UK mobile users spend more time on retail apps than email

The report highlights that retail app downloads in the UK in 2024 reached 185 million, but this represented a 4.1% fall from 2023’s numbers. 

The amount of retail app downloads in 2023 totalled 193 million, a 19.1% year-on-year growth from 162 million in 2022. 

Sensor Tower said the stagnation in the 2024 downloads could be due to a “market correction” following a huge growth in app installations in 2023 driven by Temu as it reached European markets. 

Temu and Shein took the number one and two spots respectively as the most downloaded retail apps of 2024. However, Temu’s saw mammoth growth in 2023, which was not replicated the year after. 

While downloads declined, the data shows that time spent in a retail app increased, so much so that it is proving more popular than email on the go. 

In 2023, consumers spent 431 million hours on UK retail apps, but this jumped 19% in 2024 to reach a yearly total of 513 million hours. By contrast, UK users spent 466 million hours on email apps.

The data suggests consumers are spending more time shopping with their phones than before, as well as shopping in apps they already have downloaded. 

All other app uses are massively outperformed by social media and social messaging services when judged by time spent.