The shopping category markets every season except school — free Apple Ads playbook | SplitMetrics

Back to School 2026 · Free Playbook

63.9% of taps become installs. Early launches capture the biggest Back-to-School gains.

For Shopping apps, acquisition gets more expensive as the season progresses towards September and October. So teams that launch in August capture demand before CPT peaks.
Using SplitMetrics data for Apple Ads, we analyzed the best-performing shopping apps to see how the category buys visibility going into the school season, and where the opening sits.

$3.5M

peak monthly spend in the season

94%

bidding on competitors’ brands

Free playbook

Shopping Apps in Apple Ads
Back to School season 2026

One field. Add your work email and the playbook is on its way.

Built from three SplitMetrics sources: Iris AI Agent for live market intelligence insights, SplitMetrics Acquire for the full category and campaign picture, and App Radar for organic search and creative.

What’s inside

Four questions the playbook answers with category data

Every figure below is SplitMetrics data for Apple Ads, covering the best-performing shopping apps, January to July 2026.

13%

run nothing at all on their own brand name

Brand defense

What happens when a ready-to-buy shopper searches your brand?

Some active advertisers leave their own name uncovered on the highest-intent search there is. Inside: the share-of-voice numbers on brand terms, and the move worth making first.

63.9%

average conversion rate, shopping

Benchmarks

What does it cost to run Apple Ads in shopping right now?

Shopping converts higher than most categories, so the work is earning the tap, and the costs decide whether it pays. The full H1 2026 SplitMetrics benchmark set is inside: tap-through rate, cost per tap, cost per install and cost per 1,000 impressions, with what each number means for your app.

94%

of active advertisers bid on a competitor’s brand name

Competitor bidding

How hard does the category bid on each other’s brand names?

Competitor terms account for as much as 86% of the biggest budgets in the category. Inside: the share-of-voice picture on competitor terms, and how to keep that targeting tight.

Offer-led

the pattern the top listings share

Listing and creative

The listings that win lead with an offer, not a feature list.

A discount, free shipping, a rewards perk — the top listings put the reason to buy up front, and the category already runs heavy seasonal creative for summer and Prime Day. Inside: what the winning listings and pages do differently, and how to match the page to the search behind each ad.

FREE playbook

Get the full shopping playbook.

✓How the top-performing shopping apps run Apple Ads.

✓The full H1 2026 benchmark set: tap-through, conversion, cost per tap, cost per install, cost per 1,000.

✓How the leaders handle brand defense and competitor bidding, with share-of-voice data.

✓Where the Back-to-School opening is biggest, and the moves worth making.

A 10-minute read you can hand to whoever runs your app growth. Every finding comes with the move to make.

One field. Add your work email and the playbook is on its way.

Prefer a personal read on your own app? Get a free expert app review.

Retail and marketplace apps already growing with SplitMetrics

Deciding to work with SplitMetrics Acquire improved our Apple Ads efforts significantly. We not only save time but also spend our budget more efficiently. The constant drive for improvement from SplitMetrics Acquire allows us to even better work towards our goal. We highly recommend them!

Anna Wrede, Marketing Manager Mobile
Stocard GmbH, Shopping

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A free 20-minute review of your app on Apple Ads. Where your setup sits against the category, and the two or three moves worth making before the school season.

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The intelligence behind this page

What backs up these numbers

1.6M+

Apple Ads campaigns managed through SplitMetrics, with over a decade in the category.

40%

of the biggest advertisers use SplitMetrics to run Apple Ads.

10,000+

apps and brands grown with SplitMetrics across categories.

98%

customer satisfaction, with 9 in 10 staying year over year.