arbiter
JournalsAccount

The Exceptions Confirming the Rule: Deviations in the Market Performance of Standalone Mobile Apps

Lara Stocchi et al.

Australasian Marketing Journal2025https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582251347985article
AJG 1ABDC A
Weight
0.44

Abstract

Using multiple sets of longitudinal panel data from three countries (Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia) and three product categories (ride sharing, food delivery and online shopping), this study analyses deviations from the expected market performance of standalone mobile apps – that is, apps not attached to any other existing offline or online brand. Specifically, drawing upon the Double Jeopardy, we identify and interpret deviations in the underlying relationship between the market size of each app (i.e. the percentage of active users vs. the total number of smartphone users in each market, or market penetration) and its level of stickiness (i.e. the average rate of app usage). We document that there is nothing inherently unique about the market performance of standalone apps, as they exhibit robust conformity to the Double Jeopardy benchmarks previously found in other digital and non-digital consumer markets. Namely, most standalone apps attain a level of stickiness proportional to their market size, and fairly similar to the other apps competing within the same category. Although there are some dissimilarities across the markets explored, there are more standalone apps performing ‘as expected’ than deviations and, when present, deviations can be easily explained. These outcomes provide several theoretical and practical contributions, elucidating that it is possible to leverage known empirical marketing laws to harness market opportunities for standalone apps.

3 citations

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582251347985

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{lara2025,
  title        = {{The Exceptions Confirming the Rule: Deviations in the Market Performance of Standalone Mobile Apps}},
  author       = {Lara Stocchi et al.},
  journal      = {Australasian Marketing Journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582251347985},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The Exceptions Confirming the Rule: Deviations in the Market Performance of Standalone Mobile Apps

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.44

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.32 × 0.4 = 0.13
M · momentum0.57 × 0.15 = 0.09
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.