The Growing Importance of Retail Apps: Usage, Features and Coupons

Retail apps have become a central channel for Germany's food and drugstore retailers. This article brings together three Murmuras analyses: how many people use the apps, what they do in them, and how a panel of 3,000 participants now follows coupons from the app to the receipt.

Food retail apps are used more often

The food giants in Germany are pushing their own apps. Lidl Plus has long been known as a pioneer, and REWE followed with the digital brochure in the REWE app and strong advertising. The efforts are visible on consumers' phone screens: a Murmuras study recorded and analyzed how 945 users used the apps of the four major food retailer groups, comparing Q4 2021 with Q4 2022.

Compared to the previous year, most food retailer apps had more users in the sample, so food retail apps are gaining in popularity. Almost every second study participant had installed at least one app from the food giants and used it three times a week on average. The top apps from Lidl, REWE and EDEKA are used equally by women and men.

Figure 1: Share of users per food retailer app, Q4 2021 vs. Q4 2022 (n = 945)

Lidl Plus leads, REWE and EDEKA catch up

The Lidl Plus app is the most popular food retail app: it was installed on every third smartphone in the sample (33% in Q4 2022) and opened about 10 times a month, more than any other. This puts Lidl Plus well ahead of REWE, EDEKA and Aldi. REWE and EDEKA caught up strongly: the share of REWE app users rose from 12% to 17%, and that of EDEKA app users from 11% to 19%.

On average, food retail apps are used between two and four minutes a day. EDEKA and REWE app users spend a little more time in the apps than Lidl Plus users.

The large food retailers advertise heavily on social media

Food retailers also push their products and apps via Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. In Q4 2022, more than 6,000 ad impressions of the four food retail giants were measured among the 945 participants. On average, each social media user in the sample saw around 18 ads. REWE dominates the advertising in the Meta apps: on Facebook, every second user saw at least one ad from the Cologne-based company. The food retailers also follow the TikTok hype; Lidl and Aldi in particular reach consumers on the young platform.

What users do in retail apps: coupons first

In the apps, customers find the latest offers and brochures, and some apps add shopping lists or digital receipts. Above all, providers try to win customers with coupons, and competition among the app providers keeps intensifying. A good example are the interactive advent calendars of the 2023 pre-Christmas season, with daily app coupons and contests. The success speaks for itself: more than 50% of the users who opened the Lidl Plus app activated the €5 Lidl Christmas coupon on a daily basis.

A look at which features people use shows their preferences. In the Mein dm app, 80% of users use the coupon section, while only about 45% use the product section and a mere 16% the shopping cart. Most users seem to use the app mainly to save money on in-store shopping with coupons; online shopping seems to be less popular among dm customers.

The Rossmann app has a more minimalist design. Its focus is clearly on the coupon section, which is also the home screen. The "Aktionen" section regularly features changing promotions with attractive prizes, so Rossmann encourages interaction and builds long-term loyalty. This seems to work: almost two thirds of users spend time in the promotions section.

In all retail apps, coupons play a central role and are often the most popular feature.

Retail apps become a media channel

The trend continues: the launch of the new REWE app and EDEKA's switch to Payback are two examples of how strongly retailers now focus on digital customer engagement. In addition to personalized coupons, retailers create new advertising opportunities for manufacturers with sweepstakes, partner benefits and other promotions in their apps. Retail media is turning into a central platform for customer engagement.

This makes it increasingly important for retailers not only to understand their own digital ecosystem, but also how customers and consumer goods manufacturers behave outside their own app. Traditional insights solutions often fail to answer questions such as:

• How effectively do app-based promotions reach customers?
• Which discounts do competitors offer, and how successful are they?
• Can app-based promotions attract new target audiences?

From the coupon in the app to the receipt

To answer them, Murmuras has set up a consumer panel with 3,000 participants together with Bilendi, Horizoom and Trend Research. Murmuras' on-screen technology passively captures granular behavioral data from grocery and drugstore apps such as Lidl Plus or Mein dm in the background: viewed, activated and redeemed coupons as well as all other app features. The user journey can also be followed beyond the retail apps, including social media, website visits and other apps.

Since 2025, all panel participants also scan their receipts. Only the combination of digital data and receipts shows the full effect of app-based discounts: which app coupons are used, which discounts resonate with customers and how effective the personalization of promotions is. This makes it possible to analyze activation and redemption rates as well as the degree of personalization across app promotions. Murmuras now measures this continuously for the big retail apps: see how coupons in retail apps compare across brands and retailers. How personalized the coupons in these apps already are is shown in our article on personalized offers in retail apps.

Conclusion

Retail apps have grown from a loyalty card replacement into a channel for offers, coupons and advertising. Coupons are their core feature, and with retail media and personalized offers, the apps matter more and more for retailers and manufacturers alike. Understanding their effect takes both: data from the apps and the receipts that show what was actually redeemed.

About the data

• App usage and social media ads: smartphone usage of 945 German Android users aged 18–69, tracked passively with Murmuras technology since 1 October 2021; Q4 2021 compared with Q4 2022.
• Feature usage in Mein dm, Rossmann and Lidl Plus: in-app data captured with Murmuras on-screen technology, published in December 2023.
• Coupons and receipts: Murmuras consumer panel with 3,000 participants, set up with Bilendi, Horizoom and Trend Research and presented in February 2025.