Ecommerce traffic statistics: the 2026 data for Australia and the world

The brands winning in 2026 are not the ones with the most visitors; they are the ones turning the traffic they already have into revenue.

More online shopping traffic is not the win it used to be. Across the market, sessions are up, but the gap between the best ecommerce sites and the average ones is widening fast. The average Shopify store now converts at roughly 1.4%, while top performers clear 4.7% (Littledata, 2026). That gap is the whole story of ecommerce in 2026: the brands winning are not the ones with the most visitors, they are the ones turning the traffic they already have into revenue.

These ecommerce traffic statistics pull together the numbers that actually matter for that job (global and Australian, every figure dated and linked to its source) and, after each cluster, what it means for your bottom line. We have cut the stale 2025 projections and the unsourced benchmarks that float around most “ecommerce statistics” roundups, and replaced them with current 2026 data from Australia Post, the ABS, eMarketer, Statista, Baymard and others.

Top ecommerce traffic stats for 2026 (at a glance)

1. Global retail ecommerce sales will reach roughly US$7.4 trillion in 2026, up about 8% on 2025’s $6.86 trillion (eMarketer).
2. Ecommerce now accounts for 23.5% of total retail sales worldwide (Statista, Dec 2025).
3. Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025, up 13.9% year on year (Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026).
4. 82% of Australian households (9.8 million) shopped online in 2025 (Australia Post, 2026).
5. 77% of Australian site visits and 68% of online orders happen on smartphones (Australia Post, 2026).
6. 44% of shopping journeys start on a search engine, 41% on a store or marketplace, 14% on social (Klarna, 2026).
7. The average Shopify conversion rate is ~1.4%; top stores exceed 4.7% (Littledata, 2026).
8. The global average cart abandonment rate is ~70% (Baymard Institute).
9. Global social commerce sales will hit ~US$2.9 trillion in 2026, up 30.8% year on year (Statista).
10. Generative-AI retail traffic grew about 4,700% year on year through 2025, off a tiny base (Adobe Analytics).

Global ecommerce market trends driving traffic in 2026

The global ecommerce market keeps expanding, but the pace has matured from the pandemic surge into steadier, structural growth. Global retail ecommerce sales are on track to reach roughly US$7.4 trillion in 2026 (about an 8% rise on 2025’s $6.86 trillion) and to approach $8 trillion by 2027 (eMarketer). That growth in retail ecommerce sales is no longer about more people coming online; it is about existing online shoppers spending more, more often.

Two measures are worth keeping straight, because they get conflated constantly. Ecommerce accounts for 23.5% of total retail sales worldwide (Statista, Dec 2025): that is the headline share of every retail dollar. Separately, Statista’s narrower series puts the share of retail purchases made online at 21.8% in 2026, rising to 22.6% in 2027. Different definitions, different numbers; do not blend them.

The audience is enormous and still growing. There are now around 2.86 billion online shoppers globally (roughly a third of the world’s population) set to cross 3 billion by the end of 2026 (eMarketer/Statista). They are served by more than 28 million ecommerce stores worldwide, with around 2,162 new ones launching every day (BuiltWith). The competition for online shoppers’ attention has never been denser.

Year	Global retail ecommerce (US$ trillion)	YoY growth	Ecommerce share of retail
2023	5.8	–	~19%
2024	6.3	~8%	~20%
2025	6.86	~9%	~22%
2026	7.4	~8%	23.5%
2027	~8.0	~8%	~24%

Sources: eMarketer, Statista (2025–2026). Figures rounded.

What this means for you: a maturing global ecommerce market rewards efficiency over land-grab. With ecommerce sales growth steadying near 8%, you cannot out-spend the market on customer acquisition cost forever. The brands compounding their revenue growth are the ones improving conversion and retention on the online shoppers they already attract. As online shopping becomes routine rather than novel, the winning ecommerce businesses treat each online purchase as the start of a relationship, not a one-off transaction, and they watch their ecommerce revenue per visitor as closely as raw online sales.

Australian ecommerce statistics: how Australians shop online

Most ecommerce statistics roundups are global. If you sell in Australia, the local numbers are the ones that should shape your traffic strategy, and Australian ecommerce behaves differently from the global average, both in how people shop online and in where that online shopping spend ends up.

Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025, up 13.9% year on year (Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026). The base of people who shop online is now near-universal: 82% of Australian households (a record 9.8 million) bought something online in 2025, and 41% now shop online at least fortnightly (Australia Post, 2026). Roughly 24% of all Australian retail spend is now online, a share that climbs every year.

The standout shift is where shoppers shop online. Online marketplaces became Australia’s single largest ecommerce category in 2025, generating $18.9 billion (Australia Post / Power Retail, 2026). For local online retailers, that means a growing slice of online sales (and ecommerce revenue) is being intermediated by Amazon, eBay and the marketplace players rather than flowing direct to brand sites. The way Australians shop online is consolidating around a handful of large online platforms.

Metric	Australia	Global	Source
Online spend (2025)	$82.6B AUD, +13.9%	US$6.86T	Australia Post / eMarketer
Households / population shopping online	82% of households	2.86B shoppers	Australia Post / Statista
Mobile share of site visits	77%	~65–77%	Australia Post / Statista
Buy via social commerce	30%	varies	PayPal AU / Statista
Start research on search	54%	44%	Value Added Resource / Klarna

Sources: Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026, ABS, IAB Australia, eMarketer, Statista, Klarna, PayPal (2025–2026).

What this means for you: if a quarter of Australian retail spend is online and marketplaces are the biggest category, your traffic mix and your measurement need to reflect that: a direct-to-site-only view of Australian ecommerce growth understates where your buyers actually are. We help online businesses grow ecommerce organic traffic in Australia without ceding the whole category to marketplaces.

Where ecommerce websites get their traffic in 2026

The split of digital channels driving traffic to your ecommerce websites reveals how strong your brand and your acquisition engine really are. The cleanest current data on where buying journeys begin comes from Klarna: 44% of shopping journeys start on a search engine, 41% on a store or marketplace, and 14% on social (Klarna, 2026). Search still owns the front door, and 68% of shoppers use search engines to investigate products before they buy (Drip, 2026), which is why organic search and paid search remain the two highest-leverage channels for most ecommerce businesses and the ecommerce websites they run.

Organic and paid search

Organic search is the foundation of sustainable ecommerce growth: it captures online shoppers actively looking for products. In Australia, 54% of consumers begin product research through a search engine (Value Added Resource, 2025), and buyers touch an average of 4.8 touchpoints before purchasing (IAB Australia, 2025), so search rarely works alone, but it usually starts the journey.

Paid search and shopping ads complement that with immediate visibility and tight intent targeting. As directional industry ranges (not 2026 facts), paid search commonly accounts for 15–25% of ecommerce site traffic, with target return on ad spend often set at 400%+, but treat those as planning rules of thumb and measure your own numbers, because customer acquisition cost varies enormously by category, from consumer electronics to fashion.

Marketplaces and direct

With 41% of journeys starting on a store or marketplace, marketplace visibility is now a traffic source in its own right. In Australia, 93% of consumers bought from a marketplace in the past 12 months, a reach no single brand site matches.

Direct traffic, meanwhile, is your brand barometer: as recognition grows, the share of people who shop online by typing your URL should rise with it.

Social as a discovery channel

Social media platforms drive the remaining slice of journey starts, but their real weight is in discovery rather than the final click. In Australia, 59% of people aged 18–39 say social media plays an important role in product discovery (IAB Australia, 2025). Social media users increasingly meet your brand on a feed long before they ever reach your online store, which sets up the social commerce shift below.

What this means for you: search still starts the most journeys, so organic and paid search for ecommerce remain where disciplined budget compounds. But a single-channel view of ecommerce sites misreads how Australians actually buy across 4.8 touchpoints.

Marketplace traffic in Australia

Marketplaces deserve their own line in any honest read of Australian ecommerce. They are now the country’s largest online category at $18.9 billion (Australia Post / Power Retail, 2026), and 93% of Australian consumers placed at least one marketplace order in the last year.

The trend accelerated in 2026 with the local launch of Amazon Haul, a mobile-only discount storefront aimed squarely at Temu and Shein. For brands, marketplaces are both a traffic source and a competitor: they intercept high-intent online purchases before shoppers reach your own ecommerce stores, so the question is not whether to be present, but how to defend margin while you are.

Mobile ecommerce statistics and optimisation

Mobile commerce is no longer a segment of ecommerce traffic; in Australia it is the default. 77% of Australian site visits and 68% of online orders now happen on smartphones (Australia Post, 2026). More broadly, 59.93% of all Australian web traffic was mobile in April 2026 (Similarweb), and 98% of Australians aged 14+ use a smartphone to access the internet (IAB Australia / Ipsos iris, Mar 2026).

Current mobile commerce trends in Australia

Globally, mobile commerce sales are tracking to about US$2.74 trillion in 2026, rising toward $3.02 trillion in 2027 (Oberlo / Statista), and mobile commerce is expected to account for 62% of retail sales by 2027 (SellersCommerce, 2026). Smartphone users now drive the majority of store visits worldwide (91% of online shoppers make purchases using their smartphones, Forbes, 2026) and Australia sits at the high end of that range.

The practical implication: if your analytics still treat mobile devices as secondary, you are mismeasuring the channel that delivers most of your online orders.

Mobile ecommerce sales and the mobile conversion gap

Mobile traffic dominance is only valuable if mobile converts, and conversion on mobile devices is acutely sensitive to speed. A 0.1-second improvement in mobile load time lifted retail conversion rates by 8.4% (Google / Deloitte, “Milliseconds Make Millions”). That single, well-evidenced lever beats a list of vague design tips: every fraction of a second you shave off the journey turns into mobile ecommerce sales you would otherwise lose. Simplified checkout, digital wallets and fast-loading product pages are where mobile UX work pays back fastest, because mobile devices are where most online purchases now begin.

What this means for you: in Australia, mobile is your storefront. Site speed and mobile checkout are not polish; they are conversion levers with a directly attributable payback.

Get this in your inbox

One AI search tactic, every Friday.

AI On Fire: a working note from the Firewire desk, sent to a few thousand Australian search marketers every Friday.

Subscribe

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Conversion, cart abandonment and average order value

This is where the “quality over volume” thesis pays off. The headline conversion benchmark for 2026 is a widening gap: the average Shopify store converts at ~1.4%, while top performers exceed 4.7% (Littledata, 2026). The difference between those two numbers is almost pure ecommerce revenue, and it is won on site experience, not extra traffic.

Conversion benchmarks across ecommerce sites

Conversion also varies by device, which matters given mobile’s traffic share. Across ecommerce sites, tablets convert at ~3.1%, desktop at ~2.8% and smartphones at ~2.3% (Statista, 2026): the mobile conversion gap is real, which is exactly why the mobile speed lever above is worth so much for high-traffic ecommerce sites.

Then there is the leak every online store fights: the global average cart abandonment rate sits at ~70% (Baymard Institute). Checkout friction is a prime culprit: the average checkout runs about 5.08 steps when three is closer to ideal, and 47% of shoppers abandon carts because of unexpected extra costs (Baymard / Forbes, 2026). On the demand side, free delivery is the top purchase motivator for 50.6% of shoppers, ahead of coupons and easy returns (Oberlo, 2026), and 99% of buyers read reviews before purchasing (Search Engine Journal, 2026). For ecommerce businesses, every online purchase recovered from that abandonment leak is incremental ecommerce revenue at almost no extra acquisition cost.

Device	Average conversion rate (2026)	Source
Tablet	~3.1%	Statista
Desktop	~2.8%	Statista
Smartphone	~2.3%	Statista
All devices (Shopify avg)	~1.4%	Littledata
Top-performing stores	4.7%+	Littledata

Sources: Statista, Littledata (2026).

What this means for you: if your conversion rate sits near the 1.4% average, the fastest revenue growth available to you is not more sessions; it is closing the gap to the 4.7% benchmark by fixing checkout, mobile speed and the cart-abandonment leak.

Case study · Hobbies Direct

77% YoY revenue growth while cutting ad spend 20%.

An Australian e-commerce retailer where the traffic statistics actually moved: full Google Ads rebuild, better product feed structure, and a measurement framework that surfaced the levers worth pulling.

Read the case study

+77%

Revenue, YoY

-20%

Ad spend

4.1×

Blended ROAS

Social commerce statistics and integration

Social media platforms have moved from awareness channels to genuine sales drivers, and social media now sits inside the buying journey rather than beside it. Global social commerce sales are projected to reach ~US$2.9 trillion in 2026, up 30.8% year on year, with a 29% compound annual growth rate carrying the market toward ~$8.5 trillion by 2030 (Statista). That makes social commerce one of the fastest-growing slices of the digital economy, and the major social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest) are racing to keep more of the transaction on-platform.

Australia is adopting it quickly: 30% of Australians now buy via social commerce channels (PayPal eCommerce Index, 2025), and as noted, 59% of 18–39-year-olds say social media influences product discovery (IAB Australia, 2025). The pattern is consistent: social media users discover and research on social media platforms, then convert there or carry that intent into their next online shopping session on your site. For most online retailers, social media is now an online shopping discovery engine first and a direct sales channel second.

Year	Global social commerce sales (US$ trillion)	Source / basis
2024	~1.6	Statista (actual)
2026	~2.9	Statista (forecast)
2030	~8.5	Statista (forecast, 29% CAGR)

Source: Statista (2026 forecasts).

What this means for you: social commerce is a discovery and conversion channel you cannot afford to treat as “just brand awareness”, but its attribution is messy, so judge it on assisted conversions and new-customer revenue, not last-click alone.

AI search and agentic commerce: the newest ecommerce traffic source

Here is the channel no roundup was tracking two years ago. Generative-AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews) are starting to send real traffic and, increasingly, to shop on a buyer’s behalf. Traffic to retail sites from generative-AI sources grew roughly 4,700% year on year through 2025 (Adobe Analytics). Over the 2025 Cyber Monday peak, AI referrals converted 31% more than other sources and drove 254% higher revenue per visit (Adobe Analytics).

Be honest about the base, though: AI-driven sessions still account for under 0.2% of total ecommerce traffic today (Digiday, 2026). This is a channel growing faster than any other from a very small start, which is precisely why the brands preparing now will own it when it scales. eMarketer expects AI platforms to influence US$20.9 billion in retail spending in 2026.

The most useful insight is the gap between discovery and transaction. In Australia, 62% of consumers are open to AI agents helping them make purchasing decisions (Stripe, 2025), but only 14% currently trust AI to actually place an order for them (YouGov, 2025). So the near-term battle is being discovered and recommended by AI, not transacting through it.

Winning that battle is mostly an answer-engine and structured-data problem. Pages with structured data are cited 3.1× more often in Google AI Overviews (SE Ranking, 2026), and AI Overviews now appear on 14% of shopping queries (Search Engine Land, 2026). Looking further out, Bain estimates agentic commerce could reach US$300–500 billion by 2030, a forecast worth planning for, even if the exact figure is unknowable.

What this means for you: AI search is a small but explosive ecommerce traffic source, and the lever is product-feed quality, structured data and topical authority: exactly the work that decides whether an AI engine reaches for your brand. Our view on how AI search is changing organic benchmarks goes deeper on measurement.

Other 2026 ecommerce trends worth watching

A few developments shaping ecommerce traffic and online orders that don’t need a full section yet:

• Retail media is now a distinct Australian channel: Woolworths CartAds, Coles 360 and Amazon Ads Australia are selling sponsored placements against shopper data.
• Buy Now Pay Later keeps growing as a checkout option and conversion lever, with billions in peak-season spend attributed to it.
• Ecommerce fraud losses are forecast to exceed US$343 billion cumulatively across 2023–2027 (Juniper Research): a rising cost for every online retailer.
• Subscription ecommerce is on track to surpass US$450 billion in 2026, a durable retention model for the right categories.

Turning ecommerce traffic into revenue

Numbers only matter if they change a decision. The thread running through every statistic above is the same: in 2026, the winners are not chasing more traffic; they are converting the traffic they have. Translating these ecommerce traffic statistics into revenue comes down to a few disciplines.

• Enhanced ecommerce tracking so you can see exactly where online shoppers drop out of the purchase journey, by channel and device.
• Custom dimensions and cross-channel attribution so the 4.8-touchpoint reality of Australian ecommerce is measured properly, not collapsed into last-click, which over-credits search and under-credits social and marketplaces.
• Opportunity quantification for stakeholders: translate the conversion gap (your rate vs the 4.7% benchmark) and the cart-abandonment leak into dollar figures, then prioritise the fixes with the biggest revenue growth attached.
• Channel discipline: lean into mobile and marketplaces where Australians actually buy, treat social commerce as a discovery engine, and get your product feeds and structured data ready for AI-driven discovery while it is still cheap to win.

At Firewire, we help established online retailers turn search and AI traffic into their most profitable revenue channel, pairing SEO and Google Ads with the measurement that proves which traffic pays.

Frequently asked questions

How much traffic does an average ecommerce store get?

There is no single “average”: traffic ranges from a few hundred to millions of monthly sessions depending on category, brand and spend. Conversion rate is the better benchmark to judge yourself against: the average Shopify store converts at ~1.4%, while top performers exceed 4.7% (Littledata, 2026). Volume varies wildly; quality of traffic is what scales revenue.

What percentage of ecommerce traffic is mobile in Australia?

Mobile commerce dominates: 77% of Australian site visits and 68% of online orders now happen on smartphones (Australia Post, 2026), and 59.93% of all Australian web traffic was mobile in April 2026 (Similarweb). For most ecommerce sites in Australia, mobile is the primary storefront.

Does AI search send ecommerce traffic?

Yes, but a tiny share today (under 0.2% of total ecommerce traffic, Digiday, 2026) growing at roughly 4,700% year on year (Adobe Analytics). It also converts higher than most channels, so it is a small-but-fast-growing source worth preparing for now through structured data and strong product content.

What’s a good ecommerce conversion rate in 2026?

Around 1.4% is the Shopify average, while top-performing stores exceed 4.7% (Littledata, 2026). Anything above ~2.5% is solid; the gap between average and best-in-class is where the largest revenue growth opportunity sits.

What’s the average cart abandonment rate?

The global average cart abandonment rate is about 70% (Baymard Institute). The biggest drivers are unexpected extra costs and long, multi-step checkouts: the average checkout runs about 5.08 steps when fewer is better.

How much do Australians spend online?

Australians spent $82.6 billion online in 2025, up 13.9% year on year, with 9.8 million households (82%) shopping online (Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026). Online marketplaces were the largest single category at $18.9 billion.

Conclusion

The clearest message in the 2026 ecommerce traffic statistics is that volume is no longer the scoreboard. Global ecommerce sales are still growing near 8% a year, Australian ecommerce is now a $82.6 billion online market, and mobile, marketplaces and, soon, AI search are reshaping where online shoppers begin. But the brands pulling ahead are the ones converting the traffic they already have: closing the gap to a 4.7% conversion rate, plugging the 70% cart-abandonment leak, and getting found across the channels their buyers actually use.

Treat these ecommerce traffic statistics as a checklist for where your next dollar of revenue growth is hiding, and if you want help turning that traffic into your most profitable channel, talk to our team.

Sources and references

1. Australia Post, eCommerce Report 2026 (AU online spend, households, mobile, marketplaces)
2. eMarketer, global retail ecommerce sales 2025–2027; AI retail spend 2026
3. Statista, ecommerce share of retail; online shopper count; social commerce; device conversion
4. Klarna, 2026 shopping-journey-start channel split
5. Littledata, 2026 Shopify conversion benchmarks
6. Baymard Institute, cart abandonment rate
7. Oberlo, global mobile commerce sales; purchase motivators
8. Similarweb, Australian mobile web traffic share (April 2026)
9. IAB Australia / Ipsos iris, touchpoints, social discovery, smartphone penetration
10. PayPal eCommerce Index (AU), social commerce adoption
11. Adobe Analytics, generative-AI retail traffic growth and conversion lift
12. Digiday, AI share of ecommerce traffic
13. Stripe, AU openness to AI purchase agents
14. YouGov, trust in AI to place orders
15. SE Ranking, structured data and AI Overview citation
16. Search Engine Land, AI Overviews on shopping queries
17. Bain, agentic commerce 2030 forecast
18. Value Added Resource, AU search-research behaviour
19. Power Retail, Future of Ecommerce 2026 (retail media, marketplaces, Amazon Haul)
20. Juniper Research, ecommerce fraud forecast
21. Search Engine Journal, review behaviour
22. Google / Deloitte (web.dev), mobile speed and conversion