UK Ecommerce Industry Report

Monthly Traffic Levels Show Subdued Growth Cycle in 2025

UK e-commerce stores averaged 6,982.6 monthly visits in January 2026, a figure that sits modestly above the January 2024 baseline of 6,450.7 but trails the sharp peaks recorded in late 2024. The trajectory across 2024 was notably dynamic: traffic climbed steadily from 6,450.7 in January to a high of 11,144.7 in November 2024—a +72.7% surge over eleven months—before retreating sharply to 9,489.0 in December 2024 and dropping further to 7,110.5 in January 2025. This seasonal compression is typical of post-peak UK retail behaviour, but the magnitude of the pullback was significant.

What distinguishes 2025 from the prior year is the absence of any equivalent autumn acceleration. Traffic oscillated in a narrow band between 6,669.2 (March 2025) and 7,266.97 (December 2025) throughout the year, never approaching the Q3–Q4 2024 highs. The December 2025 figure of 7,267.0 compares to 9,489.0 in December 2024—a -23.4% year-on-year decline for that month—underscoring how the 2024 peak was an outlier rather than a new baseline.

Organic Search Dominates Channel Mix, but SEO Momentum Is Fading

In January 2026, organic search accounted for 91.1% of total traffic across UK stores, generating 31,025,142 visits out of a total 34,060,990. Organic social contributed 8.6% (2,939,288 visits), while paid search represented just 0.3% (95,097 visits) and paid social was negligible at 0.0% (1,463 visits). This extreme concentration in organic search reflects the broader cost-conscious posture of UK e-commerce operators, with minimal investment in paid acquisition channels visible at the aggregate level.

However, the reliance on organic search carries a material risk: SEO traffic declined -6.2% year-on-year as of the most recent period. That rate of decline, applied to a channel representing nine-tenths of all traffic, has an outsized effect on overall visit volumes. The limited diversification into paid search (0.3%) and paid social (0.0%) leaves stores with few short-term levers to compensate for organic losses. Organic social at 8.6% provides some buffer, but it is unlikely to offset a structural SEO headwind without deliberate investment.

Revenue Trends Diverge Sharply from 2024 Levels

Average monthly revenue per store peaked at £2,258,309.32 in June 2024, then declined progressively through the second half of the year, closing 2024 at £1,513,914.45 in December. The deterioration continued and accelerated into 2025: January 2025 revenue of £1,392,479.61 fell to a trough of £912,010.05 in December 2025—a -39.8% decline from the June 2024 peak and a -39.7% drop compared to December 2024.

January 2026 revenue of £943,546.70 represents a marginal recovery from December 2025 but remains -35.5% below the equivalent January 2024 figure of £1,462,090.91. The simultaneous compression in both traffic and revenue suggests that conversion rates or average order values have not compensated for falling visitor volumes. With organic search in retreat and paid channels largely absent from the mix, UK e-commerce stores face a compounding challenge: declining reach combined with weaker monetisation per visit. The 2025 data points to a sector navigating a more constrained demand environment than the elevated 2024 figures implied.

Organic Traffic Trends Show Year-on-Year Softening

UK e-commerce stores recorded an average SEO traffic of 6,360.22 visits in January 2026, representing a -6.2% year-on-year decline in organic search traffic. Organic SERP visibility followed a similar downward trajectory, contracting -4.7% over the same period. This parallel softening across both traffic and rankings suggests structural headwinds rather than isolated technical issues for stores in this segment.

Looking at the longer trend, SEO traffic peaked sharply in October–November 2024, when average organic visits reached 10,928.89 and 11,006.82 respectively — levels that were roughly 73% above the January 2026 figure. That seasonal surge, likely driven by pre-Christmas demand, did not repeat in 2025; the equivalent October and November 2025 figures came in at just 6,465.77 and 6,552.61, suggesting that either competitive displacement or reduced crawl visibility suppressed what would ordinarily be a strong autumn uplift. The gap between SEO traffic and total traffic has also widened noticeably: in January 2026, organic accounted for approximately 91.1% of total traffic (6,360.22 out of 6,982.57), a slight compression versus earlier periods when SEO's share regularly exceeded 97–98% of total visits.

Domain Authority Under Sustained Pressure

Average PageRank across UK e-commerce stores stood at 2.55 in January 2026, reflecting a -10.4% year-on-year decline. This is a meaningful deterioration: the segment's PageRank peaked at 3.49 in October 2024 before dropping to 2.87 in January 2025, briefly recovering to 3.37 in September 2025, and then falling again to 2.55 by January 2026. The pattern of partial recoveries followed by deeper retracements points to inconsistent link-building activity and possible domain authority dilution across the segment.

The vast majority of stores in the segment — 4,837 — generate fewer than 50,000 SEO visits, underlining a highly concentrated distribution where a small number of larger players (9 stores in the 100k–250k band and 3 stores above 250k) account for a disproportionate share of organic visibility. For the long tail of stores sitting below the 50k threshold, the combination of declining PageRank and softening SERP rankings presents a compounding challenge to organic acquisition.

Backlink Profiles Stabilise but Referring Domains Remain Modest

Average backlink volumes across the segment showed considerable volatility through 2024, swinging from 40,008.86 in September 2024 to as low as 4,289.46 in November 2024, before stabilising in the 26,000–28,000 range through the second half of 2025. By January 2026, average backlinks stood at 26,159.59 — broadly consistent with the prior six months and suggesting the acute volatility of late 2024 has largely subsided.

Referring domain counts tell a more nuanced story. After a spike to 2,488.14 unique referring domains in September 2024, the figure collapsed and has since plateaued at approximately 715–753 domains through mid-to-late 2025, reaching 752.94 in January 2026. While raw backlink volumes have recovered, the referring domain base remains a fraction of its late-2024 peak, meaning stores are accumulating repeat links from existing sources rather than broadening their authority footprint — a pattern that offers diminishing returns for PageRank growth and SERP competitiveness.

Paid Search Spend in Steep Decline

UK e-commerce stores have experienced a dramatic contraction in paid search investment over the past 12 months. Average monthly paid search spend peaked at $557.58 in January 2025 before falling sharply and continuously through the year, reaching $131.60 in December 2025 — a drop of more than 76% over those 12 months. By January 2026, spend had recovered only marginally to $156.97, representing a year-on-year cost decline of -81.4%. This trajectory suggests a structural retreat from paid search rather than seasonal fluctuation, as the declines persisted even through periods such as Q4 2025, when retail spending typically intensifies. The segment's total paid media average of $526.99 sits at just 56.8% of the global average of $928.11, underscoring how significantly UK stores are underinvesting in paid channels relative to their global peers.

Paid Traffic Share Eroding Across the Segment

The decline in spend has translated directly into falling paid search traffic contribution. In March 2024, paid search accounted for 7.9% of average total traffic — the highest share recorded in the dataset — driven by an average of 853.95 paid visits per store. By January 2026, that figure had collapsed to just 1.0%, with average paid search traffic of 123.66 visits per store. Year-on-year, paid traffic is down -78.4%, broadly consistent with the spend reduction. What is notable is that total site traffic has not collapsed in tandem: average total traffic in January 2026 stood at 11,932.52 visits, only slightly below January 2025's 11,973.67, implying stores are maintaining overall audience reach through non-paid channels even as paid investment retreats. However, this reliance on organic and other traffic sources carries its own risks if competitive dynamics shift.

Platform Adoption Remains Low, with Spend Below Global Benchmarks

Active adoption of paid platforms within the UK segment is limited. Only 19.4% of UK stores ran Google Ads at any point this year, falling further to 15.7% active in the most recent month — meaning roughly 84% of stores in the segment are not currently running paid search campaigns at all. Meta Ads adoption is negligible, with just 0.24% of stores active this year and 0.19% active last month. Among those stores that do invest in Google Ads, the segment average spend of $137.99 is considerably below the global average of $242.95, representing just 56.8% of the global benchmark. Meta Ads spend among active stores averages $1,812.43 for the segment versus a global average of $2,866.26, again at 63.2% of the global figure. Across all paid media combined, UK stores are spending at 56.8% of the global average. Together, these figures paint a picture of a segment in which paid media is used by a minority of stores and, even within that minority, investment levels are substantially below what comparable stores worldwide are deploying.

Instagram Remains the Dominant Organic Social Channel Despite January Dip

Instagram continues to command the largest share of social-driven traffic among UK e-commerce stores, though January 2026 saw a notable pullback. Average Instagram traffic fell to 713.68 visits in January 2026, down from a peak of 978.28 in both April and May 2025 — a decline of -27.0% over that nine-month span. As a share of total traffic, Instagram accounted for 9.6% in January 2026, compared to a high of 11.1% in November 2025, suggesting seasonal softening post-holiday rather than structural retreat.

Posting frequency has also eased entering the new year. UK stores averaged 2.87 posts per week on Instagram in January 2026, down from 3.25 in December 2025 — a month-over-month reduction of 0.37 posts per week. With an average engagement rate of just 0.02% across the segment, volume of posting is unlikely to compensate for weak content resonance, and stores reducing output into a naturally lower-traffic month may be making a rational trade-off. The follower distribution reveals a heavily skewed landscape: 1,581 stores sit below 10k followers, compared to only 289 stores with audiences exceeding 250k, meaning the majority of the segment is operating with limited organic reach and heavily dependent on algorithmic distribution to generate referral traffic.

TikTok Contribution Contracts After Early-2025 Peak

TikTok's share of total traffic has contracted meaningfully since the start of 2025. In January 2025, TikTok represented 4.7% of average total traffic, with stores receiving 399.14 visits on average from the platform. By January 2026, that figure had dropped to 288.47 visits — a decline of -27.7% year-on-year — with TikTok's traffic share settling at 2.8%. The most pronounced drop occurred between March and April 2025, when the percentage share fell from 4.9% to 2.9% in a single month, a shift that may reflect changes in TikTok's referral behaviour or algorithm updates affecting link-out traffic.

Upload cadence has also pulled back sharply. UK stores averaged 2.28 TikTok uploads per week in January 2026, compared to 2.70 in December 2025 — a month-over-month decline of 0.42 uploads per week. While TikTok Shop and in-app commerce features may be capturing some purchase intent that never becomes measurable web traffic, the consistent downward trend in referral visits across the second half of 2025 and into January 2026 points to diminishing returns from organic TikTok activity as a direct traffic driver.

Organic Social as a Category Surges to New Highs

While Instagram and TikTok referral traffic individually declined into January 2026, the broader organic social category — which encompasses traffic attributed generically to social platforms — posted its strongest month on record. Average organic social traffic reached 602.56 visits in January 2026, representing 8.6% of total traffic, up from 6.9% in both November and December 2025. For context, organic social accounted for less than 0.1% of traffic as recently as February 2025, before accelerating sharply through April and May 2025 when it crossed the 6% threshold for the first time.

This trajectory suggests a structural shift in how UK e-commerce stores are generating social-origin traffic — with platforms beyond Instagram and TikTok, such as Pinterest, Facebook, or emerging channels, absorbing a growing share. The January 2026 spike to 8.6% is particularly notable given that total average traffic for the segment fell to 6,982.57 that month, meaning organic social held up better than most other channels during what is typically a post-peak January correction period.

Lighthouse Performance Scores Signal Ongoing Technical Challenges

UK e-commerce stores recorded an average Lighthouse Performance score of 52.2 out of 100 in January 2026, reflecting a broadly stagnant position with virtually no movement from the previous month's score of 52.1. The month-on-month performance change rounds to 0%, confirming that stores in this segment have made little measurable progress in addressing core web vitals and page speed optimisation. A score hovering just above the midpoint of the 100-point scale indicates that a significant proportion of UK stores are likely losing conversions to slow load times, particularly on mobile devices where Lighthouse penalties are most pronounced.

Accessibility scores tell a marginally more positive story, with the current month registering 86.2 compared to 86.2 the prior month — effectively flat but sitting at a relatively strong absolute level. This suggests UK stores have invested more consistently in accessibility compliance than in raw performance optimisation, possibly driven by growing awareness of UK Equality Act obligations and inclusive design standards.

SEO Scores Remain High but Show Negligible Momentum

The average Lighthouse SEO score for UK e-commerce stores stands at 91.8 out of 100 in January 2026, one of the stronger signals in this segment's technical profile. The month-on-month change is 0%, with the current reading of 91.8 virtually identical to December 2025's 91.8. While the absolute level is commendable — indicating that most stores have correctly implemented meta tags, structured data, canonical URLs, and mobile-friendliness signals — the absence of any upward movement suggests the segment has plateaued rather than continuing to improve.

Stores with strong SEO scores are better positioned to capitalise on organic search traffic, particularly important as UK paid media costs continue to climb. However, the disconnect between high SEO scores and low performance scores is a risk factor: Google's Core Web Vitals remain a confirmed ranking signal, meaning that technically well-tagged stores may still be penalised in search rankings if page speed does not improve.

Catalogue Size and Pricing Volatility Shape Store Complexity

The SKU distribution across UK e-commerce stores skews heavily toward smaller catalogues. The largest bracket, 0–250 SKUs, accounts for 2,740 stores, while stores carrying more than 2,500 SKUs represent only 211 operations. Mid-range catalogues of 251–500 SKUs and 501–1,000 SKUs account for 807 and 579 stores respectively, with the 1,001–2,500 bracket covering a further 566 stores. This distribution indicates that the majority of UK stores operate as specialist or boutique retailers rather than broad-assortment marketplaces, which may partly explain the lower performance scores — smaller operations typically have fewer development resources to invest in technical optimisation.

Average product pricing has shown considerable volatility over the observed period. After sitting at £224.81 in August 2025, average prices spiked sharply to £604.42 in September 2025 before partially retreating through November and December. January 2026 recorded an average price of £247.95, broadly consistent with pre-spike levels. Notably, February 2026 data shows a dramatic surge to £852.23, the highest point across the entire series, which may reflect seasonal premium product listings, luxury goods entering the dataset, or catalogue composition shifts rather than uniform price inflation across the segment.