Mobile commerce apps like Amazon, SHEIN, and Walmart dominated the American m-commerce space in 2021. So, we leveraged our App Watchlist tool to see where they stand heading into 2022.
Back in October, we analyzed the top mobile commerce, or m-commerce, apps in the United States. We pointed out that, with another holiday season spent under the cloud of a global pandemic, apps like Amazon, Shein, and Walmart were primed for a big finale in 2021.
With this in mind, we analyzed where these apps stand heading into the new year. We leveraged our brand new web-based App Watchlist tool to track their performance over the holidays.
Here’s what we cover (click the links below to jump to the relevant sections):
The Top 3 Mobile Commerce Apps in 2022
1. Amazon Shopping by Amazon Mobile LLC
- Short Description: Browse, search & buy millions of products right from your mobile device.
- Total Downloads: 500,000,000+
- Android Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 8.6M
- iOS Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 10.8M
2. SHEIN-Fashion Shopping Online by Shein Group Ltd
- Short Description: Meet the SHEIN app - Your one-stop shop for trends at prices you'll Love!
- Total Downloads: 100,000,000+
- Android Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 7.4M
- iOS Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 14.1M
3. Walmart Shopping & Grocery by Walmart
- Short Description: Easy shopping, plus grocery delivery or curbside pickup.
- Total Downloads: 50,000,000+
- Android Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 1.4M
- iOS Downloads Over the Last 30 Days: 5.3M
Analysis of the Top 3 Mobile Commerce Apps During the Holiday Season
U.S. downloads between November 1st, 2021 and January 1st, 2022
In the chart above you’ll find daily U.S. downloads for the Android and iOS versions of Amazon, SHEIN, and Walmart. In particular, these are downloads from between November 1st, 2021 and January 1st, 2022.
Amazon was easily the most popular of the three Android apps, with 4,912,418 downloads in the selected time frame. Then came Walmart with 2,880,904 downloads and SHEIN with 2,837,025.
The iOS apps performed similarly, with Amazon capturing 10,805,629 downloads, Walmart getting 8,947,092, and SHEIN getting 7,062,971.
It’s also worth noting that these apps saw notable spikes around Black Friday (November 26th), Cyber Monday (November 29th), and Boxing Day (December 26th), as well as in the run up to Christmas on December 15th. What’s more these performances appear to corroborate what Amazon called a record-breaking Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend.
U.S. top chart rankings between November 1st, 2021 and January 1st, 2022
Next up, U.S. top charts from the same time period. Each of these apps falls into the “Shopping” iOS genre / Android category.
Walmart was the biggest winner among the Android apps, peaking at number one from November 1st to December 1st, and then again for a number of days at the end of December. SHEIN, meanwhile, peaked at 2nd in the shopping category, with it’s best run coming between November 13th and November 18th.
Among the iOS apps, Amazon dominated from start to finish. It occupied the top spot from November 1st until January 1st. Meanwhile, Walmart and SHEIN spent most of November trading the number two spot. SHEIN, however, began fading in December and dipped to 9th on Christmas day, while Walmart never fell below 4th.
Developer updates and changelogs from November 1st, 2021 to January 1st, 2022
To wrap up, let’s take a look at the app changelogs. For those less familiar with app developer jargon, changelogs are chronologically ordered lists of changes developers have made to their apps. These can be anything from version updates, to title, tagline, and technical changes.
Between November and January, these apps were updated a combined 29 times, which is a decent amount of activity. That said, the changes were generally pretty modest; likely just maintenance to assure stability during holiday shopping. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Amazon (Android) released five version updates, while Amazon (iOS) released two version updates.
- SHEIN (Android) released four version updates, along with release notes, and added the AUTHENTICATE_ACCOUNTS permission on November 19th. SHEIN (iOS), meanwhile, released five version updates, added the Countly SDK on November 3rd, and removed the jnkeychain and afnetworking SDKs on December 23rd.
- Walmart (Android) released seven new versions, while Walmart (iOS) released four.
And that’s that!
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to think of the mobile commerce space as a mature market, and in many ways it really is. Indeed, Amazon has been a part of our lives for nearly three decades and the Amazon shopping app, which was released in December of 2008, has been a staple of the mobile app market since the very beginning. Nevertheless, the rise of SHEIN and the emergence of “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) apps like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay, demonstrate there’s still room for disruption.
Moreover, 2022 is shaping up to be a challenging year. The supply chain crisis hasn’t exactly been resolved, inflation is showing no signs of abating, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to cast a pall over physical, brick-and-mortar retail. Which is to say, the m-commerce space is in for a unique year. It’ll be interesting to see how apps like Amazon, SHEIN, and Walmart perform down the stretch.
