How Retail App Marketers Can Sustain Holiday Season Success Long After the Gifts Are Unwrapped

For e-commerce and shopping app marketers, the fourth quarter is make-or-break: large marketing budgets meet high shopping intentions compressed into a few frenzied weeks. Whether you increase spend or not, success and increased conversions during this period are about planning smarter and testing earlier.

Adjust’s 2025 Shopping App Insights report found that installs for shopping apps grew 104 percent year-over-year in Q4 2024, with sessions up 42 percent. Meanwhile, marketplace apps saw the strongest user engagement metrics, accounting for 60 percent of global sessions. These apps maintained the best day one retention rate at 24.8 percent, significantly outperforming the global overall e-commerce average of 13 percent.

The takeaway is clear: An increasing number of shoppers are turning to mobile apps during this peak shopping season. For mobile marketers and app teams, the initial conversion is critical, but implementing strategic measures to retain the highest possible number of new users will pay off later. Instead of focusing solely on volume, if even a percentage from the rush period can be retained, that's a big win.

Plan Early, Prepare for a Marathon

Many brands still see Q4 as a sprint between Black Friday and Christmas. In reality, data shows holiday shopping starting earlier than ever as consumers are on an almost constant search for deals, which ramps up the closer we get to Q4. A Bankrate survey, for example, finds nearly half of shoppers planned to start holiday shopping before Halloween this year. Treating Q4 as a marathon that starts before the quarter begins, rather than a week-to-week sprint, ensures you don’t miss weeks of sustained, high-value traffic.

Q4 ad costs can accelerate fast. In Q1 2025, global shopping app CPIs (cost per install) surpassed $1 globally. During the peak weeks like those in Q4, that number can go even higher. Waiting to experiment with creatives or channels until Q4 means optimizing under pressure — and at the highest prices.

Instead, test before the rush:

• Explore New Channels: Connected TV (CTV), influencer partnerships and augmented reality experiences can differentiate your brand in social feeds overflowing with ads.
• Refine Your Funnel: Identify the highest-performing touchpoints before costs spike.
• Diversify Acquisition Sources: Avoid overreliance on one ad network. A diversified mix cushions performance when a single source slows.
• Stay Flexible: Monitor pacing and reallocate spend where performance is strongest. Agility keeps budgets efficient.

The brands that enter Q4 with tested, data-backed playbooks can scale confidently, while competitors scramble to adjust midseason.

Make the Path to Purchase Seamless

Once you’ve captured their attention, the next challenge is keeping users on the path to purchase. In Q4, shoppers hop between devices, platforms and channels — e.g., from CTV-to-app, mobile web-to-app, or even to a brand’s app via an in-store QR code. Each extra click or redirect increases the chance of drop-off.

Deep linking technology helps to smoothen that path, ensuring each ad click leads directly to the intended product page or offer, whether the user is opening the app for the first time or returning to it. Add to that the ability to use branded short links and user trust is increased, which makes the final conversion more likely.

For web-to-app journeys, smart banners increase the rate at which users make the switch, and data repeatedly shows that conversion is higher in-app than on mobile web, despite a high percentage of discovery taking place on the latter. Whichever way users are making their way to a brand’s app, deep linking keeps the  journey seamless and measurable. And when friction disappears, customers are happy and ad spend goes to good use.

Compound ROI With Retention

Driving downloads is only half the battle. While user acquisition surges during the holidays, long-term success comes from retention. In 2024, day one retention for shopping apps averaged just below 13 percent, showing how quickly users churn without continued engagement. Even while global installs dropped 18 percent in the first half of 2025, session volumes held steady — proof that active users are still there and engaged.

Understanding that many high-quality users are simply dormant, reattribution is becoming a larger piece of the puzzle, with global reattribution share climbing from 0.14 in 2023 to 0.18 in H1 2025. A strong onboarding flow, complete with saved carts, personalized recommendations or early rewards, encourages a second session.

And don’t sleep on the post-holiday win-back period. Campaigns in January often convert at lower CPIs, while capitalizing on the large Q4 acquisition base. Incentives that encourage  meaningful in-app actions, not just downloads, create longer-term value and keep new users engaged well past peak season.

The Bottom Line

The most successful app marketing strategies designed for Q4 success start well before Q4 itself. By running smart tests and prioritizing seamless user experiences, personalized for different segments and journeys, the best opportunity for high volume user acquisition combined with the potential for high-value retention is created.

In an environment where change is constant, the ability to pivot quickly and execute with precision will separate the winners from the rest. Now is the time to finish the year strong and maintain long-term growth beyond the holiday rush.

Greg Wang is regional vice president, Americas at Adjust, a leading measurement and analytics company trusted by marketers around the world to measure and grow their apps across platforms.