This year, Ramadan ran from April 2 to May 1, 2022. This period of time is often associated with large shopping sales in many markets. We took a look at the latest mobile trends during Ramadan 2022.
Consumers Turned to Mobile Shopping Apps and Games to Access Deals, Stay Connected and Play with Family & Friends During Ramadan
Similar to other religious holidays, Ramadan is also an important month for retailers. Many sales accompany the festivities. Mobile shopping took on an even more important role amidst COVID-induced lockdowns and social-distancing measures. data.ai saw COVID-19 dramatically accelerated mobile shopping habits in 2020, and these habits continued through 2021. During Ramadan 2022, we took a look at what apps were in high demand for mobile shoppers. We also break down the leading games played during the festive season and how consumers connected and entertained during the holy month.
Globally, consumers turned to mobile to engage during Ramadan, particularly for prayer. Downloads of the top 10 Quran apps grew 120% during Ramadan versus the 30 days prior. Time spent grew even faster at 135% — fueled by both a larger audience of mobile users and deeper per-user engagement. Average daily time spent per user in top Quran apps grew 55% to approach 20 minutes during the 30-day period.
For an exclusive look at the mobile apps and games market during Ramadan 2022, check out more interactive graphs on our blog here.
Price-Savings & BNPL Apps Led the Shopping Sector During Ramadan 2022
Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) apps was the fastest growing subgenre by downloads among Shopping apps, according to data.ai’s App IQ for Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore during Ramadan 2022 compared to 30-days prior.
In Indonesia, BNPL were #2 behind e-commerce (Retailer) apps. In Singapore, BNPL apps (+23% growth) outpaced the Shopping app market (+5%) overall by 4.6x, led by Atome SG and hoolah, the #1 and #4 breakout apps, respectively, during this period. Coupons & Rewards apps also ranked within the top 3 subgenres by growth rate for Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan — illustrating consumers are looking for additional ways to save, including alternate credit options. Breakout apps included Senheng in Malaysia (#4), Jazz Discount Bazar (#2) in Pakistan and CardsPal (#3) in Singapore.
data.ai’s App IQ provides a powerful, robust taxonomy to segment the competitive mobile shopping market. Businesses and brands can get a nuanced view into the ecosystem, uncover driving consumer behavior and uncover potential areas of opportunity for growth.
Shopee Tops Breakout Charts in Indonesia & Malaysia — User Acquisition Campaigns Help Drive Downloads During Ramadan 2022
We took a look at what retailers gained the most traction with mobile shoppers during Ramadan compared to the 30-days prior. Consumers remained loyal to South East Asian-headquartered companies in the breakout charts alongside some international brands. In Indonesia, Singapore-HQ’d Shopee, a C2C E-commerce app, garnered the most traction followed by homegrown Blibli.com. Shopee was also the top rising star in Malaysia.
Shopee was a big player in driving downloads during April 2022. In Indonesia alone, Shopee ran ads on 9 ad platforms garnering over 60% share of voice on 2 ad platforms according to data.ai’s advertising intelligence. This indicates that this was a key time period to garner both new users to the Shopee app, as well as re-engage existing customers. Shopee also included the keyword “Ramadan” in its app name on Google Play — an App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy to help drive organic traffic.
According to data.ai’s Creative Intelligence, Shopee’s increased share of advertiser impressions and share of creative impressions indicates this video ad was likely resonating with viewers and driving downloads. The ad was seen in 49 apps, with a high volume of games. The video ad also emphasized vouchers — appealing to the sale period.
Outside of user acquisition, we also saw time spent grow — indicating both existing and new users — are shopping more. Shopee ranked #1 for breakout time spent in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In Indonesia, home-grown Tokopedia ranked #2 by breakout time spent.
Fashion Retailers See Strong Demand Leading Up to Eid
Notably Singapore-HQ’d app ZALORA ranked in both Malaysia(#7) and Indonesia(#6). Self-described as “Asia’s Online Shopping Fashion Destination”, ZALORA is unique in Indonesia. Where many fashion retailers tend to have a larger female user base, ZALORA actually saw 55% of its user base were males in April 2022 on Android phones. It is important to note that our analysis is limited to males and females only and is not representative of all gender identities. Fashion appeared to be a key driver of mobile shopping in Malaysia during Ramadan, with SHEIN (#3) and UNIQLO MY (#5) alongside ZALORA. SHEIN and UNIQLO SG also ranked among the breakout apps in Singapore. adidas and eyewear provider Lenskart also ranked among the breakout apps in Singapore, showing 4 out of the 10 top apps were focused on fashion.
In Pakistan, all-in-one shopping app Daraz saw the strongest growth, however, fashion retailers elo, Next, SIVVI and VogaCloset were among the big movers.
Outside of Shopping, Games Were Top of Mind During Ramadan, Notably Hypercasual Titles
OneSoft’s Brain Test – Thinking Games, a Hypercasual > Puzzle game, according to data.ai’s Game IQ, ranked as a breakout game by downloads in each market analyzed (Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore) during Ramadan. The title was the #1 breakout game in Pakistan and Singapore. Hypercasual games dominated 8 of the top 10 breakout games by downloads in Malaysia — by far, the most ‘hypercasual’ market of the group. Pakistan, Singapore and Indonesia each saw 5 of 10 of their breakout games from the hypercasual genre, a testament to the ease and accessibility of gameplay of this subgenre.
In Pakistan, downloads of Games grew 20% during Ramadan compared to the 30 days prior. Hypercasual games represented 5 of the top 10 breakout games led by Brain Test – Thinking Games and Tricky Quiz: Brain Out Puzzle. Consumers sought fun ways to pass the time, while stimulating their minds.
It is important to note that Uni by UniccPlay, a Simulation > Creative Sandbox game was the #1 breakout game by downloads in Indonesia. This subgenre was popularized by Roblox, and indicates a strong demand for world-building, immersive, metaverse-style games that bring people together and emphasize user-generated content.
Stand Out Among the Crowd During Prominent Periods
Ramadan represents an important time for driving user acquisition (UA) and cultivating strong customer loyalty. Understanding the competitive landscape, key drivers of demand and partnership potentials can help you drive adoption and retention on mobile. Looking to make more of the mobile opportunity? Talk to an expert today.
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