Across 747 active e-commerce sites in Q1 2026, the median conversion rate was 1.56% and the cohort mean was 2.41%. The middle 50% of sites converted between 0.59% and 3.26%. A "good" conversion rate depends on your industry — Health & Wellness sites median at 3.33% (mean 4.33%), while Home & Garden sites median at 1.31% (mean 1.83%). Use your industry-specific median as the right reference point, not the cross-industry average.

Conversion rate equals orders divided by sessions, expressed as a percentage. A site with 1,000 sessions and 17 orders has a 1.7% conversion rate. We calculate at the site level — summing each site's three Q1 months into a single rate — then report both the median (typical merchant) and the mean (cohort average) across all sites in the group. We do not calculate it as orders divided by unique users; a customer who visits three times and converts once contributes 1 order and 3 sessions.

The median across our 747-site Q1 2026 dataset is 1.56%. The mean (average) is 2.41%, pulled higher by a long right tail of high-converting sites — primarily in Health & Wellness, Beauty & Personal Care, and Food & Beverage. Both are useful summaries: the median describes the typical merchant, the mean describes the cohort average. For benchmarking your own store, use the median.

Health & Wellness (median 3.33%, mean 4.33%), Beauty & Personal Care (median 3.13%, mean 3.70%), and Food & Beverage (median 2.17%, mean 4.07%) led the dataset in Q1 2026. All three are repeat-purchase categories where customers self-select before they arrive.

Arts & Entertainment (median 0.60%, mean 1.58%), Autos & Vehicles (median 1.26%, mean 1.58%), and Sports & Outdoors (median 1.26%, mean 1.60%) had the lowest medians in Q1 2026. These are considered-purchase categories where customers compare, leave, and return before buying — and where higher AOVs partially compensate for lower conversion.

Down. Across our active userbase, median conversion fell 10.4% year-over-year (1.74% in Q1 2025 to 1.56% in Q1 2026). The mean fell 10.1%. The two measures agreeing within a third of a percentage point tells us the decline was broad-based — nine of eleven industries softened on the median.

For most operators, the realistic next milestone is the median or P75 of your own industry — not the cross-industry top quartile. If you're below 1%, target your industry median first. If you're between 1% and 3%, target your industry P75. Above 3% conversion, focus shifts from conversion lift to AOV expansion and customer lifetime value.

Two main reasons. First, traffic mix shifts: a campaign that brings in more cold paid-social traffic will lower your conversion rate even with no site experience change. Second, seasonality: aggregate conversion in our dataset rises 12% from January to March within Q1 alone. Most month-to-month conversion movements are a mix of these two factors rather than a site-quality change.

Median. The median is the right number for "what does a typical merchant look like" — half above, half below — and isn't pulled around by outliers. The mean is useful as a diagnostic: when mean and median move in different directions, the cohort is changing shape. When they move together, the trend is broad-based. For setting your own store's targets, use median.