Ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks
Ecommerce conversion rate is the share of site sessions that end in a completed order. Here is every published figure we can show, side by side, with what each one counts.
1.24% to 3.31%
Current, documented figures cluster lower than many round-number claims you'll see elsewhere: IRP Commerce's UK and Irish panel recorded a 2.23% session conversion rate in August 2026, Shogun's H1 2026 study of 745 Shopify stores found a 1.74% median (2.61% mean), and Polar Analytics' cross-industry median across 4,000+ Shopify brands was 2.49% as of its August 2026 snapshot. All three agree the median sits closer to 2% than to the 3%–4% figures sometimes quoted without a source. 25 figures from 4 sources, grouped by what they count (visitor → completed purchase is charted too, but not part of the headline range). We never average them.
Published ecommerce conversion rate figures by way of counting, from 1.74% to 2.71%. Every figure is listed in the source list below.
Tap or hover a point to see its source.
Key findings
Each one cites its source figures.
Three independent samples land within half a point of each other: IRP Commerce's UK/Irish panel (2.23%, August 2026), Shogun's median across 745 Shopify stores (1.74%, H1 2026) and Polar Analytics' cross-industry median across 4,000+ Shopify brands (2.49%). Treat any single-source claim of a flat "average conversion rate" outside this range with caution.
IRP CommerceShogunPolar AnalyticsWithin Shogun's H1 2026 sample, mean conversion rate by industry ranges from 4.42% (Food & Beverage) down to 1.38% (Consumer Electronics) — a more than 3x spread by category alone.
ShogunShogun's own H1 2026 sample shows the mean running 0.87 points above the median, meaning a handful of high-converting stores are pulling the average up; the median is the more typical result.
ShogunSame data, different answers
How the way of counting changes the number, on one scale.
Conversion rate by industry (Shogun's Shopify sample, H1 2026)
Median and mean from Shogun's study of 745 active Shopify stores (at least one order and one session in the window; rates below 0.1% or above 25% excluded as non-representative).
Source by source
Open any source for its definition, sample and method.
IRP CommerceEcommerce Market Data and Ecommerce Benchmarks · August 2026 snapshot2.23%all stores, UK & IrelandGrade B
- What counts
- Session conversion rate = Transactions ÷ Sessions × 100.
- Statistic
- Aggregate (transactions ÷ sessions) across the panel
- Sample
- UK and Irish retailers trading on the IRP Commerce platform (exact count not disclosed)
- Data window
- August 2026, compared year-on-year to August 2025
- Method
- Operational trading data recorded within the IRP platform across UK and Irish merchants.
- Published cuts
- market vertical (10 categories) · month-over-month and year-over-year
- Limitations
- UK and Irish retailers only, on one platform
- Exact sample size not disclosed
- Licence
- Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm IRP Commerce's terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline figure quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
ShogunEcommerce Conversion Rate Benchmark Report · H1 2026 edition1.74%all stores2.61%shopify storesGrade A
- What counts
- Conversion rate = Orders ÷ Sessions × 100, aggregated at the store level (not by unique user).
- Statistic
- Median and mean both published
- Sample
- 745 active Shopify stores with at least one order and one session in the window; stores with conversion rates below 0.1% or above 25% excluded
- Data window
- January–June 2026
- Method
- Storeleads-derived Shopify store data; industries classified via Storeleads/Google Product Taxonomy; revenue bands from Storeleads-estimated annual GMV.
- Published cuts
- industry · revenue band
- Limitations
- Shopify stores only
- Store-level aggregation, not unique-user based
- Revenue-band and industry classifications are third-party estimates (Storeleads), not merchant-reported
- Licence
- Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm Shogun's terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline and industry figures quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Polar AnalyticsEcommerce Benchmarks 2026 · Live dashboard, snapshot read 2026-08-25 (updates weekly)2.49%all storesGrade B
- What counts
- Conversion rate; exact denominator (sessions vs visitors) not stated on the page.
- Statistic
- Median (stated explicitly to avoid outlier skew)
- Sample
- 4,000+ Shopify brands (anonymized, aggregated)
- Data window
- Not stated (rolling)
- Method
- Anonymized, aggregated data from 4,000+ Shopify brands, refreshed weekly; medians shown by industry and by revenue tier.
- Published cuts
- industry (15 categories) · revenue tier (partial)
- Limitations
- Shopify brands only
- Exact denominator (sessions vs. visitors) not stated
- No confidence intervals or per-row sample size
- Licence
- Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm Polar Analytics' terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline and industry figures quoted with attribution.
- Checked
- Sep 30, 2026 · Read the source
Dynamic Yield by MastercardeCommerce Conversion Rate Benchmark · Live benchmark2.71%visitor → completed purchaseGrade A
- What counts
- Visitor-based purchase conversion rate (visitors who completed a purchase ÷ total visitors), not the session-based denominator IRP Commerce and Shogun use.
- Statistic
- Average (publisher label)
- Sample
- Aggregated across 200M+ monthly unique users from 400+ brands and 300M+ total sessions
- Data window
- Trailing 12 months as shown on the live page (accessed 2026-10-01); exact start/end dates not stated and the window moves over time
- Method
- Aggregated ecommerce behavioral data across Dynamic Yield's live customer panel, broken out by geography, device and industry.
- Published cuts
- geography (Americas, EMEA, APAC) · device (desktop, mobile, tablet) · industry
- Limitations
- A live, continuously updated benchmark — population and date window shift over time rather than describing one fixed study
- Visitor-based denominator, not session-based — do not mix directly with the session-based sources above without noting the difference
- Population is Dynamic Yield's own customer base
- Licence
- Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Dynamic Yield has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Mastercard's Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate (a personal-use licence covering the whole mastercard.com domain); we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published benchmark figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded and the owner is a large corporate publisher.
- Checked
- Oct 1, 2026 · Read the source
By industry and region
Selected figures, each with its source. Full tables live in each publisher's report.
Why sources disagree
Each factor moves the number on its own.
Both Shogun and Polar Analytics report medians rather than means as their headline figure specifically to avoid a handful of unusually strong (or weak) stores skewing the number.
Shogun and Polar Analytics benchmark pagesPlatform: one platform vs all platforms
Shogun and Polar Analytics both sample Shopify stores only; IRP Commerce's panel is UK/Irish merchants on the IRP platform, not Shopify-specific. A platform-wide "ecommerce" figure blending all storefront software would sit somewhere between these, but no source here publishes that blend.
Median vs mean
Shogun publishes both for the same sample: 1.74% median against 2.61% mean. Use the median when comparing a typical store; the mean is more useful only if you specifically care about the sample's total-weighted performance.
How sessions are counted and filtered
Shogun excludes stores with conversion rates below 0.1% or above 25% as "non-representative," which removes both broken-tracking stores and likely bot-heavy or mismeasured ones. IRP Commerce and Polar Analytics do not state an equivalent filter.
Sessions vs. visitors as the denominator
IRP Commerce and Shogun both divide by sessions (one visit can be one of several sessions from the same person). A visitor-based conversion rate, which some other publishers report, divides by unique visitors instead and will read differently for the same store — check which denominator a figure uses before comparing.
What is a good ecommerce conversion rate?
It depends on how your platform counts and who you send to.
If you run a Shopify store
Shogun's 1.74% median (H1 2026, 745 stores) or Polar Analytics' 2.49% cross-industry median (4,000+ brands, August 2026) are the closest matched references; compare against your own industry row where possible rather than the blended figure.
If you're outside Shopify (UK/Ireland)
IRP Commerce's 2.23% (August 2026) is the most directly comparable published figure we found for a non-Shopify-specific panel.
By industry
Shogun's H1 2026 breakdown shows Health & Wellness and Beauty converting around 3%+ against roughly 1.2%–1.4% for Autos, Electronics and Sports & Outdoors — compare within your own category, not against the cross-industry figure.
Before you compare
- Never average these figures together: different platforms, different filters, different statistics (median vs mean).
- "3% is average" claims that don't cite a source should be treated with real skepticism; none of the three documented, current samples here land above 2.5% as a median.
- Shogun's and Polar Analytics' samples are both Shopify-only; neither should be read as representative of the whole ecommerce market.
Show 1 more cautions
- Sample composition (store size, traffic quality, industry mix) moves these numbers as much as anything else — match the source to your own situation before comparing.
How to calculate ecommerce conversion rate
- Use sessions, not unique visitors or pageviews — Shogun and IRP Commerce both define their published rate this way.
- Consider excluding extreme outlier periods (e.g., a single day with broken checkout tracking) the way Shogun's 0.1%–25% filter does, or a short bad stretch will distort your own number.
- Report median alongside mean if you're benchmarking multiple stores or time periods — the two can differ by close to a point, as they do in Shogun's own sample.
Questions about ecommerce conversion rates
Tools to measure and improve it
Chosen for what they do, not ranked.
Sources and licence notes4 sources · 4 quoted · 0 linked only · checked Oct 1, 2026
- IRP Commerce, Ecommerce Market Data and Ecommerce Benchmarks · August 2026 snapshot · last checked Sep 30, 2026Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm IRP Commerce's terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline figure quoted with attribution.
- Shogun, Ecommerce Conversion Rate Benchmark Report · H1 2026 edition · last checked Sep 30, 2026Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm Shogun's terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline and industry figures quoted with attribution.
- Polar Analytics, Ecommerce Benchmarks 2026 · Live dashboard, snapshot read 2026-08-25 (updates weekly) · last checked Sep 30, 2026Not checked this pass (time budget) — confirm Polar Analytics' terms before treating as quote-eligible at scale. Headline and industry figures quoted with attribution.
- Dynamic Yield by Mastercard, eCommerce Conversion Rate Benchmark · Live benchmark · last checked Oct 1, 2026Reported here as factual findings in our own wording and presentation, with attribution and a link to the source. This is not a claim that Dynamic Yield has granted a reproduction licence, and we do not copy its prose, charts, tables or page design. Mastercard's Terms of Use are generic sitewide boilerplate (a personal-use licence covering the whole mastercard.com domain); we read them as not specifically restricting citation of published benchmark figures. Flagged for review: the clause is broadly worded and the owner is a large corporate publisher.
These are figures reported by the platforms themselves about their own customers; we do not measure them ourselves. Found an error or a newer edition? Tell us