Surprising ecommerce statistics from our clients in 2018

At We Make Websites, we collect and analyse anonymous user data from selected (opted in) Shopify Plus clients. We do this to ensure our clients are using their time and spending their money efficiently to maximise sales and revenue.

These statistics are based on 20 million visitors over the past 12 months, out of an estimated 100 million websites that we maintain.

Mobile Vs Desktop

From our client data, we were surprised to find that an astonishing 59% of visitors came from mobile phones, and from that, 39% of our client’s revenue was generated from mobile-commerce over the last 12 months.

However, when comparing to desktops, we can see that although desktops attracted a smaller percentage of visitors at 34%, they generated a higher percentage of revenue at 51%. This is to be expected as people still find it easier checking out on a proper keyboard.

Tablets generated 7% of visitors and 9.6% of revenue over the year.

What’s amazing is that tablets and mobile make up 50% of revenue versus desktop. It wasn’t long ago that mobile traffic passed the 50% mark.

Visitors

There are 14 (!) types of Apple device driving visitors and revenue to our e-commerce stores, 12 of which are varieties of iPhone.

In actual fact, 61% of our client’s mobile visitors are coming from the Apple iPhone, the most popular being the iPhone 6s. The Apple iPad is bringing a further 9.8% of visits on it’s own. Compare that to a miniscule 0.3% of visits from the Google Pixel and you might be surprised. Don’t be – the majority of the brands we work with sell to affluent consumers who overwhelmingly use Apple devices. That’s why Apple is now a trillion dollar company!

Revenue

Adding to the Apple product hype, 67% of revenue is made via an Apple iPhone (iPhone 6s being most popular again), and 20% from an Apple iPad, in comparison to other devices.

Browsers

So, we now know the most popular devices that bring our e-commerce clients the majority of visitors and revenue, but which browser are they using to visit via their favorite devices?

Safari and Chrome are by far the most popular browsers being used to access the online shopping world. Safari boasts 52% of visits, in contrast to 34% of visitors coming from Chrome. This is probably due to it being the default browser on iPhones.

Conclusion

A part from the fact Apple products are clearly the number one customer choice to shop online, what else do we need to consider?

For example, are people using their mobile phones to research on the go, and then choosing to make transactions on their desktops? Does this mean that your customers are finding the experience of making a transaction too difficult on their mobiles? Or perhaps customers are getting distracted part way through purchasing and leave items in their carts; what can you do about this? Maybe they feel more secure with their personal bank details when using a desktop?

These are the sorts of questions you should be asking when considering where to focus your design and marketing efforts to increase your overall annual revenue.