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Shopify Conversion Rate: An Industry-by-Industry Comparison

  • 5 minutes

Shopify conversion rate: Success in the e-commerce world can be an ambiguous term for most online business owners. After all, how do you know your Shopify store is truly successful? The first metric to consider is profitability. If your store makes money, it’s successful. 

Many times, though, your e-commerce site’s profitability might be below your expectations. This situation would certainly become discouraging to anyone. Nevertheless, understanding objective criteria can help you determine just how successful your Shopify store truly is. 

In this article, we are going to explore Shopify conversion rates. Specifically, we will look at an industry-by-industry comparison to determine what a good, average, and poor conversion rate would be. This analysis will enable you to get a good sense of how well your Shopify store is actually performing.

What does Shopify conversion rate refer to?

Simply put, a Shopify conversion rate refers to the number of sales your online shop makes compared to the number of visitors it gets. 

A Shopify conversion rate is a metric that e-commerce site owners use to determine their Shopify store’s success. Therefore, the higher the conversion rate, the more successful the store.

Please note that a “good” conversion rate varies according to industry or product type. As a result, a high conversion rate for your Shopify store may vary significantly compared to other industries and product types.

How do you calculate your Shopify conversion rate?

You can use the following formula to calculate your Shopify store’s conversion rate:

(number of sales / number of visitors) * 100

Let’s consider this example:

For every 100 visitors to your site, you average 25 sales. So, 25/100 = 0.25. Then, you multiply 0.25 * 100, and you get 25 or 25%. In this example, your Shopify store has a conversion rate of 25%. 

What is the average Shopify conversion rate?

The average Shopify conversion rate might surprise you. In fact, it’s probably much lower than you think. According to tech consultancy Littledata, the average Shopify conversion rate is 1.8%. 

Littledata surveyed 3,885 Shopify stores in February 2022. According to this data, nearly two of every one hundred visitors make a purchase when they visit a Shopify store. 

So, the question is: what is a good Shopify conversion rate?

Based on Littledata’s survey, a 3.7% Shopify conversion rate would land your e-commerce site in the top 20% of Shopify stores. Furthermore, a Shopify conversion rate of 5.2% would place your shop in the top-tier, that is, the top 10%.

Additionally, what would a bad Shopify conversion rate be?

A bad Shopify conversion rate hovers around 0.5%. This Shopify conversion rate means that less than one visitor out of every hundred makes a purchase on your site. 

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What is the Shopify conversion rate by industry?

Earlier, we discussed the overall market average conversion rate for Shopify stores. However, this comparison is not entirely fair.

How so?

Generally speaking, all products and industries have different sales cycles. As a result, conversion rates may vary significantly from one product to the next. For example, food and drink usually sell much faster than cars and homes. It is, therefore, safe to assume that food and drink would have a higher conversion rate than cars and homes.

So, let’s make an apples-to-apples comparison by looking at the Shopify conversion rates by product and industry based on data supplied by sales and marketing consultancy Adoric.

Let’s start by looking at how conversion rates differ by industry:

Industry Bottom Middle Top
E-commerce
1.84%
3.71%
6.25%
Legal
1.07%
4.12%
6.46%
B2B
2.23%
4.31%
11.7%
Finance
5.01%
11.2%
24.5%

This chart shows a significant variation between industries. As you can see, e-commerce offers comparable conversion rates to the legal industry. On the whole, we can assume e-commerce shows the lowest conversion rates due to the vast number of competitors in the online business world. 

An issue worth pointing out is the disparity between the low-end performers and the top-end ones. This data set shows how low-end e-commerce sites show a 1.84% conversion rate compared to a 6.25% for top performers. 

It’s important to note that differences between this data set and the previous one are due to the analyzed sample. While Littledata’s sample focused on a relatively small number of online businesses, Adoric’s utilizes a much broader sample incorporating Google’s data.

So, what does this mean?

It means that the high end of online businesses can expect to have conversion rates between 3.5% and 6.5%. In contrast, a poor-performing site may fall somewhere between 0.5% and 1.85%. This range should offer a clearer picture of what you can realistically expect from your Shopify conversion rates.

Now, let’s take a closer look at conversion rates by product types:

Industry Conversion rate
Consumer electronics
1.84%
DIY and tools
1.07%
Automotive
2.23%
Home furnishings and decor
2.3%
Jewelry and cosmetics
2.9%
Sports
3.1%
Apparel and footwear
4.2%
Health and pharmacy
4.6%
Gifts
4.9%

As you can see, consumer electronics e-commerce sites tend to have the lowest conversion rates in this data set. 

Does that mean that consumer electronics Shopify sites are poor performers?

Hardly!

This means that the top consumer electronics sites average nearly one-and-a-half sales per one hundred visitors. On the surface, that may seem like a low conversion rate, particularly when compared to the market average. 

Nevertheless, please remember that market averages take into account industries with high and low conversion rates. Consequently, the market average isn’t always representative of individual industries.

Also, the “gifts” category shows the highest conversion rate at nearly five sales per one hundred visitors. This conversion rate makes sense considering that “gifts” is a broad category that encompasses several occasions throughout the year. 

In contrast, other categories such as “automotive” have much longer sales cycles. After all, how often do you buy articles for your car?

If we do a simple average between the lowest and highest conversion rates, that is, 1.4% + 4.9%, and then divide by two, we get 3.15%. This figure is consistent with the market average reported by Littledata. Thus, the numbers seem to make sense when analyzing the market’s whole picture.

How can you improve your store's conversion rate?

Shopify conversion rate optimization requires a combination of savvy strategies and attention to detail. In this section, you will find out how to increase your conversion rate on Shopify with these highly effective strategies.

#1 Simplify your visitor’s experience

Visitors evaluate your Shopify store’s homepage in less than a second. In fact, it usually takes about 50 milliseconds for a visitor to get their first impression of your site. As a result, you must make that first impression count. 

Here are three things you can do to simplify your visitors’ experience every time they come to your Shopify store’s homepage:

  • Use large, clear images that accurately reflect your brand and products
  • Keep copy straightforward and to the point
  • Display a clear call to action such as “buy now” or “bundle and save.”
shopify conversion rate
The crew at https://www.allbirds.com knows how to keep things simple

These tactics will enable your visitors to see your Shopify store’s value proposition right off the bat. Ultimately, these tactics will help you reach your target audience quickly and effectively.

Of course, you also need to consider that a lot of your customers are visiting from mobile devices, so make sure your pages are optimized for smaller screens. 

#2 Include testimonials whenever possible

Shopify makes it easy for you to include customer testimonials on your e-commerce site. Take full advantage of this feature to entice visitors to purchase. Testimonials provide comments from real-life users. As a result, you can leverage great reviews into more sales. 

Also, product reviews deliver positively on your Shopify conversion rates. Reviews and testimonials are crucial when it comes to building trust in your brand.

#3 Ensure effective product categorization

Shopify stores with carefully organized product categories can greatly improve their conversion rates. 

How so?

Effective product categorization groups products into various groups that facilitate searches. Thus, visitors can easily find products they are looking for, plus other related ones. Clear product categorization can also help improve product discovery and increase your Shopify sales. 

shopify conversion rate
https://www.tentree.com couldn't be easier to navigate

In contrast, simply dropping a list of unrelated products may discourage your visitors from going through your Shopify store’s catalog. After all, most visitors don’t want to spend a considerable amount of time going through listings without knowing whether they will find what they want or not.

PickyStory can help improve your Shopify conversion rate

As well as boosting your average order value (AOV) by giving you the ability to offer additional products and create cross-selling and upselling deals on Shopify, PickyStory has several features which will also improve your conversion rate. 

Although optional for all PickyStory deals, discounts are a great tactic for improving conversion rates. Consumer psychology 101 tells us that offering product deals with a discount (even a small one) can act as a huge incentive for your customers. 

https://samarabags.com spell out exactly how much you're saving

Also, PickyStory provides you with valuable opportunities to show your customers how your products can be put to use. For example, you can create a Combo Product, made up of several different products, and sell this as one unit. 

To accompany the Combo Product, you can add an image of all the products in action together. This helps customers visualize how they could use and benefit from your products, and it works for outfits, beauty kits, gourmet meal packs, and so on. 

https://shop.huonaqua.com.au shows customers exactly how to use their hampers

PickyStory also has options to redirect your customers to the cart or checkout page once they have added products to their cart. 

Depending on your sales funnel and how your specific customers shop, this can be beneficial and aid in reducing cart abandonment as it focuses the customer on making their purchase. 

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Knowing the numbers is crucial to your e-commerce success

Tracking your Shopify store’s success by measuring your Shopify conversion rate is a great way to keep score. After all, you need objective metrics to help you determine how well your store is performing. Knowing your financials is key. 

By having a clear understanding of your Shopify conversion rate, you will be able to better manage your e-commerce site’s strategy. Knowing your conversion rate allows you to set clear business goals and track your progress in a quantitative manner.

If you’re looking for more Shopify tips and recommendations, check out the PickyStory blog.

Good Luck!

Read more: Upsell On Shopify: How To Upsell, Best Practices, Examples (+Pro Tips)

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