👏 SMALL KIWI BUSINESSES THRIVE WHEN YOU SHOP ON THE HIVE 👏
(last updated: 01-01-26)
The Hive NZ’s statistics, audience insights, and conversion rates are designed to help you decide how your business will fit into our marketplace and how to best position your products for success.
As important as these insights are, we must be clear: our data reflects The Hive NZ as a whole. With hundreds of vendors selling a vast range of goods and services, we cannot guarantee individual results. Your results as an online vendor will vary based on your product niche, your specific business goals, and the quality of your work.
We can wholeheartedly say our Royal Bee vendors see significantly better results in their conversion rates and audience reach compared to our free plan. These vendors receive priority visibility and generally invest more energy into mastering our E-commerce marketplace tools.
Despite a challenging economic climate, The Hive NZ community proved that local commerce is thriving.
41.3% Surge in Active Users: Our audience grew significantly in 2025, bringing thousands of new potential customers to our local vendors.
The December Record: We saw a 28.82% increase in sales year-on-year—amazingly, we hit this record within just the first 15 days of December.
42% Increase in Engagement: Site “Events” (clicks and views) are up, showing that our users are highly active and motivated shoppers.
In the New Zealand e-commerce world, an “underachieving” website typically sees a conversion rate of 0–2%.
The Industry Standard: A “good” NZ e-commerce website usually sits between 2% and 3%. Anything higher than 5% is considered truly stellar.
The Hive’s Performance: Our marketplace consistently maintains a healthy conversion rate within that 2–3% range. Our conversion rate for 2025 overall was 2.79%
What this means for you: For every 100 “eyes” on your shop, you can realistically expect 2 to 3 “buys.”
Pro Tip: Vendors who reach the higher end of these benchmarks are those who prioritize high-quality images, clear SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and transparent shipping info.
The Hive NZ ranks highly on Google for a massive variety of terms. Here are the top categories our 2025 audience explored:
Fashion & Accessories
Wholesale (High demand, low competition—a massive opportunity!)
Gifts & Personalised Products
Home & Living Decor
Health & Beauty
Note: Our Wholesale category is the #2 most viewed area of the site, yet it remains one of our least crowded categories. Adding wholesale pricing is one of the fastest ways to stand out.
As for many other businesses, 2024 was a tough year for our business as well; it was time to batten down the hatches and ride out a storm we’re still all in the middle of!
To say we feel very lucky to have made it through so far AND still have some pretty good results, considering, is an understatement. Our focus has always been on organic traffic and reaching our ideal audience without a heavy focus on ads.
This year this became even more important. Which meant more work was put in attracting our audience through work on SEO*. Also, educating our vendors on how to maximise their potential on their store pages as well as with their products.
We aim to really hone in on the sharing of vital information to grow any business online, in this financial climate.
Looking for other data? Please feel free to get in touch!
