Welo badge 2026 Trust Gap Report

Welo's 2026 analysis · By Daniel Taddei, Founder Welo Badge

Shoppers decide whether to trust a store long before they enter a card number. They look for a returns policy, a total price, a delivery date, a familiar way to pay and some proof that other people bought the product. We wanted to know how consistently established brands put those signals in front of shoppers.

In Welo's 2026 analysis, we followed the public shopping path (product page, cart and checkout, without placing an order) at over 200 high-volume, recognisable US and Canada ecommerce brands. We compared what each store promises with what it actually shows on the way to payment.

The short version: even well-known brands often leave gaps. Here is what we found.

Key findings at a glance

• 39% don't show returns information or a returns link directly on the product page.

• 32% don't show costs or a cost calculator on the product page, and 9% don't show them even in the cart.

• 38% don't give a concrete delivery date.

• 27% don't offer more than one payment method or don't communicate it early.

• Checkout quality close to payment was rated "mediocre or worse" for 53% of brands on mobile and 49% on desktop.

• The median mobile Lighthouse performance score was 55 out of 100, while desktop performance was often good.

• 58% of the product pages we checked showed no reviews.

Methodology

Sample. Over 200 high-volume, recognisable consumer brands selling in the US and Canada, across fashion, footwear, beauty, personal care, wellness and supplements, food and beverage, home, pet and accessories.

What we checked. For each brand we reviewed the public path from product page to cart to checkout, stopping before any order was placed. We looked at what the store shows at each step and whether it matches what it promises.

The Welo Trust Gap Index (0-100). Each site was scored on 18 checklist items, each rated on a 0-5 or 0-10 scale, grouped into four pillars that add up to a 0-100 index:

Load speed (LCP) is banded on Google's published thresholds: 2.5 seconds or less is good, 2.6 to 4.0 seconds needs improvement, and over 4.0 seconds is poor.

How to read the figures. Percentages are shares of the brands analysed, except the reviews figure, which is a share of the product pages checked. They describe what was shown on the page at the time of the analysis. They don't measure shopper behaviour or conversion, and they aren't estimates for all online stores.

Limitations.

• Mobile performance is a lab metric from Google's Lighthouse/PageSpeed tools on their mobile setting. Lighthouse scores vary from run to run and over time, so treat the median as an indicator, not a fixed property of any site.

• Checkout quality is Welo's qualitative rating of the experience close to payment, not a measured outcome.

• Delivery estimates and payment options can vary by location, device and product.

• A returns policy or cost information may exist elsewhere on a site even when it isn't shown on the product page; we recorded what shoppers see at the point of decision.

• Sites change. The figures reflect the period of the analysis.

What we publish. Aggregate results only. We don't name brands, publish the brand list or share brand-level scores or the underlying dataset. The point is the pattern, not any single company.

Learn how Welo verifies businesses in How Welo Verifies Companies, and read the criteria in the Welo Trust Standard.

Key findings

1. Returns information is missing where shoppers decide

39% of brands don't show returns information or a returns link directly on the product page. A policy may exist elsewhere on the site, but shoppers don't see it at the moment they decide to add to cart.

2. The total price isn't always clear before checkout

32% of brands don't show costs or a cost calculator on the product page. 9% of all brands analysed don't show those costs even in the cart so those costs aren't visible before checkout.

3. Delivery timing is often vague

38% of brands don't give a concrete delivery date. Without one, shoppers have no date to plan around.

4. Payment options aren't always visible early

27% don't offer more than one payment method or don't communicate it early. Shoppers may only find out which payment methods are available once they reach the payment step.

5. Checkout quality close to payment is often mediocre

In our rating of the checkout experience close to payment, 53% of brands were "mediocre or worse" on mobile and 49% on desktop.

6. Mobile performance trails desktop

The median mobile Lighthouse performance score was 55 out of 100. On desktop, performance was often good. (Lighthouse is a lab metric; scores vary by run and over time.)

7. Most product pages show no reviews

58% of the product pages we checked showed no reviews, so there was no on-page social proof at the point of decision.

What brands can do: a 7-signal self-check

Walk your own path from product page to payment, on mobile first, and ask:

1. Returns visible at the point of decision. Is there a returns summary or link on the product page itself?

2. Total price, no surprises. Can shoppers see shipping, taxes or other costs (or a calculator) on the product page, and at the latest in the cart?

3. Concrete delivery. Do you show an actual delivery date or date range, not just "fast shipping"?

4. Payment methods visible early. Do you show the payment methods you accept before checkout, and offer more than one?

5. Checkout quality close to payment. Is support easy to reach during checkout, and are your returns and delivery promises repeated near the final button?

6. Mobile performance. Run Google PageSpeed Insights on your key product pages on mobile. Is your Largest Contentful Paint 2.5 seconds or less?

7. Reviews on the product page. Do product pages show reviews, with clear signals about where they come from?

Press and contact

Journalists and researchers can quote the figures as "Welo's 2026 analysis of over 200 US and Canada ecommerce brands". For methodology questions or comment from Daniel Taddei, contact daniel@welobadge.com. We can explain the method in detail; we don't share the brand list, brand-level data or the dataset.

Disclosure: Welo Badge sells business verification and verified-review tools to online businesses, so it has a commercial interest in this topic. The figures come from Welo's own 2026 analysis of over 200 US and Canada ecommerce brands' public websites; the brand list and brand-level data are not published.

FAQ