Incentives on E-Commerce App Downloads in Medium Apps: A Case Study on the Effects of Coupons and Bonus Points

Abstract

With the spread of mobile smartphone apps among consumers, they have also become increasingly important for e-commerce companies in recent years to attract customers. A central challenge in the use of smartphone apps by companies is the acquisition and activation of new app users. This case study examines how incentives like coupons and bonus points to download an e-commerce app via other smartphone apps, so-called "medium apps", have an effect. After a review of existing literature on similar topics, hypotheses regarding the probability of installation and actual app usage are developed and tested in an experiment. The hypotheses can be confirmed to a large extent, but especially coupons for the advertised online shop that publishes the e-commerce app do not show the expected effect. Further research questions are identified and practical recommendations for app marketing are derived.