ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA

ECOMMERCE
BENCHMARK REPORT
Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA
Q4 2015
ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

TABLE OF
CONTENTS

A QUICK WORD

DISCOVERY

CONVERSION BY DEVICE

12

CONVERSION BY CHANNEL

13

METHODOLOGY

16

C O N TA C T D E M A C

OBJECTIVES

ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA

DEMAC MEDIA IS A
COMMERCE AGENCY

STRATEGY
WE HELP MERCHANTS DESIGN,
CREATE & GROW STRONG
ECOMMERCE BUSINESSES.

DESIGN

DEVELOPMENT

For the past 4 years, Demac Media has published a quarterly benchmark
report to help retailers put their numbers in the context of their peers, and
prepare for the quarter ahead.
In this edition of our Benchmark Report, we are highlighting the most
important datapoints and trends we use to prepare our customers for
growth.
More information on the methodology used in reporting the findings herein
can be found at the end of this report.
Watch this space as we include more of our own data, and insights from our
partners, for future editions.
3

ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA

A QUICK
WORD

The holiday season in North America is marked in every retailers calendar as the most
important time of the year. In fact, the term Black Friday was originally used to mark
the date when a retailers financial statements finally showed profitability - 11 months
into the year!
At Demac, we spend a significant part of our year preparing our retailers for this allimportant season; from ensuring servers are ready to meet traffic demands to the
timing of promotional material sent to new and existing customers. Growing from the
strength we built in Q4, we are entering 2016 galvanized with the optimism of our
retail customers and technology partners.
An opportunity trend to continue tracking is the rise of mobile commerce. In this
report, we see evidence of its growth and how it is affecting the traditional path to
purchase. It also drives us to meet the growing expectations of shoppers for a more
consistent, personalized, and convenient shopping experience.
Economic conditions and evolving consumer preferences will continue to challenge us
in the year ahead, but we are focused on another banner year in digital commerce.

M A R LO N RO D R I G U E S
D I R E C TO R , M A R K E T I N G
DEMAC MEDIA

DISCOVERY

ORGANIC SEARCH IS STILL KING IN

RETAIL DISCOVERY.
A strong showing in Organic Search is hard-earned over time through
good SEO hygiene, and bolstered with regular SEM practices.
It is also instructive to see the increasing value of social media in this
report. Social Commerce is happening now - how is your business
benefitting from it?

% OF SESSIONS BY TRAFFIC SOURCE

10%
5%
31%
6%

organic search
social
direct
paid search
email
referral
other

8%

17%
23%

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

DISCOVERY

ABOUT HALF OF SESSIONS ON EVERY

DEVICE IS FROM NEW VISITORS.
We know that Returning Customers are the most lucrative for retailers,
but New Visitors offer the opportunity to grow your business. Here, your
User Experience matters to quickly engage people who are unfamiliar
with your site, and encourages them to return to shop with you again.

SESSIONS FROM NEW VISITORS, BY DEVICE TYPE

47%

48%

58%

mobile

tablet

desktop

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

CONVERSION

CONVERSION RATES VARY

DRAMATICALLY BETWEEN DEVICE
TYPES AND RETAILERS.
Conversion rates are ever-present on the minds of retailers, but they are
not a singular measure of the health of your business. The key to using
this metric is to benchmark your own and work to progressively improve
it while driving new traffic to your site and increasing order value.

DISTRIBUTION OF CONVERSION RATE BY DEVICE TYPE

45
40
35

COUNT

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0-1%

1-2%

3-4%

4-5%

5-6%

6-7%

7-8%

8-9%

9-10%

10-11%

11-12%

12-13%

13-14%

14-15%

mobile tablet desktop

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

CONVERSION

FOR NOW, MORE PAGEVIEWS PER

VISIT STILL CORRELATES WITH MORE
COMMERCE ENABLED.
Time spent on desktop and tablet are identical, but more pageviews
consumed per visit on desktop. This points to more control on desktop,
larger surface area, potentially more distractions compared to either
mobile or tablet. Expect the transaction volume and type on these devices
to render pageviews and time spent metrics obsolete in the near future.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF PAGEVIEWS PER SESSION

AVERAGE SESSION LENGTH

5.66

mobile

6.25

tablet

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

6.2

6.4

6.6

3mins

4m12s

4m12s

mobile

tablet

desktop

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

6.64

desktop

6.8

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

CONVERSION

DISPROPORTIONATE AMOUNT OF
REVENUE EARNED ON DESKTOP.
Key to a successful multi-device strategy is to understand the difference
in customer expectations for each platform. Here, we see that mobile is
used heavily for research but consumers still prefer to complete online
transactions on desktop computers.

% OF SESSIONS BY DEVICE CATEGORY

% OF REVENUE BY DEVICE CATEGORY

11%

13%

52%

37%

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

mobile
tablet
desktop

19%

mobile
tablet
desktop

68%

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

CONVERSION

DESKTOP STILL RULES AS THE MOST

EFFICIENT DEVICE FOR HARVESTING
ONLINE REVENUE.
Mobile lags far behind desktop and tablet in total transactions online,
but shoppers are already spending a meaningful amount of money per
transaction on their mobile devices.

AVERAGE REVENUE PER SESSION AND

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE, BY DEVICE CATEGORY
1.8

$140

$1.64
1.6

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE ($)

$134.51

1.4
1.2

$130

$0.99

1
0.8

$124.78

$125

0.6

$121.55
$0.33

$120

0.4

AVERAGE REVENUE PER SESSION ($)

$135

0.2
$0

desktop

average order value

tablet

mobile

average revenue per session

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

10

CONVERSION

APPLE STILL DOMINATES MOBILE

COMMERCE, AND IPHONE RETAINS
ITS FLAGSHIP POSITION.
Every mobile device maker and platform is trying to get into mobile
commerce, but it will be a long time before anyone is able to contest
Apples lead.
% OF SHOPPERS BY MOBILE DEVICE

34%
47%

iphone
ipad
other

19%

iphone ipad other

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

11

CONVERSION

DIRECT TRAFFIC DRIVES THE

HIGHEST ORDER VALUE AMONG
ALL ACQUISITION CHANNELS.
Direct Traffic is premised on strong brand awareness and returning
shoppers. Many retailers use their loyalty programs to improve their
relationship with existing customers, and in numbers, this is why.

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE BY ACQUISITION CHANNEL

$180
$160

$157
$132

$140

$120

$120

$118

$117

$109

$107

$104

display

paid search

referral

$100
$80
$60
$40
$20
$direct

organic search

social

other

email

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

12

METHODOLOGY

THE RETAILERS IN THIS STUDY

REPRESENT A BROAD SET OF
RETAIL SUB-VERTICALS.
The retailers in this study reached shoppers in over 200 countries
during the reporting period, including 1 from the West African
nation of Guinea-Bissau!
DEMAC CUSTOMERS INCLUDED
IN THIS REPORT, BY US CENSUS

HOME COUNTRY OF RETAILER

INCLUDED IN THIS REPORT

4%
4%

16%

6%

9%

47%

11%

15%

clothing, accessories
furniture, furnishings
miscellaneous
sports, hobby, book, music
health, personal care
electronics, appliances
food, beverage
building, gardening, supplies
general merchandise

canada
us

84%

canada

canada

us

united states

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE

BENCHMARK REPORT

SOURCE: Q4 2015 ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

U S C E N S U S B U R E A U , N O R T H A M E R I C A N I N D U S T R Y C L A S S I F I C AT I O N
S Y S T E M [ H T T P : // W W W. C E N S U S . G O V/ E O S / W W W/ N A I C S / ]

13

METHODOLOGY

ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA

A FEW WORDS ON OUR PROCESS

FOR BUILDING THIS REPORT.

By publishing commerce data with higher granularity

than the US Census, Demac wants to equip retailers with
practical benchmarks and actionable insights to grow their
business.
All data is provided in aggregate to separate signal from
noise and to protect the proprietary information of each
participating retailer.
All data was extracted from Google Analytics, and all labels
are standard definitions of the Google Analytics Platform.
If you would like to learn more about this report, or have
any suggestions, please reach us. Our contact details are
on the next page.
NOTE: Demac publishes this data as a guide and, despite our
best efforts, does not guarantee that it is free from error.

14

GET IN TOUCH

ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

Q4 2015

@DEMACMEDIA

DEMAC MEDIA IS A COMMERCE

AGENCY THAT BRINGS TOGETHER
THE BEST OF STRATEGY, INDUSTRY
INSIGHTS AND REAL-WORLD
IMPLEMENTATION EXPERIENCE TO
GROW YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS.

DEMAC RESOURCES
Next Demac Benchmark Report: April 2016
Demac Blog
WHATS NEXT?

Dx3 Canada 2016, March 2-3, Toronto

Bronto Summit, March 14-16, Miami
Shopify Unite, March 22-23, SF
Oro Momentum, April 10, Las Vegas
Magento Imagine, April 11-13, Las Vegas
Monthly eComm, Meetup, Toronto

CONTACT US
hello@demacmedia.com

15

@DEMACMEDIA
Q4 2015
ECOMMERCE BENCHMARK REPORT

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