The global ecommerce marketing industry is rapidly shifting away from acquiring new users and toward re-engaging existing customers as rising advertising costs, market saturation and geopolitical disruptions reshape mobile commerce strategies, according to a 2026 report by AppsFlyer.
The report, based on analysis of 35 billion marketing conversions and $5.5 billion in advertising spend between October 2024 and March 2026, found remarketing now accounts for the overwhelming majority of ecommerce app advertising budgets on both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms.
On iOS, remarketing represented 92% of all ad spend globally in the first quarter of 2026, up from 77% a year earlier, while Android remarketing rose to 85% of total spend.
The study covered more than 1,800 ecommerce apps across 13-plus markets, excluding grocery and marketplace platforms.
China retreat reshapes spending
A major driver behind the shift was a pullback in spending by China-based advertisers in the United States after tariff-related disruptions altered global ad flows.
AppsFlyer said U.S. iOS user acquisition spending fell 57% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, while Android spending dropped 23%, reflecting reduced activity from Chinese ecommerce platforms.
Globally, iOS user acquisition spending declined 5% in the same period, while Android rose 5%.
India-based brands emerged as the largest source of Android user acquisition spending during the period, overtaking Chinese advertisers. India’s Android user acquisition spending grew 63% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the strongest increase among markets studied.
The report said India’s growth reflected domestic demand rather than global expansion because Indian ecommerce advertisers primarily spent within their home market.
China-based apps, meanwhile, shifted focus toward re-engagement campaigns. Their share of iOS remarketing spending rose from 43% to 50% between the two reporting periods even as their share of iOS acquisition spending declined 28%.
The report said English-speaking Western markets remained heavily iOS-centric for user acquisition spending, with the United States and Britain allocating around 84% to 85% of acquisition budgets to iOS. Emerging markets such as India, Brazil and Mexico remained Android-dominated.
Remarketing surges across markets
Remarketing spending rose sharply across nearly all regions analyzed.
Globally, iOS remarketing spending climbed 53% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, while Android rose 37%.
India recorded the strongest increases, with Android remarketing up 207% and iOS up 287%.
AppsFlyer said the pattern suggested advertisers were increasingly prioritizing existing customers during key shopping periods, including the year-end holiday season.
The trend accelerated further in early 2026. Global iOS remarketing spending rose 75% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter, with gains recorded across the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil and South Korea.
Android growth during the same period was concentrated mainly in India and Indonesia, while many Western markets saw Android remarketing spending decline even as iOS spending increased.
According to the report, paid installs fell in 16 of 21 iOS markets studied, yet every one of those markets simultaneously recorded growth in remarketing conversions.
The report cited examples including the United States, Germany, Spain and the United Arab Emirates, where acquisition declined but re-engagement campaigns delivered stronger conversion performance.
India was the only major market to post growth across all four dimensions, including Android and iOS installs as well as remarketing conversions.
Installs fail to translate into spending
The report also found widening gaps between install growth and consumer spending.
Germany emerged as the strongest-performing consumer spending market, with Android consumer spend share rising 40% and iOS growing 22%.
Britain also gained share on both platforms and overtook Japan to become the third-largest iOS consumer spending market during the reporting period.
India, despite leading in install growth and remarketing conversion gains, lost consumer spending share on both Android and iOS.
AppsFlyer said the pattern suggested rapid user growth was not translating into equivalent purchasing activity.
Saudi Arabia showed a similar decline in spending share despite strong historical ecommerce performance.
Brazil remained the largest Android consumer spending market, though its share softened during the period.
The report also highlighted differences in buyer behavior across markets.
South Korea recorded the highest Android loyal buyer rate in the dataset, while Brazil displayed one of the sharpest divides between Android and iOS consumer behavior, with iOS users showing significantly higher purchasing activity.
AI tools focus on campaign optimization
AppsFlyer also analyzed more than 8,000 English-language queries submitted to its AI assistant by nearly 400 ecommerce brands.
The study found campaign performance and analytics were the dominant use cases for AI tools, accounting for one-quarter of all classified questions.
Remarketing and re-engagement mechanics represented 27% of all attribution-related questions, while Apple privacy rules and SKAdNetwork-related issues accounted for another 16%.
Together, those areas represented 43% of attribution inquiries, highlighting growing complexity around measurement and re-engagement tracking on iOS.
Campaign-level optimization queries accounted for 64% of funnel-related questions, while retention-related questions represented only 9%.
The report said most marketers were using AI tools for quick data retrieval rather than deeper diagnostic analysis.
Fraud shifts toward higher-value iOS markets
Although global install fraud rates declined overall, AppsFlyer identified rising fraud activity in Western European iOS markets.
France’s iOS fraud rate nearly doubled to 23% in the first quarter of 2026 from 11.8% a year earlier, while Britain rose to 20% from 11.4%.
The report said fraudsters appeared to be targeting high-cost iOS markets where the value of fraudulent installs was greater.
Affiliate traffic recorded the highest fraud rates, peaking at 41.2% during the 2025 holiday shopping season as advertisers expanded partnerships with new traffic networks.
At the same time, fraud rates on self-reporting networks such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Apple and Snap remained below 1%.
AppsFlyer said ecommerce marketers preparing for the 2026 holiday season should increasingly focus on re-engagement campaigns, tighter fraud controls and more sophisticated use of AI-powered analytics as the industry moves further away from acquisition-led growth.
