Ecommerce site search statistics you need to know

Did you know that in the United States alone, online retailers lose $300 billion from bad online search experiences? Yet for some reason, only 48% believe that a good search function relates to customer retention and conversion, and only 64% of website managers have a concrete plan to improve their onsite search.

As the ecommerce landscape continues to evolve, it’s important that we look at the role search has in brands’ marketing strategies. The reality is that search will play a bigger part than ever this year for retailers everywhere—and a good search feature can make or break your website. So let’s get started! Here are the ecommerce site search stats you need to know for 2023.

Everyone’s searching for something, but only a few people find it

69% of all shoppers go straight to the search bar (Nosto)
Only 35% of consumers say most website’s search is “excellent” and 57% say it’s “good” (Google Cloud)
70% of desktop ecommerce search implementations are unable to return relevant results for product-type synonyms (Baymard Institute)
78% of consumers run into items not relevant to what they’re looking for and 69% are shown out of stock items of what they want (Google Cloud)
31% of all product finding tasks end in vain when users tried using search on ecommerce sites (Baymard Institute)

Good search makes a difference, while bad search affects reputation and revenue

90% of U.S. consumers say a good search function is absolutely essential (Google Cloud)
43% of consumers would pay more if they could find what they’re looking for in just a few clicks (Salesforce)
80% of shoppers exit a brand’s site because of poor search (Nosto)
23% of U.S. customers say that the cost of the item in their most recent unsuccessful search was $100 or more Google Cloud)

Consumers who use search are more likely to convert and come back

Online visitors who use a site’s search feature are 2-3x more likely to convert (Forrester Research)
14% of all revenue is from site searchers and case studies have shown increased a 43% conversion rate increase from site search optimization (CXL)
69% say that a successful search experience leads to the purchase of additional items (Google Cloud)
Search autocomplete can boost sales by 24% (SpyFu)
Proof is in the numbers. Amazon’s conversion rate shoots up 6x when visitors do a search (2% → 12%) (Nacho Analytics)
99% say that they’re likely to return to a website if it has a reliable search function (Google Cloud)

Mobile search is a huge player in the game

65% of “I-want-to-buy” moments are done through mobile (Think Google)
52% of all web traffic worldwide is on mobile (AddSearch) and 72.9% of e-commerce sales are made on mobile (Statista)
45.5% of ecommerce sales will be represented by mobile commerce at a value of $768.2 billion by 2026 (US Ecommerce by Category 2022)
59% of shoppers say that being able to shop on mobile is important when deciding which brand to buy from (Think Google)

The future of search

84% of brands plan to invest in improving their site search (Nosto)
The global smart speaker market revenue is expected to grow to 35.5 billion by 2025 (Statista)

Conclusion

It’s clear to see that the future of product discovery is largely shaped by your brand’s onsite search function. Consumers want to find things quick and easy, and a tailored experience will inspire them to purchase quickly and easily as well.

How can you pave the path to purchase for your shoppers? See how Nosto can enhance your product discovery with powerful personalized search to increase customer engagement and online revenue. Learn more about Search.