US Ecommerce Industry Report

Traffic Volume and Year-Over-Year Trends

US e-commerce stores averaged 6,188 monthly visitors in January 2026, representing a modest recovery from the trough observed earlier in 2025. After peaking at 9,893 average monthly visits in November 2024—driven by holiday-season demand—traffic dropped sharply into early 2025, bottoming out at 5,127 in March 2025, a -48.2% decline from that peak. Throughout the remainder of 2025, traffic stabilized in a narrow band between 5,417 and 5,725 monthly visits before a December 2025 uptick to 6,328 and a January 2026 reading of 6,188. Comparing January 2026 to January 2025 (5,731), average monthly traffic is up +8.0% year-over-year, signaling that the segment has begun to recover from the steep post-holiday correction that defined the first half of 2025. The 2024 calendar year showed a notably stronger traffic profile overall, with a sustained autumn surge lifting averages above 9,000 from September through November—a pattern that did not repeat in 2025.

Traffic Channel Composition

Organic search is the dominant acquisition channel by a substantial margin. In January 2026, SEO traffic accounted for 91.9% of total traffic across the segment, representing 198.1 million visits out of a total 215.7 million. This dependence on organic search is both a strength and a concentration risk: organic search traffic grew +4.3% year-over-year, providing a steady foundational uplift, but it also means that algorithm changes or competitive shifts in search rankings carry outsized consequences.

Paid search contributed just 0.5% of total traffic (1.17 million visits), while paid social accounted for 0.7% (1.58 million visits). Organic social delivered a more meaningful 6.9% share (14.8 million visits), suggesting that social platforms play a supporting rather than primary role in driving store traffic. The near-absence of paid search and paid social traffic in the channel mix indicates that US stores in this segment are either heavily reliant on earned visibility or are deliberately under-investing in performance marketing—a dynamic worth monitoring as organic search competition intensifies.

Revenue Trajectory and Traffic-Revenue Alignment

Average store revenue in January 2026 stood at $197,445, down -10.9% compared to January 2025's $225,407 and well below the segment's 2024 high of $340,455 recorded in November 2024. The revenue curve closely mirrors the traffic pattern: both metrics surged through Q3–Q4 2024, contracted sharply in early 2025, and have since stabilized at lower levels. However, the revenue decline has been proportionally steeper than the traffic decline. January 2026 traffic is up +8.0% year-over-year, yet revenue is down -10.9% over the same period—implying that revenue per visit has compressed meaningfully. Average revenue per visit in January 2026 calculates to approximately $31.91 per thousand visits, compared to a stronger monetization profile during the autumn 2024 peak when per-visit revenue was considerably higher. This divergence between traffic recovery and revenue softness points to potential headwinds in conversion rates, average order values, or both, and warrants close attention in upcoming periods as traffic continues its gradual recovery.

Organic Traffic Trends Reveal a Significant Year-Over-Year Decline

US e-commerce stores averaged 5,684.18 organic search visits in January 2026, a figure that sits well below the peaks recorded during the prior year's autumn surge—when average SEO traffic climbed to 9,707.35 in November 2024. While the segment posts a modest +4.3% organic search traffic growth rate on a rolling basis, the year-over-year comparison tells a more cautious story: January 2025's average of 5,644.31 has essentially plateaued through January 2026, with monthly averages consistently ranging between 5,000 and 5,700 throughout 2025. This contrasts sharply with the 2024 trajectory, which built steadily from 6,118.02 in January to a high of 9,707.35 in November before a sharp seasonal pullback in December.

The organic SERPs growth rate of -1.9% adds further context: stores are losing indexed search result positions even as raw traffic holds relatively steady, suggesting that existing rankings are converting visits but the breadth of keyword coverage is narrowing. Organic SEO traffic also represents a dominant share of total traffic—in January 2026, SEO accounted for 5,684.18 of the 6,188.32 average total visits, meaning roughly 91.9% of all traffic arrives via organic search. This high dependency amplifies the risk associated with ranking losses.

Domain Authority Under Pressure as PageRank Slides

The average PageRank for US e-commerce stores stood at 2.49 in January 2026, reflecting a -10.6% year-over-year decline. This erosion is visible in the trend data: PageRank peaked at 3.46 in October 2024 before falling to 2.80 in January 2025 and continuing a volatile but generally downward path. By January 2026 the metric had settled at 2.49, its lowest point in the tracked window. A brief mid-2025 recovery—PageRank climbed back to 3.29 in August 2025—proved short-lived, with values retreating again through year-end.

This declining authority signal is consequential for a segment where organic search drives over 90% of traffic. Stores with weakening domain authority face headwinds in competitive SERPs, particularly as larger, better-resourced retailers continue to invest in link acquisition and content depth. The -10.6% PageRank decline aligns with the -1.9% SERP contraction, reinforcing a narrative of gradual but meaningful SEO erosion across the segment.

Backlink Profiles Stabilizing, but Concentration Remains a Concern

Referring domain counts and backlink volumes have stabilized after considerable volatility in late 2024. In January 2026, stores averaged 21,355.83 backlinks and 708.55 referring domains—modestly improved from the 17,268.72 backlinks and 678.64 referring domains recorded in December 2025. The referring domain count of 708.55 in January 2026 represents a workable baseline, though it remains below the 1,521.43 and 1,801.50 peaks seen in September and October 2024 respectively.

Traffic distribution data underscores the structural challenge: the overwhelming majority of stores—34,678—generate under 50,000 SEO visits, while only 54 stores reach the 100,000–250,000 range and just 11 exceed 250,000 visits. This extreme concentration at the lower end of the traffic spectrum means that aggregate averages are heavily influenced by a large pool of small-traffic stores, while a tiny cohort of high-performers skews backlink totals upward. For most US e-commerce operators, building referring domain depth beyond the current ~700-domain average represents one of the clearest levers available to counteract the ongoing PageRank decline and SERP contraction.

Paid Search Spend Remains Elevated Relative to Global Benchmarks

US e-commerce stores running paid search campaigns spend significantly more than their global peers. In January 2026, the segment average Google Ads spend of $397.03 sits 63.4% above the global average of $242.95. Similarly, Meta Ads spend among active US stores averages $3,424.17 per month, compared to a global average of $2,866.26 — a premium of +19.5%. When all paid media channels are combined, the US segment average of $1,744.56 is nearly double the global average of $928.11, coming in at 188.0% of global spend levels. This persistent premium reflects both higher cost-per-click dynamics in the US market and a greater willingness among US merchants to invest in performance marketing.

Adoption rates, however, remain relatively narrow. As of the most recent month, 13.1% of US stores ran Google Ads in January 2026, while just 1.7% were active on Meta Ads. On an annualized basis, 15.6% of stores engaged with Google Ads at some point during the year, suggesting that a meaningful portion of advertisers cycle in and out of paid search rather than maintaining consistent campaigns.

Spend Trends Reveal a Sharp Post-Holiday Contraction

Paid search spend among US stores followed a volatile trajectory throughout 2025. After peaking at $632.12 in May 2025, monthly average spend pulled back to $535.99 in June before climbing again into a secondary peak range of $580–$608 between August and October. The most dramatic shift came in the final two months of 2025: average spend plummeted to $368.97 in November and then to $301.19 in December — a -52.4% drop from the May high. This counter-intuitive dip during the traditionally high-spend holiday season may reflect a concentration effect, where the stores still advertising in November and December were smaller or less aggressive, pulling the average down.

January 2026 saw a partial recovery to $346.13, with February 2026 climbing further to $397.03, suggesting a gradual re-entry of advertisers into paid search as the new year begins. Year-over-year, however, the picture remains challenging: paid media costs are down -61.6% and paid traffic is down -61.4% compared to the same period in the prior year.

Paid Search Traffic Share Has Compressed Significantly Year Over Year

The contribution of paid search to total site traffic has eroded considerably since early 2024. In April 2024, paid search accounted for 12.3% of average total traffic — the highest point in the dataset — when stores were generating an average of 1,208.29 paid visits per month against a total traffic base of 9,800.19. By January 2026, that share had compressed to just 2.6%, with average paid search traffic falling to 256.60 visits from a total of 9,933.04.

This compression is not simply a function of reduced spend; total site traffic in January 2026 (9,933.04 visits) is broadly comparable to early 2024 levels (~10,379.09 in January 2024), yet paid search traffic is down from 317.53 visits to 256.60 over the same January-to-January comparison. The year-over-year paid traffic decline of -61.4% underscores how sharply US stores have pulled back from paid search as a traffic driver, with organic, direct, and other channels absorbing a growing share of the visitor mix.

Instagram Traffic Decline Signals Shifting Organic Social Dynamics

Instagram's contribution to total site traffic among US e-commerce stores has contracted meaningfully over the past nine months. In April 2025, Instagram accounted for 10.8% of average total traffic (836.1 visits), but by January 2026 that share had fallen to 7.6% (509.6 visits)—a drop of 3.2 percentage points and a -39.0% decline in absolute average Instagram visits. This erosion coincides with a pullback in posting frequency: stores averaged 2.67 posts per week in January 2026, down from 2.83 in December 2025, a -5.5% month-over-month reduction. With an average engagement rate of just 0.03% across the segment, the combination of fewer posts and weaker referral traffic suggests Instagram's organic reach is under sustained pressure for US e-commerce stores. The follower distribution reinforces this picture—13,289 stores fall in the under-10k follower tier, the largest cohort by far, while only 1,252 stores have surpassed 250k followers, limiting the pool of accounts with the organic reach needed to drive meaningful traffic at scale.

TikTok Holds Steadier but Posting Cadence Softens

TikTok's share of total traffic has remained more stable than Instagram's across the observed period, fluctuating between 2.6% and 4.9% since January 2025. In January 2026, TikTok drove an average of 325.2 visits per store, representing 3.9% of total traffic—essentially flat compared to the 4.0% share recorded in December 2025. However, posting activity is easing: weekly uploads averaged 1.81 in January 2026, down from 2.05 in December 2025, a -11.7% month-over-month decline. The mid-year period (June–July 2025) saw TikTok traffic peak at roughly 305–320 average visits per store, before settling into the current range. While TikTok's traffic share remains below Instagram's 7.6%, the platform's relative stability—despite the US regulatory environment that created uncertainty earlier in 2025—indicates it continues to serve as a supplementary but consistent referral channel for e-commerce stores willing to maintain upload cadence.

Organic Social as a Channel Is Gaining Ground

The most striking trend in this dataset is the rapid maturation of organic social as a classified traffic channel. At the start of 2025, organic social traffic was effectively negligible—averaging just 1.2 visits per store in January 2025 and representing 0.0% of total traffic. By April 2025, the channel had jumped to 108.5 average visits (2.1% of traffic), and growth continued steadily through the year. In January 2026, organic social reached an average of 425.1 visits per store, accounting for 6.9% of total traffic—the highest share in the entire dataset. This represents an extraordinary trajectory: from near-zero to nearly 7% of total traffic in twelve months. November and December 2025 showed continued momentum at 6.2% and 5.8% respectively, with January 2026 accelerating further. This growth likely reflects a combination of improved attribution, platform-level changes in how social referrals are classified, and the compounding effect of stores building larger organic social audiences over time. Regardless of the exact drivers, the 6.9% organic social traffic share in January 2026 establishes this channel as a legitimate and growing component of the US e-commerce traffic mix.

Lighthouse Scores Reveal a Persistent Performance Gap

US e-commerce stores recorded an average Lighthouse Performance score of 53.1 out of 100 in January 2026, reflecting a marginal shift from the previous month's 53.2 — effectively flat (0% change). Similarly, Accessibility scores held near steady, moving from 86.7 to 86.8 month-over-month. While stability in these metrics may suggest consistency, the performance score hovering just above the midpoint signals that a significant portion of US stores are delivering suboptimal page load experiences to shoppers. Slow-loading storefronts directly correlate with higher bounce rates and lower conversion, making this a critical area for improvement across the segment.

SEO scores tell a more encouraging story in absolute terms, averaging 91.5 out of 100 in January 2026 — among the strongest of any technical metric tracked. The month-over-month SEO figure edged from 91.6 to 91.4, a negligible 0% change that nonetheless demonstrates sustained investment in on-page optimization. US stores appear to prioritize search discoverability, even as raw site speed lags behind best-practice thresholds.

Catalog Size Skews Heavily Toward Smaller Assortments

The SKU distribution across US e-commerce stores is steeply concentrated at the lower end. A dominant 20,068 stores operate with catalogs of 250 SKUs or fewer, representing the single largest bracket by a wide margin. The next largest group — 6,424 stores — falls in the 251–500 SKU range, followed by 3,636 stores in the 501–1,000 range. Stores with 1,001–2,500 SKUs number 3,264, while only 1,551 stores carry catalogs exceeding 2,500 products.

This distribution suggests that the majority of US e-commerce operators are running niche or boutique-style operations rather than broad marketplaces. Smaller catalogs can contribute to more manageable site architectures, which may partly explain why SEO scores remain high — leaner sites with tighter internal linking structures tend to be easier to optimize. However, limited assortment can also constrain average order value and repeat purchase potential.

Average Product Pricing Climbs Sharply Into Early 2026

Average product pricing across US e-commerce stores has been on a sustained upward trajectory since August 2025. Prices stood at $403.60 in August 2025 and climbed steadily through the holiday season — reaching $442.55 in November and $464.64 in December. January 2026 extended that momentum to $472.33, representing a +17.0% increase versus the August baseline in just five months.

The February 2026 figure accelerates this trend sharply, jumping to $542.73 — a +14.9% month-over-month surge from January and a +34.5% increase from August 2025. This dramatic rise may reflect a combination of factors: post-holiday catalog shifts toward higher-ticket items, inflationary pressures on goods pricing, or a structural move by US merchants toward premium product positioning. Regardless of cause, stores with smaller SKU catalogs (the dominant segment) carrying higher average price points may face increased pressure on conversion rates, as shoppers exercising greater price scrutiny will demand faster, more trustworthy site experiences — making the current 53.1 performance score an even more pressing concern heading into Q1 2026.