Insight into App Development Industry – Rise in Usage of Shopping Apps – UK

Due to increasing usage of mobile apps, mobile app development has turned into a fastest growing industry. According to a story published in Daily Mail, UK apps development industry is now bigger than Hollywood because it earned more revenue than Hollywood in 2014. According to research conducted by Flurry Analytics, mobile app usage saw tremendous growth in 2014. In 2014, overall use of mobile apps increased by 74% and people used shopping apps more than any other app category. The report further says that in 2014 Sessions in shopping apps on iOS and Android surged by 174% while usage of shopping apps on Android alone was 220% more than 2013.

Utility and productivity were ranked 2nd fastest growing app category with 121% growth rate, messaging and social apps ranked third with 103% growth rate. App categories that did not perform well in 2014 were music, games and news apps.

Flurry report said,” In 2014, shopping, utilities and productivity, and messaging experienced triple-digit growth and were the key drivers. As our mobile devices become more and more a part of our everyday lives, we are increasingly using them for always-on shopping, working, and communication. Where years past have seen massive growth in games and entertainment, 2014 was the year apps got down to serious business”.

This report also tells about peak hours when people make most use of shopping apps in US. According to Flurry’s report, people use shopping apps in US more during 9 am, lunch time and after work at 8 pm.

A significant rise in Mobile shopping apps usage is due to the multiple benefits they offer to consumers.

Their usage is increasing because mobile shopping apps are making lives of people easier. We keep our mobile phones with us all the time; wherever we are we can shop through retailer’s mobile website or native app without any problem.

Their usage is also rapidly increasing because people have realized importance of mobile phones. They are not only using mobile phones for consumption of content rather they are doing everything on it such as shopping.

People also believe that mobile shopping apps strengthen brand connection that’s why like to use them.

They help save time of shoppers because shopping apps are in our mobile when we want to shop we open the app and start shopping. Shoppers want a shopping experience which is simple and convenient.

On the basis of Flurry’s report, we can say that consumers are enormously using mobile apps and use of shopping apps by consumers for making shopping decisions has also increased a great deal as compared to 2013. The rapid rise of shopping apps use shows the level of importance shopping apps have gained in app development industry and retail industry. 2014 was the year of shopping apps and usage of shopping apps is expected to increase in 2015 as well. That is why only having a mobile website on web is not enough to generate high revenue and to increase your sales. Mobile shopping Apps has become a need of modern online retailers. A retailer that has a mobile website and does not have a native mobile shopping app for shoppers will fall behind. Retailers should not ignore this trend and they should understand the change in consumer behavior and need to redesign their mobile marketing strategy. They should market their products through mobile websites as well as with native shopping apps but focus on shopping apps should be more because of their increasing importance.