E-Commerce Day-of-Week Purchase Benchmarks: 215K Orders

Our day-of-week purchase benchmarks show Saturday has the most orders — 33,884 across our portfolio. It also has the lowest AOV ($144.35) and the worst repeat purchase rate (16.1%).

Tuesday has fewer orders. But Tuesday buyers spend $176.54 on average and repeat at 20.4%. That's a $32 AOV gap and a 4.3 percentage point repeat rate gap — on the same products, from the same brands, bought by customers who found you the same way. These day-of-week purchase benchmarks tell a story most e-commerce brands aren't tracking.

Most brands optimize send timing for open rates and click rates. Some optimize for order volume. Almost nobody looks at buyer quality by acquisition day. The data suggests that's worth investigating — because the day your customer first buys correlates with their lifetime value, and that pattern shows up before you've sent a single post-purchase email.

What Is Purchase Timing Optimization?

Purchase timing optimization is the practice of aligning email sends, ad scheduling, and promotional campaigns to the days and hours when customers are most likely to place high-quality orders — not just any orders. Quality is measured by AOV, repeat purchase rate, and long-term revenue contribution. Across 215,392 orders and 16 DTC brands, the data shows meaningful and consistent differences in buyer quality by day of week and hour of day.

We recently published repeat purchase benchmarks across 156K customers. The repeat rate by first-order day in this post is a new cut of the same dataset. We also publish monthly email benchmarks — this post adds the send timing layer that those benchmarks don't cover.

E-Commerce Purchase Volume vs. Buyer Quality: Two Stats That Compound

This isn't one finding. It's two — and they make each other worse.

Stat 1: Saturday generates the most orders of any day — 33,884 orders, 15.7% of total volume. It's the day most brands would point to as their strongest day. The inbox is full of Saturday morning campaigns for a reason.

Stat 2: Saturday has the lowest AOV ($144.35) and the lowest repeat purchase rate (16.1%) of any day of the week.

Now put those two stats together. Your highest-volume day is producing your lowest-quality buyers. You're acquiring more customers on Saturday than any other day — and those customers spend less per order and are less likely to come back.

Meanwhile, Tuesday generates 30,093 orders (14.0% of total) — about 3,800 fewer than Saturday. But Tuesday buyers spend $176.54 per order and repeat at 20.4%. That's the highest AOV and the highest repeat purchase rate of any day.

The compounding problem: if you're optimizing your campaign calendar around Saturday volume, you're systematically acquiring more of your lowest-value buyers and fewer of your highest-value buyers. Every campaign you shift to Saturday because "that's when people buy" reinforces a customer mix that drags down your portfolio's LTV.

This isn't about Saturday being a "bad" day. It's about understanding that volume and value don't move together — and most e-commerce purchase timing strategies are optimized for the wrong one.

Why Optimizing Email Send Time for Opens Misses the Real Metric

Ask any e-commerce operator when they send their best campaigns. The answer is usually some version of: "We tested it and our best open rates are on Tuesday and Thursday mornings."

That's not wrong. But it's answering the wrong question.

Open rates tell you when people check email. Click rates tell you when people are curious. Order volume tells you when people buy. None of those tell you when people buy well.

The data says the day a customer first purchases correlates with their long-term value — whether the day causes it or reflects it is a question worth asking. A customer acquired on Tuesday has a 20.4% chance of becoming a repeat buyer. A customer acquired on Saturday has a 16.1% chance. That's a 27% relative difference in retention probability — and it shows up before you've sent a single post-purchase email.

Most brands treat every order as equal. A Saturday order and a Tuesday order hit the same post-purchase flow, enter the same segments, get the same campaigns. But they're not equal. The Tuesday buyer is worth more on day one and significantly more over 365 days.

The conventional approach — optimize for opens, then clicks, then orders — might be leaving money on the table, if these quality differences hold for your brand. It never asks: what kind of buyer are we acquiring?

Day-of-Week Benchmarks: Volume, AOV, and Repeat Rate

Here's the full picture. Find your busiest day and see what it actually produces.

Table: E-Commerce Orders by Day of Week — 215,392 Orders Across 16 DTC Brands

Three things jump out.

The volume leaders aren't the value leaders. Saturday (15.7%) and Monday (15.3%) have the most orders. But Tuesday and Thursday have the highest repeat rates (20.4% and 20.0%). Wednesday and Tuesday have the highest AOVs ($172.92 and $176.54). The top of the volume chart and the top of the quality chart don't overlap.

Weekends are the weakest for buyer quality. Saturday and Sunday sit at the bottom for both AOV and repeat rate. Saturday: $144.35 AOV, 16.1% repeat. Sunday: $154.34 AOV, 17.7% repeat. The weekend buyer spends less and is less likely to come back. This is consistent across the portfolio — it's not driven by one outlier brand.

Midweek is the quality sweet spot. Tuesday through Thursday clusters at $167-$177 AOV and 19.7-20.4% repeat rates. These are the days when considered, intentional purchases happen. The buyer who shops on a Tuesday afternoon is a different kind of buyer than the one who shops on a Saturday morning.

Where does your heaviest campaign day fall on this chart?

E-Commerce AOV by Time of Day: The 2.5x Spread

Day of week is one axis of e-commerce purchase timing. Hour of day is the other — and the spread is even wider.

The highest-AOV hour is 4PM EST: $203.55 per order. The lowest-AOV hour is 1AM EST: $80.22 per order. That's a 2.5x spread between the best and worst hours of the day.

Peak order volume runs from 11AM to 3PM, with each hour accounting for 6.2-6.7% of daily orders. That's where most brands focus their send timing — and for raw volume, it's the right call.

But look at the AOV curve. The afternoon hours — 2PM ($188.68), 3PM ($195.02), 4PM ($203.55) — consistently produce the highest-value orders. These aren't the peak volume hours. They're the hours just after peak, when the browsing crowd thins out and the intentional buyers remain.

The late-night and early-morning hours — midnight through 5AM — produce the lowest AOVs, bottoming out at $80.22 at 1AM. These are impulse purchases, small add-ons, and late-night browsing that converts at low dollar amounts.

The implication: A campaign that lands at 10AM and drives opens at 11AM-12PM will generate volume. A campaign that lands at 1PM and drives clicks at 2PM-4PM will generate higher-value orders. Same campaign. Different send time. Materially different AOV.

This doesn't mean you should send everything at 1PM. But it does mean that if your only send-time metric is "when do people open," you're ignoring a 2.5x AOV spread that's sitting right there in your data.

Per-Brand Variation: The Pattern Isn't Universal

The aggregate data tells a clear story. But aggregates can lie if the pattern isn't consistent. So we checked it brand by brand.

The day-of-week AOV pattern is real for most brands — but the magnitude varies enormously, and a few brands don't show it at all.

Workwear (Scale): Tuesday AOV is $195. Saturday AOV is $119. That's a $76 gap — a 64% premium for Tuesday buyers. This brand's Saturday customers are buying basics and low-ticket items. Tuesday customers are buying premium outerwear and multi-item orders.

BBQ & Grilling (Scale): Wednesday AOV is $439. Saturday AOV is $355. An $84 gap on already-high ticket items. The Wednesday buyer is assembling a serious order — likely a grill plus accessories. The Saturday buyer is adding a rub or a single accessory.

Luxury Jewelry: Sunday AOV is $3,210. Friday AOV is $1,954. A $1,256 gap at the top of the market. The Sunday buyer is making a considered luxury purchase — likely an engagement ring or a significant gift. The Friday buyer is shopping for something more accessible.

Home & Lifestyle (Growth): Saturday has 6,352 orders versus Tuesday's 1,661. Massive volume difference. But Saturday's AOV is $30 versus higher AOVs on lower-volume days. This brand's Saturday traffic is driven by social media impulse purchases — high volume, low ticket.

And then there's Apparel (Growth): AOV is nearly flat across days — $45 to $46 regardless of day. No meaningful variation. For this brand, day of week doesn't matter. The product is low-ticket, impulse-friendly, and priced consistently enough that purchase occasion doesn't shift the order value.

A note on categories: Brands are categorized by their primary product vertical. Some brands span multiple categories — the labels are approximate and meant to give directional context, not precise classification.

The takeaway: The aggregate pattern — weekday quality beats weekend volume — holds for most brands. But the magnitude is brand-specific. High-AOV brands with wide product assortments see the biggest swings. Low-AOV brands with narrow price ranges see almost none. Pull your own data before restructuring your send calendar.

Revenue Impact: The Math on Quality vs. Volume

Here's where the two findings from our day-of-week purchase benchmarks — AOV and repeat rate — converge into a revenue story.

Tuesday generates $5,312,619 in revenue on 30,093 orders. That's $176.54 per order.

Saturday generates $4,891,251 in revenue on 33,884 orders. That's $144.35 per order.

Tuesday produces $421,368 more revenue than Saturday despite having 3,791 fewer orders. Fewer buyers, more money. Revenue per order isn't a vanity metric — it's the difference between these two days.

Now layer in the repeat purchase data. Tuesday first-time buyers repeat at 20.4%. Saturday first-time buyers repeat at 16.1%. That 4.3 percentage point gap means Tuesday is producing more second-purchase revenue downstream on top of higher first-order revenue.

Let's make this concrete.

The back-of-envelope math: Assume 1,000 first-time buyers acquired on Saturday versus 1,000 acquired on Tuesday, using the portfolio averages.

• Saturday cohort: 1,000 buyers x $144.35 AOV = $144,350 first-order revenue. 161 repeat at $144.35 = $23,240 repeat revenue. Total: $167,590.
• Tuesday cohort: 1,000 buyers x $176.54 AOV = $176,540 first-order revenue. 204 repeat at $176.54 = $36,014 repeat revenue. Total: $212,554.

That's $44,964 more revenue per 1,000 customers — a 26.8% difference in total cohort value. Same brand, same products, same post-purchase flows. The only variable is the day they first bought.

This math assumes the quality difference is real and transferable — which this data suggests but doesn't prove. The point isn't the precise dollar figure. It's that quality and volume are different levers, and most brands only measure one.

Now ask yourself: if you could shift even 5% of your Saturday acquisition volume toward Tuesday-quality buyers through send timing and campaign scheduling, what's that worth across a full year?

Across the portfolio's 33,884 Saturday orders, 5% is 1,694 orders. If those orders looked like Tuesday orders instead of Saturday orders — higher AOV, higher repeat rate — the incremental revenue is meaningful. Not theoretical. Not aspirational. Just math.

What This Data Doesn't Tell You

The causation question is open. We don't know if Saturday buyers are inherently lower quality, or if our own campaign scheduling creates the pattern. Most brands in this portfolio send flash sales and clearance campaigns on weekends and full-price drops and new collections on weekdays. If you systematically offer 20% off on Saturday and launch at full price on Tuesday, you'd see exactly this data — higher AOV on Tuesday, lower AOV on Saturday — and the day itself wouldn't be the cause. We haven't isolated that variable yet, and we're being honest about it.

The same logic applies to repeat rate. A customer acquired through a deep discount may be less likely to return at full price regardless of when the purchase happened. The day-of-week repeat rate difference could be a proxy for promotion depth, traffic source, or buyer intent — not a property of Tuesdays and Saturdays themselves. Correlation is not prescription. This data shows a pattern. It doesn't say "stop sending on Saturdays." It says "your busiest day might not be your most valuable day, and that's worth investigating."

So here's the one actionable suggestion: pull your own data. Export your orders by day of week. Look at AOV by acquisition day. If you can, tag first-time buyers and check their repeat rate by the day they were acquired. Then cross-reference that with what you were actually sending on those days — was Tuesday a product launch and Saturday a flash sale? If the pattern holds even after you account for campaign type, you've found something real. If it doesn't, you've learned that your promotion calendar is the variable, not the calendar itself. Either answer is useful.

That's the honest framing of these day-of-week purchase benchmarks: here's what we see across 215K orders, here's what we don't know yet, and here's how to check if it applies to you.

FAQ

Does day of week really affect e-commerce AOV?

Yes. Across 215,392 orders and 16 DTC brands, Tuesday's average order value is $176.54 and Saturday's is $144.35 — a $32.19 gap. The pattern is consistent at the portfolio level, though the magnitude varies by brand. High-AOV brands with wide product assortments see the biggest day-of-week swings.

What is the best day to send e-commerce email campaigns?

It depends on your goal. For order volume, Saturday and Monday generate the most orders (15.7% and 15.3% of weekly total). For buyer quality — higher AOV and repeat purchase rate — Tuesday through Thursday outperforms. Tuesday has the highest AOV ($176.54) and repeat rate (20.4%) of any day.

What time of day produces the highest e-commerce AOV?

The afternoon hours — 2PM to 4PM EST — produce the highest AOVs, peaking at $203.55 at 4PM. The lowest AOV hour is 1AM at $80.22. That's a 2.5x spread between the best and worst hours. Peak order volume is 11AM-3PM, but peak order value skews later in the afternoon.

Does the day a customer first buys affect their repeat purchase rate?

Yes. Our e-commerce purchase timing data shows customers who place their first order on Tuesday repeat at 20.4%. Customers who first buy on Saturday repeat at 16.1%. That's a 4.3 percentage point gap — a 27% relative difference. The pattern holds across the portfolio and suggests that purchase context on the acquisition day influences long-term retention.

Is this pattern the same for every brand?

No. Most brands in the portfolio show some version of the midweek-quality, weekend-volume pattern. But the magnitude varies significantly. Some brands see $76+ AOV gaps between their best and worst days. Others — particularly low-ticket brands with narrow price ranges — see almost no variation. Pull your own data to confirm whether the pattern applies to your brand before making changes.

Methodology: How We Analyzed 215K E-Commerce Orders by Day and Time

• Data source: Shopify order data across 16 DTC brands managed by our agency
• Total orders: 215,392 orders over a trailing 365-day window
• Verticals represented: Apparel, food & bev, health & wellness, beauty, jewelry, home & lifestyle, workwear, BBQ & grilling, general retail
• Time zone: All timestamps normalized to EST
• AOV: Total order revenue divided by total orders for each day/hour segment
• Repeat purchase rate by first-order day: Percentage of customers whose first order fell on a given day who went on to place a second order within 365 days
• Per-brand examples: Brands identified by vertical and growth tier only, never by name
• Anonymization: No individual brand names. No customer-level data. All figures are aggregates or vertical-level breakdowns
• Caveats: Day-of-week patterns may be influenced by campaign scheduling (brands tend to send campaigns on certain days, which drives orders on those days). The repeat purchase rate by first-order day is observational — it does not prove that the day itself causes higher or lower retention. Buyer intent, promotion context, and traffic source on the acquisition day are likely confounders
• This report is based on a single 365-day window. Year-over-year comparison will be possible as we accumulate additional data