Amazon Prime Day may be underway yet again, but there is cause for concern for the ecommerce giant, with a significant number of users choosing to spend their time on rival platforms in 2023 instead.
According to research from GWS, Amazon has lost over one million daily mobile app users in the UK in 2023, seeing its daily shoppers declined from around 9.3 million to 8.3 million over the past seven months.
“For years Amazon has gone all but unchallenged when it comes to offering the complete ecommerce package to consumers, and much of its success has been via its mobile app. However, mobile analytics data from GWS shows how brand loyalty on retail shopping apps moves quickly during challenging economic times, and retailers need to stay on top of the curve or risk getting left behind.
Fellow ecommerce powerhouse eBay has also seen a downturn, with mobile user numbers sliding from around six million to 4.2 million.
On the other hand, emerging rival platform Temu, which only launched in the UK in April 2023, grew to 3.5 million daily mobile users in its first month, but has seen its user base plateau since May 2023. Meanwhile, Shein has doubled its daily users from one to two million this year.
Lithuanian platform Vinted has held steady at around two million daily users in 2023, but its app is only beaten by Temu when it comes to the time users spend there.
UK consumers using Temu average 18 minutes a day on the platform, with Vinted sitting on 14 minutes. The other big three all averaged just eight minutes.
“For years Amazon has gone all but unchallenged when it comes to offering the complete ecommerce package to consumers, and much of its success has been via its mobile app,” said Dr Paul Carter, CEO at GWS. “However, mobile analytics data from GWS shows how brand loyalty on retail shopping apps moves quickly during challenging economic times, and retailers need to stay on top of the curve or risk getting left behind.”
When it comes to demographics, Amazon has a more even male-female split than its Chinese rivals Temu and Shein. The US platform’s mobile app user base is 56% female and 44% male, whereas Temu has 66% female users and Shein a staggering 90%.
“While apps like Temu and Shein are seeing significant rises at the moment, expanding their customer bases beyond their faithful female audiences will be crucial for lasting growth and success if they want to pose a genuine threat to Amazon,” said Carter.
