AppsFlyer has released its 2022 Festive Guide to equip marketers with data-driven insights for the October to December festive season. Owing to last year’s trend of installs being the highest in October, it is recommended that they start their holiday marketing campaigns early this year. 

Moreover, there was a spike in the share of paying users (SPUs) in October in categories like shopping, food and drink, finance and entertainment. Recently Meta released its annual consumer insights report for the 2022 festive season. It noted that over 93 per cent of shoppers are likely to try a new brand throughout the festive season. This allows marketers to plan their campaigns innovatively to enable brand discovery and consideration.

The food and drink category registered an 18% increase in non-organic installs (NOI), with the highest activity observed in the weeks before the onset of the festivities. Shopping and entertainment apps also saw the heaviest session volume and the total sessions dipped during and after the festive season. 

While NOIs declined steadily from October 2021 onwards and picked up slightly in November, finance apps were the only exception where the NOIs rose through the season. These apps see the heaviest session volume a week before and during Diwali.

AppsFlyer’s Festive Guide shows a 10 per cent increase in non-organic installs in Q2 2022 compared to the previous quarter. Moreover, the report noted that user acquisition campaigns for finance apps are paying off as far as driving growth is concerned.  

As players in different app categories surge, marketers should consider strategies that engage and retain users, especially remarketing. Its adoption in the Indian market has been higher, with over 50 per cent uplift, than the rest of the world and almost 70 per cent higher than the APAC markets. 

Fifty per cent more apps are remarketing in the first half of this year, compared with last year's period. At the same time, at 105 per cent, it stood for a higher share of paying users for finance apps running remarketing.

Aditya Maheshwari, director of customer success at AppsFlyer INSEA and ANZ, said, “With rising excitement among end-users to get together for festive celebrations this year, it will be interesting to see how the post-pandemic holiday season pans out in India. Following last year’s festive shopping pivot towards online platforms, this year’s restriction-free holiday season is expected to drive customers to spend more.”

As per AppsFlyer’s recent report, ecommerce apps in India clocked 110 per cent YoY install growth, and in-app purchases saw uninterrupted growth from 2021 to 2022. “We also see more Indians from Tier-II and Tier-III cities looking to purchase online during the festive season. Taking a cue from last year’s trends, marketers should start early this season to drive the discovery of products and offers through social media among the excited pool of customers,” Maheshwari added. 

He opined that app marketers must give owned data greater precedence to retain old and existing customers. They must also explore various first-party data avenues like owned media, WhatsApp marketing, shoppable live streaming, etc., to have personalized conversations with consumers at scale.