What users complain about in shopping and grocery apps
5,168 English-language one-star reviews of 52 App Store and Google Play listings in this sector, posted between 2025-10-25 and 2026-10-24. Part of the Revunda study of 29,785 one-star app reviews.
Key findings
- Customer service is the top complaint: 11.8% of one-star reviews (all apps: 9.1%), then charges, fees & refunds (8.0%) and login & account access (6.7%).
- 37.1% of all reviews of these apps in the period are one-star (all apps: 41.3%), rank 13 of 15 sectors.
- Biggest gap vs all apps: customer service, 11.8% vs 9.1%.
- Highest one-star share among listings with ≥30 one-star reviews: Nykaa (iOS), 88.0% of its reviews; lowest: Kmart Shop Low Prices For Life (iOS), 12.7%.
- Most customer service complaints: Nykaa (iOS), 42.4% of its one-star reviews.
Complaint themes
Share of 5,168 one-star reviews mentioning each theme. A review can match several themes; 58.0% match none.
| Theme | This sector, % | All apps, % | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer service | 11.8 | 9.1 | 612 |
| Charges, fees & refunds | 8.0 | 8.4 | 413 |
| Login & account access | 6.7 | 9.5 | 345 |
| Crashes & won’t open | 5.6 | 4.6 | 291 |
| Slow, loading & lag | 5.4 | 4.9 | 281 |
| Payment or checkout fails | 3.4 | 1.0 | 177 |
| Ads | 3.4 | 3.6 | 178 |
| Broke after an update | 2.9 | 3.3 | 149 |
| Redesign & confusing UI | 2.1 | 3.2 | 111 |
| Notifications & alerts | 1.5 | 2.0 | 75 |
By app
48 listings with at least 30 one-star reviews in the period, sorted by one-star share of all their reviews. Top theme = the theme most of that app’s one-star reviews mention.
| App | Store | 1★ reviews (EN) | 1★ share, all reviews | Top theme |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nykaa | iOS | 264 | 88.0% | Customer service (42.4%) |
| ASDA | iOS | 231 | 77.0% | Crashes & won’t open (15.2%) |
| PC Optimum | iOS | 227 | 75.7% | Crashes & won’t open (13.7%) |
| Zepto | iOS | 222 | 74.0% | Customer service (31.1%) |
| AJIO Online Shopping App | iOS | 200 | 66.7% | Customer service (26.0%) |
| Nike | iOS | 118 | 65.3% | Login & account access (17.8%) |
| OfferUp Buy & Sell Marketplace | iOS | 190 | 63.3% | Ads (30.0%) |
| Waitrose & Partners | iOS | 177 | 59.0% | Login & account access (6.2%) |
| Coles | iOS | 84 | 54.9% | Login & account access (9.5%) |
| Costco | iOS | 156 | 52.0% | Crashes & won’t open (14.7%) |
| Woolworths | iOS | 156 | 52.0% | Broke after an update (12.2%) |
| Dollar General-Digital Coupons | iOS | 150 | 50.0% | Login & account access (24.7%) |
| Woolworths | Google Play | 149 | 49.7% | Login & account access (14.8%) |
| Mercari | iOS | 132 | 44.0% | Charges, fees & refunds (31.1%) |
| Tesco Grocery & Clubcard | iOS | 131 | 43.7% | Slow, loading & lag (26.0%) |
| Argos | iOS | 130 | 43.3% | Login & account access (16.9%) |
| Flipkart | iOS | 127 | 42.3% | Customer service (33.9%) |
| Sainsbury's | iOS | 125 | 42.0% | Login & account access (14.4%) |
| Gumtree | iOS | 94 | 41.2% | Ads (17.0%) |
| Lowe's Home Improvement | iOS | 123 | 41.0% | Payment or checkout fails (8.9%) |
| Boots | iOS | 114 | 38.0% | Ads (8.8%) |
| Kroger | iOS | 110 | 36.7% | Login & account access (9.1%) |
| Zepto | Google Play | 107 | 35.7% | Customer service (24.3%) |
| Blinkit | iOS | 104 | 34.7% | Charges, fees & refunds (21.2%) |
| Zalando | Google Play | 104 | 34.7% | Customer service (5.8%) |
| Kohl's | iOS | 102 | 34.0% | Crashes & won’t open (12.7%) |
| The Home Depot | Google Play | 98 | 33.3% | Slow, loading & lag (34.7%) |
| ASOS | iOS | 54 | 32.7% | Customer service (20.4%) |
| The Home Depot | iOS | 98 | 32.7% | Slow, loading & lag (33.7%) |
| Morrisons Grocery Shopping | iOS | 35 | 29.9% | Customer service (14.3%) |
| Ibotta | Google Play | 89 | 29.7% | Login & account access (16.9%) |
| Lowe's | Google Play | 88 | 29.3% | Ads (13.6%) |
| Ibotta | iOS | 74 | 24.7% | Charges, fees & refunds (14.9%) |
| Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery | iOS | 72 | 24.0% | Charges, fees & refunds (15.3%) |
| Flipkart Online Shopping App | Google Play | 71 | 23.7% | Customer service (18.3%) |
| Meesho | iOS | 67 | 22.3% | Customer service (29.9%) |
| M&S | iOS | 61 | 20.3% | Payment or checkout fails (9.8%) |
| Ocado | iOS | 60 | 20.0% | Crashes & won’t open (21.7%) |
| Fetch | Google Play | 57 | 19.7% | Customer service (7.0%) |
| Dunnes Stores | iOS | 33 | 19.2% | Login & account access (3.0%) |
| Kroger | Google Play | 55 | 18.3% | Redesign & confusing UI (9.1%) |
| Blinkit | Google Play | 53 | 17.7% | Customer service (13.2%) |
| Macy's | iOS | 48 | 16.0% | Customer service (20.8%) |
| ASOS | Google Play | 42 | 14.0% | Customer service (11.9%) |
| Meesho | Google Play | 42 | 14.0% | Charges, fees & refunds (11.9%) |
| Fetch | iOS | 39 | 13.0% | Customer service (7.7%) |
| Myntra | Google Play | 39 | 13.0% | Customer service (25.6%) |
| Kmart Shop Low Prices For Life | iOS | 38 | 12.7% | Login & account access (10.5%) |
Not ranked (fewer than 30 one-star reviews): Allegro, idealo, Myntra, Zalando.
Most similar complaint mix: Travel apps · Telecom apps · Food delivery apps. Related guides: why Amazon products get 1-star reviews · Amazon negative review analysis.
Method
Newest ~300 public reviews per listing from Apple’s customer-reviews RSS feed and Google Play, fetched 2026-10-24. Theme shares use one-star reviews from English-language storefronts, matched by one keyword pattern per theme (patterns and limitations on the study page). Keyword matching misses paraphrases, so treat shares as lower bounds; public reviews over-represent unhappy users.
Download the data
shopping-app-complaints-2026.csv (CSV): the sector row, the all-apps row and every listing above, with counts and shares per theme. Licence: CC BY 4.0; please credit Revunda with a link to this page.
The free app check shows the top complaint themes in your latest reviews in a minute. The full report (€19 (launch price, €49 from 1 Dec 2026)) groups up to 300 reviews into issues with quotes and 10 ranked fixes.
Related
- Full study: all sectors, countries and apps
- Guide: why users complain about shopping and grocery apps
- Banking app complaints
- Telecom & TV provider app complaints
- Streaming & ticket app complaints
- Airline & travel app complaints
- Food delivery app complaints
- Taxi & transit app complaints
- Parcel & postal app complaints
- Smart home app complaints
- News & weather app complaints
FAQ
What do users complain about most in shopping and grocery apps?
In 5,168 one-star reviews (2025-10-25 – 2026-10-24), the top themes are customer service (11.8%), charges, fees & refunds (8.0%) and login & account access (6.7%).
Which shopping & grocery app has the highest share of one-star reviews?
Nykaa (iOS): 88.0% of its reviews in the period were one-star, among 48 listings with at least 30 one-star reviews.