Screen Pages has released e-commerce benchmark data regarding visitor sources and behaviour, conversions for retail e-commerce websites, for the period July-Sept 2010.
The businesses indexed are limited to niche brands, generally selling online, via catalogues and stores, whose online sales range between £50k & £10m per annum and average order values average £71. The e-commerce platforms ran on either Microsoft Commerce Server or Magento. In the period, there were 6 additions to the companies
Table of characteristics by source of traffic
| Source of traffic | Average % of site visitors | Average bounce rate | Average conversion rate |
| Search engines | 57.58% | 31.2% | 2.22% |
| Direct | 16.9% | 34.5% | 1.7% |
| Referrals | 14.3% | 34.8% | 1.41% |
| 10% | 28.5% | 2.4% |
Within search traffic, the percentage of “generic” – i.e. non brand-related – was 29.9%. This figure reflects the effectiveness of SEO activities for brands, as the brand-related traffic is high overall. The “know us” traffic (direct URL entry and brand-related searches), which represents the bedrock of a niche retailer’s online business is 37.7%.
The impact of retailers’ email marketing campaigns on site traffic and sales is clear: email activity accounted for 10% on average of all traffic.
Screen Pages also looked at the use of the onsite search box. About 6.4% of all visitors use these search boxes.
The data, compiled from over 31 e-tail websites over a six month period using Google Analytics, studies where visitors land on websites and what actions they take.
As a Google Authorised Analytics Consultant, Screen Pages has invested in Google Analytics to provide the tracking technology for e-commerce websites. The company provides a range of value-added services to help retailers get up to speed with Google Analytics, including standard and advanced/bespoke training, quarterly e-commerce benchmarking and individual website audits.
