Conversion
What is a good e-commerce conversion rate?
Most published benchmarks put the average e-commerce conversion rate between about 1.4% and 3% of sessions: Dynamic Yield reports 2.66% globally, IRP Commerce reports 1.97% for the UK and Ireland in September 2026, and Statista reports 1.4% for Q1 2026. A good conversion rate is one that beats your own previous rate for the same device, channel and product category. Those factors move the number more than store quality does.
By the MoraLab team · Updated · 5 min read
How to calculate your e-commerce conversion rate
E-commerce conversion rate is the percentage of sessions that end in an order: orders ÷ sessions × 100. A store with 6,000 sessions and 120 orders in a month has a 2% conversion rate.
Use sessions, not users. One person visiting four times before buying is one user and four sessions; dividing orders by users makes the rate look higher than it is and makes it impossible to compare with published benchmarks, which are almost all session-based. Use the same source for both numbers where you can. The section on tracking below explains why.
Sources: Shopify: Ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks (Aug 2026, citing Dynamic Yield and Statista); IRP Commerce: UK and Ireland ecommerce market data (Sept 2026)
Average e-commerce conversion rates in 2026
Three widely cited sources, measured in different ways, give three different averages. All three are correct for what they measure.
| Source | Scope | Average conversion rate |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Yield (via Shopify) | 400+ brands, global | 2.66% |
| IRP Commerce | UK and Ireland B2C stores, September 2026 | 1.97% (up from 1.68% a year earlier) |
| Statista (via Shopify) | Global e-commerce visits, Q1 2026 | 1.4% |
Sources: Shopify: Ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks (Aug 2026, citing Dynamic Yield and Statista); IRP Commerce: UK and Ireland ecommerce market data (Sept 2026)
Conversion rates by industry, and why the sources disagree
Category matters more than anything else. Products people buy often and know well (food, pet supplies, beauty refills) convert far more often than considered purchases (furniture, luxury goods). But look at how much two respected sources differ for the same kind of store:
| Category | Dynamic Yield (global, June) | IRP Commerce (UK & Ireland, Sept 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Food & drink | 4.58% | 1.28% |
| Pet care | 5.70% | 2.13% |
| Fashion & accessories | 2.77% | 1.62% |
| Beauty / health & personal care | 5.32% (beauty & personal care) | 2.83% (health & wellbeing) |
| Home & furniture | 1.29% | 2.59% (kitchen & home appliances, a narrower category) |
| Luxury & jewellery | 0.63% | Not reported |
Different stores in the sample
Dynamic Yield's clients are mostly larger brands with strong returning traffic; IRP measures a broad set of UK and Irish retailers. The same category can mean very different businesses.
Different category definitions
“Food & drink” can mean grocery replenishment or gift hampers. They behave nothing alike.
Different traffic mixes
A store living on paid social traffic converts lower than one living on email and branded search, regardless of how good the site is.
Sources: Shopify: Ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks (Aug 2026, citing Dynamic Yield and Statista); IRP Commerce: UK and Ireland ecommerce market data (Sept 2026)
What moves a store's conversion rate (besides the website)
Before you conclude your site underperforms, check the factors that change the rate without any change to the store:
Price point
A €40 impulse purchase and a €2,000 sofa have different decision cycles. Expensive products need more visits per order, so their session conversion rate is naturally lower.
Traffic source
Email, branded search and returning visitors convert well. Prospecting campaigns on social platforms bring people who did not know you an hour ago.
Device
Phones bring most of the traffic for many stores but tend to convert at a lower rate per session, partly because people browse on the phone and buy later on another device. Compare devices separately; never against a blended average.
New versus returning visitors
A store growing fast with new customers will see its rate fall even if every page improves.
Tracking and consent
In the EU, visitors who decline analytics cookies may not appear as sessions in your analytics tool, while their orders still appear in your shop system. Dividing shop orders by consented sessions overstates the rate. Take both numbers from the same tool, or note the consent rate beside the figure.
The conversion rates worth tracking instead
The site-wide rate is a summary. These are the numbers you can act on, because each points to a part of the store:
| Metric | Formula | Points to |
|---|---|---|
| Add-to-cart rate | Sessions with an add to cart ÷ sessions with a product view | Product pages: images, information, price |
| Cart-to-checkout rate | Checkouts started ÷ sessions with an add to cart | Cart: total cost, delivery, trust |
| Checkout completion rate | Orders ÷ checkouts started | Checkout: forms, payment, errors |
| Revenue per session | Revenue ÷ sessions | Overall commercial health, including order value |
| Conversion by landing page | Orders ÷ sessions, per entry page | Which pages and campaigns bring buyers |
How to set a benchmark you can actually use
Export the last 13 months so you can compare each month with the same month a year earlier; seasonality alone can move a rate substantially. Split by device and channel. Record the conversion rate, the add-to-cart rate and revenue per session for each segment. That table is your benchmark.
Then use published benchmarks only as a sanity check. If your mobile checkout completion rate is far below your desktop one, you have found a problem worth more than any industry average. When you are ready to improve the numbers, our conversion rate optimization guide walks through the process step by step.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 1% conversion rate bad?
Not necessarily. For furniture, luxury goods or a store driven by new social traffic, 1% can be healthy. Compare it with your own history for the same channel and device, and look at add-to-cart and checkout completion rates to see whether a specific step is weak.
Is a 5% conversion rate realistic?
For frequently bought, low-priced products with many returning customers, such as food, pet supplies and beauty refills, benchmark averages approach or exceed 5% in some datasets. For considered purchases it is rare. A sudden jump to 5% is more often a tracking change than a breakthrough.
Should I count conversion rate by sessions or by users?
By sessions. Nearly all public benchmarks use sessions, and user-based rates are inflated because one user often visits several times before buying.
How often should I check my conversion rate?
Weekly for spotting breakages, monthly for trends, and always compared with the same period a year earlier. Daily rates are too noisy for decisions in most stores.
Sources
- Shopify: Ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks (Aug 2026, citing Dynamic Yield and Statista)
- IRP Commerce: UK and Ireland ecommerce market data (Sept 2026)
Sources checked 20 October 2026. Figures are reported as the publishers state them; where sources disagree, the article says so.