Amazon Prime Day may be one of the most anticipated retail events of the year, but the rapid emergence of international eCommerce rivals has led to a significant drop in users on its mobile app over the past seven months.
Consumer usage data from mobile analytics and business intelligence firm GWS reveals that Amazon’s dominance is under threat, with user numbers falling sharply in 2023 as new rivals continue their near-meteoric rise:
- Since the start of the year Amazon has lost over 1 million daily mobile app users in the UK. In January 2023 around 9.3 million daily shoppers used its app, a figure that his since declined to 8.3 million.
- Temu, which launched in April 2023, saw its daily mobile user numbers grow sharply in one month’s time to around 3.5 million. However, since May 2023, its growth has plateaued with similar numbers of users on the app today.
- Shein has also seen impressive growth in 2023, doubling its daily users from 1 to 2 million over the past six months.
- eCommerce powerhouse eBay has also seen its fortunes turn, with daily mobile app users declining by nearly 2 million since January 2023 (from nearly 6 million at the turn of of this year to its current rate of 4.2 million).
- Vinted continues to hold steady in terms of user numbers. The company currently boasts around 2 million daily users with the amount of time users are spending on the app only exceeded by Temu
Temu currently dominates in terms of the amount of time each consumer is spending on its app, at an average 18 minutes a day, with Vinted coming in second with 14 minutes. The other major retail apps all fell behind: Shein, eBay and Amazon all averaged just 8 minutes per user each day on their apps.
Yet despite falling user numbers in the UK market, Amazon does not suffer from demographic dominance like its new international rivals, where the company’s mobile app user base is more evenly split between 44 per cent male and 56 per cent female users. Whereas, for Temu, women dominate mobile app usage at 66 per cent, compared to just 34 per cent of male users. This rises to 90 per cent of female users on Shein which has just 10 per cent of men on its mobile app.
Dr Paul Carter, CEO, GWS, commented: “For years Amazon has gone all but unchallenged when it comes to offering the complete eCommerce package to consumers, and much of its success has been via its mobile app. However, mobile analytics data from GWS shows how brand loyalty on retail shopping apps moves quickly during challenging economic times, and retailers need to stay on top of the curve or risk getting left behind. While apps like Temu and Shein are seeing significant rises at the moment, expanding their customer bases beyond their faithful female audiences will be crucial for lasting growth and success if they want to pose a genuine threat to Amazon.”
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