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Benchmark 07 · E-commerce

E-commerce checkout & conversion benchmark

How many buyers leave at checkout, and what would fixing it be worth? We audit your funnel from product page to payment and benchmark conversion, abandonment and checkout friction against Baymard and IRP Commerce market data.

Get your free snapshot Industry report · $199
The market reference

What the market looks like.

70.22%Average documented cart abandonment rate, across 50 studies (Baymard)1
35.26%Conversion increase a large e-commerce site could gain from better checkout design1
2.23%Average e-commerce session conversion rate, UK & Ireland, August 2026 (IRP Commerce)2
KPIMarket referenceTop performers / noteSource
Cart abandonment rate70.22% average—1
Session conversion rate (UK & IE)2.23% (Aug 2026)Varies strongly by category2
Top abandonment reason: extra costs (shipping, tax, fees)40% of abandonersExcludes “just browsing”1
Site wanted me to create an account18% of abandoners—1
Global retail e-commerce sales 2025USD 6.42T20.5% of total retail3

Traffic is expensive; conversion is where the margin is. eMarketer forecasts USD 6.42 trillion of global retail e-commerce in 2025, 20.5% of all retail sales3, so every point of checkout friction removed is revenue recovered without new ad spend.

Who it’s for

Is this benchmark for you?

Industries

Retail & e-commerce · Hospitality

Buyer

Sales & marketing · CEO & founder

Company profile

Any online store with steady traffic
Good first benchmark if you are new to AI

You need it if…

  • Traffic grows but revenue does not
  • Many carts are abandoned at checkout
  • Ad costs rise faster than sales
Why it pays · by traffic and role

What the report is worth to your business and your role.

The report prices a conversion lift at every traffic level and order value, then prices support time, speed work and test size. Figures below are taken from the report (chapters 23, 24 and 42).

Sessions a month+0.1 points+0.25 points+0.5 points
50,000$60,000$150,000$300,000
200,000$240,000$600,000$1,200,000
1,000,000$1,200,000$3,000,000$6,000,000
5,000,000$6,000,000$15,000,000$30,000,000

Market research model · based on published benchmarks. Extra revenue a year at a $100 average order = sessions a month × 12 × lift in percentage points ÷ 100 × $100. Revenue, not profit; traffic and lift are grid values, not benchmarks. Proving a 0.25-point lift from a 2% conversion rate needs about 52,200 visitors per variant (NEWMIND model).

For the CFO: cost you can take to the budget

  • Grids of extra revenue from a lift at every traffic level and average order value
  • Support time, speed work and test size, each priced
  • A reference grid of labour cost by role
  • A business case template to take the gain to the budget
  • A test plan sized so the result can be trusted

For the COO: productivity you can run

  • Baymard puts cart abandonment at 70.22% across 50 studies (vendor claim): a checkout audit and an abandonment-by-step log
  • In 2024, 43% of websites had good Core Web Vitals on mobile: a speed baseline to measure yours
  • Ten playbooks, from checkout and delivery costs to an accessible store
  • A search and assistant bake-off and questions for vendors
  • A regulation checklist, roles and ownership and a twelve-month tracker
The benchmark

What we measure. What you get.

What we measure

  • Funnel conversion from landing to purchase, by device
  • Cart and checkout abandonment, step by step
  • Checkout usability issues against published guidelines
  • Delivery, returns and payment options vs expectations
  • Page speed on product, cart and checkout pages

What you receive

  • Your funnel vs market conversion and abandonment references
  • Revenue at stake per friction point
  • Prioritised fix list: quick wins and build items
  • Test plan to prove each uplift
Typical turnaround: 2–4 weeksService: E-commerceFree snapshot: available
Industry report · Edition 1 · $199

E-commerce Conversion Benchmark 2026.

The full study behind this page: conversion and abandonment, site speed, AI in stores, what a lift is worth, ten playbooks and the worksheets to price your own gap.

What’s included

84pages
58chapters
45cited sources
13tools & templates

Tools you can use straight away

  • KPI sheet and scoring worksheet
  • Scenario tables: revenue from a lift
  • Reference grid: labour cost by role
  • Checkout audit
  • Abandonment by step
  • Speed baseline
  • Search and assistant bake-off
  • Questions for vendors
  • Business case
  • Test plan
  • Regulation checklist
  • Roles and ownership
  • Twelve-month tracker and action plan

About this edition: built from published research and NEWMIND models. It does not yet include our own survey; Edition 2 adds survey data from decision-makers, free for Edition 1 buyers.

Reserve your copy · $199 Online checkout opens soon. Reserve now and we email you the payment link; nothing is charged today.

Contents

  1. 01About this editionp. 4
  2. 02Executive summaryp. 6
  3. 03The market in 2026p. 8
  4. 04A second market: Great Britainp. 10
  5. 05Who buys online: EU buyersp. 11
  6. 06Who sells online: EU enterprisesp. 12
  7. 07Definitions: what is being measuredp. 13
  8. 08Conversion rate: what is publishedp. 14
  9. 09Devices: mobile sells, desktop convertsp. 15
  10. 10Platforms: what stores are built onp. 16
  11. 11Listed firms: what the filings showp. 17
  12. 12Cart abandonment: the published averagep. 18
  13. 13Why buyers leave: the stated reasonsp. 19
  14. 14Checkout design: the published benchmarkp. 20
  15. 15What goes wrong after the order: EU surveyp. 21
  16. 16Site speed: the three measures that countp. 22
  17. 17Site speed: the state of the web in 2024p. 23
  18. 18Site speed: where the time goesp. 24
  19. 19Site speed: what published cases claimp. 25
  20. 20AI adoption: what EU enterprises reportp. 26
  21. 21AI in product discovery: what can be claimedp. 27
  22. 22AI in customer support: assistants and the AI Actp. 28
  23. 23The NEWMIND model: what a conversion lift is worthp. 29
  24. 24The NEWMIND model: support time, speed work and test sizep. 30
  25. 25Playbooks: from evidence to actionp. 32
  26. 26Playbook: a shorter checkoutp. 33
  27. 27Playbook: costs and price displayp. 35
  28. 28Playbook: faster pagesp. 37
  29. 29Playbook: phones firstp. 39
  30. 30Playbook: search and product datap. 41
  31. 31Playbook: an AI support assistantp. 43
  32. 32Playbook: payments that go throughp. 45
  33. 33Playbook: delivery and returnsp. 47
  34. 34Playbook: tests you can trustp. 49
  35. 35Playbook: an accessible storep. 51
  36. 36Regulation: the EU rules that shape checkoutp. 53
  37. 37Regulation: US federal rules for online storesp. 55
  38. 38Roadmap: the first 90 daysp. 56
  39. 39Roadmap: the next 12 monthsp. 57
  40. 40Self-assessment: KPI sheetp. 58
  41. 41Self-assessment: scoring worksheetp. 59
  42. 42Scenario tables: revenue from a liftp. 60
  43. 43Reference grid: labour cost by rolep. 62
  44. 44Worksheet: checkout auditp. 63
  45. 45Worksheet: abandonment by stepp. 64
  46. 46Worksheet: speed baselinep. 65
  47. 47Worksheet: search and assistant bake-offp. 66
  48. 48Worksheet: questions for vendorsp. 67
  49. 49Worksheet: business casep. 68
  50. 50Worksheet: test planp. 69
  51. 51Worksheet: regulation checklistp. 70
  52. 52Worksheet: roles and ownershipp. 71
  53. 53Worksheet: twelve-month trackerp. 72
  54. 54Worksheet: action planp. 73
  55. 55Sources by typep. 74
  56. 56Method and limitsp. 79
  57. 57Glossaryp. 81
  58. 58Sourcesp. 82
Look inside · click a page to enlarge
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Free sample · 15 pages

Read the first 15 pages free.

Cover, contents, the key findings, the US and British markets, definitions and the published conversion rate, with their sources. Tell us where to send it and download it straight away.

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Next step

Turn this benchmark into your custom workflow.

The benchmark shows where e-commerce conversion stands against the market. NEWMIND PARTNERS designs, builds and runs the workflow that closes your gap, built around the systems you already use.

01

Feasibility audit

We measure your workflow on your data (read-only), then compare every solution on the market, off-the-shelf or custom.

02

Design

The workflow that fits your systems, suppliers and approval rules, with a human checkpoint on every decision that matters.

03

Build and run

Senior engineers build it, connect it to the tools you already use and run it in production with an audit trail.

04

Prove it

Baseline on day one, then the change in cost, hours and cash, reported every month.

Start with a feasibility audit

Find out what your workflow really costs, which solution fits best, and the business case to back it. No commitment.

How it works

Four steps. No disruption.

01

Intake call

30 minutes with a senior engineer to agree scope, KPIs and the data we need.

02

Data, read-only

Exports or read-only access to the systems involved. Nothing is changed.

03

Analysis

Your numbers placed against the published market references, KPI by KPI.

04

Readout

Your position, the cost gap in dollars and a costed roadmap to close it.

Reports & custom benchmarks

Questions or a custom benchmark?

Ask the team about the e-commerce conversion report, or request a custom benchmark on your own data.

  • Your funnel vs market conversion and abandonment references
  • Revenue at stake per friction point
  • Prioritised fix list: quick wins and build items
Your details are used only to prepare your benchmark. A senior engineer replies, not a sales rep.
Thank you. We have your request and will be in touch by email.

Sources

  1. 1
    Baymard Institute, Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics (50 studies). baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate
  2. 2
    IRP Commerce, Ecommerce Market Data and Benchmarks. irpcommerce.com/ecommercemarketdata.aspx
  3. 3
    eMarketer forecast (Feb 2025), via Shopify, Global ecommerce sales. shopify.com/blog/global-ecommerce-sales