Here it is boys and girls, we’re back and dancing on the grave of our old website. And we don’t know how to slow dance.

So what do you all think? Big improvement? Be sure to submit a comment if you have any suggestions, or we might let the assumed perfection go to our heads.

Anyway, instead of our usual blog drivel we thought we’d throw you good people a few real world facts and figures might be of use to eCommerce retailers out there.

Here’s a bit data that we’ve collected over the Christmas 2009 period (part one):
Source of all data: XSIS WebMaster Shopping Cart website transactions December 2009

Sales by Payment Method

New business owners often find the costs to get a Merchant Account set up with their bank to be prohibitive. And don’t get us wrong, they can be. With monthly costs for the bank, payment gateway and merchant service fees, it can be a big pill to swallow.

The truth however is that if you aren’t offering payment by credit card, you will be severely limiting potential customers. The graph below tells the story:

Source: XSIS WebMaster Shopping Cart website transactions December 2009

Moral: 87% of online purchases are paid for by Credit Card. You need a pay by Credit Card option for your customers.

Transaction size

No huge analysis to be gained by this, but the average online transaction size over Christmas was about $138 (excluding shipping costs).

That’s all for now, but be sure to keep an eye on this very blog for more eCommerce stats and the thrilling conclusion to this two-parter.