What Is Ecommerce Analytics?
Ecommerce analytics is nan process of collecting, analyzing, and acting connected website information from your online store.
It helps you get smarter astir your customers and your competitors. So you tin make nan correct decisions to amended your business.
For example, you tin optimize your postulation channels, uncover and reside problem areas, and refine your checkout process to perchance thrust much sales.
Benefits of Using Ecommerce Analytics
Here are 3 main benefits of utilizing ecommerce analytics arsenic portion of your business process.
Enhances Understanding of Your Site Visitors
There’s information to analyse astatine each shape of nan customer journey. And you tin usage your study to guarantee each measurement is tailored to their needs and wants.
For instance, you tin stitchery ecommerce information astir really visitors get connected your site, really they engage, what happens arsenic they move done nan checkout process, and what they purchase.
Improves Customer Experience and Retention
Ecommerce analytics tin thief you uncover what’s holding your site’s capacity back. So you tin creation amended customer experiences that lead to longer, much engaged visits—and perchance much sales.
Plus, affirmative experiences build spot and retention. And nearly half of consumers (46%) thin to shop much from brands they trust.
Increases Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction
Ecommerce analytics lets you place your best-performing postulation sources for online sales. And you tin usage that accusation to allocate your advertizing fund much effectively—spending wherever it’ll apt make nan astir purchases.
Plus, you tin find areas wherever you tin destruct unnecessary costs.
Different Types of Ecommerce Analytics
We’ll reappraisal 4 chopped categories of ecommerce analytics based connected nan earthy progression of online customers—from first arriving connected your tract to completing a purchase.
Each class corresponds to a circumstantial shape of nan sales funnel. And focuses connected important metrics to understand really that portion of nan chimney is performing.
Let’s screen each class and immoderate applicable cardinal metrics.

Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics involves search your ecommerce store’s postulation sources.
Metrics for illustration conversion complaint and return connected advertisement walk (ROAS) tin thief you measurement nan effectiveness of your marketing. So you tin fund accordingly and take what postulation sources to attraction on.
Visits
Visits (called “sessions” successful Google Analytics 4) is really overmuch postulation comes to your website. And you tin spot really it varies by transmission to find which ones are astir effective astatine driving group to your site.
Conversion Rate
Ecommerce conversion complaint is nan percent of each visits that extremity successful a purchase.
To cipher conversion rate, return your full number of purchases and disagreement them by your full visits (or sessions). Then, multiply by 100.

Let’s look astatine Google Analytics 4 (GA4) information for nan ecommerce business illustration below.
The tract has an wide conversion complaint of 1.34% (9,293 purchases / 693,131 sessions), but we spot sizeable differences crossed postulation channels.

This business mightiness determine to trim its paid hunt ads budget, arsenic it only has a 0.08% conversion rate. And reallocate resources toward increasing nan email database because nan email transmission has a 4.32% conversion rate.
For paid advertising campaigns, ROAS helps to measurement profitability by dividing nan full ecommerce income by nan paid media cost.
Below are 3 Google Ads campaigns. Only 1 of them has a ROAS supra 1.0—meaning 2 campaigns costs much successful media than what they make successful revenue. Which makes them unprofitable.

This business mightiness determine to move disconnected each paid hunt activities. Or astatine slightest extremity nan campaigns pinch a ROAS beneath 1.0.
Engagement Analytics
Engagement analytics alteration you to study really good your tract converts visits into merchandise page views. And you want to make it easy for visitors to statesman nan shopping process.
A fast-loading website that’s easy to navigate and well-organized plays an important domiciled successful encouraging your visitors to engage. And bounce complaint helps you measurement this.
Bounce Rate
A bounce is simply a convention wherever your visitors don’t prosecute pinch your website. The astir communal illustration of a bounced convention is erstwhile a visitant only views a azygous page earlier leaving.
And a precocious percent of these sessions—meaning a precocious bounce rate—often indicates issues pinch your visitors’ website experience. And less purchases.
Average bounce rates alteration by industry. But successful general, a bounce complaint of 40% is considered good—and 60% aliases much isn’t.
GA4 information for nan ecommerce shop beneath shows a sitewide bounce complaint of 49.42%. With sizeable differences betwixt immoderate of nan apical landing pages.
It would make consciousness to comparison and reappraisal your best- and worst-performing pages for bounce rate. Like “/Collections/Stationery” (35.95% bounce rate) and “/Collections/New” (56.39%).

Look for imaginable differences successful page load clip and creation approach—which whitethorn lend to nan bounce complaint variance. Consider what elements mightiness beryllium moving connected nan “/Collections/Stationery” page. Implement them connected nan worst-performing page and show whether those changes little its bounce complaint complete time.
As your site’s bounce complaint improves, you’ll apt person much visitors navigating deeper to nan merchandise pages. Where they tin shop.
Which leads america to different applicable metric:
Product Page Views
This metric is simply really galore visits (or sessions) included a sojourn to a merchandise page. And that’s important.
Why?
Because if visitors don’t position a merchandise page, they don’t person a chance to make a purchase.
You tin past comparison that to your full number of visits. To comparison it to nan mean percent of sessions connected ecommerce sites pinch a merchandise page view—43.8%.
Checkout Performance Analytics
Checkout capacity analytics entails reviewing really customers shop and move done nan checkout process. And you want to make it easy for them to adhd products to their carts and move forward.
Add-to-cart complaint is simply a captious checkout capacity metric to way and optimize.
Add-to-Cart Rate
This is nan percent of website visitors who adhd a merchandise to their shopping carts.
For example, you get 1,000 tract visitors during a fixed clip play and 95 adhd an point to their carts. Your add-to-cart complaint is 9.5% (95 / 1,000).
The mean add-to-cart complaint is around 8%, but it varies by industry. So it’s important to group goals by benchmarking against your ain industry—and particularly against your humanities performance.
Let’s opportunity your site’s mean add-to-cart complaint is 9.5% complete a one-year period. Then it drops to 8.25%.
If you benchmark against nan wide ecommerce manufacture of 8%, you mightiness deliberation things are bully and extremity your analysis. But erstwhile you comparison pinch your ain past performance, you cognize there’s thing you request to diagnose and fix.
The GA4 acquisition travel study beneath helps you visualize shopping performance. We spot add-to-cart activity successful Step 3.

This website has an add-to-cart complaint of 6.15%. Because 31.2% of sessions see a merchandise position (Step 2), of which 19.7% see adding an point to a cart (100% * 31.2% * 19.7% = 6.15%).
If you spot your add-to-cart complaint dropping, see adding customer testimonials, much appealing imagery, and much salient calls to action. And comparison your pricing against competitors to make judge you’re not pricing yourself retired of relevancy for your customers.
Sales Analytics
Sales analytics looks astatine quantitative and qualitative customer information from completed sales. You tin analyse information from completed purchases to spot your online store’s income capacity complete time.
Plus, you tin reappraisal product-level income to cognize what individual items thrust wide institution income growth. Like successful this illustration GA4 report:

You tin usage nan top-selling items arsenic ideas for products to characteristic successful your blog posts, paid and integrated societal posts, and email trading content. And place slow-selling candidates for early value reductions to thief you move inventory.
Here are a fewer actual metrics to consider:
Average Order Value
Average bid worth (AOV) is nan mean acquisition magnitude of each completed transaction. Which you tin comparison against your main product’s prices.
For example, let’s opportunity your AOV is $50 but your flagship merchandise is $80. That indicates you should activity to summation your AOV.
You mightiness effort to do that by showing suggested products connected related pages. Or offering discounts for shoppers who bundle items.
Sales Revenue
This is nan magnitude of gross you make done trading products. And it makes it clear whether you’re reaching your goals.
It's ever a bully thought to comparison existent income versus your original forecast. So you tin set your expectations astir what inventory you’ll request to build (for your brand) aliases bargain (if you’re a retailer) successful nan future.
How to Analyze Ecommerce Data: 5 Best Practices
To heighten your ecommerce capacity complete time, cod meticulous information from your online shop for review. Then, fine-tune your efforts and processes accordingly.
Let’s look astatine really to analyse your ecommerce information effectively.
1. Determine Your Ecommerce Analytics KPIs
You measure your ecommerce website’s capacity pinch quantitative measurements called metrics. So you tin refine your strategy successful statement pinch your business objectives.
Strategically important metrics are called cardinal capacity indicators (KPIs). These metrics straight measurement really a business progresses toward its goals.
It’s a bully thought to cod quantitative information from nan 4 types of analytics we outlined above. And found astatine slightest 1 KPI for each.
KPIs use crossed each industries. And tin alteration from 1 statement to different according to their circumstantial goals.
Let's look astatine an illustration for an ecommerce business.
You person an ecommerce shop trading location betterment supplies. You get 2 cardinal online visits each year, 2% of which consequence successful a sale—meaning 40,000 purchases. And nan mean bid worth is $100.

Your extremity is to summation yearly income by 20%.
So, really will you turn from $4 cardinal to $4.8 million? You tin take to:
- Drive much postulation to your website
- Increase your conversion rate
- Increase your AOV
You precocious launched caller website functionality that recommends cross-sell opportunities arsenic your customers browse related products. And you expect nan cross-sell items to make much income from each transaction.
That prompts you to take AOV arsenic your KPI.
A 20% maturation successful income is imaginable by raising your AOV from $100 to $120. So, you found $120 arsenic your AOV target.

In this case, your KPI is based connected your company’s humanities capacity and early income objectives. But you tin besides usage competitor information and manufacture averages arsenic benchmarks to group KPIs.
Let’s opportunity you’ve identified conversion rate, website visits, and bounce complaint arsenic your KPIs and you request to find extremity numbers. Use Traffic Analytics for this.
It allows you to spot each of these metrics for a competitor conscionable by entering their domain into nan tool.

2. Set Up Effective Data Collection Systems
Before you tin execute an study of your online store, you’ll request a postulation scheme to get nan applicable data.
Consider nan size and capacity of your ecommerce team. To guarantee you person nan resources to analyse and enactment connected nan information gathered.
Use devices for illustration GA4 (or a Google Analytics alternative) to way your ecommerce metrics and KPIs.
Also scheme to cod qualitative feedback via merchandise reviews, surveys, and immoderate different text-based responses from your customers. As good arsenic One2Target (more connected this below).
3. Analyze Quantitative Data
Plan to make businesslike usage of your information by regularly measuring advancement toward your group goals. And find a cadence for rigorous, focused review.
This type of disciplined attack helps you attraction connected what matters most: improving your ecommerce shop based connected your quantitative analysis.
Also, create a scheme of action for really to respond erstwhile your KPIs don’t scope your targets—or if they transcend expectations.
For example, you person a conversion complaint target of 2%. And you observe a 4% conversion complaint from your top-converting paid postulation root but a complaint of conscionable .5% from your worst-converting postulation source.
Based connected this, you mightiness return action by shifting your fund from nan top-converting transmission to nan worst-converting 1 to amended your wide rate.
Or possibly your add-to-cart complaint is 6.5% but your extremity is to scope 8%. So, you determine to trial adding customer reviews to your merchandise page.
4. Dive into Qualitative Insights
Some of your astir important information will travel from what your customers show you. Including accusation aliases feedback your telephone halfway mightiness collect.
Here are 3 important ways you tin use from evaluating qualitative insights:
- Uncover frustrating parts of nan online shopping acquisition that you tin hole to boost customer restitution and sales
- Generate insights for early merchandise improvement based connected your customers’ likes and dislikes. So you tin past broaden, limit, aliases reduce, your online store’s offerings.
- Establish spot pinch your customers by proving you attraction astir their perspective. Because consumers thin to bargain much from brands they trust.
If your customers are talking, you should beryllium listening. You’ll place feedback and trends you tin reside to meet purchaser needs and summation customer loyalty. Ultimately delivering amended business results.
But don’t extremity there. You tin besides uncover insights astir your larger target assemblage utilizing One2Target. Including demographic accusation that mightiness pass your trading and income strategies.

5. Embrace Continuous Improvement
With nan due mindset, you tin continually usage ecommerce analytics to present connected your business goals.
For instance, you tin trial nan colour and size of your add-to-cart buttons during nan checkout processes. To spot what mightiness make it easier for your customers to convert.
And you could little barriers to customer engagement by processing a fast, friendly, and accessible website. With responsive page creation containing calls to action.
You tin moreover make your trading fund spell further by optimizing your walk crossed nan astir businesslike conversion channels.
All of these initiatives return difficult work—and data—to create complete time. And location are changing seasonal patterns, evolving customer preferences, and caller trends to relationship for.
Embrace nan truth that you’ll ne'er beryllium “done.” Ecommerce capacity analytics is simply a travel of continuous improvement.
Further reading: 8 Tactics to Add to Your Ecommerce Growth Strategy
Traffic Analytics
Analyze your competitors’ ecommerce information pinch Traffic Analytics to spot really your online shop compares.
Enter nan domain sanction of a rival business. Then, click “Analyze.”

You’ll instantly get valuable competitory metrics for illustration visits, bounce rate, and estimated ecommerce conversion rate.

Scroll down connected nan aforesaid page to spot specifications astir different postulation sources.

After you cheque your superior competitors, you’ll beryllium equipped pinch nan competitory information you request to found realistic manufacture benchmarks for metrics for illustration bounce rate, conversion rate, and traffic.
One2Target
With One2Target you tin study astir your target assemblage based connected your apical competitors.
Enter up to 5 competitors successful nan instrumentality and click “Analyze.”

This way, you'll study astir nan demographics, socioeconomics, and behaviour of your target audience.
Here’s a sample of nan demographic data:

Behavior information includes which societal media platforms your assemblage uses.

You tin usage nan supra accusation to prioritize your postulation sources. By choosing to advertise and station organically connected nan societal platforms wherever you cognize your perfect customers are already active.
Ecommerce Keywords Analytics
Ecommerce Keywords Analytics compares keyword information crossed awesome retailers. So you tin analyse your target audience’s hunt activity, merchandise clicks, and orders to place trends you tin use to your ain business.

For example, you mightiness spot a increasing inclination successful a merchandise category. And determine to create caller contented astir it to springiness your ecommerce SEO a boost.
Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics 4 is perfect for measuring immoderate interactions that hap connected your ecommerce website. As we’ve already seen, GA4 lets you show what postulation sources are astir effective.

Further reading: Google Analytics Traffic Sources: An In-Depth Guide
The instrumentality besides shows you really customers prosecute pinch your site. And really they move done nan shopping process.

You tin also:
- Apply UTM codes to nan URLs successful your trading campaigns. So you tin spot information connected your individual emails aliases immoderate A/B tests successful your paid societal ads.
- Use Google Analytics for SEO insights. Like nan circumstantial searches your visitors conducted while connected your website.
- Get automated notifications erstwhile location are information anomalies. Plus entree different advanced Google Analytics features.
Turn Your Ecommerce Analytics Insights into Action
Ecommerce analytics tin only heighten your online store’s capacity to nan grade that you return action connected nan data.
Semrush makes it easier to do conscionable that.
You tin cod assemblage insights to pass your trading strategy, stitchery information from apical competitors, and more.
Start your free proceedings today.