this ‘new normal’.

Developing content designed to engage with consumers beyond just the transaction can be a real differentiator, for example. Interaction with fully shoppable multimedia app content, like App Stories, also rose 50% during lockdowns, confirming what Gareth Rees-John, Digital Director at footwear retailer and Poq client Kurt Gieger, observed earlier this year: “Engagement and conversion are repeatedly higher on apps.”

To find out what app behaviours the likes of Kurt Geiger and other Poq clients, including Australian retail giant Cotton On Group, have responded to this year and how they are harnessing the ‘new normal’ app commerce opportunity, click here to download and read the report in full.