In Korea's e-commerce app market this year, Naver's AI-based standalone shopping app "Naver Plus Store," launched in Mar., showed the most notable growth.
According to the "2025 holiday season e-commerce apps and brand insights" report released by global app analytics firm Sensor Tower on the 9th, in Korea from Jan. to Oct. this year, Naver Plus Store ranked No. 1 in both download ranking and download growth rate.
During the same period, Coupang ranked No. 1 in both monthly active users (MAU) and MAU growth among e-commerce apps in Korea, but Naver Plus Store placed second in growth rate, indicating it is rapidly narrowing the gap.
The report said Naver Plus Store ranked No. 1 in downloads on both Google Play and Apple's App Store immediately after its launch in Mar., and ranked No. 1 overall in downloads from Mar. to May with more downloads than ChatGPT. As of Oct., cumulative downloads were close to 8 million.
User analysis showed women accounted for 58%, and by age, those 35–44 made up 41%, leading to an assessment that the platform strongly appeals to middle-aged women focused on household goods and home consumption.
Meanwhile, in the global e-commerce market, Temu ranked No. 1 in both download and active user growth this year, while Blinkit topped the download growth institutional sector.
Global e-commerce app downloads reached 6.35 billion this year, up more than 45% from 4.36 billion in 2019. The compound annual growth rate was about 6.5%. The report said, "Since the pandemic, mobile shopping has become part of daily life, and the market has entered a mature stage, with competition shifting from acquiring new users to user retention and enhancing service experience."
It also noted that the axis of global growth is shifting from mature markets to emerging markets (Latin America, Africa, Middle East), and that in the digital advertising institutional sector, the shopping industry has become a "big spender." In particular, in the United States, the shopping industry spent about $19 billion (about 28 trillion won) on digital advertising from Jan. to Oct. this year.