• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 6, 2023

In comparison to pandemic-driven, unprecedented growth during 2020 and 2021, mobile e-commerce saw some slowing last year.

M-commerce sales hit $415.9 billion last year, according to Insider Intelligence -- but while that was up 9.9% over 2021, it was the first time the estimated growth has fallen below double digits. Total e-commerce sales exceeded $1 trillion.

Looking more closely at key mobile e-commerce app trends, global installs actually declined slightly in 2022 — down 0.6% compared to 2021, according to Adjust's 2023 Mobile apps trend report.

Still, installs grew 1% in North America, 6% in Latin America and 3% in EMEA.

And growth appears to be regaining momentum in 2023, with installs averaging 4% higher in January than 2022’s average.

On the engagement front, as demonstrated by e-commerce app sessions and session lengths, 2022 saw strong continued growth, on top of the leaps seen in 2020 and 2021.

Global sessions grew 12% YoY in 2022, including a 25% jump in November, traditionally the most active month for e-commerce.

They grew in every region of the world — ranging from 1% in North America to 16% in EMEA.

Marketplace app sessions grew by 13% YoY, and shopping app sessions rose by 11%. 

Although shopping apps made up the majority of installs, marketplace apps accounted for the highest share of e-commerce sessions at 62%. Shopping and deal discovery followed at 34% and 4%, respectively. 

So far in 2023, global sessions are up another 7%.

Meanwhile, globally, average session length rose from 10.57 minutes to 11.2 minutes — although North America’s average decreased slightly, to just over 10 minutes.

Most important, m-commerce revenue has been trending upward consistently since January 2021 (chart above).

In-app e-commerce revenue rose 4% YOY in 2022, with November up by another 32% and December up by 28%.

November 2022 was the highest month ever tracked by Adjust for e-commerce in-app revenue.

This year, in-app e-commerce revenue in January was 17% higher than the average for full-year 2022, and 29% higher than January 2022.

Here’s the top-10 ranking of shopping apps by global downloads for 2022:

The report can be downloaded from Adjust's site.