Consumer Goods
Indexed performance data for Consumer Goods brands on Shopify: conversion rate, AOV, free shipping behavior, and shipping revenue, tracked against a consistent baseline month over month.
Part of the PDQ Checkout Benchmarks: 130M+ checkout sessions across 500+ Shopify merchants, indexed to June 2024 = 1.0x.
Consumer Goods Checkout Performance Index: April 2026
An index of 1.15x means that metric is 15% above baseline. 0.92x means it's 8% below. We publish relative change rather than absolute numbers because absolute rates vary too much by merchant size and category to be meaningful as cross-merchant benchmarks.
April 2026: Consumer Goods Checkout Insights
Three signals worth acting on this month
Written for Consumer Goods operators. Every observation connects to a decision you can make this week.
Consumer Goods ARPC pulled back to 1.69x in March after February's 1.80x peak. The retreat is modest, and the level is still extraordinary.
February's 1.80x ARPC reading was the highest single-month figure produced by any vertical in this dataset. March came in at 1.69x, a pullback of 11 points but still the second-highest ARPC reading Consumer Goods has ever posted. AOV followed a similar pattern: 1.64x in February, 1.59x in March. Both are retreating from peaks but remaining at levels that would have been remarkable at any other point in this dataset.
The pullback is consistent with what typically happens after a vertical produces record readings: some of the demand that pulled forward into February normalizes in March. Consumer Goods purchasing is high-consideration and event-adjacent, meaning demand concentrates around specific triggers like tax refund season, home upgrade cycles, or promotional moments, and then softens between them. March is often a quieter month for this category.
What matters more than the single-month movement is the level. At 1.69x ARPC and 1.59x AOV, Consumer Goods buyers are still spending substantially more per session than at any comparable point a year ago. The vertical's structural shift toward higher-ticket transactions appears to be holding even through a normalization month.
What to do: If your ARPC or AOV softened in March relative to February, don't read it as a reversal. Check whether your traffic volume held and your conversion rate stayed above baseline. If both did and only basket size moved, you're looking at demand timing, not a checkout problem. The optimization focus for this month should be on making sure your checkout experience is ready to capture the next demand cycle, not reacting to a one-month retreat from a record peak.
Shipping revenue pulled back sharply to 1.74x after sitting at 2.15x in February. Still the highest of any vertical, by a wide margin.
Consumer Goods shipping revenue has been one of the most consistently elevated series in this dataset, and 1.74x in March is no exception. But the single-month drop from 2.15x is the largest the vertical has seen in a year, and it's worth understanding the composition before treating it as a trend.
February's 2.15x reading was likely elevated by a mix of higher-ticket purchases requiring expedited or specialized shipping and seasonal demand patterns that drove buyers toward premium delivery options. March's normalization to 1.74x is consistent with a return to more typical order mix, where fewer buyers are selecting the highest-tier shipping options and more are converting on standard delivery.
Consumer Goods remains the vertical with the highest shipping revenue in the dataset, and by a meaningful gap. No other category is producing shipping revenue above 1.35x in March. The structural reasons haven't changed: heavier products, higher-value items, and a buyer who is less price-sensitive on shipping because the base purchase is already a significant commitment.
What to do: March is a good month to audit your shipping tier presentation. If most of your buyers are on standard delivery, check whether your expedited and premium tiers are surfaced clearly and whether the delivery date difference is specific enough to be worth the upgrade. A buyer spending $200 on a home goods item may readily pay for a two-day delivery window they can rely on. The upsell is often left on the table because the date specificity isn't communicated clearly enough to justify the premium.
Free shipping rate jumped to 0.81x, its highest reading in over a year. Consumer Goods brands are expanding eligibility.
Consumer Goods free shipping rate has been one of the more structurally depressed series in the dataset, running well below baseline for most of the past two years. March's reading of 0.81x is the highest the vertical has posted since early 2025, and the trend over the last four months has been steadily upward from 0.66x in January 2026.
This is a notable shift. Consumer Goods has historically tolerated low free shipping eligibility because the category's buyer accepts shipping cost as a function of product weight and value. A buyer purchasing a $250 appliance has a different shipping cost frame than a Cosmetics buyer purchasing a $30 serum. The brands in this category have largely priced and positioned accordingly.
The move toward 0.81x suggests some recalibration is underway. Whether it's driven by competitive pressure, a specific merchant cohort expanding eligibility, or a broader strategic shift toward using free shipping as a conversion tool in higher-ticket categories is hard to isolate from the index data alone. What's clear is that the category is not as uniformly opposed to free shipping investment as it was twelve months ago.
What to do: If you're a Consumer Goods brand that hasn't revisited your free shipping threshold in the last six months, this is the moment to model it. The relevant question is not whether to offer free shipping, but at what threshold it becomes margin-positive when you account for the incremental conversion and basket size lift it generates. At 1.59x AOV, a threshold set 15 to 20% above your current AOV may be within reach for a meaningful share of your sessions, and a progress bar can close the gap.
How does your Consumer Goods store's checkout compare?
Checkout Index tells you where your store sits inside this vertical: personalized Health Score, shipping signal analysis, and a revenue impact estimate based on your actual checkout behavior.
Archive
Monthly archive: Health & Wellness
Every monthly dispatch, indexed and preserved. Use the archive to track how Consumer Goods checkout behavior has shifted over time, to validate whether seasonal patterns in your own data match the vertical.
April 2026 {{latest}}
ARPC pulls back to 1.69x from February peak; AOV holds at 1.59x; free shipping rate reaches 0.81x, highest in over a year.
ARPC hits 1.80x, highest reading of any vertical in the dataset; AOV reaches 1.64x series high; conversion holds above 1.09x baseline.
Data begins June 2024 (baseline). Earlier dispatches available on request.
Methodology
About this dataset
The Consumer Goods dataset within the PDQ Checkout Benchmarks draws from aggregated, anonymized session data across consumer goods-categorized merchants on Shopify's platform. Merchants are classified using Shopify's standard industry taxonomy and must meet a minimum session threshold for inclusion. The Consumer Goods cohort spans home goods, appliances, outdoor and sporting equipment, personal care devices, hardware, and general household products.
All figures are indexed to June 2024 = 1.0x. Figures exclude bot traffic, draft orders, and point-of-sale transactions. Data refreshes monthly, typically in the first week, reflecting the prior month's activity. Absolute conversion rates are not published; all metrics represent relative indexed change against the baseline cohort.
To compare your store's actual performance against this vertical, use Checkout Index.
