Is this the period when you are wondering what you are gonna buy for Black Friday sales? Maybe during Cyber Monday this year you will buy the MacBook Pro you have always dreamed about…welcome back to the Q4 period: For your profit's sake, do not be late!
Market dynamics in Q4
Everyone knows that Q4 is one of the most profitable quarters of the year, however, fully leveraging all revenue growth opportunities this period offers can be a little bit challenging instead.
To better understand the economic fluctuations and the market dynamics that shape this market window, let’s divide it into three distinct phases- the Pre-Holiday period (October to early November), the Peak Holiday period (mid-November through December), and the Post-Holiday period (late December to February).
Pre-Holiday Period
The most effective definition to talk about those weeks is: “the calm before the storm” and it is certainly the right moment for shopping app companies to invest into the marketing department.
Specifically in this period, CPMs (Cost per Mille) and CPIs ( Cost per Install) remain manageable, buying visibility and installs at a cheaper price. Moreover, as the consumers are in their “pre-shopping phase”, you will have more chances to capture their attention, increasing your user database too: that’s why this is the ideal moment to invest in the marketing of your business. Being able to experiment, collect reports, and build the right audiences in this period is fundamental before competition increases the costs later during Q4.
Peak Holiday
This period is characterized by fierce competition as every company wants to acquire the highest number of users. Everyone will buy higher visibility and try to get as many user acquisitions as possible, and that’s why the costs related to digital marketing will increase exponentially, bringing back CPM and CPI at a higher level. Shopping apps in this phase see an explosion of activity as users will move from browsing to buying: in those weeks, it is crucial to scale numbers protecting the revenues and the ROAS (Returns on Ad Spending). During this phase, an active app engagement combined with the right deep linking experience will be a match made in eaven for your business!
Post-Holiday
It is the time when a lot of advertisers cut budgets, but forward-looking marketers know that the months of January and February can be important resources too. During this period, more related to Q5, competition dropped again, making CPIs and CPMs decrease, defining a situation very close to the pre-holiday period one. It is essential that, although users will be less active in this “after-purchase” period, they continue to explore our app: this surely constitutes an important opportunity for re-engagement campaigns.
Practical Insights to maximise Shopping Apps Q4 revenues
Beyond understanding economic patterns that define Q4, for any shopping app to become a winner in this period is fundamental adapting to where, who, how, and when you engage your audience.
Optimizing delivery and targeting by language, geography, and cultural context ensures your marketing campaigns focus on where the best engagement areas are.
- DMA Targeting, a marketing strategy that enables advertisers to focus on specific geographical areas to optimize overall company profitability.
- Device Language Targeting is a campaign setting that allows advertisements to be shown to users based on their language preferences.
- Geo Expansion and Worldwide Campaigns, which use a data-driven approach to analyse opportunities related to new geographical areas.
Localized strategies capture high-intent users in regions experiencing surging seasonal activity, improving both reach and conversion quality
During Q4, when the costs peak, smarter audience segmentation means gaining more advantages for every single dollar spend.
- High-Value User Targeting essentially means focusing your budget on users most likely to repeat purchases in your app.
- Contextual targeting is the strategy based on top-performing app IDs , device models, ISP to find the most active and proficient converters.
Choosing the right placement is also fundamental to drive the most engaged users to your shopping app.
- Rewarded Inventory, is a type of ad space where users voluntarily watch some advertisements or download apps in exchange for a reward, such as in-app currency or discounts on the next purchases.
Thanks to premium placements you will be able to gain even more visibility during the most competitive season of the year.
Capturing High engagement windows- specifically Pre Holiday and Peak Holiday period- ensures your campaign to achieve users when their propensity to purchase is maximized.
- Weekend Performance Capture basically increases ad budgets or sales in shopping apps during the weekends: time when users do not have to work and so they will be more active on their mobile devices.
What’s after Q4 period: Long term profitability
Retention is your real multiplier. Boosting purchases and installs during Q4 helps, but it represents only a small slice of the overall growth strategy.
To maximize your holiday’s shopping app campaign, you need to turn new users into loyal, high-value consumers who will keep engaged with your app beyond the season.
- Saved carts and wishlist reminders drive users to conclude incomplete purchases
- Personalized product recommendations based on users taste and purchases history
- Early rewards and loyalty points for subsequent orders
- Post- Holiday win-back campaigns with special discounts and special offers
This will make you a profit maximiser as you will be able to benefit in the future for costs you had in the past, ultimately increasing the overall long term profitability of your app.
Key takeaways you must remember
As Q4 is the most profitable period for shopping apps, to outperform competitors and become a leader in the market, you must convert this seasonal peak into real, lasting growth, here’s what you must keep in mind:
- Leverage Market Dynamics: Understand how consumers' behaviours, costs, and competition level change across the Pre-Holiday, Peak-Holiday, and Post-Holiday Phases. In this way, you will be able to plan your strategy on time, being ready to be effectively reactive to the competition.
- Invest Strategically at every stage: Different budget allocation across the time window this period offers, according to different opportunities related to them, from cheaper marketing experimentation to aggressive cost increasing during the high-demand period.
- Assess smarter marketing tools: Use allocation, audience segmentation, premium localization, and timing optimization to capture high-value users in the perfect moment for conversions.
- Be a forward looking marketer: Remember that user acquisition only matters if you turn new users into consumers who will continue to make purchases in your app even after Q4. Through retention, personalization, and re-engagement, you will be able to increase your loyal customer database and consequently your long-term revenues too.
Arriving in Q4 with a concrete strategy and an effective budgeting plan for your shopping app means not only increasing your revenues for one economic season, but also gaining compounded benefits that will last well after the holiday window.
