A recent analysis of global e-commerce performance in the first quarter of 2024 reveals modest growth, with consumers apparently holding back their spending for more significant shopping moments throughout the year.
The report indicates a 2% increase in online sales, driven in part by a slight increase in average order value (AOV). Despite this growth, overall order volume decreased by 2%, except for mobile devices, which recorded a 2% increase in orders.
Total traffic grew by 1%, led by mobile with an increase of 5%. Mobile devices remain the main traffic drivers and preferred channel for ordering, representing 78% of traffic and 66% of orders.
In terms of marketing, email continues to lose ground, while push notifications, SMS and over-the-top (OTT) messages gain ground, now accounting for 23% of all messages sent.
The overall conversion rate remained stable at 1.7%, as did the average spend per visit, which remained at $2.48. The average discount rate in the first quarter was 18%, unchanged from the same period a year earlier.
The use of search on the site represented 6% of visits, accounting for 15% of all requests globally. Already traffic from social media increased to 9%, with steady growth in the share coming from tablets.
The cart abandonment rate remained stable, with desktop leading in terms of checkout (77% abandonment) compared to mobile (86% abandonment), indicating that there is still work to be done to reduce friction in the checkout process on mobile devices.
These data suggest that while digital commerce continues to grow, consumers are being more cautious in their spending earlier in the year, possibly preparing for more significant shopping events in the coming quarters.