New research shows that Facebook dominates in socially driven shopping; Pinterest drives highest average order value
Shop.org – Denver, CO – Sept. 11, 2012 –– RichRelevance®, the leading provider of dynamic e-commerce personalization for the world’s largest retailers, today released a new Shopping Insights™ study that benchmarks the performance of major social channels – Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest – in driving traffic to retail sites. The research drills into nearly 700 million shopping sessions on leading U.S. retail sites to uncover which channels are driving the most traffic and sales.
The study, which is available as a downloadable infographic, finds significant variations in the way that consumers browse and purchase based on which social network sent them to the retail site. Key findings include:
- Facebook dominates as a source of traffic: Shoppers who click-through from Facebook account for the overwhelming majority of shopping sessions at nearly 86% (85.8%), followed by Pinterest (11.3%) and Twitter (2.9%).
- Shoppers who started at Facebook browse more – and buy more often: Shoppers who enter retail sites from Facebook tend to stay longer (nearly seven pages per visit vs. nearly three for Twitter and just over four from Pinterest) and purchase somewhat more frequently (conversion rates of 2.63%) than Pinterest (.93%) or Twitter (1.09%).
- Pinterest drives larger orders – nearly double that of other social channels: While shoppers who come to retail sites from Facebook and Twitter purchase more often, Pinterest users spend dramatically more than either ($168.83 average order value vs. $94.70 for Facebook and $70.84 for Twitter).