The eCommerce Benchmark KPI Study: Online Consumer Trends of 2021

We have used ample eCommerce benchmarks while working on our client projects. For those clients who are new, these metrics offer a remarkable way to put together plan to set goals and expectations. Further, benchmarks act as an incredible way to witness how we make efforts to stack up against others with existing clients.
In today’s blog post, we have studied the Wolfgang Digital 2020 Benchmark KPI Study extensively. In this remarkable study, Wolfgang has acquired a third of a billion euro tranche of data from the globe’s eCommerce activity.
Know it is always wise to keep in mind that these eCommerce benchmarks are meant to provide you with a direction, valuable insights for marketers to benchmark their 2020 performance, and plan the strategy of 2021, not a hard target.
Here Are The Key Findings
- Traffic Sources (By Visitors)
Channel
|
Traffic Share |
Organic |
32% |
Paid Search |
33% |
Direct |
12% |
|
9% |
Social |
8% |
Display |
2% |
Referral |
1% |
Other |
2% |
This extensive study was conducted with over 130 million website sessions and over €330 million in online revenue between the time span of November 2018-October 2019. You can use this data to compare your own traffic sources to evaluate which traffic you might be underperforming. And then strategize your 2021 plan of action as per the data.
- Traffic Sources (By Revenue)
Channel |
Revenue Share |
Organic |
31% |
Paid Search |
36% |
Direct |
13% |
|
7% |
Social |
4% |
Referral |
3% |
Other |
4% |
You may be wondering, ‘Why are these statistics relevant, and how can it help you?’ After you have a look at the data, try to figure out how your traffic sources stack updo and whether your list looks different from the ones sorted by the visitors. According to prolific business assignment help stalwarts; this may indicate that the effectiveness of your investments is off. You might be attracting a lot of organic traffic, however, receive no sales from it. This implies that you are missing critical links in addressing the purchaser process.
- Devices Type (By Visitors)
Device |
2020 |
2019 |
Desktop |
21% |
37% |
Mobile |
71% |
53% |
Tablet |
8% |
10% |
If you are observing different numbers in these eCommerce stats, try to figure out why it is like that. Is it because of your industry or location? Or is it simply because your website performs poorly on mobile?
- Device Type (By Revenue)
Device |
2020 |
2019 |
Mobile |
57% |
26% |
Tablet |
8% |
10% |
Desktop |
33% |
56% |
Have a look at this table and the data. Segment your own revenue by type of devices to assess what your breakdown looks like. Most likely, you will see that attracting mobile visitors that convert poorly.
- On-Site Engagement Metrics (On Average)
Metric |
Value |
Average Pages Per Session |
5 Pages |
Average Session Duration |
2 min 57 sec |
Average Bounce Rate |
41% |
Average Page Load Time |
5.3 sec |
Average Server Response Time |
0.9 sec |
These numbers will vary widely based on the industry and website. However, a general rule, is that the more engagement with your site, the better it is. If your numbers are completely off (like the bounce rate is 88%), then try comparing the buyers to the non-buyers on your site.
- Data Is The New Oil
The decade of 2010 was once in a blue moon time where the eCommerce world was re-ordered. More than 2 billion people migrated chunks of their lives to a virtual world. As a consequence, data replaced oil as the most valuable commodity. Since data is a big word and encompasses various aspects, we are specifically speaking about people’s attention span in the virtual world. As per the KPI study, Google and Facebook have become the largest marketplaces for our attention and intention in this virtual world.
In this evolved space, the internet giants have been monetizing the data, monetizing it, and developing wealth.
- Organic Is Overtaken by The Paid Search As The Top Revenue Driver
It is always wise to compare the findings with the same results from 5 years down the lane. If you look at Wolfgang’s Digital KPI 2016 report, you will find some accurate predictions of what trends will emerge over the next 5 years. Likewise, two of the stand out findings in the 2020 reports is as follows-
- In history for the first time, paid search ranked in charts of eCommerce revenue sources, capturing 34% of the website revenue after exactly two decades of the arrival of Google Ads. This by no means implies the death of SEO which is a mere percentile behind it. It has 33% of the website revenue and still proving double-digit on the year revenue growth of 21%.
- This is the first year that the majority of revenue occurred on mobile devices.
Thus, we can see that the top-performing tactics of the top performers were assimilated into and duplicated by the competing pack 5 years later. Undoubtedly, the top performers of 2016 are already way ahead with new aspects of differentiation.
- Race Back To The Top
The focus of the decade is the funnel. For the majority part of the year 2010, marketers seem to be racing to the bottom of the purchase funnel. More and more budget was navigated towards ‘search’ to win the exposure to the searcher.
However, now in 2021, these essential elements of the marketing mix are functioning at their optimum level for any advertiser worth their salt. The websites that are performing well are focusing extra budget on backing up towards the top of the funnel. The most remarkable way to kill the cut-throat competition on the Search is to have the first search of the audience. One should become their own brand and make efforts to out-market the competition by generating more of the cheapest traffic.
The Crucial Insights To Act Upon As A Digital Marketer To Succeed In 2021
As you must have seen above, the average sessions per visitor are 2, and the average sessions per purchaser are 5. Thus, the responsibility of the marketer is to craft an elegant journey across touch-points so that they deliver a unique perspective to a buyer. Any kind of activity that increases the sessions per visitor also results in an increase in conversion. According to the previous takeaway, top websites are beginning their journey high in the funnel. So, we suggest targeting the relevant. Do not convert the top of funnel searches with the brand budget to win the purchase at a later date.
2020 marks the beginning of the end of the version of the web. It also calls for the end of 3G and 4G smartphone-powered internet. It’s been a truly wild ride, and at this stage, we all are guessing what more is yet to come. Augmented Reality will enhance the intersection between the natural world and the virtual world, a steaming hot cup of cappuccino will be delivered in minutes to us by the drone, and we will be assisted by Elon Musk’s army of AI-powered cyborg monkeys. Who knows?
However, what we know for certain is that the most successful marketers, as always, will be the only individuals who can extract and act upon customer insights. This is mainly as the truth stands- Data is the new oil.
Well, that’s all for today! Here’s hoping this guide could provide you with relevant insights of the eCommerce benchmark KPI study and helped you draw relevant insights of the most valuable online consumer trend of 2021.
Author Bio
Ethan Tayloer is a webaholic, avid blogger, and movie buff. Professionally, Ethan has been working as an assignment help expert for Assignmenthelp.us for the past 10+ years now. He is quite famous among his hundreds and thousands of customers for her cheap assignment help services.