Coremetrics Benchmark™
Holiday 2008 Online Retail Reports
Thanksgiving 2008 is over and Coremetrics Benchmark™ has the retail data. Overall, this year people have been spending less time on retailers’ websites and browsing through fewer products. But while retailers struggled to convert visitors to buyers on Black Friday, they did a better job on Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday 2008 sees increases in online conversions
More people who visited websites actually completed their purchases online this Cyber Monday compared to the same period in 2007. However, people are buying fewer items and spending less money on average.
- Web sessions where people placed an item in a shopping cart increased by 12 percent.
- The number of sessions where people went on to complete their purchases also increased by 12 percent.
But online retailers failed to keep shoppers on their sites looking at products.
- People’s product views per session dropped by 7.5 percent.
- The average time they spent on a web site fell by 14.5 percent.
- These numbers suggest that shoppers were extremely focused in their buying.
Similarly, retailers were unable to encourage those who did buy to buy more products.
- The average number of items per order fell by 17 percent.
- Average order value dropped by 10 percent.
Notable retail categories:
Department stores increased their shopping cart sessions and order sessions by 20 percent and 16 percent respectively.
- Unlike the retail category as a whole, department stores successfully increased the average number of items per order by 11 percent.
- The number of new visitors who completed a purchase also rose by 18 percent.
Gifts retailers also fared well with 4 percent and 5 percent increases in average number of items per order and average order value respectively.
Health and Beauty retailers did a phenomenal job of getting people to put products in their shopping carts (up nearly 57 percent).
- The number of sessions where people went on to complete their purchases also increased by 70 percent.
- However, the average order value was down 8.8 percent.
When analyzing the percentage of orders across five groups of different average order values (< $25, $25-$50, $51-$75, $76-$100 and > $100), we see that most orders were concentrated around $76-$100. This follows a similar distribution that we saw in the Black Friday data. The apparel, intimate apparel and office supplies/electronics sub-verticals saw the bulk of their orders coming in, on average, at $100 or more.
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| 2008 Cyber Monday Data |
| |
| |
Session Traffic Summary |
Cyber Mon
2008 |
Cyber Mon
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Monday
Nov 24, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
One Page Session1 |
24.51% |
22.49% |
8.98% |
27.50% |
-10.87% |
| |
Multi Page Session2 |
75.49% |
77.51% |
-2.61% |
72.50% |
4.12% |
| |
Browser Session3 |
51.30% |
51.58% |
-0.54% |
48.52% |
5.73% |
| |
Shopping Cart Sessions4 |
10.91% |
9.75% |
11.90% |
8.03% |
35.87% |
| |
Order Sessions5 |
3.99% |
3.58% |
11.45% |
2.70% |
47.78% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
Visitor Experience Summary |
Cyber Mon
2008 |
Cyber Mon
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Monday
Nov 24, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
Page Views Per Session6 |
11.59 |
12.35 |
-6.12% |
10.48 |
10.60% |
| |
Product Views Per Session7 |
2.63 |
2.85 |
-7.58% |
2.41 |
9.04% |
| |
Average Time on Site (in seconds)8 |
502.66 |
587.96 |
-14.51% |
461.65 |
8.88% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
Transaction Summary |
Cyber Mon
2008 |
Cyber Mon
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Monday
Nov 24, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
Average Items/Order9 |
4.56 |
5.49 |
-16.87% |
5.61 |
-18.68% |
| |
Average Order Value10 |
$130.24 |
$143.96 |
-9.53% |
$144.78 |
-10.04% |
| |
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate11 |
37.99% |
38.64% |
-1.68% |
35.34% |
7.50% |
| |
Shopping Cart Abandonment12 |
62.01% |
61.36% |
1.06% |
64.66% |
-4.10% |
| |
New Visitor Conversion Rate13 |
2.91% |
2.71% |
7.38% |
1.96% |
48.47% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
On-Site Search Summary |
Cyber Mon
2008 |
Cyber Mon
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Monday
Nov 24, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
On-Site Search Session14 |
17.86% |
17.74% |
0.68% |
20.65% |
-13.51% |
| |
|
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| About Coremetrics Benchmark: |
| |
| Session Traffic Summary Metrics |
|
| 1. |
One Page Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors only viewed one page before leaving the
site. |
|
| 2. |
Multi-Page Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors viewed more than one page. |
|
| 3. |
Browser Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors viewed at least one product page. |
|
| 4. |
Shopping Cart Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors placed at least one item in their shopping
carts. |
|
| 5. |
Order Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors completed an order. |
|
| |
| Visitor Experience Summary Metrics |
|
| 6. |
Page Views/Session |
The average number of pages viewed by visitors per session. |
|
| 7. |
Product Views/Session |
The average number of products viewed by visitors per session. |
|
| 8. |
Average Session Length |
The average length of time for a visitor session. |
|
| |
| Transactions Summary Metrics |
|
| 9. |
Average Items per Order |
The average number of items purchased per order. |
|
| 10. |
Average Order Value |
The average value of each order. |
|
| 11. |
Shopping Cart Conversion % |
Out of all visitors who placed items in their shopping carts, the percentage that placed
an actual order. |
|
| 12. |
Shopping Cart Abandonment % |
Out of all visitors who placed items in their shopping carts, the percentage that did not
place an actual order. |
|
| 13. |
New Visitor Conversion % |
Out of all new visitor sessions, the percentage that completed an order. |
|
| |
| On-Site Search Summary Metrics |
|
| 14. |
On-Site Search Session |
Out of all sessions, the percentage in which visitors used on-site search capabilities. |
|
|
| |
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Black Friday 2008 sees sharp decreases in e-commerce activities
Most of the key performance indicators that make up the Coremetrics Benchmark registered drops in ecommerce activities in the U.S. Retail vertical between Black Friday of 2008 and Black Friday of 2007. The exceptions were shopping cart sessions (up by 0.5 percent), average items per order (up 2.5 percent) and onsite search sessions (up 5 percent).
At the sub-vertical level there were a few bright spots. The big winners were the Department Stores and the Gifts sub-verticals. The Department Store sub-vertical saw a 12 percent increase in order sessions, 30 percent increase in average items per order, and 10 percent increases in average order value and in shopping cart conversion rate.
The Gifts sub-vertical registered an increase in the percentage of shopping cart and order sessions, as well as an up tick in transaction measurements. The average number of items per order, average order value, and new visitor conversion rate went up between 1 percent and 6 percent.
Also, the Health and Beauty sub-vertical saw an increase in the percentage of browser and shopping cart sessions (6 percent and 10 percent respectively), as well as in average order value (10 percent). The Jewelry sub-vertical saw a large increase in shopping cart (80 percent) and order sessions (36 percent).
When analyzing the percentage of orders across five groups of different average order values (< $25, $25-$50, $51-$75, $76-$100 and > $100), we see that most orders were concentrated around $76-$100. The same downward trend was noticed with 2008 Thanksgiving Saturday data.
Again, most key performing indicators were down across retail, with department stores showing strength in traffic and transaction-related measures.
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| 2008 Black Friday Retail Data |
| |
| |
Session Traffic Summary |
Black Friday
2008 |
Black Friday
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Friday
Nov 21, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
One Page Session1 |
22.13% |
20.87% |
6.04% |
25.97% |
-14.79% |
| |
Multi Page Session2 |
77.87% |
79.13% |
-1.59% |
74.03% |
5.19% |
| |
Browser Session3 |
51.80% |
52.99% |
-2.25% |
50.93% |
1.71% |
| |
Shopping Cart Sessions4 |
10.80% |
10.75% |
0.47% |
8.69% |
24.28% |
| |
Order Sessions5 |
3.49% |
3.55% |
-1.69% |
2.85% |
22.46% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
Visitor Experience Summary |
Black Friday
2008 |
Black Friday
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Friday
Nov 21, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
Page Views Per Session6 |
12.63 |
13.81 |
-8.55% |
11.51 |
9.69% |
| |
Product Views Per Session7 |
2.86 |
3.12 |
-8.29% |
2.74 |
4.72% |
| |
Average Time on Site (in seconds)8 |
517.27 |
632.33 |
-18.20% |
490.21 |
5.52% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
Transaction Summary |
Black Friday
2008 |
Black Friday
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Friday
Nov 21, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
Average Items/Order9 |
4.56 |
4.45 |
2.54% |
5.42 |
-15.83% |
| |
Average Order Value10 |
$126.04 |
$134.29 |
-6.15% |
$140.19 |
-10.10% |
| |
Shopping Cart Conversion Rate11 |
33.56% |
34.87% |
-3.76% |
34.34% |
-2.27% |
| |
Shopping Cart Abandonment12 |
66.44% |
65.13% |
2.01% |
65.66% |
1.19% |
| |
New Visitor Conversion Rate13 |
2.27% |
2.61% |
-13.03% |
1.98% |
14.65% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
On-Site Search Summary |
Black Friday
2008 |
Black Friday
2007 |
% Change
(y/y) |
Friday
Nov 21, 08 |
% Change
(w/w) |
|
|
| |
On-Site Search Session14 |
18.44% |
17.50% |
5.37% |
20.02% |
-8.85% |
|
| |
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| About Coremetrics Benchmark: |
| |
| Session Traffic Summary Metrics |
|
| 1. |
One Page Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors only viewed one page before leaving the
site. |
|
| 2. |
Multi-Page Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors viewed more than one page. |
|
| 3. |
Browser Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors viewed at least one product page. |
|
| 4. |
Shopping Cart Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors placed at least one item in their shopping
carts. |
|
| 5. |
Order Session % |
The percentage of sessions in which visitors completed an order. |
|
| |
| Visitor Experience Summary Metrics |
|
| 6. |
Page Views/Session |
The average number of pages viewed by visitors per session. |
|
| 7. |
Product Views/Session |
The average number of products viewed by visitors per session. |
|
| 8. |
Average Session Length |
The average length of time for a visitor session. |
|
| |
| Transactions Summary Metrics |
|
| 9. |
Average Items per Order |
The average number of items purchased per order. |
|
| 10. |
Average Order Value |
The average value of each order. |
|
| 11. |
Shopping Cart Conversion % |
Out of all visitors who placed items in their shopping carts, the percentage that placed
an actual order. |
|
| 12. |
Shopping Cart Abandonment % |
Out of all visitors who placed items in their shopping carts, the percentage that did not
place an actual order. |
|
| 13. |
New Visitor Conversion % |
Out of all new visitor sessions, the percentage that completed an order. |
|
| |
| On-Site Search Summary Metrics |
|
| 14. |
On-Site Search Session |
Out of all sessions, the percentage in which visitors used on-site search capabilities. |
|
|
| |
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