Criteo’s Q3 2018 Global Commerce Review Indicates Sustained Global Growth of Mobile Transactions, with In-App Purchases On the Rise

Criteo S.A, the advertising platform for the open Internet, today released its third Global Commerce Review of the year with data gathered during the third quarter of 2018. The report analyzed browsing and purchasing data from over 5,000 retailers in more than 80 countries and found that mobile transactions, particularly on smartphones, continue to grow, especially when retailers regularly promote their apps.

“Given that the share of mobile transactions continues to grow in most countries and that the share of in-app transactions continues to grow in all countries, retailers are well positioned to drive awareness, consideration and conversion through digital audiences,” said Jaysen Gillespie, Vice President and Head of Analytics and Data Science, Criteo. “But this doesn’t mean brick-and-mortar is dead. Our Q3 Global Commerce Review found that the omnishopper is one of the most valuable audiences, demonstrating the desire from consumers to have both an in-person experience and the convenience of purchasing online.”

The top three key takeaways from Criteo’s Q3 Global Commerce Review include:

Transactions completed on mobile web, especially on smartphones, continued growing in most countries and regions.
The share of app transactions for advertisers who promote their shopping app has continued to steadily increase over time.
Omnichannel customers have the highest lifetime value, on average generating 27 percent of all sales, despite representing only seven percent of all customers.

The Q3 Global Commerce Review serves as a powerful benchmarking tool for marketers as they navigate shopper behaviors across desktop, mobile web and apps.

Additional Q3 Global Commerce Review Research Highlights:

Mobile Continues to Rise

Mobile transactions account for 40 percent (North America) to 52 percent (Asia Pacific) of all transactions globally.
In the United States, share of sales via smartphone increased 14 percent in Q3 2018 compared to Q3 2017.
Brazil experienced a strong spike in smartphone usage with a 41 percent increase in mobile shopping in Q3 2018 compared to Q3 2017.
Northern Europe, including Sweden (60 percent) and Norway (57 percent), and Japan (54 percent) have emerged as leaders in mobile transactions.

Active Promotion of Shopping Apps is Critical to Success
Globally, mobile dominates among retailers that promote their shopping apps. For retailers who actively promote their shopping apps, mobile transactions represented 63 percent of all transactions.
APAC continues to report the highest share of app transactions among retailers who promote their shopping apps (46 percent), followed by Europe (28 percent) and the Americas (25 percent).
On a year over year basis, in-app share of transactions is increasing across all quartiles for app-promoting retailers.
Retailers that have or are considering a shopping app have good reason to invest in promotion—in North America, the conversion rate on shopping apps is more than three times higher than on mobile web and just short of two times higher than on desktops.

Online-Only Retailers Continue to Outpace Traditional Retailers (When Both Promote Shopping Apps)For online-only retailers who promote their app, a full 31 percent of transactions come from the in-app purchase channel.
Brick-and-mortar retailers that promote a shopping app see fewer in-app transactions (21 percent) compared to pure online players, highlighting the opportunity for these retailers to further integrate app technology into shoppers’ experience before, during and after they visit a physical store.
Omnichannel Retailers Win with Data
Omnichannel retailers that can combine their offline and online data can apply over four times as much sales data to optimize their marketing efforts.