The research demonstrates the mean value of an order placed in clothes e-stores is PLN 253.81, while the the average price of a product on offer is PLN 145.95. Among those internet users who actually do drop things to their virtual shopping cart, a strong majority leave the store without ever completing the transaction (67 per cent), and every third user buys items they selected (33 per cent).

According to Mateusz Gordon, e-commerce expert at Gemius, it is the high rate of cart abandonment that draws attention. "This may be indicative of the e-user's insecurity about his/her right to return the goods. Only some websites communicate the consumer rights in this respect clearly, and even less frequent is the practice of prolonging the statutory return deadline. Another reason could be the delivery costs, which often take the buyer at surprise when they take to finalize the purchase, or perhaps the limited trust that a shop evokes due to lack of opinions, certificates or scarce payment options provided on the website" the expert believes.

The research also suggests that the average amount of time spent on an e-store website is only about seven minutes (6 min. 56 s.). One average visit comprises 7 page views. The bounce rate, showing the percentage of customers who leave a website generating only one page view, i.e. enter the site only to leave it immediately, is 39 per cent.

"The relatively low bounce rate means that the large, widely recognised brands dominate the market: this is the stores users enter directly after typing the company's name in the search engine" claims Mateusz Gordon. "Most of the e-shops visitors are returning clients. Moreover, the low bounce rate may suggest how effective the retargeting activities were (i.e. recurrent messages displayed to users who have visited an e-store but abandoned their cart or did not finalize the purchase otherwise). Well-personalised websites of the biggest players, characterised by good navigational qualities, are successful in keeping the user on the site for longer periods" the expert explains.

It also turns out that on average the customers of e-shops in the analysed sector buy only two items at a visit. Gordon believes this proves how ineffective the supplementary items recommendation system is. – In traditional shops everyone knows that whatever a dummy wears sells best. Customers like to get a ready-to-use set. Hence the increasingly popular Western e-shops trend where pictures of models wearing some of the fashion products on offer are presented. The layout of numerous internet shops is based on the same premises. By clicking on a chosen product seen in a picture or even on an animation, one gets redirected to the respective sub-page containing the specs, recommendations, sizes, prices, and an “add to cart” feature – the expert explains.

The data comes from a pilot research programme conducted in January 2014. GemiusShopMonitor is a globally unique analytical solution dedicated to e-commerce. The platform was launched in mid-November 2013. It enables one to compare his/her results against competition. With the use of this tool, e-commerce businesses can correlate their websites' performance with aggregated market data. Enrolled in the research were 300 polish stores throughout all sectors.