Local apps reclaim lost users, not just eyeballs

As macroeconomic pressures, platform dynamics, and geopolitical uncertainty converge, India’s mobile commerce ecosystem is rapidly evolving—both mirroring and diverging from global trends. The ‘2025 State of eCommerce App Marketing’ report by AppsFlyer underscores a recalibrated growth strategy across international markets, driven by user acquisition (UA) reallocation, a sharp pivot towards iOS platforms, and increasing dependence on remarketing for long-term value creation.

Remarketing—also known as retargeting—is a digital strategy used to re-engage users who visited a website or app but left without completing a key action, such as a purchase. It works by delivering tailored ads to these users as they continue browsing other sites or apps, with the goal of prompting them to return and convert.

India, often considered a stronghold for Android dominance, has emerged as an unlikely bright spot for iOS-led growth. In November 2024, iOS user acquisition in the country surged by 70% year-over-year, while Android rose a more modest 24%.

Even more tellingly, iOS in-app purchase revenue spiked 44% over the same period, with sustained growth of 31% from January to May 2025. This data complicates long-held assumptions about user value in Android-preferred markets and points to a maturing, segmented consumer base that responds well to platform-specific strategies.

Remarketing spends in India reached $447 million in early 2025, with 99.7% of it stemming from domestic apps. That local apps are dominating this spend indicates a sharpened focus on retention and reactivation, with marketers leaning on AI-powered segmentation, bidding, and pacing to navigate user-level signal limitations.

This is significant in a year where global remarketing spend ballooned to $16.4 billion in 2024—3.5 times higher than UA budgets. In India, this reflects a clear understanding that the cost-efficiency of re-engagement, particularly through AI, is beginning to rival and even surpass acquisition.

Notably, the surge in paid installs underscores India's alignment with performance-driven marketing. During the 2024 holiday season, paid installs in the country spiked 76% while organic installs remained largely flat, mirroring global trends where Brazil led with a 155% surge. India’s ramp-up began in September and October, leading into a holiday season where marketers predictably shifted their attention to re-engagement. This acquisition-to-retention trajectory, now textbook across developed markets, is being replicated and optimised locally.

The platform gap between iOS and Android is also narrowing in behavioural terms. Globally, iOS users convert 1.3 days faster, show a 39% higher first-time purchase rate, and 68% stronger re-purchase performance. This matters in India, where marketers are increasingly prioritising value per user over volume of users. That iOS in-app purchase revenue in India grew faster than Android’s reflects a shift in how high-value user segments are being targeted and monetised.

While India’s momentum is striking, it is best viewed in the context of broader global realignment. The most dramatic movement has come from China-based eCommerce apps, which are now responsible for 85% of worldwide iOS user acquisition spend. This dominance has been accompanied by a notable reallocation of budgets from the US to Western Europe, driven by tariff-related concerns and regulatory unpredictability.

Germany and France have emerged as key beneficiaries. From January to May 2025, iOS UA grew 170% year-over-year in Germany and more than doubled in France. The UK also saw gains.

As Sue Azari, Industry Lead for eCommerce at AppsFlyer, put it: "This reallocation signals a broader transformation in mobile growth, shaped by tariff uncertainty, regional platform dynamics, and increasing reliance on loyalty-focused remarketing. With the possibility of regulatory or geopolitical shifts ahead, marketers must be ready to adapt quickly. Brands are now making real-time decisions about where to invest based on regulatory environments, user lifetime value, and competitive positioning across multiple continents."

Meanwhile, the US—still the largest remarketing market at $6.67 billion in 2024—saw organic installs outpace paid, suggesting a brand-led ecosystem less reliant on performance marketing. However, even here, re-engagement tactics are gaining steam. In November alone, remarketing surged 218% in the US and 330% in Brazil, reinforcing the global pivot toward maintaining app stickiness rather than just chasing installs.

Globally, the seasonal cadence of eCommerce app marketing is also undergoing a shift. Where previously the lion’s share of UA spend was reserved for Q4, marketers are now spreading acquisition budgets earlier across the year, and reallocating more heavily into remarketing during high-attention windows.

Web-to-app flows, for instance, rose 38% ahead of the 2024 peak season and another 37% in spring 2025. Brands are also increasingly turning to owned media—smart banners, personalised notifications—to drive installs and re-engagement from their mobile sites, capitalising on the superior conversion and loyalty rates within native app environments.

These structural changes have been matched by escalating fraud risks. The report estimates nearly $1 billion globally was at risk, though iOS fraud rates dropped from 30.1% in late 2023 to 25.9%. In contrast, Android fraud rose slightly to 10.5%.

The asymmetry reflects both platform-specific vulnerabilities and the aggressive adoption of AI-led fraud detection in higher-value markets. For India, where fraud detection technologies are still maturing and data regulation is tightening, this raises questions about readiness for the next phase of mobile commerce evolution.

Consumer sentiment globally remains cautious. While holiday season spending is expected to rise modestly, shoppers are planning earlier, purchasing more selectively, and rewarding brands that deliver both convenience and value. In this environment, the efficiency of remarketing—particularly AI-powered strategies—has become more than a tactic; it’s a hedge against volatility.

India’s accelerated iOS growth, coupled with the increased reliance on remarketing and AI, shows the country is no longer a peripheral player in global mobile commerce strategy. Instead, it is a market in transition—with enough scale to matter, enough segmentation to optimise, and enough volatility to innovate.

As global marketing teams gear up for the 2025 holiday season, the playbook is being rewritten. Gone is the singular focus on peak season UA. In its place is a dynamic, data-led, platform-specific and regionally adaptive approach. Whether India can sustain its iOS momentum while managing fraud risks and capitalising on remarketing will determine how central it becomes to the next chapter of mobile commerce growth.

In a market as vast and varied as India, marketers will need to resist the temptation of short-term gains and focus instead on building resilient, responsive strategies. The real battleground isn’t just the next install—it’s who can retain and monetise effectively across platforms, through cycles, and amid uncertainty.