Average conversion rate in Italian ecommerce is 1.6%

The average conversion rate, also known as the percentage of website visitors that complete the purchase order, is 1.6% in Italy. During the online customer journey, Italian consumers leave ecommerce websites mostly because of poor usability or a lack of desired products.

This is shown in an infographic made by Osservatori Digital Innovation. It studied the different phases of the customer journey and the accompanying percentages of visitors leaving the website at that point.

Cart abandonment rate: 11.7%

It turns out that 43.9 percent of visitors leave the page of an ecommerce website only a few seconds after they’ve visited it. And 42.8 percent of users in Italy leave the site while they are browsing and searching for products. In the next phase, during check-out, 11.7 percent abandon the cart without completing the purchase order. The average conversion rate thus turns out to be 1.6 percent.

Different rates per product category

This value can vary, even significantly, depending on the product category. For example, online food delivery or products bought online in the publishing industry have much lower abandonment rates than in tourism or consumer electronics. Also, flash sale websites tend to have lower abandonment rates, while the conversion rate on smartphones is lower than on desktops.

The study also found that this year, Italian merchants invest 4 percent of their online revenue in advertising. The online channel attracts 77 percent of the investment, while the traditional media – such as tv, print media and radio – consist of the remaining 23 percent.

50% invested in search ads

Online spending on advertising remains focused on search advertising (50 percent of the investment) and display advertising (42 percent), which consist of banners (19 percent), social media (20 percent) and video (3 percent). The remaining 8 percent is for email marketing.