e-commerce
Shopping apps see historic engagement with 40% boost in purchase rates
MUMBAI: Adjust, the global app marketing platform, today released a new report on the rapidly-growing market of mobile app commerce in partnership with Liftoff, the leader in mobile app marketing and retargeting. The study, utiliSing the most extensive data to date, shows that mobile shopping apps—the global "go-to" for inspiration and assistance in-store and everywhere—continue to experience significant growth. The report identifies North America (NAR) as the mobile shopping leader, while users in APAC – a mature market and early adopters of mobile commerce – show signs of shopping fatigue, with a dip in engagement and conversion rates.
Analyzing more than 53 billion ad impressions across 10 million installs and two million first-time events between April 2019 and April 2020, the report found the following:
It’s never been a better time to be a shopping app
Liftoff and Adjust’s analysis points to increased consumer uptake for shopping apps. At $19.47, the cost to acquire a user who completes a first purchase has decreased by more than half year-over-year. Meanwhile, engagement has surged 40 per cent, as 14.7 per cent purchase rates tower over last year’s 10.5 per cent.
Plus, with Covid2019 driving stay-at-home orders, consumers seem to be utilising mobile shopping even more readily: while install costs are relatively stable throughout the year, they drop to their annual low of $2.48 in March 2020 — just as shelter-in-place peaked.
“Last year, our analysis found that the rise of sales bonanzas from retail giants like Amazon, Flipkart and Alibaba were tilling the soil for other retailers, priming mobile users to shop year-round, and this trend is only continuing,” explained Liftoff co-founder and CEO Mark Ellis. “As consumers adapt to the changing retail landscape, they’re leaning on mobile more than ever. It’s never been a better time to be a retail app marketer.”
In a world where physical touchpoints are reduced, apps position brands to keep driving growth. And according to the data from Adjust, companies have already stepped up their game by focusing on re-engaging and retaining their users.
“The e-commerce industry as a whole got a bit shell-shocked in the first few weeks of March in the wake of Covid2019, with marketers dialing back ad spend,” said Paul H. Müller, co-founder and CTO of Adjust. “But as we saw the vertical start to rebound in April, there’s been a broader push toward re-targeting and re-engagement — in line with bringing customers back into the funnel and keeping their existing ones engaged.”
APAC shows shopping fatigue while North America surges
Last year, the mature markets of APAC and NAR showed similar trends. While users were registering more readily for shopping apps, converting to purchases was a challenge, suggesting that users in these regions were ‘window shopping’ on mobile. However, the data shows a major flip this year: APAC and NAR usage patterns diverge, with North America coming out in front.
Costs-per-first-purchase in NAR are down 4x (to a low $14.85), while conversion rates are up more than 4x — 6x higher than that of APAC (27.6% compared to APAC’s 4.7%). Meanwhile, APAC costs have nearly doubled in the past year, up to $54.90. The region finishes last in engagement with purchase rates less than half that of last year, suggesting the region is ripe for a refresh. However, the region also offers significant value for money – CPIs (Cost Per Installs) dropped significantly between 2018 and 2019 (from $3.17 to $2.58).
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
