Today’s biggest retail events are noisy, fast-moving and fiercely competitive. From back-to-school time and Prime Day to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the entire holiday shopping season, success comes down to securing attention before the rush begins.
That’s because consumers aren’t waiting for sale day; they’re researching weeks in advance. And mobile apps have become a critical part of that discovery and purchase journey, so long as brands can earn a spot on the device before the buying frenzy hits.
An early app install gives a brand something other channels can’t: a direct, persistent connection with the consumer. That connection represents a way to influence shopping behavior long before the “buy now” moment and keep nurturing it well after. But making the most of retail’s biggest opportunities requires an app-centric omnichannel strategy that starts before the season heats up and extends far beyond the install itself.
Mobile’s Commerce Opportunity by the Numbers
Mobile commerce is big, and it isn’t slowing down. In fact, it’s accelerating on every front. In 2024, shoppers logged an astounding 4.2 trillion hours on mobile, up nearly 6% year over year. In that same time period, global consumer spending on in-app purchases and subscriptions rose 13% to hit $150 billion. Even more telling for retail marketers: Non-game app spending jumped by 25%, adding almost $14 billion in new spending in 2024 alone.
By 2027, apps are projected to account for nearly 94% of all mobile time. The brands that secure a spot on the device now stand to capture a meaningful share of future spending.
App Retention Is the Real Battleground
For brands, the app reality is sobering: Most installs don’t translate to lasting engagement. In fact, more than 90% of users stop engaging with an app before the 30-day mark. On Android, average retention drops from 21.1% on day one to just 2.1% after a month. iOS fares slightly better but still sees a steep decline from 23.9% to 3.7% over the same period.
That means marketers who focus solely on acquisition miss the point. The goal isn’t just to get the app downloaded. It’s to get it used, repeatedly. Users who stay engaged are more loyal, more likely to convert and more responsive to promotions and offers. They become part of a relationship that compounds over time through push notifications, in-app deals, personalized messaging and post-purchase experiences.
Retail’s Biggest Moments Reward Brands That Build Early
Seasonal shopping events represent powerful opportunities for app-focused brands, but seizing this opportunity requires that brands already have a relationship in place. Campaigns that treat the app install as a last-minute tactic tend to fall flat. Instead, successful seasonal app strategies start early and focus on building engagement before peak moments hit.
Different shopping events offer different openings for brands. Back-to-school is a chance to connect with college students and early-planning parents. Prime Day can be a moment to complement rather than compete with major retail promotions. Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be highly lucrative for brands that move with speed to target high-value segments with flash messaging. Meanwhile, the fuller holiday shopping season offers an opening to activate gift-givers with contextual campaigns and retarget customers based on previous purchases.
In every case, app install efforts can serve as multipliers by unlocking lifetime value across multiple sales cycles, not just a single event. They also open doors to deliver timely incentives. Research has shown that app users are 40% more motivated by discounts and incentives than non-app users. Managed correctly, the app relationship becomes a sustained growth driver.
App ownership and usage data represent the key to unlocking next-level campaign results. With app ownership and usage data, brands can suppress existing customers to reduce waste in their campaigns focused on new user acquisition. In addition, they can leverage this data to identify their competitive sets to actively conquest customers.
The Best Time to Build Momentum Is Before You Need It
For marketers looking to build sustained growth via mobile, T-Mobile Advertising Solutions (T-Ads) offers a purpose-built App Lifecycle Suite designed to drive results across every stage of the funnel. The suite helps brands build awareness through premium inventory and carrier-level audience targeting, drive acquisition with contextually relevant placements and sustain engagement with dynamic reengagement and behaviorally driven retargeting.
T-Ads can leverage its app ownership and usage data not only for targeting but also for measuring the impact each campaign has on active users in a brand’s apps vs. the brand’s competitive set. The results are the kind that truly move the needle for brands. After all, an increase in app usage of 5% can be the difference between a successful Q4 and a soft Q4 for a brand’s competitors.
Importantly, the suite isn’t confined to mobile touchpoints alone. T-Mobile’s omnichannel reach—spanning mobile, out-of-home, and cross-device retargeting—helps brands maintain visibility across key moments and media. In a privacy-first era, this matters. It gives brands a way to build direct relationships, create their own addressable audiences, and tap into richer intent signals for smarter segmentation, especially critical during peak commerce periods.
The most common misstep marketers make? Waiting until Q4 to launch app-centric campaigns aimed at holiday shoppers. By then, the window for meaningful engagement has narrowed. Brands that start in Q3, during the back-to-school push or around Prime Day, set themselves up for stronger connections and better omnichannel results when the holiday season arrives. Early action builds better audience quality, deeper personalization opportunities, and stronger conversion potential.
The most successful brands don’t just chase installs. They build relationships. The revenue will follow.
