Conversion Rate Optimization 5 min read
12 Aug 2021

eCommerce Conversion Rate Benchmarks: Are You Performing Better Than Industry Standards?

eCommerce Conversion Rate Benchmarks: Are You Performing Better Than Industry Standards?

Imagine living in a world without the internet, technology, and convenience of shopping online?

Hard to even imagine, right?

Ecommerce websites have become an inseparable part of human lives. Especially after the outbreak of the global pandemic. The majority of the physical businesses shifted online to keep earning.

Online sellers aim to grow their businesses. They want to increase website traffic and attract more customers. In simple words, we can say that every seller wants to perform well in the market.

You want that too, right?

If yes, then let’s start by checking your current performance status. Ecommerce conversion rates will help you do so...

ECommerce Conversion Rates

It is a term you've probably come across a lot on the internet.

Calculating conversion rates is important for businesses. It shows the business how many website visitors convert into customers.

Let’s talk more about it…

Conversion Rate = Sessions With Transactions / Total Sessions

To calculate eCommerce conversion rates, divide the transactions by total sessions.

The term session means ‘visits by prospects within a fixed time frame.’ 

The time frame is usually 30 minutes. If a person visits 3 times within that time, it’ll count as one session. But, if he revisits the website after 30 minutes, it’ll count as a separate session. 

For example, a ratio of 50 transactions with 1000 sessions would be 5%.

50 ÷ 1,000 = 0.05

0.05 x 100 = 5%

Conversion metrics, along with other key metrics, reveal the business’s important information like its performance, profitability, turnover, etc.

At this stage, you might be wondering:

What is a good conversion rate?

Let’s discuss more it…

What Is A Good Conversion Rate for eCommerce Websites?

The answer is: It depends…

Yes, that’s right!

Conversion rates vary from business to business. A good conversion rate for one business might not be good enough for another business.

Are you wondering why?

Conversion rates depend upon various factors such as:

  • Products 
  • Price of products
  • Traffic source (emails, paid ads, search result pages)
  • Devices (mobile, desktop, or tablets)
  • Platform (Windows, Mac, Android, iOs, Linux)
  • Business and customers' location

Let’s elaborate it with an example:

Suppose there are 2 stores:

Store A sells high-tech goods that are pricey

Store B sells $5 t-shirts

Do you think both stores will have the same conversion rates?

Nope!

Store B sells low-priced goods. Its conversion rate would be higher than store A.

So, you see, setting one conversion rate for all types of businesses isn’t a smart approach. The average eCommerce rate is between 1% and 4%. Yet, Amazon’s conversion rate is jaw-dropping 13%. It is almost 7 times more than the average rate. 

Thus, it is important to understand that many factors affect conversion rates. You can measure your business's performance by understanding the industry’s conversion rate.

So, are you ready?

Let’s dive in…!

Ecommerce Conversion Rate By Industry

Use these industry conversion standards to measure the success of your business.

We have compiled the average conversion rates of eCommerce industries from IRP Commerce. 

  • Baby and Child– 1.95%
  • Food and Drink – 2 .14%
  • Home Accessories and Giftware - 1 .79%
  • Fashion Clothing and Accessories - 1.90%
  • Sports and Recreation – 1.60%
  • Health and Wellbeing – 3.68%
  • Electrical and Commercial equipment – 1.73%
  • Arts and Crafts – 3.73%
  • Cars and Motorcycling – 1.32%
  • Kitchen and Home Appliances – 2.66%
  • Petcare – 2.43%

Keep reading to understand which factors influence the conversion rate by country.

Ecommerce Conversion Rate By Country

The conversion rate of countries varies because of the following factors:

Mature Markets 

Markets that have a strong presence in online stores have higher conversion rates. Whereas markets with a weak online presence have lower conversion rates.

PPP (Purchasing Power Parity)

It includes the following:

  • Country’s inflation rate
  • Economic growth rate
  • Demographic changes
  • Per capita income
  • Consumption pattern

Logistics And Distribution

The absence of strong logistic and distribution networks results in low conversion rates because the countries are unable to meet the high volume of demands. 

Meanwhile, countries with robust logistics and distribution channels have higher conversion rates as they can fulfill the huge demand. 

Studying the conversion rates of different countries is not useless. These metrics help the sellers if they want to start a business in other countries. 

Ecommerce Conversion Rate By Source

Another important metric is the conversion rate by traffic source. This helps in understanding the sources that bring the most qualifying leads.

Ecommerce stores are nothing without good traffic. Thus, marketers develop many strategies to attract good traffic to their stores. Because conversions will only take place when people visit the website. 

According to grow code, the following are the average conversion rates by source:

  • Direct source - 2.16%
  • Emails – 5.32%
  • Organic – 2.08%
  • Facebook – 0.93%
  • Google AdWords – 1.42%
  • Referral – 5.44%
  • Social Channels – 0.74%

Take your Ecommerce Conversion Rates to the next level by using Debutify’s social media add-ons.

The selection of traffic sources varies from business to business.

For example, emails serve better in the case of the food and drinks industry. Whereas AdWords work better for kitchen and home appliances.

Facebook outranks the remaining social channels in traffic generation. That’s the reason why businesses have an active presence on Facebook. Promotion of the right content directs the audience to the business’s website.

Ecommerce Conversion Rate By Device

You don’t expect customers to access the internet through one device only, do you?

Devices like desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets also affect conversion rates.

Look at the following eCommerce conversion statistics for the first quarter of 2020:

  • Desktop – 1.98%
  • Tablet – 2.92%
  • Smartphone – 1.81%

Device conversion rates can provide insight into a website's performance on different devices.

For instance, a poor conversion rate on a desktop might be the result of a problematic site design. Or a low conversion rate on mobile might result due to the unresponsive site design.

The lower conversion rates on devices can help you optimize your design.

Ecommerce Conversion Rates By Platform

This conversion rate helps the seller analyze his site performance on different platforms.

The eCommerce store can improve the website’s UX and fix its problems. Also, it can optimize its website for the platform that brings a higher conversion rate.

Have a look at the conversion rate by the platform for the first quarter of 2020 by monetate.com:

  • Android – 1.8%
  • Chrome OS – 2 .9%
  • Linux – 0.02%
  • Mac – 3.78%
  • Windows – 4.94%
  • Windows Phone – 0.5%
  • iOS – 1.88%

Ecommerce Conversion Rate By Payment

Payment is the final step where a prospect converts into a customer. It would be the worst nightmare to lose conversions because of the absence of a payment channel.

The presence of PayPal on websites resulted in 70% higher checkout rates.

So, if you want to boost your checkout rates, you know what to do!

Improving Your Website’s Conversion Rate

Think your website could use a little work to boost conversion rates?

Seek no more!

The following tips will help you optimize your website’s conversion rate:

1. Cut Long Forms Short

Do you like filling out long forms on a website?

Your visitors hate it too!

Thus keep your forms short and simple. Make it easy for your audience to sign up. Long forms create hesitation, and people do not enter their details.

2. Display Social Proof

To increase conversions, you have to gain your visitors’ trust. The best way to do so is by displaying social proof on your website.

Display customer testimonials on your product pages. It builds trust, and people don’t hesitate to convert. Did you know that 92% of customers are hesitant to buy from websites that don’t have customer reviews?

Thus, always include reviews. You can also show the number of followers you have on social media. Or, if a celebrity or brand is your customer, don’t forget to add their names to the website.

3. Add Live Chat

Sometimes a person might not convert because he has concerns related to the product. With the help of a live chat feature, you can solve your customer’s problem shortly.

Live chat features allow the sales rep to connect with the customers. They can help the customer and answer their queries. If you want people to convert to your website, respond to their problems at your earliest.

By helping them with their concerns, you can clear their doubts and convert them. 

4. Improve Your Page’s Speed

Slow-loading websites are a mood killer for buyers. Make sure that you don’t send away your prospects because of a slow-loading website.

Google recommends websites load in under 2 seconds, that’s right!

Hence, make sure your website is speedy to load in under 2 seconds. Longer than that, and you’ll lose potential customers.

5. Optimize For Mobile

People no longer switch on their PCs to shop online. Buyers use their smartphones to access the internet and indulge in retail therapy.

Did you know that mobile phones generate more than 50% of all online traffic?

Marketers estimate that mobile eCommerce will make up 54% of the total eCommerce in 2021.

So, it’s high time for eCommerce stores to make their websites mobile responsive. Failure to optimize for mobile users will result in a huge bounce rate. And we’re confident you don’t want that, right?

So... Are You Performing Better Than Industry Standards?

Tracking eCommerce metrics is necessary for growing and surviving in the market. Conversion rates are important indicators of an organization's performance. For that reason, you can check conversion rates against market benchmarks.

But…remember!

The purpose of these benchmarks is to change your strategy to perform better. By no means there is a compulsion to replicate the market standard. Also, do not fret if your conversion rates are lower than market benchmarks. As stated earlier, conversion rates vary because of many factors.

Hence, ensure to measure your rates according to your industry, products, and location.

Ricky Hayes
Author

Ricky Hayes

Ricky Hayes is the CEO at Debutify. He is a passionate entrepreneur running multiple businesses, marketing agencies, and mentoring programs.

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