How Does Your E-Store Compare?
How Does Your E-Store Compare?
Like many operators of online stores, I am constantly looking at our conversion rate. How did our sales this week affect our conversion rate for the month?
Did our site updates make a difference in our conversion rates? It is the figure that is always being analyzed.
My first encounter with conversion rates happened way before I become involved with e-commerce. I had just started working at a popular clothing store, and I was told by my manager on duty to make sure that I walked around the ‘head sensor’ when coming in and out of the store. Intrigued by all the employees walking sideways out the front door, I asked why it was so important that we all looked silly walking in and out of the store. I was told that little head counter was the source of my manager’s quarter bonus. She explained to me that the number of sales we have per day are divided by the number of heads that head counter detects, which equals our daily conversion rate.
When I started working with e-commerce sites, my first question was, ‘what should our conversion rate be?’ I think every person working with an e-commerce site has that thought, followed by ‘who has the best conversion rate?’
What should our conversion rate be?
Conversion rates are broken down by the industry in which you categorize site. To help see where you should be, Fireclick offers a great breakdown of industry conversion rates by Global, First Time Visitors and Repeat Visitors. They have industries broken down by Fashion and Apparel, Electronics, Catalog, Specialty, Outdoor and Sports, and finally Software. You can compare what the conversion rates are for this week, last week and see any % changes, along with a graph chart shown by week, month, or yearly.
Who is on top?
The Nielson Company collects data on the top ranking e-commerce sites by conversion rates. These conversion rates can be a little shocking when you are currently working to improve your conversion rate from 2.5% to 3%. Typically, these high ranking sites are catalog and subscription sites, and have abnormally high conversion rates.
Top 10 Online Retailers Based on Conversion Rate – Jan. 2010 (Min 500K Unique Visitors)
| eCommerce Site | Industry | Conversion Rate (%) |
| Schwan’s | Food | 45.80 |
| Amway Global | Beauty / Bath & Body / For The Home | 27.80 |
| Keurig | Coffee | 27.10 |
| vitacost.com | Vitamins & Supplements | 24.40 |
| 1800petmeds.com | Pet Medicine | 24.20 |
| Roamans | Woman’s Plus Size Clothing | 20.60 |
| DrsFosterSmith.com | Pet Medicine | 20.50 |
| Woman Within | Woman’s Plus Size Clothing | 19.10 |
| ProFlowers | Florist | 18.90 |
| Snapfish | Digital Photo Printing / Sharing Service | 17.40 |
Fireclick offers weekly average conversion rates that are an average of all industries, and will typically be more consistant with rates of non-subscription and catalog sites. These averages can be very helpful while comparing your conversion rates to averages. You can take your comparison one step further and look at the average conversion for keywords, emails and affiliates.
| Conversion Rates | This Week | Last Week |
| Global | 4.30% | 4.10% |
| First Time Visitors | 5.50% | 5.50% |
| Repeat Visitors | 3.00% | 2.80% |
| Marketing Conversion Rates | This Week | Last Week |
| Keywords | 3.30% | 3.20% |
| Emails | 3.70% | 3.40% |
| Affiliates | 7.60% | 7.80% |
Now that you have an idea what your industry average conversion rates are and who is on top, make sure your conversion rate is accurate, and compare your site!
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