Screen Pages has released e-commerce benchmark data regarding visitor sources and behaviour, conversions for retail e-commerce websites, for October 2014.
The businesses indexed are limited to niche brands, generally selling online, via catalogues and stores, wose online sales range up to £10m per annum and average order values average £73. The websites all use the e-commerce platform Magento. In aggregate, the report tracked the behaviour of over 1.2 million website visitors, placing 41,000+ orders and spending over £3 million.
Online retailers whose data was benchmarked include Atterley Road, Bella di Notte, Christopher Ward, Loake, Micro-Scooters, Van Dal, Rio Beauty, Force 4, the RSPB and This Works.
The data includes statistics regarding traffic sources and mobile usage, website engagement & conversion rates.
Overall KPIs
Average order value
£ per visit
Conversion rates
1st Quartile
£58
£1.02
0.94%
3rd Quartile
£102
£2.76
3.62%
Average
£73
£2.42
3.31%
Engagement/bounce
Bounce rate
Home page bounce
1st Quartile
32.4%
13.8%
3rd Quartile
46.4%
21.4%
Average
40.9%
21.9%
Traffic sources = organic search
% of visits
Bounce rate
Conversion rate
1st Quartile
38%
31%
0.93%
3rd Quartile
55%
41%
3.04%
Average
46%
41%
2.44%
Traffic sources = paid search
% of visits
Bounce rate
Conversion rate
1st Quartile
11%
25%
0.65%
3rd Quartile
23%
46%
3.04%
Average
17%
39%
1.99%
Traffic sources = email
% of visits
Bounce rate
Conversion rate
1st Quartile
8%
41%
1.32%
3rd Quartile
16%
54%
3.33%
Average
14%
48%
2.67%
Traffic sources = referrals
% of visits
Bounce rate
Conversion rate
1st Quartile
7%
40%
0.52%
3rd Quartile
21%
54%
2.05%
Average
14%
49%
1.43
Standout out figures
* Overall conversions average at 3.31%, but with a marked divergence when analysed by source of traffic.
* Engagement (as measured by bounce rates) shows a large gap between home pages (which get a lot of marketing attention) and all other pages: 22% versus41%).
* Email (when executed well) produces extremely well, converting at 4.85% - some retailers do not use email effectively or do not track it properly. 4 of the sample had 20%+ of their traffic from email, with 3 retailers enjoying conversion rates from email of over 8%.
* Paid search can produce up to 23% of all sales, converting at 2.16%. Two businesses enjoyed conversion rates on paid traffic of over 6%.
* 2 of the sample tracked affiliate traffic: producing well at about 10% of traffic.
Desktop usage
Viewed on desktop %
Bounce on desktop %
Conversion on desktop %
% sales on desktop %
1st Quartile
49.7%
38%
1.6%
67.4%
3rd Quartile
55.7%
29%
4.7%
77.5%
Average
51.4%
48%
4.5%
70.4%
Desktop usage
Viewed on desktop %
Bounce on desktop %
Conversion on desktop %
% sales on desktop %
1st Quartile
23.8%
43%
0.8%
19.0%
3rd Quartile
31.2%
37%
4.0%
26.1%
Average
26.7%
47%
2.9%
24.1%
Desktop usage
Viewed on desktop %
Bounce on desktop %
Conversion on desktop %
% sales on desktop %
1st Quartile
14.9%
51%
0.2%
3.6%
3rd Quartile
25.4%
46%
1.2%
5.7%
Average
20.9%
60%
0.9%
5.1%
Standout out figures
* 27% of visits are viewed on tablets, mostly iPads, generating 24% of sales.
* 21% of visits are viewed on mobiles, mostly iPhones, generating 5% of sales.
* 51% of visits are viewed on desktops, generating 70% of sales.
Compared to a similar period in 2013: 16% came from mobiles & 20% came from tablets - the dramatic increase in mobile usage continues.
The best conversion rate on a mobile was a meagre 2% (compared to 11.7% for its desktop site). Retailers should reflect on how mobiles are being used by their customers, their kinds of products and supported by the "appropriate" marketing activity.
