AOV by Industry Benchmarks
Average order value benchmarks across six DTC verticals, with mobile vs desktop cuts and guidance on how to interpret your store's number against the median.
AOV by Industry
Average order value (AOV) benchmarks segmented by e-commerce vertical, showing typical order sizes across apparel, beauty, supplements, home, food & beverage, and jewellery.
AOV by industry is the median revenue per order in a given retail vertical, used as a reference point for stores comparing their own basket size against peers. The number varies wildly by category — a jewellery store with a €240 AOV is not directly comparable to a beauty brand at €52, because the underlying purchase frequency, margin profile, and discount cadence are different.
These benchmarks are most useful when paired with the device split (mobile vs desktop) and with a sense of where your traffic actually converts. A €70 site-wide AOV that hides a €45 mobile AOV is a very different problem from a €70 AOV that is flat across devices.
AOV is one of the three levers behind revenue per visitor — alongside conversion rate and traffic — and it's the lever most influenced by category economics rather than CRO craft. A supplements subscription store and an electronics retailer can both run flawless funnels and still land 4-5x apart on basket size.
The figures below reflect typical ranges seen across Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento stores in the €1M-€15M revenue band, in EUR. Treat them as orientation, not targets — your category sub-niche, price positioning, and bundle strategy will move you 20-40% in either direction within the same vertical.
Median AOV by DTC vertical, split by device (EUR)
| Vertical | Overall AOV | Desktop AOV | Mobile AOV | Mobile gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel & fashion | €78 | €92 | €68 | -26% |
| Beauty & skincare | €52 | €61 | €47 | -23% |
| Supplements & wellness | €64 | €71 | €58 | -18% |
| Home & decor | €118 | €142 | €95 | -33% |
| Food & beverage | €44 | €48 | €41 | -15% |
| Jewellery & accessories | €186 | €235 | €152 | -35% |
Two patterns stand out. First, higher-consideration categories — jewellery, home, apparel — show the widest mobile-to-desktop gap, because shoppers research on mobile and complete higher-ticket purchases on desktop. Second, subscription-friendly categories like supplements and beauty cluster in a tighter band, since recurring orders pull the basket toward a steady median rather than spiking around hero items.
Median AOV across six DTC verticals (EUR)
How to read these numbers against your store
Start by comparing your own AOV to the median for your vertical, then check the gap between your mobile and desktop AOV against the table. If your mobile gap is wider than the benchmark — say -40% in apparel where the median is -26% — your mobile checkout, product detail page, or bundle UX is leaking value, not your pricing.
If your overall AOV is below the vertical median but your mobile gap is normal, the issue is upstream: assortment, hero SKU positioning, or the absence of cross-sell mechanics on the cart and product pages. These two diagnoses point to completely different fixes, which is why the device split matters more than the headline number.
Averages hide bimodal baskets
A reported AOV is the mean, but most stores have a bimodal distribution — a cluster around the single hero SKU price and a smaller cluster around bundles or multi-item carts. Always look at the median order value and the order-size histogram alongside AOV. A €78 average with a €42 median means half your orders are single-item, and your bundle strategy is the lever.
How to lift AOV without hurting conversion rate
The cleanest AOV lifts come from threshold-based free shipping set 15-25% above your current median order, paired with a bundle or accessory cross-sell on the cart page. Stores that move from a €60 free-shipping threshold to €75 typically see AOV climb 8-14% with a 1-3% conversion rate dip — net positive on revenue per visitor.
Subscription upsells, post-purchase one-click upsells, and quantity discounts ("buy 2 save 10%") all work, but their impact depends heavily on your vertical. Supplements and beauty respond strongly to subscription nudges; jewellery and home respond to financing options and gift bundling. Test the mechanic that fits your category economics — and use AOV benchmarks as the goalpost, not the headline.
Frequently asked questions
There's no universal good — it depends entirely on your vertical. A €52 AOV is excellent for beauty but weak for jewellery. Compare against the median for your specific category and check whether your mobile gap matches the vertical norm before judging the number.
Mobile shoppers tend to make smaller, more impulse-driven purchases and complete higher-ticket research on desktop. Across most DTC verticals the mobile AOV runs 15-35% below desktop. Wider gaps usually signal checkout friction or weak mobile bundle UX rather than a pricing issue.
AOV equals total revenue divided by total number of orders over a given period. Refunds, taxes, and shipping handling vary by store — most teams calculate AOV on gross merchandise value (pre-refund, pre-shipping) to keep the number comparable across months and platforms.
AOV measures basket size for shoppers who buy; revenue per visitor (RPV) measures revenue across everyone who lands on your site, buyer or not. RPV combines AOV and conversion rate. When you test a price change, AOV and conversion rate often move in opposite directions — RPV is the metric that tells you whether the net effect is positive.
Optimise for revenue per visitor, which is the product of both. Pure AOV pushes (aggressive minimum-order thresholds, forced upsells) can tank conversion rate; pure conversion pushes (heavy discounting) can tank AOV. Test changes against RPV and gross margin, not either metric in isolation.
Yes, when the threshold is set 15-25% above your current median order. Stores typically see 8-14% AOV lift with a small conversion dip, netting positive on revenue per visitor. Set the threshold too high and conversion damage outweighs the basket gain — anchor it to your actual median, not a round number.
Recalculate your own AOV monthly and compare against industry benchmarks quarterly. Vertical medians shift slowly — a few percent a year — but your own number can swing significantly with seasonal mix, promotions, or a new hero SKU launch. Watch the trend, not the snapshot.
Jewellery has high per-unit price points, low purchase frequency, and a strong gifting motive, all of which push basket size up. The flip side is much lower order volume and longer consideration windows, so jewellery brands optimise differently — fewer, larger orders rather than frequent repeat purchases.
Subscription orders typically pull AOV toward a tighter median because the basket is fixed at the subscription line. Stores with a high subscription mix often report a lower but more stable AOV. Segment one-time vs subscription AOV separately — they're different businesses inside the same store.
The figures reflect typical ranges seen across Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento stores in the €1M-€15M annual revenue band, in EUR. They're orientation values — your sub-niche, price positioning, and promotional cadence will shift you 20-40% within any vertical, so use the median as a reference, not a target.
Get an AI expert review of your site
Paste your URL — Metricuno's AI runs the same heuristic checks a senior CRO consultant would, scoring your page and prioritising the fixes that'll move conversion fastest.