• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 29, 2014

Online sales among MarketLive clients rose 19.4% in the second quarter of 2014 on average compared with the prior year. Revenue rose nearly twice as fast as online Web site traffic, fueled by about 5% higher conversions, with the average order value rising more than 5%, MarketLive told MediaPost's SearchBlog.

MarketLive rolls out its Performance Index report Wednesday, analyzing the online performance of retailers across its customer network in the second quarter of 2014. The numbers provide insight into the health of the industry. 

The Performance Index analyzes brick-and-mortar retail, apparel, beauty & health, housewares & furniture, brand manufacturers, catalog, and mobile with key performance indicators by device and sector. Graphs and charts illustrate overall performance, key performance indicators, sector snapshots, mobile snapshots, and data tables.

The majority of revenue was initiated from traffic -- at 24.1% -- on a smartphone, but conversions more often occurred on tablets, at 2.0%. Conversion rates were three times higher on a tablet compared with smartphone, per MarketLive.

The onset of mobile devices makes the checkout abandonment rate -- identifying those who abandon the cart before finalizing their order -- one of the most important metrics. In Q2, Checkout abandonment rates averaged 43% and rose 3.7% compared with the year-ago quarter. Beauty rose 12.1%, Brand, 7.9%; Apparel, 5.9%; and Catalog, 3.5%; while B&M fell 7.5% and Home fell 0.3%.

This year, MarketLive merchants have been focusing on optimizing sites, devices, and marketing programs. Q2 results suggest these efforts are paying off. With the exception of Apparel, which rose 29%, every sector in the index reduced bounce rates. Housewares & Furniture and Catalog led improvements with declines of 12% and 10.9%, respectively. Beauty bounce rates declined 2.8%; and Brand, 3.8%.

Putting the numbers in perspective, MarketLive powers ecommerce retail sits for Armani Exchange, Party City, Perricone MD, Sport Chalet, Sundance, Helzberg, John Deere, Title Nine, Intermix and others.