The download speed on the App Store depends on two things: speed and size. If you have a DSL connection (the average connection is around 128kbps to 3000kbps (3mbps)), it is going to be very slow to download an app. If you have fiber optic internet (which can range from 10mbps to a Gigabit) it is going to be a hell of a lot faster.
If you are downloading El Capitan, which is 6.2GB, and you are downloading on a 5mbps connection, then it will take almost 3 hours to download.
You should take a Speedtest here and see what your speed is, you can also see if you are getting what you paid for. Go to this link and input your download speed here.
I have found that if you have inputted DNS servers in System Preferences, remove the DNS servers and that should make it a little faster.
Happy downloading!
Cheers
EDIT: If you want to see how fast it is downloading, try Rubbernet which shows how much bandwidth a process or an app is using. Another app (which I use), is iStat Menus. It only shows processes that are using most of the bandwidth. The process that you are looking for is "storedownloadd" which downloads apps on the App Store. Sorry for misunderstanding you.