African marketers can benefit from boom in app uptake

It is important news for the continent’s marketers, who are increasingly incorporating apps into their strategy. Doing so can help drive e-commerce, enhance brand loyalty and customer convenience, and promote in-store and other offline activity – through, for example, exclusive special offers to regular clients.

The study analysed more than 6 000 apps and two-billion app installs across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, and found that overall installs increased by 41%. The research took place over a year: between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021.

Nigeria had highest increase in installs

Nigeria showed the highest growth, with a 43% overall increase in installs. This was followed by South Africa with 37% and Kenya with 29%.
Perhaps driven by the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, in-app purchasing revenue increased significantly between July and September 2020, with an average 136% increase compared to the previous three months. This emphasised how much African consumers were spending within apps, from retail purchases to buying gaming upgrades.

In South Africa, in-app purchasing revenue surged by 213%. Nigeria showed a rise of 141% and Kenya’s in-app purchasing revenue was up by 74% over the same period.

As lockdowns took hold during the second quarter of 2020, installs of mobile apps increased by an overall 20% compared to the first quarter of the year. Most of this activity was in SA, where stay-at-home restrictions were the toughest. But Kenya also showed a significant uptick and there was a smaller rise in Nigeria.