This post is part 4 of our ongoing coverage of COVID-19's impact on eCommerce. 

Here we focus on the Home and Garden industry, including furniture and other home goods. 

To see how COVID-19 is impacting other sections of the economy, check out our previous coverage below. 

How COVID-19 is Impacting the Fashion Industry.

How COVID-19 is Impacting the European Union.

How COVID-19 is Impacting the United States. 

As COVID-19's impact intensified, cart abandonment rates in the home and garden industry have increased. 


We can see that in both the aggregate and device segmented views.

Before the pandemic, the average cart abandonment rate was 58.69%. Only two recorded weeks since had a lower rate, with the final data in late March and April having the highest abandonment rates. 

In fact, the last three weeks have averaged a 10.46% increase in abandonment rates (64.83%).

Cart abandonment rates were relatively flat on computer devices, bound between 50%-55%. However, mobile and tablet devices saw wider jumps, with a significant spike in the last weeks of April. 

Tablets had the largest jump in cart abandonment rates among devices, increasing from 54.72% to 75.13%.

Conversion rates in the home and garden industry have progressively lowered as COVID-19 intensified. 

Before the pandemic, average conversion rates were at 3.04%. Since, only one week beat that mark. Over the last three weeks, conversion rates have averaged 2.48%. That is an 18.42% drop over the last three months.

​Segmenting by device, we see the drop in conversions occur on all platforms.

Throughout the quarter, conversion rates were significantly higher on computer devices. In the first week, sessions on computers converted 4.45% while sessions on phones had a 1.95% conversion rate. 

However, by the time we got to the end of April, conversion rates had dropped to 3.31% and 1.79% respectively. 

While conversion rates dropped on both devices, sessions on computers were more adversely affected in both nominal and percentage terms, decreasing by 1.14%, a 25.6% drop from pre COVID-19 numbers. 

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Meanwhile, phone session conversion rates only dropped 0.16% (from 1.95% to 1.79%), a 8.2% drop. 

While conversion and shopping cart abandonment rates were negatively affected, average order value increased. 

At the beginning of the year, average order value was $118.97. By the end of April, AOV had increased 30.8% to $155.66. 

The average order value has increased steadily across devices. 

Computers are a good example. The first three weeks of the quarter showed an AOV of $126.83. By the last three weeks, AOV had increased to $154.50, a 21.8% increase!

Even greater gains were made in mobile. The first three weeks in January had an average order value of $106.04. By the end of the period, that number had jumped 30.84% to $138.75.

The number of items viewed per session has remained pretty flat. At the beginning of the period, .69 items were viewed per session. While there was some drop, it isn't significant (to .67 items viewed per session). 

Likewise, changes in any one device were minimal. No single device changed individual session engagement.

This concludes our exploration of how COVID-19 is impacting eCommerce stores. 

The truth is, brick and mortar stores are severely limited. COVID-19 is changing how consumers engage with brands, and ultimately may establish consumer behaviors. 

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To succeed, eCommerce stores need to understand the visitors coming to their site, personalize experiences, and followup with clients who left without buying. 

To discover how Barilliance can help you succeed, request a demo here.