AppsFlyer & Facebook decode Indian Festive Season 2020

AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, today released a joint report with Facebook, ‘The Essential Guide to the Indian Festive Season 2020’. The report analyzes mobile app consumer behavior and provides guidance on app marketing tactics in India in the months leading up to Diwali 2020 and the festive season that extends beyond it.

Massive digital acceleration for brands as consumers gear up for Diwali and festive season beyond it

Brands across Shopping and Food & Drink verticals are expected to gain from the boom in digital adoption and the expanded mobile market. Insights from the report reveal that social media is a massive opportunity for brands as the festive season approaches. The report analyzed 500 apps and 720 million installs over a specified period to gauge the shift in customers’ online shopping behavior and to help app marketers unlock growth this festive season and beyond.

Also read: Affle platforms recognised as top performers in AppsFlyer Performance Index

Nitin Chopra, Industry Head, Ecommerce at Facebook India said, “India’s fast-growing digital population of 500M+ drives a significant surge of online activity during the festive season. With 400M Indians on the Facebook family of apps, we play a key role in the consumer path-to-purchase. As marketers leverage the increased consumer spending in the festive season, maintaining business momentum beyond Diwali will be top of mind for them. Continued sharp focus on acquisition and retention strategies will be critical and can lead to higher frequency and ARPU.”

Sanjay Trisal, Country Manager for AppsFlyer India, “The markets have fundamentally shifted from offline to online as a majority of consumers are trying to avoid public places. This is further going to spike during the festive season with people trying to break the monotony of being confined to their homes. Our data shows that there is a strong intent from consumers to use, buy, and pay for goods and services this festive season, and apps are now the de-facto platforms where consumers spend their time and make purchases. The right mix of user acquisition and retargeting will be the key to success for app marketers this festive season and beyond.”

The report brings out insights and recommendations by AppsFlyer and Facebook for businesses to build upon the current consumer trends. While these best practices are highly relevant to this festive season, they hold true even beyond this season, as the surge in online adoption is a permanent trend.

Notably, the pandemic has been a watershed moment for the app ecosystem as it altered consumer behavior and boosted online shopping. Consumers in India have embraced a digital lifestyle in the new normal, and the lockdown produced a deluge of online shoppers who engaged in online shopping for the first time.

The report especially calls out to marketers to build a strong consumer acquisition and retention strategy with a focus on return on marketing spend. Additionally, brands must ensure to optimize their media mix for higher efficiency.
Brands should start advertising early and build on it post the festive season. Online shopping witnessed a significant uptake during the lockdown and improved retargeting conversions by 31% in Q3-20 as compared to Q3-19. To sustain the momentum and drive conversions, the playbook recommends marketers start media campaigns as early as four weeks before Diwali and maintain it after Diwali as well.

The report points out key recommendations by Facebook for brands to win this festive season and beyond:

Strengthen new user acquisition this festive season and beyond – Optimize media and focus on Lifetime Value (LTV) to drive acquisition efforts.
Retarget aggressively – Grow the user base by preventing uninstalls and encouraging ‘window shopping’. Retargeting improved ARPUs by25% for the period Sep-Nov 2019.
Plan ahead for the festive season and sustain advertising beyond Diwali – Update catalogs and plan campaign budgets in advance.

Retargeting has Gained More Relevance

Given pandemic-led economic uncertainties, App marketers should prioritize their strategic spending to strike the right balance between acquiring new users and retaining the current customer base. When lockdowns were enforced in India, retargeting gained traction, proving to be a reliable engagement tactic for app marketers.

The report comes at a time when brands need guidance to navigate the new normal and sustain business continuity even beyond the festive season. With digital making inroads into all walks of life amid the pandemic, brands must amp up their marketing strategy to drive more conversions and retain users on the verge of making the first online purchase. The complete report can be downloaded here.

Here is how some of the leading businesses are building for the festive season:

“In this season of gifting, we will continue to drive full-funnel campaigns on digital. We are accelerating our customer acquisition initiatives across different valuable consumer cohorts. Our remarketing campaigns focus on re-engaging with new users and up-trading them to premium and luxury categories. We have added multiple sections on our platform that help consumers discover, explore, and choose the right gifts for their loved ones. We are leveraging digital tools like click to WhatsApp and AR to engage with consumers throughout their purchase journeys,” said Kishore Mardikar, Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Cliq

“eCommerce and e-grocery, in particular, have witnessed tremendous growth this fiscal year, and we expect this trend to continue throughout the festive season. To capitalise on this trend, brands should create a digital-led marketing playbook across the funnel to maintain salience and drive sales conversion. With Facebook’s full-funnel marketing solutions across brand and performance, we at Grofers connect with consumers, simplify their user experience and deliver value to them,” said Prashant Verma, Head of Marketing, Grofers