Indian Smartphone Shopping Volume On The Rise; Fashion Most Popular Category
Shoppers are increasingly making purchases using smartphones, with both the share and total volume of such sales growing. In the first half of 2024, the number of mobile purchases is expected to grow by more than 10% in India and more than 15% globally, according to mobile app growth platform Mobmio.
To support brands in leveraging this trend, Mobmio has launched a new platform designed to improve transparency, streamline tracking and automate the management of mobile traffic data. This platform aims to improve how businesses manage mobile sales channels, offering a more precise and efficient approach to tracking mobile marketing efforts.
The platform can issue direct MMP (mobile measurement partner) links, which reduces traffic loss and eliminates unnecessary redirects. The feature automates tasks related to cost-per-action programmes, allowing brands to optimise mobile traffic.
With the help of the platform, Mobmio analysed more than 26 million mobile orders globally, including over 2.6 million in India. The data sheds light on consumer behaviors and highlights which strategies help brands optimise their mobile sales channels.
Calculations showed that not only are the number of smartphone orders growing, but also the amount people are willing to spend. The global average order value for mobiles has risen from $25.5 to $28.7 this year, and from $17 to $17.3 in India.
What Mobile Shoppers Are Looking For
The most popular product category among Indian shoppers was fashion, accounting for over 27% of mobile sales in 2024, compared to 21% of purchases in 2023. Electronics were next in line with 22% of orders, but its position in mobile sales in 2024 declined—in the first half of 2023, it accounted for more than 23.1% of mobile sales.
Next in line were home goods (12.4% of total orders), beauty and health products (7.7%), auto goods (6.4%) and toys and hobby products (6.2%). Indian shoppers also like to order children's goods (4.6%), sporting goods (4%) and food delivery (3.9%) from their cellphones.
Mobile sales of fashion items (+15%), toys (+22%) and food delivery (+25%) grew the most in the first half of 2024.
Technology Challenges
Companies betting on mobile traffic have to study statistics from multiple sources—ad networks and trackers. This data is often incomplete and makes reconciliation difficult.
“Managers have to spend more than half of their time manually bringing all these disparate pieces of data together so that the brand can get a more clear tracking picture. And even after these efforts, it is often impossible to achieve 100% transparency and accuracy of stats, because these services and platforms provide already processed, secondary data, and may miss some of the indicators,” said Neha Kulwal, managing director, APAC and India, Mitgo. “Brands are using two main methods to address this challenge: increasing the spend on staff and additional contractors, or automation.”
Mobile Publishers' Profits Up
Despite the challenges, the sales and cash flow growth in the industry is good. Mobmio estimates that Indian mobile publishers' profits are up 15% this year. Global partner revenues are growing at a similar rate.
Brands are also increasingly turning to partnerships with mobile traffic owners. The number of Indian companies that partner with mobile apps, smartphone manufacturers and other publishers through partner networks increased by more than 12% in 2024 and are expected to grow even further in 2025.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
