Shopping App Downloads Reached Record 1.1 Billion Globally in Q3 2019

We’ll be sharing excerpts this week from our newly released State of Shopping Apps Report for 2019. We’re starting off this series with the top shopping apps by worldwide downloads for Q3 2019 and our five-year forecast for growth of the category on the App Store and Google Play. App download estimates in this report are from Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform.

Worldwide Shopping Apps Download Trends Q1 2016 to Q2 2019

Shopping app downloads reached an all-time high of 1.1 billion worldwide in Q3 2019. New user growth remained strong at 15 percent year-over-year, including 18 percent growth on the App Store and 12 percent growth on Google Play. Downloads for the App Store Shopping category decreased Y/Y in Q1 2019, driven primarily by a slowdown in China. Growth bounced back for the following two quarters. App Store Shopping downloads were up 18 percent in Q3 2019 versus a year prior, including 21 percent Y/Y growth in China.

Amazon was the top shopping app by downloads between Q1 and Q3 2019, climbing one position from 2018. Wish was the second most downloaded, followed by AliExpress, Shopee, and Pinduoduo.

Shopping Category Growth Forecast

App Store downloads for the Shopping category are projected to reach 2.7 billion by 2023, or a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent. Shopping category downloads increased 18 percent Y/Y in 3Q19. Growth slowed in 2019 with low shopping downloads in China to start the year. Downloads in China bounced back in Q3 2019, so growth is expected to accelerate into 2020.

Shopping apps on Google Play will reach 3.8 billion downloads by 2023. This is a CAGR of 10.5 percent from the 2.3 billion downloads in 2018. Google Play’s top markets for Shopping, such as India and Brazil, will drive a majority of the growth over the next few years. Meanwhile, Indonesia is projected to surpass the U.S. in 2021.

Interested in seeing additional shopping apps insights? Download a free copy of our State of Shopping Apps report below:

Sensor Tower's Store Intelligence platform is an Enterprise level offering. Store Intelligence users can see app download estimates for the above apps in addition to historical performance metrics on the Sensor Tower platform. Our download estimates are from the App Store and Google Play in worldwide between January 1, 2016 and September 30, 2019. Apple apps and Google’s pre-installed apps are excluded. Android estimates do not include third-party stores.