Shopify Conversion Rate: Improve CVR and Know What to Sell

We will talk about: 

• The definition of conversion rate and how to calculate it
• Best niches that have the highest conversion rate in e-commerce
• Best practices to increase or improve your conversion rate

In the end, this article will serve as your guide as to what items to sell. Finally, you can make either drastic or incremental changes to your website to improve your conversion rate.

Industry or Niche-Specific Conversion Rates

For the first quarter of 2024, the niche with the leading conversion rate is General Apparel at 2% [1]. Active apparel is second and third is general footwear. 

Here is a chart from Statista: 

For brevity, we will focus on the top five niches in this chart. These are the top five niches and their respective conversion rates: 

1. General apparel – 2%
2. Active apparel – 1.9%
3. General footwear – 1.9%
4. Active footwear – 1.9%
5. Toys & learning – 1.7%
6. Food & Beverage – 1.6%
7. Health & Beauty – 1.6%
8. Dining, Art & Décor – 1.5%
9. Sporting Goods – 1.5%
10. Home Appliances – 1.5%

Later, we will discuss each niche to give you an idea of what items to sell. 

Price Ranges Versus Conversion Rate

The price of a product does affect the conversion rate. For obvious reasons, people find it easier to buy a low-priced item than a high-priced one. 

For example, products that cost $5 have a higher conversion rate than those that sell for $999. If you show a product worth $$5 to 100 people, expect these people to buy. 

On the other hand, if you show a product worth $999 to 100 people, do not be surprised if no one buys it. A product like that will certainly make a customer think twice and postpone the purchase decision. 

In summary, all price ranges can produce conversion rates of less than 10% (regular or average). However, products priced lower than $25 have more outliers—these products can have up to a 50% conversion rate. 

On the other hand, products that sell for $200 or more can barely go higher than 5% conversion regularly. It is a stretch for these products to get a conversion rate of higher than 20%.  

1. General Apparel

General apparel refers to all sorts of clothing that has nothing to do with sports. This niche includes men’s clothing, women’s clothing, and children’s clothing. 

Here are some examples:

• T-shirt
• Pants, formal or jeans or khakis
• Blouses 
• Dresses 
• Short pants
• Jackets and cardigans

General apparel refers to daily wear. While we cannot provide accurate specific conversion rates for each type, here are some good pointers to know: 

• Men typically buy 5 pieces of clothing per year
• Women buy 10 pieces
• Or children, the expected volume is 8 pieces per child per year.

As far as prices go, statisticians have a forecast of how much people are likely, on average, to spend on clothing per year. Here is a quick view of the data: 

• Men – will typically spend $74 on clothing per year
• Women – will typically spend $121 on clothing per year
• Children – parents will typically spend $36 in clothing per year

How much does the apparel industry make? Take a deep breath. Experts project the clothing niche to generate 1.79 trillion US dollars by the end of 2024! On top of this, the industry will grow by 2.81% by the end of 2028. 

Because of this, you can also expect tough competition, as all retailers and dropshippers will want to take a piece of that pie.

2. Active Apparel

Active apparel refers to clothing used in sports. It is also commonly called activewear, sportswear, or athleisure. Below are some examples: 

• Yoga pants
• Boxer shirts or tank tops
• Jogging pants
• Spandex clothing for exercise and sports
• Shorts for running
• Sports bras

Do not confuse activewear with sporting goods. The latter refers to products used in sports, like basketball, tennis racquets, skis, etc. 

Fitness gear or athleisure are expensive items. You will observe that people who engage in health activities belong to a higher income bracket. Fortune Business Insights said that the sportswear market will continue to rise, and below is their forecast [2].

As far as the market goes, you may want to concentrate on the United States, as it has the highest expenditure on athleisure.

The opportunity here is that you do not need to compete with big brands like Nike or Under Armour. With economies faltering, it is a good time to introduce brand-less sportswear to the market.

At what price point, though? Here is a guide:

What this chart tells us is that over the years people are spending more on apparel in the sportswear niche. By 2028, the segment for men has the highest forecast—men are likely to spend $50 on sportswear. 

3. General Footwear

General footwear refers to shoes you do not wear in sports. Below are some examples:

• Stiletto
• Leather shoes
• Canvas shoes
• Slippers and slip-ons
• Flat shoes
• Sandals

The global footwear market size has a projection of $489 million in revenue by 2024 [3]. Each person is likely to spend $64 for a pair of shoes in 2024.

One thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of footwear sales are in the non-luxury category. In addition, each person will buy about two pairs per year.  

Based on Kuru Footwear’s survey on footwear consumption in America, each American owns, on average, 12 pairs of shoes. Based on this survey in 2023, Americans spend around $240 on shoes every year for four pairs in total. 

What kind of shoes should you sell? Here is the data:

This chart came from Run Repeat, a shoe-testing company. As you can see, people are willing to spend more money on leather shoes than athletic wear. This is easy to comprehend, as people use leather shoes in the office, not athletic shoes. 

4. Active Footwear

Similar to clothing, active footwear is a separate niche in the sense that this is footwear used mainly for sports. Below are some examples: 

• Running shoes
• Rubber shoes
• Specialized shoes (for bowling, skiing, etc)
• Trekking shoes

Any footwear designed primarily for sports use is activewear. Today, people who do not even engage in sports buy active footwear because it has penetrated deep into society. One can see this in sneakers and basketball shoes—people wear them every day even if they do not play basketball.

How big is the active footwear niche? Let us take a look: 

This chart tells us that of the different athletic footwear types, the one that takes the biggest chunk in revenue is running shoes. The next two are trekking and walking shoes. 

The question is: how much do people spend on active footwear? Statista points out that 13% of people who bought footwear spent $200 on average for sports footwear. That $200 is for only one pair. We can surmise that this type of footwear is branded. 

From here, we can therefore presume that people can spend anything less than $200 for a pair, giving you a huge room for pricing your active footwear competitively. 

5. Toys & Learning

The last top-selling niche is toys and learning, which has a conversion rate of 1.7%. Toys include not only those for kids but also for adults, like drones. As for learning, these are toys for kids.

Here are some of the sub-niches for toys and learning:

• Building blocks
• Puzzles
• Coloring materials or sets
• Drones and remote-controlled toys

How big is the toy industry and what are the projections? Here is a quick overview of the findings from Fortune Business Insights: 

As you can see, the trajectory is looking good. Toys are in demand and there will be a higher demand, especially for educational toys in America. 

To get a better perspective, here is a chart of the top sub-niches of toys: 

As you can see, there is a huge market for building blocks and construction kits. These kinds of toys include Lego-type toys, Gundam, car-building kits, etc. The next biggest sub-niche is games and puzzles. 

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These toys aim to educate a child in a fun way. An example is a toy microscope. It is not a real microscope, but it does magnify samples to a certain degree.

How much are people willing to spend on toys? Statista says that in 2019, parents spent $300 per child on toys. However, due to the changing economy, a survey says that 28% of parents will spend less than $50 on toys, and another 26% said they will spend between $50 and $100 per year on a child’s toys.

6. Food & Beverage

Food and beverages are a little bit tricky to dropship, considering that you’re competing with physical stores. Picking the right types of food and drink products is the key to success in this niche. 

Here are some good examples: 

• Coffee 
• Tea
• Drinks for bodybuilders
• Food supplements

Dropshipping coffee is one of the best options, and I am saying this because there are coffee suppliers who will create your personal or unique brew. It is also not as heavily regulated as energy drinks and food supplements. 

Here is an overview of the food sales data in the USA: 

Please note that the columns in the chart are in billions of dollars. By 2029, the market is expected to reach $400 billion in sales. 

Earlier, I said that it is a tricky niche. I said that because food entry is regulated in all countries. You cannot import a food product from one country to the USA or any country without a permit. This shipment will likely get intercepted by customs. 

To dropship without any trouble, my recommendation is to find a supplier in the same country where you want to sell. For example, if you want to sell food in the USA, you must find a USA supplier. 

If you are interested in dropshipping coffee, we have a list of the best coffee dropshipping suppliers you can work with.

7. Health & Beauty 

There are so many health and beauty products that you can choose from, and I can say that it is a huge niche. Should you decide to sell in this category, the best approach is to niche down. 

Here are some examples: 

• Lipstick
• Make-up
• Fake eyelashes
• Eyebrow extensions
• Mud packs

As you can see, it can be overwhelming to start a dropshipping store like this. If you need more guidance, I recommend that you read our blog about beauty product dropshipping.  

Will you make money from this niche despite the competition? Yes, you will make money, but you must brand your products and create a unique selling proposition or USP.

Here are some sales stats for this niche: 

From this chart from Statista,  we can see that personal care and skin care are the top two sub-niches for beauty and health. 

Personal care refers to shampoo, conditioner, and other products that can improve someone’s health and beauty. Supplements like collagen belong to this category. 

On the other hand, skin care mainly deals with lotion, face creams, treatment for wounds, and treatment for scars, pimples, etc.

8. Dining & Art & Décor

Home décor such as wall art, paintings, and figurines are massive hits. This also includes small pillows, bedsheets, etc. 

Like beauty and health, this is a highly competitive niche. To succeed, I recommend that you do print-on-demand dropshipping. 

It is a business model where you design your products and only pay for them once a customer places an order. We do have some examples of successful print-on-demand stores that you can check out.  

Here are some more examples of home décor products you can sell: 

• Lamps
• Pots
• Water fountains
• Mats and carpets
• Bookend
• LED night lights

Here are some stats for home décor: 

From here, we can see that the best home décor items to sell are curtains and blinds, followed by general decorations. 

The good thing about home décor items is that there is no issue with importing them unless they have lithium batteries. Because of this, you can choose from several dropship suppliers worldwide. If you are interested in selling furniture, we have a guide for furniture suppliers that you can read now.

9. Sporting Goods

Sports is a huge industry, and its projected value is at $5 billion by 2029. Experts say that sports and swimwear have the highest revenue at USD 36 billion. 

There are many types of sports products that you can sell, and below are some of the most popular: 

• Gym equipment
• Sportswear like shoes and jogging pants
• Swimwear
• Sports equipment

Since sports is such a big industry, my recommendation is to niche down. For example, should you build a store, and focus on gym equipment only? Do not build a general sports store because your target audience will get confused. It is also difficult to market at a general sports store.  

As far as marketing goes, here is a guideline: 

As we can see from this chart, the best target customers are people from ages 25 to 54. These people comprise 60% of the market in the sporting goods niche. 

Why? It is because people in this age bracket have a job. They have a disposable income, and they are in their prime. They have the desire to look good and be healthy, and that is why they are more likely to buy these kinds of products.   

10. Home Appliances 

Finally, we have home appliances that have a decent conversion rate. These appliances are not huge ones like washing machines. Instead, these are small gadgets and trinkets that you can sell for less than $100.  

Here are some examples: 

• Manual blenders (bladed and used typically for blending powdered juice with other ingredients)
• Pots and pans
• Coffee makers
• Air fryers and electric grills
• Small low-powered food processors (great for processing simple foods like garlic and onions)
• Toasters

Appliances can be challenging to sell, considering that you do not get to test them as a dropshipper. Because of this, you must look for a reliable dropshipping partner. You need one who inspects each appliance before shipping it. 

There are specific conditions that your supplier must meet, such as the quality of the product, the timeliness of the shipment, etc. For more details about this, I suggest that you read our blog on how to find dropshipping suppliers. 

Furthermore, it is wise to concentrate on one sub-niche only. For example, you would do better if you only concentrated your efforts on kitchen gadgets or just living room gadgets. It is easier to find an audience this way than if you build a general appliance store. 

What is a conversion and how is the conversion rate calculated? 

Conversion refers to an action that you want a customer or site visitor to take. Here are some of the most common examples: 

• Subscribe to an email newsletter  
• Subscribe to your YouTube channel or follow us on Instagram
• Send an inquiry to you 
• Go to your website
• Click on a link
• Download an app
• Sign up for a free account

Conversion is not only relegated to websites; you can also use this metric in advertisements. Since Shopify is primarily an e-commerce platform, the conversion you want is a sale. You want the person browsing your product to buy, and each purchase is a conversion.

The industry acronym for conversion rate is CVR. It is a percentage that represents how many people “converted” or purchased against the number of people who visited your website. 

To get your conversion rate, simply divide the number of people who bought a product against the number of people who were browsing on your website. Then, multiply that by 100 to get the percentage value. 

For example, let us say that 254 people went to your Shopify store. Out of these, 11 made a purchase. The conversion rate calculation is as follows:

• 11 divided by 254 = 0.043307087
• 0.043307087 multiplied by 100 = 4.330708661

The conversion rate, when rounded off, is 4.33%. Is this a good conversion rate? You may refer to the first section of this article to answer this question, as it depends on your niche or industry. 

Factors That Affect Conversion Rate

In this section, I will provide a list of the factors that affect your sales or conversion rate. These factors are critical. In the next section, I will provide some best business practices to improve your Shopify conversion rate. 

1. Value Proposition

Value proposition refers to an offer of benefit. It is your justification to the consumer why they should buy your product. In exchange for their money, you offer value. 

Here are some examples of value: 

• Save time and effort
• Reduce risks or accidents
• Solve a problem
• Status symbol

Different winning products have different values. One thing that you will often see on product pages is a list of the product features. This, however, is not enough. Product features do not offer value, they merely tell the customer what they are buying.

2. Urgency of Purchase 

Consumers today are inundated with options. Urgency refers to the importance of buying the item now. If a site visitor does not think that your product is an urgent need, he is not going to buy. 

On the other hand, products that people need as soon as possible have a higher conversion rate. This is why grocery items will always have a bigger sales volume than luxury items. 

There are several ways by which you can make a customer feel the urgency of buying, but we will discuss that in the next section.

3. Competition Level 

Competition level affects conversion rate. People are not likely to buy your product if they know they can find it from somewhere else. That is why it is always a good idea to ride on a trend early. The less sellers there are, the higher your sales will be. It is also a good idea to sell low-competition products.   

Here are some factors that you are competing for: 

• Price
• Product Quality
• Shipping

The way you present these factors has an impact on your conversion. The better you make it sound, or the more value you offer, the higher your conversion rate will be. Of course, a lower price is always more attractive than a higher one, so consider this factor when pricing your goods.

4. Ease of Navigation

Finally, ease of navigation affects how a customer makes a decision. Always remember that customers on your product pages are looking for something—if this thing is absent or difficult to find, they will leave.

Here are some examples:

• Return and refund policy
• Price, discounted price, or special offer
• Shipping price and shipping details 
• Product images, descriptions, and videos

Ease of navigation includes the checkout process. A long checkout process is tedious. It can frustrate a customer and abandon his cart. 

Your overall goal is to reduce what we call friction. You must strive to have a website that offers an effortless customer experience. The less effort you require of the user or consumer, the easier it is for them to proceed with the purchase. 

Summary: Think of conversion as the ultimate step in the sales process. The goal is to ensure that your website, particularly your product page, is convincing enough to make a site visitor make a purchase.

Ways to Improve Shopify Conversion Rate

All entrepreneurs go through a phase where the conversion rate is dismal. In this section, I will give you a list of the top-most effective ways to improve your conversion rate.

1. Improve your product pages

Once a customer is already on your online store, we can say that your ad or marketing efforts have yielded good results. The goal now is to ensure that your product pages are convincing enough for the viewer to buy. 

Here are some tips: 

• Use videos and high-quality images – blurry images are unprofessional and suspicious
• Make the features visible – use bullet points o the features are scannable 
• Highlight the benefits (value proposition) – focus on how the customer would feel, or what value they get for parting with their money.  

As far as videos go, I strongly recommend that you show a demonstration of the product. For example, if you are selling a kitchen gadget, it makes perfect sense to show people how to use it. 

In addition, concentrate on what benefits the product offers. For a kitchen gadget, like a coffee maker, the benefits are the following: 

• Consistency in the coffee
• Save time; let the machine brew while you are showering
• less chores; just press the button to reheat the coffer 

There may be more. Each product has something to offer, and you need to capitalize on that. Remember, put more focus on the benefit, not the feature.

2. Add or share social proof

Social proof comes in many forms. The most common are:

• Positive comments on your social media pages about your product
• Reviews and ratings on your website
• Videos of people talking about your product

Social proof is an indication that you are trustworthy. One cannot downplay its importance, as we all know that human psychology sometimes depends on the experiences of others.

A consumer’s confidence in your product increases if he sees positive remarks from others. It is this very thing that makes review sites popular, like Yelp. The only problem with sites like that is that people can review-bomb your business. 

The good news is that for e-commerce websites, you can program your review mechanism and not allow people to leave a review unless they made a purchase. As such, only a legit buyer can leave a 5-star rating.

Make your social proof prominent on your product page. If the review is coming from a social media platform, take screenshots of them and post them along with the product details or images. 

3. Improve website performance

You may have the best product at the best prices, but if your website is laggy, it just tells consumers that you cannot be trusted. Website performance is a basic expectation, especially today when internet technology is no longer in its infancy.

The two main things you need to focus on are:

• Mobile-responsiveness
• Website speed 

Your website must look different on a mobile device. It must not look like as it does on a desktop browser. The good news is you no longer need to do anything technical to get this done, as Shopify already does this by default. 

Website speed is also paramount. Your website must be fast enough to respond if a customer clicks on a link. One challenge is that you cannot buy extra speed or bandwidth from Shopify.

If your Shopify store is slow, you need to look into the file sizes of your images and videos. Larger file sizes take longer to load. 

4. Streamline your checkout 

The customer saw the product, and now he wants to buy it. He clicks on add-to-cart and proceeds to checkout, but then abandons the cart. Why?

Most of the time, customers abandon their cards because they do not like filling in too much information. The only solution to this is to use a fast checkout process. 

How do you do this? If you can use Apple Pay or Google Pay, do it. These payment processors save the customer info on their devices or accounts. Once they check out, the system automatically fills out the check-out information. The only thing the customer has to do now is enter the CVV2 or password. 

In other cases, customers do not proceed because the checkout process requires that they create an account in the store. Eliminate this, process. Make it easy for guests to check out. You can do this with an app called “guest checkout.” 

5. Offer promotions

Finally, you can increase your conversion rate if you offer discounts and other promotions. Some of the most common things you can do are: 

• Offer discount by percentage; use Shopify’s coupon feature
• Offer buy-one-get-one-free or what we call BOGO
• Use up-sell and cross-sell apps
• Offer free shipping

There are many ways to entice a consumer to get more value for his money. Just make sure you are prepared to keep your end of the bargain and that you will come out profitable. 

Summary: There are several ways to increase your conversion rate. The most important factor is to streamline a customer’s experience, so he does not leave your store. Then, focus on the value of your product and how the customer would benefit from it. 

FAQ: Shopify Conversion Rate

What conversion rate is good for Shopify?

There is no good conversion rate for Shopify as it is merely a website/e-commerce platform. The ideal conversion depends on your niche. The overall average or acceptable conversion rate for all niches combined, globally, is 3%. 

How to see the conversion rate in Shopify?

Your conversion rate is easily viewable in your Shopify dashboard.

What's a good e-commerce conversion rate?

A good e-commerce conversion rate is 3%. Better yet, please consult the first section of this article as it is more detailed. 

What is the conversion fee for Shopify?

The sales fee varies from one country to another. The fees also depend on your account type. For a more updated detail, please consult this page.