Shopping apps are extremely popular in the Asia Pacific region, according to research by Criteo. 60% of smartphone owners in the region have between 2 and 5 ecommerce apps installed, with over 90% of these people making at least one purchase per month. In fact, just over 40% said that they made purchases up to 5 times per month. Almost three-quarters said that they preferred to make purchases using an app than on a mobile website. The research also highlighted the importance of user experience. Half of respondents said that a poor user experience on an app would give them a negative impression of the brand. 43% of Indonesians and 39% of Taiwanese people even went as far as saying that they would uninstall an app if it was not user friendly. The study shows that creating a shopping app is an extremely worthwhile activity in the Asia Pacific region, but that user testing is essential and that brands need to make sure that their apps are user friendly if they do not want to risk damaging their reputation.
