A study conducted by CleverTap has revealed that while smartphone apps which allow users to carry out safe shopping online are popular, a large proportion of users choose to stop using the retail apps they download fairly soon after installation.

86 per cent of app users were found to have abandoned the software after the first month, which suggests that designers need to do more to give people a reason to return again and again over longer periods, according to Internet Retailing.

This drop-off is partly caused by the fact that people who install apps are not then immediately likely to complete their registration with the service, since just 16 per cent of users actually sign up in less than seven days following the download.

In the wake of this first week, around a tenth of people are still actively using the average shopping app, while 42 per cent have chosen to uninstall it altogether. Just over five per cent then download and install it again within the following month.

Acquiring customers through shopping apps is clearly a challenge, and study spokesperson Almitra Karnik said that the e-commerce market was especially competitive at the moment, meaning that brands had a tiny window within which to win over and engage shoppers.

She explained that it made sense for retailers to start making more attempts to retain existing customers rather than simply looking to boost app download numbers, because in the long run it is the loyal users who will generate the biggest returns.

While mobile shopping is increasingly influential, apps are not always the first port of call, in part because consumers do not always agree with the idea of having to switch to a standalone service to make a purchase when they could just as easily do this from their mobile’s web browser.