The benchmarks: 1.62% median CVR, $368 median AOV. The 25th–75th percentile AOV range is $193–$779. CVR and bounce rate are moving in the wrong direction year-over-year — but AOV is providing an offset, with same-store matched AOV up 8.5% year-over-year.
H1 2026 was broadly softer for Home & Garden than the same period in 2025 on CVR. Every month of H1 2026 came in below its H1 2025 equivalent. Bounce rates have climbed from the 42–44% range in early 2025 to 47–49% by mid-2026. More visitors are arriving and leaving without engaging — in contrast with the same period in 2025.
On order value, the picture is different. On a same-store matched basis, Home & Garden AOV grew 8.5% year-over-year — from $427 in H1 2025 to $463 in H1 2026.
There is one notable exception within the period: November and December 2025 both posted CVR of 2.49% — the highest of any month in the 18-month window. But that spike came with a corresponding AOV dip, suggesting gift-oriented purchasing at lower price points rather than a broad-based strengthening.
CVR is running below 2025 levels for Home & Garden — but AOV is growing. The two metrics are telling different stories, and both are worth understanding.
The median Home & Garden conversion rate in H1 2026 was 1.62%, placing it in the lower-middle tier of the 10 published industries — just below Apparel & Fashion.
Home & Garden sits alongside Apparel as a category where shoppers browse extensively before committing. The purchase decision for outdoor furniture, kitchen appliances, or renovation materials involves more research and deliberation than a repeat-purchase category like health products or food.
Home & Garden’s bounce rate of 47.3% in H1 2026 is among the higher in the dataset — and it has been climbing. Visitors who stay are genuinely engaged, but a growing share are leaving at the first page.
The chart below shows monthly median CVR and bounce rate for active Home & Garden stores.. Eighteen months of data makes the 2026 shift visible against a full year of 2025 baseline.
CVR ran between 1.85% and 2.13% across H1 2025. Every month of H1 2026 came in below that range. The November–December 2025 spike (2.49% in both months) stands out as the strongest CVR stretch in the entire 18-month window — but it didn’t carry forward into 2026.
Bounce rate has been climbing steadily throughout the period, rising from ~42–44% in early 2025 to ~47–49% by mid-2026. The direction is consistent and the magnitude is significant — roughly 5–6 percentage points of additional bounce over 18 months.
The H1 2026 median AOV for Home & Garden was $368, based on period order totals across 354 qualifying stores.
This data set is separate from the CVR cohort above — it covers anonymized full-store order data rather than Shogun page sessions, and uses different qualifying criteria.
The chart below tracks monthly median AOV for the 354 qualifying stores. AOV trend data is available from June 2025 because the qualifying cohort is defined by H1 2026 order volume; earlier months reflect a different subset of stores.
AOV peaked in August–September 2025 ($372–$373), a pattern consistent with summer home improvement and outdoor purchasing. It declined through fall, dropping sharply to $313 in December — the lowest point in the 13-month window. Recovery through Q1 and Q2 2026 brought it back to the $330–$360 range, with June 2026 landing at $330.
Note that the monthly trend figures above reflect the snapshot cohort (stores active in H1 2026). The same-store matched YoY comparison — which holds the merchant cohort constant across both periods — shows H1 AOV growing from $427 to $463, a gain of 8.5%. Both figures are accurate; they measure different things.
Home & Garden’s story in the first half of 2026 is more nuanced than it first appears. CVR is softer against 2025 levels — but AOV is moving the other way.
CVR is down across every H1 2026 month compared to the same month in 2025, and the monthly bounce rate is 4–5 percentage points higher than it was in early 2025. Those two trends point in the same direction: fewer visitors are engaging with the site, and more are leaving without converting.
AOV tells a different story. On a same-store matched basis, H1 AOV grew 8.5% year-over-year — from $427 to $463. The shoppers who do commit are spending more than they were a year ago. That’s a meaningful offset to the CVR softness, and it means Home & Garden’s situation is less uniformly negative than the conversion rate trend alone would suggest.
The November–December 2025 data is worth examining as a specific pattern. Both months posted CVR of 2.49% — the strongest in the dataset — while AOV dropped to $347 and $313 respectively. Higher conversions at lower basket sizes is consistent with gift-oriented purchasing: shoppers converting more readily on smaller home goods and decorative items during the holiday period, rather than the larger considered purchases (furniture, appliances, renovation supplies) that drive AOV the rest of the year.
CVR trailing 2025 levels alongside AOV growth is the category pattern. If your numbers match that shape, you’re tracking with the market. If AOV is flat or declining alongside CVR, that’s the more difficult position to be in.
The $368 median is a useful reference point — but the P25-to-P75 range tells an equally important story. The middle 50% of Home & Garden stores in this dataset have an AOV somewhere between $193 and $779. That’s a $586 spread within a single category benchmark — wider than any of the other top-three categories by sample size.
That range reflects the genuine breadth of what “Home & Garden” contains. A store selling garden tools and seed packets operates on a fundamentally different economics than one selling high-end outdoor furniture or professional kitchen equipment. Conversion rates across these sub-markets will differ just as significantly, because the purchase decision for a $30 item and a $1,200 item are not comparable experiences.
The $368 median is a benchmark for the category. Your relevant benchmark is the sub-market you actually compete in — which may sit well above or below the headline figure.
The trend data — CVR trailing 2025 levels, bounce rate rising, but AOV growing on a matched basis — is likely more actionable than where your AOV lands relative to $368. Understanding which direction each metric is moving, and how that compares to the category pattern, matters more than the benchmark number alone.
See the full H1 2026 data — and benchmarks across nine other ecommerce categories — in the Shogun Benchmark Reports.
View the CVR report | View the AOV report
