Overall traffic and sales are up in January
The year is off to a good start for most specialty food direct merchants! Year-over-year sales are up 15% for the month on a 27% increase in average site traffic.
Highlights:
- Revenue growth was a function of higher site traffic. Visits were up 27% on average and almost a quarter of the companies reported 20%+ gains in traffic.
- Not surprisingly, the additional traffic did not convert at the same rate as the base and the average conversion rate fell 16% to 3.73%.
- Email, Direct, and Organic Search posted the highest gains of all traffic sources growing 68%, 18%, and 15%, respectively.
- Paid search traffic fell 20%, but overall search (paid, organic, and display) continues to be the major source of traffic. On average, 48% of all traffic is coming from search.
- Average order value (AOV) grew 8% to $65.
- Due to conversion rates falling faster than AOV grew, overall revenue per visitor fell 10% to $2.42.
Observations:
- The companies that added the most new customers in the Holiday season set the pace for growth in January. This proves once again that the surest predictor of future growth is the rate of change in your current or 12-month buyer file.
- To grow your online buyer file, you must increase traffic to your site and/or increase conversion rate.
- Companies that are focusing on the user experience are growing the fastest and are the most profitable of all of the companies we see. Focus on on-site improvements, user testing, and conversion optimization to get more out of every visitor who comes to your site.
- It’s a lot less expensive to get a 10% increase in conversion than it is a 10% increase in traffic, yet the effect on sales is the same.
The table below shows the median average of selected key metrics for January this year vs. last year:
5th Food Group has been working closely with industry experts to expand and strengthen its Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) offering. This is an essential part of every successful e-commerce business and we are excited to offer this new service. Please contact us us for more information.
And for the latest trends in the direct-to-consumer specialty food business, I will be speaking at the Specialty Food Association’s E-commerce Forum on April 11, 2016. Please join us and register for this inaugural event!
Warmest regards,
Tony Cox
President
5th Food Group