As we have reported before, mobile apps are booming in retailing — and this trend promises to continue for all types of retailers around the world.

Alexandra Kaufman reports for App Annie that:

“Retail apps flourished in 2016 — netting more downloads, revenue, and engaged users than ever before. Mobile earned 44% of retailers’ online traffic, totaling 31% of sales in 2016. We took a deep dive into the retail mobile economy as a whole in App Annie’s 2016 Retrospective. Specifically, we looked at the performance of bricks-and-clicks and digital-first retail apps, and the impact mobile holds on seasonal retail-heavy holidays.”

“Bricks-and-clicks apps are associated with companies that have a heavy brick-and-mortar presence such as Target and UNIQLO. Digital-first apps lend themselves to the opposite, and are associated with companies with a very prominent online presence such as Amazon and Wish. Across the six markets we analyzed — the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany France, South Korea and Japan — digital-first apps earned a higher number of sessions per month, with a faster growth rate as well.”

Click here to see App Annie’s full 2016 report. [Note: A free signup is required.]