What makes online stores successful? - Statista reveals the top factors

For the second year in a row, Statista has published its online shop study, revealing the top factors that increase the probability of purchasing items in online stores.

Hamburg, 23.05.2015 - The e-commerce market is still one of Germany's fastest growing buying segments. Forecasts suggest that in 2015, there will be growth of almost 12% with a total turnover of 43.6 billion euro in the German market. There are an estimated 550,000 online shops in Germany. Therefore it is imperative to know how the market functions in order to get ahead of the competition and successfully convert shop visitors into buyers.

What factors drive the success of an online shop? For the second time, Statista published a detailed empirical study which identifies the success factors and the most important levers to increase purchase probability and gauge their impact. A total of 115 test criteria were scrutinized for stores in 11 product segments. The areas include construction & usability, trust & safety, service & communication, payment, purchase & delivery as well as technical details.

Clicking does not equate to buying.

Heavy traffic on a website does not necessarily lead to a high purchase probability. For example, sales giant Amazon has experienced above-average traffic. However its actual purchase probability is two percentage points below Quelle, who experience less traffic to their website. The current study by Statista examines which factors influence the conversion rate.

The most popular payment methods are not necessarily available.

The most popular payment methods are, including the invoice, Paypal and direct debit for online shoppers. However, this does not necessarily reflect the payment opportunities that are actually offered. So, for example, Paypal is the most common cash option offered while few online stores offer direct debit.

First impressions count. Especially considering universal online shopping.

As a significantly relevant lever in increasing the probability of purchasing first impression is very important. It is characterized by the layout and structure of the homepage as well as usability. Less relevant factors include the hotline and SSL encryption.

Simple and professional customer communication is effective

The study reveals that adequate customer communication is made by the universal providers in the form of a friendly written response. If the professional look of the email is already mastered, information content is less important when it comes to the customer’s full satisfaction.

Parallel to this study, 750 online shops were identified which could come out on the top by obtaining a high amount of credits in the scoring model. These shops have been honored in the COMPUTER BILD magazine issue 12/2015 with the TOP SHOP quality seal. The seal indicates a simple and secure online shopping experience in this complicated market.


Your contact person for the study

Ela Dietrich
Senior Licensing Manager
Tel .: +49 (0) 40/688 93 12 93
ela.dietrich@statista.com