It should come as little surprise that Amazon was the top US shopping app in 2021, downloaded 40.0 million times that year. More remarkable is Shein’s leap to the No. 2 spot, up from seventh place in 2020. The Chinese fashion giant had 32.0 million US downloads under its belt in 2021, 68% more than the year prior.
Netflix is the top US streaming service when it comes to original content, with 38% of the country’s adults agreeing the platform offers the best selection of original shows and movies. Amazon Prime Video comes in second, trailing by a sizable margin with 11%, while Hulu and HBO Max rank third and fourth.
Across almost all product categories, US luxury shoppers are far more likely to make purchases in-store than online. Physical retail had the widest lead in the food and beverage category, followed by watches and jewelry. Digital got the upper hand in only fashion and travel, suggesting that for many tangible luxury goods, shoppers prefer to see and feel them before spending big bucks.
DoorDash was once again the most downloaded US food and drink app in 2021, racking up 37.0 million downloads, 5% fewer than in 2020. McDonald’s jumped to second on the list with 24.0 million downloads, 33% more than the year prior. Meanwhile, Uber Eats dropped to third place with 21.0 million downloads.
Among US social video viewers, YouTube is the most popular place to watch live content, with 52.0% tuning in on the platform. Facebook ranks as their second app of choice, used by 42.6% for live video, while Instagram and TikTok tie for third with 33.4%.
Chime was the most downloaded US mobile banking app in 2021, with 12.8 million downloads, up 16% from 2020. Other neobanks had a huge year as well: Current posted 67% growth in downloads, and Varo skyrocketed to 10th place with a 529% increase. That said, traditional banks took the rest of the top five positions.
In 2021, 233 mobile apps crossed the $100 million mark in consumer spending worldwide, and just under 75% of them were games. That’s down from about 82% in 2020, as more nongaming apps passed that milestone than their gaming counterparts. Still, games continue to drive much of the consumer spending in the multibillion-dollar mobile ecosystem.
Cyber Week was the biggest ecommerce week of the US holiday season in 2021, accounting for 23% of the online gross merchandise value (GMV) from that period. The week of December 12 was the second biggest, contributing a much smaller share, with 13% of ecommerce GMV.
TikTok was the No. 1 mobile app in the US last year, with 94.0 million downloads, a 6% increase over 2020. Runners-up Instagram and Snapchat reached 64.0 million downloads and 56.0 million downloads, respectively, meaning the three most downloaded apps in the US were all photo- and video-sharing platforms.
Worldwide, digital health companies struck 990 investment deals collectively in 2021, up about a quarter from 2020. While this flurry of deal-making is notable, what’s astounding is the $44.0 billion these firms raised, double what they took in the previous year.
The Philippines and India will lead the world in retail ecommerce sales growth this year, with respective increases of 25.9% and 25.5%. Countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia will make up most of the top 10 list, while the last spot will go to the US, the only advanced economy to slide into the rankings, with 15.9% growth.
In 2021, mobile finance apps reached 573.1 million downloads in the US, up nearly 19% from 481.9 million in 2020.
US shoppers saw more out-of-stock messages this past holiday season than in previous years, per an Adobe index that tracks this activity. The index rose to 4.0 during the 2021 season, when US ecommerce consumers received more than 6 billion out-of-stock messages. That’s about an 8% increase year over year and a 264% jump from the pre-pandemic 2019 season.
TikTok takes up more of its users’ time than any other social media platform in the US. This year, adult TikTok users will spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the short-video app. Twitter ranks second, with a daily average of 35 minutes, while third-place Facebook will see 31 minutes per day from the average adult user.
In China, ecommerce sales will make up a substantial share of 2022's total retail sales at 46.3%, while the UK and South Korea will round out the top 3, with 36.3% and 32.2% ecommerce shares, respectively.
US Instagram ad impressions are split mostly between two formats. For the US clients of performance marketing firm Tinuiti, 47.0% of impressions came from the feed and 42.0% from Stories in Q4 2021.
US political advertisers will splash out $8.8 billion on video in 2022, close to the record $9.5 billion spent in 2020, despite this year marking a midterm rather than presidential election.
Three billion fraudulent emails go out globally each day, often aimed at unleashing cyberattacks on companies of all types.
Of the small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the US that accept cryptocurrency, 93% take payments in Bitcoin, making it the most commonly accepted crypto.
The majority of US social buyers still order from retailer websites, rather than directly on social platforms. In December, 61.5% said they made their most recent social commerce purchase on the retailer’s site, while 38.5% reported doing so through the social network’s checkout feature.
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