New Ipsos study: Germans prefer user-friendly shopping apps with many partners

German consumers have an average of 38 apps installed on their smartphone, 6 of which are from brick-and-mortar retailers and 5 from online retailers. However, only just under half of these are used more than once every three months. And apps that do not provide any tangible added value are quickly deleted by 72% of consumers.
These are the findings of a representative online study on the usage behavior of retail apps conducted by the Ipsos Institute on behalf of the PAYBACK bonus program.
According to the study, PAYBACK is the best-known and also by far the most frequently used bonus program in Germany (92%, 74%). 64 percent of PAYBACK customers use PAYBACK at least once.
customers use PAYBACK at least once a week.
As the study shows, retail apps in particular, which offer customers many benefits (79%) and many functions (65%), are proving to be indispensable shopping companions. In this context, 88% of respondents attach particular importance to the simplicity and user-friendliness of bonus programs. 91 percent of respondents believe that PAYBACK is easy to use and 90 percent appreciate the wide range of options offered by the large partner network. 67 percent explicitly want a large network.

“The study shows a clear preference for multi-partner programs. More than 50 percent of customers
want an offer where they can earn points and discounts from several providers with one app,” says
providers with one app,” says PAYBACK Managing Director Dominik Dommick. In comparison
individual apps have a much lower frequency of use. The respondents see a further advantage
respondents see another advantage in the possibility of linking the PAYBACK app with other retail apps: 73 percent state that they have already made use of this option.

For the population-representative study, a total of 1,500 people were surveyed online in October 2023 and January 2024.