Returning online shoppers spend ‘almost twice as much as new visitors’

Returning online shoppers spent almost double (66%) what new visitors spent (34%) following the close of the 2015 holiday period, according to new research.

The E-commerce Quarterly report from marketing firm Monetate, which analyses a random sample of seven billion online shopping experiences throughout each quarter of the year, said returning visitors, on average, added an items to their basket 15% of the time.

This is compared with new visitors, on average, who added to their basket just 8% of the time.

New visitors using mobile devices to shop added items to their basket in around 4% of sessions, compared with 10% of sessions for returning customers.

Bounce rates – a term used for when visitors leave after viewing just one page – were up slightly year-on-year, with the last quarter of 2015 recording a bounce rate of 30% compared with 29% in the same period of 2014.

Bounce rates on mobile devices were highest at 37%, compared with desktops and tablets which recorded bounce rates of 26% and 28%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the conversation rate – the percentage of visitors who buy something – stood at 3.5%, the highest rate across Monetate’s 12-month analysis.

Lucinda Duncalfe, CEO at Monetate, said: “Customer retention and acquisition don’t have to be two parallel lines that never meet – every business needs to balance the two.

“This struggle for balance leaves many marketers asking, ‘Where do I focus my efforts so they make the most impact? Of all the questions, the most critical answer is, ‘do I invest time and money acquiring new customers, or do I focus on retaining the customers I already have and personalise their experiences? At Monetate, we ask, ‘Why choose?’”